Romans 8:31–39Scripture
Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 8 this morning.
We're going to look at verses 31–39. I'm going to read it this morning.
There's really so much to talk about in here, and we'll see what I can get to, but before I do that, I really have to go back and revisit what we read in verses 28 and 29 and 30. And so maybe it would be—let me, let's do 31 through 39. I'm going to read that because that's the text assigned to us today, and it's going to be weird, because I'm not really going to stay there much. I'm going to go back and I'm going to revisit 28 through 30. I'm going to lay some better groundwork, because if you don't get—if you don't get this, 28 through 30, I mean, you're missing the whole point of Romans. Like, you're missing the whole point, and so then the next year is going to be lost on you, and it's going to be a complete waste of your time, honestly. So because I value your time, and because I know you value your time, I think it's important for us to hit pause and go back and for me to give you some bullets for your theological gun to go about your
Point 1If God is for us, who can be against us
Business, right? And so I'm going to give you some Scripture. There's a lot of questions about it, so we're going to do that. Here's what verses 31 through 39 say: "What then shall we say to these things?" What things is he talking about? Well, I'm glad you asked. He's talking from verse 18 all the way through verse 30, that the work of God in the life of those who he has predestined is a great work, and in spite of you, God still accomplishes his will, right, for his glory.
It's for his will, for his glory, not for your will and for your glory, and that's hard for us Americans, right?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 2:12
"What then shall we say to these things?" All these wonderful things that he does, like gives you hope in the midst of suffering, like the Holy Spirit intercedes for you when you pray stupid prayers, he helps you, right? The God who chose you from before the foundation of the world, he called you, he predestined you, he is glorifying you, he's transforming you from one level of holiness to another level of holiness, he gave you the gift of faith, he gave you the gift of repentance, that no man should boast. He is a giving God. What shall we say about all those things, those wonderful things? If God—here's what we should say: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" That's what's going on here. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Shawn, does that mean that I'm going to get a Lamborghini? No, that does not mean that. That's not what he's talking about. He has been trying to get us to hope in that which is not temporal, and for the entire chapter of chapter 8 specifically, if not all of Romans, he is trying to move our mind and our eyes away from that which is temporal to that which is one day eternal, right? That we will one day be fully glorified, we will one day have a new body—all the older people said amen—we will one day be made completely holy and righteous in his sight. Those are the things that he hopes to give us, right? Those are the things that matter. Why only those things? Why is he only focusing on those things? Because that's the focus of what he's
Writing about. P.S., everything else turns to dust and rots.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 4:17
So the "all things" he talks about are eschatological, right? It is here and now, it is—more specifically, it's not that there isn't anything that happens now. We are saved now, and we are being saved day by day, amen. But those things that we hope in, that he talks about, all things that he gives us, are eternal. They begin now, they are completed in eternity. So some things we have now, which is our salvation, our faith. Those are the things, the "all things" that he talks about, right? "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" Lots of people will. If you're God's elect, you will be persecuted.
You will be. So he's not saying that you won't have opposition, you won't be persecuted, you won't be talked bad about, you won't be hated for my sake, because the Bible refutes that comment in the New Testament, correct? So what does Paul mean here? Good question. I'm glad you asked that question, because it is the work of someone who interprets his word to ask the question, what is he meaning by this? Does he mean that no one will ever be against me the moment I come to the altar? Well, sign me up, please, especially if you're a teenager in school and you're picked on and you read this. Sign me up.
No one will be against me if I'm his. That's not what he's meaning. So what does he mean? "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" In other words, who will bring a charge that will stick? Who will come against you with opposition and it ultimately wins in the end?
No one, because what God has determined he delivers on.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:31
When his word goes out, it accomplishes everything he intends and does not return to him without accomplishing it. That is what he's saying. "It is God who justifies." Notice this is back to salvific language, because he is concerned about our eternal soul. That's what he's most concerned about, because ultimately somebody can take your life, but they can't take your soul if you're his. So the writer is focusing on eternity, he's focusing on salvation, he's focusing on faith, those things, those things that don't perish by fire. "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" First of all, who's this talking about? Is this everyone?
No, it's not. It's not everyone. It's believers. Now, universalists, those who believe that everyone will eventually get to heaven, they interpret that differently, but we know that there are those who are far from Christ, who are not saved, who he will cast out into utter darkness. So when you read this stuff, it is important, regardless of how long you've been in church, regardless of where you are in your spiritual life, to understand who the promise is applied to. It is not someone who has good church attendance. It is not someone who's good—there is no one who's good. It is not someone who serves in the church or pastors a church. It is a believer, those who God, before the foundation of the world, chose, predestined, called, and glorified.
Point 2What God determines, God delivers on
It's God's work. Those no one can snatch out of his hand. Contrary to what you might believe, this Scripture shakes the very foundation of the theological position that you one day have salvation and one day lose it and one day get it back, and then maybe the next day get it back again and lose it again, because what God determines, God delivers on. If God determines it is so. That's why it's important that we have an understanding of who saves and what salvation is, whose work it is. It is not a work of man that any man can boast, and if you believe that, you're going to have a hard time having hope in this world, because if you've been around yourself, your mindset, your thinking, any amount of time, you have to understand you're kind of fickle in the way you operate.
One day you think one thing, next day you think another thing, the third day you have an epiphany and you think what you originally thought to begin with. And if your salvation depends on your thinking, your behaving, your deciding, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. So Paul is laboring with the church. He's laboring, and many of you are laboring with this text, because this runs contrary to an Arminian theology that we have lived our life in, and he is just like today, he's laboring to the church in Rome, saying to them, it's not about you, and if you want to live in this life with hope, you need to understand that this is God's work.
Hope is born out of the sovereignty of God, not the choice of men.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:47
He's laboring, and he's trying to help them understand your salvation is secure.
If you've been in the church any amount of time, you know what I'm talking about. I remember being a teenager coming down to the altar and every other week I was getting saved again. You know why? Sin, human effort, living hopeless, because for me salvation was dependent on what I did, not on who he was and what he did.
Today we very much are like those young children who have no security in our hearts. Should we evaluate whether we're saved? Absolutely we should. And what should we evaluate?
Our fruit. It's not even our fruit, it's the fruit of the Spirit. It's not even our fruit, it's the fruit of the Spirit. Verse 34: "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." Praise God that Jesus is there interceding for us, because God just kills people when he's mad at them for their sin, all right? "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" And P.S., if you think God's the mean one because of what I said there, I just want to go ahead and preface it with this: God chose—Jesus is God—and God chose Christ before the foundation of the world to die for you, even though we are stupid. So the greatest act of mercy comes from God the Father. Anyway, moving on. "As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long.'" Wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought you just said who can be against me? Wait a minute, Paul, you schizophrenic.
Which part of you is talking here? "As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation"—anything else in all creation, listen, that counts you— oh, that's good, that counts you—"will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus." You want to feel secure? Know this: not even you can stop it if God ordained it. That's crazy. Now, pause. For all of you who grew up in the Arminian tradition—and I can speak with confidence regarding this because I grew up in the Arminian tradition—you are saying to me, Shawn, don't you dare give people the right and authority to go out and behave however they want. Since when did we do that? Since when did Paul do that? Matter of fact, if you go back to Romans chapter 6 and chapter 7, he is actually arguing with people in this letter. Not really arguing, he is dealing with arguments that are common arguments that he hears, and he says, if God gives faith, if God does these things, if God is sovereign, if this is a work of God that no man would boast, so then what does it matter how we live? Let's just go on living crazy, sinful lives. And Paul refutes that in Romans. We've already learned about this, and says, "No, let it not be so." So that's the tension that exists where theological positions are formed based on trying to hedge our bets and protect the character of God. Let me just tell you,
God doesn't need your protection.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:10
He's God. And so if we then curve truth, to bend it for what people might do when they hear truth, we are failing people, because we are preaching a false gospel, not the gospel. And the gospel says you're secure.
And the gospel also says those who are secure, who he chose, whom he predestined, who he elected, who he called, the Holy Spirit then gifted repentance, all right, God who gifted faith, all of that, if God did that, we can have confidence in what's happened to us, and if he did that, then he also will ensure that those he called, those he elected, he will also glorify, and he will also cause, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to bear good fruit. Amen.
How can a bad tree bear bad fruit and be called a good tree? Can't. How can a fig tree bear thistles? It can't. How can a thistle bear figs? It can't, because it's made new. So when God does a work, he doesn't do it halfway where you get a ticket to heaven but then you live riotous lives here on earth. It's not the way he works. So now this, 31–39, he's trying to lay foundational doctrine for us and really encourage the church of their security. My wife— when we were first married, we moved everywhere. I mean, I can't even remember. I think the first 10 years of her life, we moved 15 times.
It was bonkers, and for me it was fun. Like, change was just fun. I mean, just give me some—you know what I mean? And when I got bored, it's time to go, and then I would say God called me. No, you just got bored and just wanted to go somewhere else. Now, can God make good on all that because I'm his? He did. I learned stuff. He protected other people from my wrecking-ball life and ways. But my wife always longed to feel secure, and in a world and in a life and in a marriage where you're constantly uprooting and moving all the time, it's hard to feel secure, never knowing one day to the next what was going to happen. Is today the day that I wake up and Shawn's going to want to yank me out of here, out of my friendships, out of my relationships, out of the church that I had connected to? It's hard to be secure when you live in total uncertainty, and it's hard to be certain when your
Point 3Security comes from God's work, not our choice
Faith is placed in men. I'm trying today—I feel like I'm trying to do what Paul's trying to do, and this happened a long time ago and we still don't get it.
Your certainty and security—your security is attached to your certainty, and the certainty regarding your salvation, if it's not attached to God, it cannot be certain.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:57
If it's attached to your choice, it cannot be certain, and Paul is taking pains, going through painstaking steps, to get us to understand this is a work of God.
Why is he doing that? That we might have hope in this world. I was listening to a podcast coming in this morning, and in the podcast it said:
You can go 40 days without food. You can make it three, maybe a little more, days without water at all. But how long can man go without hope?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:37
And because we've failed to preach the word, we've opted—we've called an audible, even from the pulpit—and we don't preach the word as it is.
We preach conjecture, and because we do that, we have rooms across the world on this Sunday morning full of people without hope.
And so it's important for us to understand it. So here's what I'm going to do this morning. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you some Scriptures, and a lot of them. I'm not going to do that kind of sermon where I explain everything, every dot and tittle, and cross every I. I mean, I'm just not doing that this morning. I'm going to—I want to talk to you. We've got to wrestle a little bit this morning, contextually, in the Bible about this, predestination. We've got to wrestle. Now, I used to think, when I was part of the church I was a part of growing up, I used to think this was a secondary issue. I think it's more of a primary issue than what I've ever realized. You don't have to agree with that. You don't have to agree with that, but predestination, I think this is more of a primary issue. Why? Because the way you view this, as we move into these next three chapters and he begins to use Israel as an example of election, how God works, right, for hope's sake, and he lays the foundation for us in here, and I think it's really important that we—if we get this wrong, and we don't understand this is a work of God, but we think it's a work of our choice at an altar call— and I know that choice is a part of it and response is a part of it, but you have to know who initiated it. When he calls, do we have to come? Yeah.
Well, so we have to come, so it's our coming that does it, that seals the deal? Okay, well, the Bible says we're spiritually dead. Lazarus was spiritually dead.
When God called him, when Jesus stood at the grave and called him, did Lazarus have to choose to come forth to actually come back to life?
Are you with me today? No.
The calling empowered the coming. A dead man can't choose to come. He's dead.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:20
He's dead. Why is this important? Because if you think that it's about your choosing without then there being something that empowered you to choose, if you think repentance is yours, then you forsake all the Scriptures that say the Holy Spirit gifts it. You just ignore it. Matter of fact, you rip those pages out. Here and there's a lot of them. If you think it's you choosing, then you have to take out the Scriptures in Matthew and John that say you don't choose him, you can't, he chose you. You have to just rip them out of the Bible. And so that alone is bad enough, that we live in this kind of world where we reject Scripture and ignore it or just rip it out of our Bible. That's crazy enough. So why do I have such an urgency about this, predestination, and understanding that it's not a choice of ours but it is a work of God and it initiates with him first? Because if you think that salvation begins with you and not God, then that means that you believe you're justified by works, sanctified by works, glorified by works, and he says he casts those people out as people he doesn't know. Shawn, why is it so important? Why do we have to just make secondary issues a big issue? I don't think this is a secondary issue. At the point of justification, you get this wrong, all the other dominoes are wrong.
This is key. This is key. So here's the definition for foreknowledge. That seems to be the one tripping us up, so let's go there. Foreknowledge, with reference to God, connotes, denotes foreordination. That's the literal translation for "ordained." The doctrine of election affirms that God chose those whom he would save. Get your pens ready, because I'm about to go through some Scripture fast, and some of the Scripture I'm just going to throw out, and you've got to go do some homework. Listen, I told the—I was asking questions to teens on Wednesday, by the way, teens get this way easier than you guys do.
They just do. But I was asking them some questions, and they sat there in silence, and sometimes I think we want to come on Sunday morning—I asked one kid, he had just celebrated his 16th birthday party, and I asked him, I said, how would you like to go to your 16th birthday party, have your mom bib you up at the end of the table with all your friends there, sit down and begin to do the airplane with the food as she fed you know, would you be okay with that? And then she fed you your whole birthday dinner, and then cut a cake, cutting-cake time, and then she just fed you. No, that would be—they're like, that'd be mortifying.
No. Oh my goodness, no. Yet we come on Sunday wanting that to happen every week, and you're not embarrassed by it. So here's what we're going to do:
I'm going to give you the food, and you're going to go feed yourself. That's my job this morning.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:01
Because here's the thing, I can sit up here all day long and talk about my perspective of predestination, but none of that matters. None of it. None of it matters. What matters is, what does the word say? Not what do you think, what does the word say? Not what did you hear a pastor say, what does the word say? It's clear. It's not confusing. The question at issue here concerns the meaning of foreknowledge. That's where the great breakdown is, and it's in one verse, because no one—the word "foreknowledge" in the original language, when it's used all over the Gospels, no one confuses it the way we do, the way that the Arminian position does. In that one verse they will look at it—used for that word, used everywhere else in the New testament, and they'll view it right, except for that one verse. That one verse specifically, "whom he foreknew he predestined," indicates that God chose whom he would save based on their foreseen faith. That's what Arminians believe. I'm not against Arminians. I was one for many years. I just kind of have some different alignings regarding predestination, the work of the Holy Spirit, and there are great men who have theological differences, but I think this is a very important point, mainly because I think that the Bible clearly communicates that this is God's work, not your work. All right, so that's what I want to talk about, this idea that God looked out way into the future, saw that you would choose him, although the Bible says you can't, and then, because you chose him, then he decided to write you in the Lamb's book of Life. But then they reject the whole part of going to the Lamb's Book of Life, reading about that, to know when that was written, and it had nothing to do with your choice. All right, introduction, right? So I wrote that. So I made sure: the doctrine of election affirms that for purposes known only to himself, God chose those whom he would save. He did not choose them because of anything about them, but for his own good pleasure. Everything I read in there is in Scripture, everything. Let's read some verses here. Here we go, have your pen ready. Matthew 11:25–27. And just so some of you note-takers don't have a panic attack and start flushing red and foaming at the mouth, because I won't repeat myself and I went too fast, I will put every one of these verses online today on Facebook, my Facebook page, so that you can read them. And Brook went, "We'll see about that." Help me, don't judge me, just help me, because I do make promises and don't deliver, so help me. All right, Matthew 11:25–27 says, "At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.'"
So Jesus can't even reveal God to us without God's permission, according to whom he predestined and chose from before the foundations of the world.
There is a doctrine of election that often argues to the contrary, that God chose whom he would save based on foreseen faith. It never actually talked—it never actually says that in the Bible, ever. It's conjecture. We've created movements and preached thousands of sermons on conjecture that look ahead: God saw who would believe, and on that basis chose to save them. Romans 8:29 is the pivotal verse in this discussion. This is why we are having this, because 8:29 kicked off the discussion last week. 8:29 is the pivotal verse in this discussion, where the apostle Paul affirms, "whom he," God, "foreknew he also predestined." This doctrinal position that believes God looked ahead, saw what you do, places the sovereignty in the hands of men, takes it out of the hands of God, that in this statement Paul specifically affirms that election is grounded in what he sees us doing in the future, because this is just not biblical.
All right, I understand where you're coming from. I understand this is your—that many of you, this might be your position. It was my position. But the Bible explicitly contradicts it over and over again.
Point 4Foreknowledge in Scripture means God's chosen favor
Here's the Bible's characterization of election most broadly, just on the face of it: to affirm that God chose us certainly seems to convey divine initiative, not response.
That is, chosen because of foreseen faith would render God's choosing irrelevant, or at least redundant. If God chose, but really man chose, then who chose? The Bible here in this particular verse does not say man chose.
The Bible says God chose, and that lines up with the verse in John that says you don't choose God chose you.
It's important, but some of us will bend Scripture around our predisposition to such a degree that we live hermeneutical lives for our comfort. Little do we know that we can have little comfort trusting in us, but our greatest comfort comes from trusting fully in him. So the very thing we hope to do by bending Scripture to live a comfortable life, we end up heaping coals on ourself and living a miserable one, because we don't take his word at his word. But the New Testament everywhere speaks of election as coming from God's side entirely, grounded in his own initiative and grace.
Election is according to grace. We talk about plucking verses out contextually and not looking at the whole, but not only in a chapter, but we have to also not just pluck a verse out and then not look at the context there, but look at every time he talked about foreknowledge in the entire Bible, and we need to submit it to that evidence. Romans 11:5 says this, speaking about election, is according to grace. Romans 11:5: "So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace."
Not human will. Not chosen by man, but by grace, and to the praise of his grace. Where is that at? To the praise—not only chosen by grace, but to the praise of his grace. So it's by grace you were chosen, to the praise and glorification of God who has grace. Ephesians 1:3–6 talks about "to the praise of his glorious grace." "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." Notice that the choosing, the saving, the calling, the justification, it is for the sake—it is for the sake of being made holy and blameless before him. So if you have someone who declares they're saved, they're justified, they're called, they're chosen, they're a new creation, but is not becoming holy and blameless before him, they're not saved. "He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will," his will, "to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." We are saved as an outworking of his purpose. We are saved because of his grace. We are saved by grace unto his glory, to glory and worship him. We're saved as an outworking of his purpose. Let's read some Scriptures there, and there's a bunch, because salvation is according to his purposes. It's for his purpose. He has a purpose in all this.
Acts 13:48 says this: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." Oh, but wait a minute, Shawn, you mean—well, so let's step back. Shawn, so you mean God looked ahead and then he chose people based on what they were going to choose, and then he appointed them, and then those are the people who are going to be saved? That's not what it says. "They began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life," those are the people who believed.
Those are the—who are the people? Those who were appointed. Who are the people who believe? Those he appointed. Well, but I thought he looked ahead and then he said, who's going to choose me and believe, and then appointed them based on them choosing and believing? But this says they can't even do it unless they're appointed. Only those appointed. Romans 8:28: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Notice the calling there. It is the golden chain of salvation. The calling is a part of that. Without the calling, there is no salvation. So he calls, and those he calls are justified, and those he justified he glorifies, but it's dependent on a call. Notice that every link in the chain, the golden chain of salvation, is not man dependent. It's only God dependent. God does it all. Why is that important for us to understand?
Because hope rests in the confidence of the one doing the saving.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 37:41
Ephesians 1:4–5 says this: "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will." Then verse 11, Ephesians 1:4–5, verse 11: "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will." This is God's work, and it's his will.
1 Thessalonians 1:4–5: "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you." Who's chosen?
He did. There's not a redundant choosing here. "He chose you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake." 2 Thessalonians 2:13–14: "But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Timothy 1:9: "who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began." He saved us. He saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace. Well, I thought he looked ahead and saw our works, our choice, our effort, and then based his will according to that. Nope. No way, Jose.
"Which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began." God the Father gave us to his Son, and it is this that explains our believing response to his call. God the Father gave us to the Son, and it is this that explains our believing response to his call. "You do not believe because you are not among my sheep," it says in John 10. You do not believe because you're not mine. Wait a minute, I thought we believed and then it made us his. Wait a minute, Shawn, I thought we believed, he looked ahead, saw that I would believe, and then I became his, and so then he predestined me, he foreknew it, and so he predestined and ordained and elected and chose me based on what I was going to do. Well, John 10:26–28 refutes it entirely. "You do not believe because you are not among my sheep." Meaning the—his choice came before your belief. You're among his sheep because he chose you. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life." You can't even hear his call if you're not his, right? You can't hear the general call if you're not his. There's an effectual call, which if he—if you hear the call, if you hear him call, you're his. Anyway, the principle is illustrated in John 15:16, where Jesus says to his disciples, this John 15:16: "You did not choose me, but I chose you." Stop saying that. I threw that in there. It didn't really say that. Stop it. Just please stop it. He's dealing with an argument that's current today. "You did not choose me, but I chose you." Of course, on one level Jesus' disciples did choose him. On some level, in fact, they responded to his call, and in that sense they chose him because they responded, but just like Lazarus, who was dead. I— you're like, "Well, Shawn, where does human will come in there? Are we not held responsible for anything we do?" No, we are held responsible for what we do. We have free will, but it's not free like God's will. In other words, we're at the beginning—we're free to sin. You know why we're only free to sin?
Because we're a slave to it.
So you can choose whatever sin you want, knock yourself out, but that's the world you live in. That's the prison.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:09
If you're in prison, you can't go to any part of the prison anytime you want. You can't leave the prison whenever you want. You're in prison. If you're in the yard, you can work out, you can shank somebody, you can play basketball, but you can't leave the yard because you're a prisoner.
So what does it take to be set free from the prison, to be justified? Who will justify a guilty man? Jesus Christ.
And how will Jesus determine whom he will justify? Whom God gives him, whom he's chosen from before the foundations of the world.
And Jesus won't justify those whom God has not given. The foreseen faith— everybody write that down, I think it would be important, because this is the argument, that foreknowledge means foreseen faith. This view also entails a very serious theological problem. I'm going to talk about it. It renders God's knowledge contingent on considerations outside of himself, and the Bible irrefutably argues this point over and over again. This perspective, doctrinal perspective, it portrays God as learning from us what he needs to do.
I mean, who wants God to learn from you and base his will and purposes on your erratic behavior?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 44:58
I didn't think so. You know why? Because that doesn't bring hope. It doesn't bring hope. God does not learn from you, but everywhere in Scripture we're taught that God's knowledge is not learned from without. "Whom did God consult, and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?" No one. No one. That's Isaiah 40:14.
That is to say, God's knowledge is grounded in himself and himself alone, and his own determinations, and in his own will and the volition of it, and he is thus eternally omniscient. There never was a time when God looked ahead to take his cues from man. That does not mean he did not see everything. He just doesn't take his cues from you. Listen, some of you want God to take his cues from you, and at the same time you don't want your kids to take their cues from you. Let me rephrase that. Why is it that you're concerned about the things you do in your home and in your life, that you're concerned that your kids are going to take their cues from you? You would hope they would choose better than to pay attention to you and do what you do, and that they would determine how they live based on the discrepancies of your life, and you're like, "Man, please don't take all your cues from me." That's what I feel about my boys. Please don't—look to God, look to God. Yet when it comes to God, we want him to take our cues, his cues from us.
What in tarnation? It is amazing that in one part of our life we can be very self-aware and the other part we can be arrogant, prideful, and you know what happens when pride goes before a fall? A fall, and a big one. Not one that goes—one that goes splat.
A big fall, a big one. He didn't consult anyone. This is to say God's knowledge is grounded in himself and in his own determinations, and he is thus eternally omniscient. There never was a time that God looked ahead to take his cues from man. Psalm 139:16, I love this one. There's tons of verses, just tons of them, but I like this one, and we don't have the time, so I put this one down: "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."
Scripture, of course, affirms that God knows all things ahead of time. Let me give you some verses for that, because some of you are like, "But God does know things ahead of time." He does. That's right. Isaiah 46:9–10, Acts 15:18.
But you need to know its use of the term "foreknow" here entails notions of foreordination also.
Here's more: Acts 2:23, Romans 8:29, Romans 11:2, 1 Peter 1:20. I'm going to put them on Facebook. 1 Peter 1:2.
Similarly, in biblical usage the verb "to know," when used of God, can signify "to elect." This word, "foreknow," signifies to elect or to set his favor on. So Mary, chosen, right? When she was highly favored, or did God take her? Are you with me today? I can just go on with that, because there's some prophets in a field that just got taken.
"I was minding my own business and I just got taken." Wait, I thought—so you didn't choose him, he took you? Why did he take you? Because you're a favorite. Why are you a favorite? Because he chose you. That's it.
So it's "elect" or "to set his favor on." Here's verses that back that up: Genesis 18:19, Deuteronomy 9:24, Jeremiah 1:5.
Here's another way that it can be viewed, "to regard with favor," as if that changes it very much. Here's verses that back that up: Psalm 1:6, Matthew 7:23, 1 Corinthians 8:3, Galatians 4:9, 2 Timothy 2:19.
The connotation of God's foreknowledge follows similarly, only adding the idea of preemptive, intentional choice by God. All of those verses use the same word for knowledge, where he elects, he chooses, and he favors who he pleases, without men.
Let us survey the relevant biblical passages, a few of them. I'm almost done. Romans 11:2: "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." That's where your security comes in. So if God foreknew you, if God predestined you, if God called, and God justified, and God glorifies, he does not reject those he chose. "Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?" Amos 3:2. This is speaking of Israel, which we're moving to in chapter 9. You want to have—you want to have predestination, and the way that some people view predestination, debunked? Read chapter 9. It will crash your world. Let's just look at it for fun. Let me just—I don't even have this on my notes. Like, check this out. Like, so, I—so so: "For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'" This is God. I'm going to have mercy. And by the way, it's verses 15, 16, 17. God said, I'm going to have compassion on whom I have compassion, have mercy on whom I have mercy. "So then it depends not on human will or exertion." Oh, wait a minute, I thought he looked ahead in the future and saw who would choose him according to human will and exertion, and then he predestined us according to that? Well, this debunks it. Why do you think Paul is debunking it? Because he knows the argument.
He knows the argument. The argument is not a new argument today. The argument's an old argument. How could this type of salvation be true? How?
"So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." And how does God have mercy? He chooses. He has mercy on whom he wills.
Well, I need you to break down why he wills to have mercy on some and the other he doesn't. He doesn't say that. It just says he's the boss. Deal with it. Well, but when was the election? When he told you, not when you chose him. I know you live in a world where you want to elect, you want to choose, you want to vote. You don't get a vote. He's the King of all kings. He's not the president of all presidents, right? And then if you really want to have your mind blown, and that's just one of them, there's some place in here—somebody help me—it talks about the clay, a vessel of destruction and a vessel of— where's that at? Verse 21. It says, "Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" Where is that? Where'd that verse come from? Wow, I don't like that one.
I don't like God being in charge. How has you being in charge worked out for you?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 54:43
How's that worked out for you?
Romans 11:2, Amos 3:2 asserts that God foreknew Israel in a more particular sense. He knew them with electing favor.
The connection with election in Romans 11:5, 11:7, 11:16, and 11:28, that "foreknow" carries this sense seems evident in Romans 8:29 as well.
It's the same word, the same usage, the same tense. The concepts are distinguished: "whom he foreknew he predestined," the sense being that "foreknew" connotes a pre-temporal regarding with divine favor, pre-choice, while "predestined" denotes the divine decree itself. These predestinary overtones inform the significance of foreknowledge in all its New Testament occurrences. A couple more verses and then I'm done. Two more, to be exact. Acts 2:23 says this: "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan"—everybody say "definite"—he did not look ahead to see what Jesus would choose.
"Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God." The same word here in "foreknowledge." Notice the connection of the determined and definite plan of God alone connected to the foreknowledge used in Romans 8:29. Are you with me? You know why Jesus followed through? Because God determined it to be so.
P.S.,
Jesus is God, and that's why we put salvation in God's hand: because what God determines, he delivers on. What you determine, you fail on, over and over again. And Jesus "delivered up
Pastor Shawn Gray · 57:08
according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." God's foreknowledge is explicitly causative. Jesus was delivered over by the predestinating purpose and foreknowledge of God. 1 Peter 1:19–20 says this: "but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you." All this to say that the "chosen because of foreseen faith"
Interpretation of Romans 8:29 is not at all, in any way, shape, or form, in keeping with the meaning of the word "foreknew" everywhere else in the New Testament.
Foreknowledge, with reference to God, is closely related to the terminology of predestination and election, and it is God's work, not yours, not yours, that no man can boast. You don't have to like it, but you can't refute it, not if you value the word of God. Are you with me today? Shawn, why are you being so firm on this? Because when it comes to your feelings versus the word of God, I will choose this over your feelings every day. Every day. It doesn't mean it's fun, but it is highly important.
Point 5Striving shows a faulty foundation
I want you to ask this question to yourself as I close in prayer. If you're someone who believes that this salvation is not a gift but it is a choice, and it is a choice of your own volition, God is not involved with it, he simply goes along for the ride, can you also look at your life and see you're a person who's constantly trying to justify yourself by your works? Because I believe that they are tightly linked, and a life of striving is a life that just has some doctrinal foundational issues wrong, and those doctrinal foundation issues that are wrong are exactly what Paul is trying to deal with when he talks to Jews who hope to justify themselves by their works. Are you with me today? Of whom he talked about in chapter 2 and 3. That's the audience. I think we're no different, and so if he's going to use the Israelites, the Jewish nation, those who were given the law, who hoped to be justified by the law, if we're going to use an example of those who are elected, chosen, predestined, if we're going to use an example, that's a great example, because we're just like them in the American church. We'd rather pay penance and do a task to be saved.
Just tell me something to do.
We need to take people from a place of effort to a place of passion for their Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and they are two totally different things.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:01:09
And if you're here today, if you're here today and you look at your life and you see your life as no different than before you came to Christ, you continue on in behaviors, ladies and gentlemen, the Bible is clear: you are not saved. So repent, for the kingdom—because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It is as close as my right hand is to my body. Repent.
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