Today we're going to look at
a topic for Sunday School on the foreknowledge of God. The
foreknowledge of God. Now the word foreknowledge is
used twice in the Bible. Twice in the Bible. Let's read both places where
it's used. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts
chapter 2 and 1 Peter chapter 1. Acts chapter 2 and 1 Peter
chapter 1. And the name of the message is
the foreknowledge of God. And then we'll also be over in
Romans 8 after we read both these texts here. Acts chapter 2, verses
22 to 24. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles, with wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered up
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. Whom God
hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible, that he should be holden of it." And then over
in 1 Peter chapter 1, the book that we finished studying in
Sunday school, we see in the first chapter, in the first two
verses, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers
scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God." We
see the word again. Through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,
grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Now turn to Romans chapter 8,
and we'll read verses 28 and 30, where we'll see the word
for no in verse 29. Romans 8, 28 to 30. 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. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
we 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. Now go over a few chapters to
Roman 11, and we see the word for no used again in verse 2. And we'll just read the first
part of this verse, which says, God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew. Now foreknowledge is an act of
God, but it stems from he who is God over all. I'd like us
to look at this in our study today on the attributes of God,
although this is not an attribute of God, it is the fact of God's
foreknowledge. has been a theological battleground
for many years, for many years. If you mention foreknowledge,
The foreknowledge of God to people who profess to believe Christ,
usually they define it as God looked down through time. You've
heard me say that many times. And I still hear this today from
people that I talk to when I'm out and about and the conversation
comes up about Christ. I still hear this today. They
say that God looked down through time and he foresaw who would
choose him. And based upon that, he chose
the person Now this belief exposes the speaker as one who does not
know what the foreknowledge of God is. God is in no way subject to the
sinner. In no way. In no way at all. He is in no manner and no way
subject to the sinner in Him choosing to save a people. He acts independently. He is
God. And He does whatever He pleases
the Scripture says. So we'll examine the word foreknowledge
today and I pray that when someone comes to you or comes to any
of us with this lie that is propagated in religious circles, that we'll
be able to use what we learned today to show them from Scripture
what the foreknowledge of God is. Always remember to take people
to the Scriptures. The Scriptures we read today,
they speak of God's foreknowledge. Always take people to the scriptures.
When I'm out talking to people, I always have my tablet with
me and I'm always taking them to the scripture. This is what
the scripture says. This is what the scripture says.
It's not my opinion. It's what the Bible says. Because
you're fine when you're talking to people that they always want
to give you their opinion on what they think the Bible says.
We don't want people's opinion. What's the Word say? What's the
Word of God say? As one grace preacher once said,
always begin any kind of conversation on the Bible or Christ with Scripture,
sustain it with Scripture, and end it with Scripture. That's
what we must do. That's what we must do. So when
someone brings up this error or tries to promote this error,
we bring them to this book, which is the final authority. This
book is the final authority when it comes to the things of God.
Right here. What does the Word of God say?
And the saints of God, we rejoice in what the Bible says. We bow
to what the Bible says, don't we? Someone can show us in scripture,
we bow to that. We bow to that. And the saints of God rejoice
in God's electing grace. The fact of it, a hymn writer
of old wrote this about God's electing grace. He said, "'Tis
not that I did choose thee, for Lord, that could not be. This
heart would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me. Thou
from the sin that stained me washed me and set me free. And
to this end ordain me that I should live to thee. whose sovereign
mercy called me and taught my opening mind. The world had else
enthralled me to heaven's glories blind. My heart owns none before
thee, for thy rich grace I trust. This knowing, if I love thee,
thou must have loved me first. That's the truth of scripture,
isn't it? That hymn is based upon scripture. We love him because
he first loved us. Now in order to combat the error,
which I mentioned earlier, we must be established in the faith,
we must have scriptural grounding, and we must be prayerful and
diligent in our study. Always ready to give an answer
to those around us of the hope that lies within us. And that
hope is in Christ, isn't it? That hope is in Christ, in Christ
alone, nowhere else. And always remember that the
errors that Paul dealt with are the very same errors which we
have today, beloved. Nothing's changed. It's just
wrapped up in a different package. It's just got a different label
on it sometimes. But it's the same thing. It's
the same errors that the saints of old dealt with. People mixing
works with grace. And even we're seeing them saying
that puts the emphasis on the sinner. It does. So we must combat these errors
with the truths of the scriptures and the truth of salvation in
Christ alone, by faith alone, according to God's grace alone.
That's what we must, we always must present that. Let's go back
to first Peter. We'll read that again in chapter
one, verses one and two. It says, Peter, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father. Through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Verse
2 there, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. There's the whole Trinity in
action in our salvation, beloved. And God's foreknowledge is much
more than a prior knowledge of what people will or will not
do. We know that our God knows everything from eternity, doesn't
he? He knows everything, all things, about all people, because
he's an all-knowing God, the all-knowing God. Therefore he
knows all things. Nothing's hid from him. Absolutely
nothing. Nothing's hid from our God. He's
absolutely sovereign. And nothing takes him by surprise.
Now things take us by surprise often times, but absolutely nothing
takes our great God by surprise. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. But the fact that he knows everything
must never be confused with his foreknowledge. Omniscience is
the attribute of God. It's a foreknowledge in the act
of God. And we see that, look at in our
text, elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. When we study this topic of the
foreknowledge of God and speak of the subject of divine forendation,
and God's eternal choice of certain ones to be conformed to the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what we are. We're being conformed to the
image of Christ, saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the enemies
of God, when you bring up this fact that God chooses a people
and he's pleased to choose them and there's nothing in us, what
happens then? Well, then the enemies of God,
they get worked up, don't they? They get real worked up. You
know why? Because it destroys anything that they can do for
their salvation. Salvation's of the Lord, period.
Period. They don't like to hear that.
So the false argument about the foreknowledge of God that they
put forth, do you know what else it does? It has absolutely no
scriptural grounds. None. We just saw there that
foreknowledge is only mentioned twice in the Bible. For no is
mentioned in other places, but for knowledge is only mentioned
twice. So them saying, and this is what you can bring up, where
is the scripture that tells me that God looks down through time
and chooses a people based upon who would choose him? There is
absolutely zero scriptural basis for that. None. And yet, this
is something that people have made a huge thing about. and there's absolutely no basis
for it in scripture. And do you know what it does?
It makes salvation the work of man rather than God. That's exactly
what it does. Think about how the argument
that folks use in this era, that God looked down through time
and saw who would choose him and then chose a people Think
of how this is a denial of man's total depravity. Just think of
that. Just on the basis of it, think of how it's a denial of
man's total depravity. Let alone the fact that they
totally ignore the scriptures which proclaim that there's non-righteous.
So when God looks down through time, what does he see? He doesn't
see who would choose him. He sees there's non-righteous.
That's what he sees. He sees there's none that seeketh
after him. He sees that there's none that understandeth him.
And in his mercy and in his grace, beloved, he chooses a people.
My, what a gracious God we have. What a gracious God we have.
So according to their argument, how would God look down through
time then and see those who believe when they cannot believe unless
they're born again to the Holy Spirit of God? Do you see how
it utterly flies in the face of scripture, beloved? Unless the Holy Spirit, unless
we're born again of the Holy Spirit, unless he grants us faith
and repentance to turn to Christ, we will never turn to Christ.
See, that whole argument is the basis of man. It has absolutely
no scriptural grounds. Actually, scripture destroys
it. It really destroys it. So we can therefore come to the
conclusion that people who promote that are promoting a lie. That's a lie. And you know what
it does? It exalts man. It exalts man
and makes God at man's beck and call. We preach that God is at
no man's beck and call and that we are at the mercy of God. And
that's the truth of the scripture. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that seeketh after God. There's none that
understandeth. And none means none. So God in
his mercy and grace and eternity past chose a people. My, and the believer says I'm
one of those. This is amazing. This is absolutely
amazing. Turn if you would to Acts chapter
13. Acts chapter 13. We know from studying the scripture that the God of the Bible is
not what they say when they say God looked down through time
and chose a people based upon, we know, and we see here in the
scripture. Acts chapter 13, look at this.
The Bible actually proclaims the opposite of what is taught
by these false teachers. Acts chapter 13, verses 44 to
49. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. Can
you imagine that? The whole city, almost the whole
city came to hear the word of God. Bye. But when the Jews saw
the multitudes, they were filled with envy. Oh, they saw all them
people and they thought, oh, we can't get that many folks.
They're full of envy. Isn't that sad? These religious
Pharisees. Oh my. And they spake against
those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Then Paul and Barnas waxed bold and said, It is necessary that
the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but
seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Preaching to
the Gentiles now. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be the light of the Gentiles,
that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, look at this, verse 48, and when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and not. They glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as what? Were ordained to
eternal life, believed. Note that little word, ordained. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe. And the word of the Lord was
published throughout all the region. Now, I have no idea who
the elect of God is, and neither do you. And like Paul, the gospel
preacher gets up and he proclaims the gospel to all. And God saves
whom he's ordained. That's what the scripture says
right there. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believe. Now, false religion makes God's
foreknowledge of man's faith the cause of election. But the Word of God declares
that God's election and grace is the cause of our faith. We
believe, just like those Gentiles, because we were ordained to eternal
life. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
all of the Lord. Verse 48 proclaims this, and
tie it in with our text, and we see that the basis of our
being predestinated is not something that we do or will do, but it
is solely based on the will of God for His own pleasure. That's
the truth of the Scriptures. And it's plainly bought forth. Our great God is absolutely independent. He's absolutely independent.
He saves whom He wills, when He wills, according to His mercy,
and according to the good pleasure of His will. My, look at verse 48. And when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. Oh yeah, they were
glad. This was good news to them, because they had revealed to
them they were sinners. And this was good news. There's
a Savior. Oh my. Oh my. and glorify the word of the Lord
and as many as were attained to eternal life, what? They believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we proclaim, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. We preach
Christ and Him crucified. Look to Christ. We know that God's people will
come. We know that. That's why we preach
to all, not knowing, not knowing. Spurgeon used to say, if we knew
who the elect were, if the elect had a yellow stripe on their
back, you just lift up their shirt, go again and preach to
him. But we don't know. We don't know. Therefore, we
preach to everyone. And God does the same. It's God's
business. He can save whom he wants, when
he wants. Mine, as many as were attained to eternal life, believe. God in the sovereignty chose
a people in Christ He singled us out, we were chosen by God
to be the recipients of His grace and His mercy. You ever pondered
that? And stopped and thought about
that? That He singled each one of us out? Why? You know, we often think, well,
yeah, He chose the whole, you know. No, He chose us. What mercy and grace this is.
This is distinguishing grace. and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believe. A.W. Pink brings this forth,
he said, God determined to bestow upon them, being his people,
the gift of faith. False theology makes God's foreknowledge
of our believing the cause of his election to salvation, whereas
God's election is the cause for our believing, and our believing
in Christ is the effect. That's what it is. My! Remember the scripture? Let's
turn there, 1 Corinthians 4, 7. Let's turn there in light
of what we saw there, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. And this verse, I love this verse
because I remember the first time I heard it was when Brother
Henry Mahan was preaching. I read it multiple times, but
never saw it. And then one day, when the Lord
was pleased, he just lit the verse up. And this verse is absolutely
beautiful. And then when you look in the
Greek, this is distinguishing grace. Differ there means to
distinguish, and we'll look at this. And think of that in our
own lives, right? The people that we grew up with,
our family, our friends, and we're saved, and so many are
not. It's God's distinguishing grace, beloved. It's absolutely
magnificent. First Corinthians four, seven.
For who make it thee to differ from another? Again, in the Greek,
that's who distinguished you. God has singled us out, beloved,
to be recipients of his grace and his mercy. For who make it
thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? All our salvation is something
we've received. We can't work for it. We can't
earn it. And even the gifts that we have,
that we exercise within the church, even those are all from God.
We can take absolutely no credit, beloved, for anything. Even the
things that you do in your jobs and things, the knowledge that
you have, that all comes from God, beloved. We can't get puffed
up about this stuff. It all comes from our God. All
of that. It's absolutely wonderful. For
who maketh thee to differ from another? And what is thou that
thou didst not receive? Now that thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as thou hadst not received it? But the key
here is, who maketh thee to differ from another? The answer is God,
and God alone. It's the only one who's made
us to differ. The fact is that foreknowledge is never used in
scripture in connection with events or action. Instead, it
always has reference to persons, beloved. And we saw that in what
we read. Note in the text we've read.
Let's look over there in Acts chapter 2, verse 23 again. God's
foreknowledge of his elect is his love for them manifested. It's an act of God which separates
and distinguishes his people from all others. So let's look
at, we're going to look at the places we looked at again. Acts
chapter 2 verse 23, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken him by wicked
hands, have crucified and slain. Now we see here that this verse
is talking about Christ being delivered up to die upon Calvary's
cross. God not only foreknew that it
would be, but determined that it should be. It is He who does all things
after the counsel of His own will. And this for the salvation
of His people and for the glorifying of His divine perfections. Gil
says this, Through this fixed resolution, this settled purpose
and wise determination of God, did not in the least excuse the
sin of Judas in betraying him, or in Pilate of condemning him,
or of the Jews in crucifying him. Nor did it at all infringe
the liberty of their wills in acting, who did what they did,
not by force, but voluntarily. They voluntarily did it. But
it was all according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Now let's go to Romans 8 29 and
30. Romans 8 29 and 30. whom he called, them he also
justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Note
the text proclaims whom he foreknew, whom he foreknew, not what he
did foreknow, whom he foreknew. It's based upon a people. It's
not the surrendering of their wills, nor the believing of their
hearts, but the persons themselves, which is in view here over in
Romans 11-2. Again, the scriptures declare,
God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. It's not in
reference to their actions, which is what that false view magnifies. It magnifies the actions of the
sinner rather than the acts of our God. Let's go to 1st Peter
again, chapter 1, verse 2. Again, the references to persons,
not their actions, only the persons. 1st Peter, chapter 1, verse 2. elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you
in peace be multiplied." This is telling us what God did. It
has absolutely nothing to do with our actions, does it? Nothing! It's right there in the Scripture.
You see, this is why we must combat errors with Scripture.
This is why we must. We must always go to the Scripture. Always. So who are the elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father? They are the
strangers scattered in verse 1. And the reference is to the
people, not their actions. Again, see how the false view
of foreknowledge, which bases God's foreknowledge on what the
sinner does, has absolutely no scriptural basis. None at all. None at all. A.W. Pink says this, Scripture never
speaks of repentance and faith as being foreseen or foreknown
by God. Truly He did know from all eternity
that certain ones would repent and believe, yet this is not
what the Scriptures refer to as the object of God's foreknowledge. The word uniformly refers to
God's foreknowing persons. Then let us hold fast the form
of sound words. Let us hold fast to what the
scripture says, not to what someone wants to tell us. Again, the
scripture is our final authority. What the word says, we believe. We bow to the scriptures. There is nothing in those chosen
by God or done by them that would cause
God to choose us. Nothing. Nothing at all. It's pure mercy, pure grace,
pure mercy and grace that we are chosen in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The fact that he chooses us in
Christ, again, is an act of his pure, free, and sovereign grace. We see His grace on full display,
His mercy on full display, and Him electing the people, Him
choosing the people in Christ. We are elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father. In Christ. Why? Because it pleased
Him to do so. Why? Why? Because it pleased God to do
so. All according to His decree. That puts us right down here,
doesn't it, beloved? And it puts him so high. It puts
our God so high. Oh my. In the text we've looked at today,
we see that God's foreknowledge is a person's. Paul did not say
what he did foreknow, but whom he did foreknow. Whom he did
foreknow. God has loved his people with
an everlasting love. And He knew His people and knows
His people from all eternity. He chose us in Christ. He knows
us in Christ and knew us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. He delights in us in Christ. My, that one sank in, because
here we are sinners and He delights in us in Christ. We are the objects. I like to let these things just
sink in when I'm studying because I'm getting blessed as I'm studying
for sermons and seeing these things. We are objects. Each
believer is an object of his special distinguishing love. Each one. Every single believer. We are His by creation. We are His by choice. We are
elect according to the foreknowledge of God. And when the scriptures speak
of God's knowledge of anything or anyone in a special, distinct,
gracious way, the implication is that of God's ownership and
approval. He owns us because He purchased
us with His precious blood. We were on the slave block of
sin, beloved. And He purchased us. He purchased
us. with his own precious blood.
Scripture says this, for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous,
but the way of the ungodly shall perish. And it says this, I am
the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am knowing of mine. He is knowing us from eternity,
beloved. Oh my. Those whom God foreknew,
he owned as his people before the world began. Our God determined from eternity
to save His people and chose a people in Christ from eternity.
It is not God knowing. He already knew what we would
be in Christ. He already knew what we would
be, born dead in trespasses and sins. And yet He chose us in Christ. Knowing unto God are all his
works from the beginning of the world. And the believer, again,
constantly is stunned that we are one of his people. That we've
found mercy in his eyes. Lastly, let us consider the security
God's sheep can glean knowing that they are the elect God according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit they're born again unto obedience and sprinkling
the blood of Jesus Christ they're purchased by the blood of Christ
so again the whole Trinity is in action the whole Trinity is
in action turn if you would to 2nd Timothy
2 19 2 Timothy 2.19, and ponder this
if you're one of God's elect, if you're a born-again, blood-washed
saint by faith in Christ Jesus, you were known of God from all
eternity. You've been His sheep since all
eternity. That's pretty amazing. Look at this. 2 Timothy 2.19, Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are his." Does that mean he just knows us in this time?
No. How long has God been around? He's always been, hasn't he?
Knowin', knowin', knowin'. Unto God are all his works from
the beginning of the world. Let every one that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. You were one of those that our
text speaks of. You who are born again and have
faith in Christ, you are one of those elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father. And it was God Almighty and God
alone, all according to his will and by his amazing grace, who
determined to save you before the foundation of the world.
Here is God's foreknowledge, beloved. He loved you, owned
you as His own, foreordained you, and secured you all before
the foundation of the world. What does a believer say? To
God be the glory. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
for the truths that we've looked up today from Scripture. O Lord,
we thank Thee that we have Your Word to look to, to guide us
and direct us. And we bow to what Thy Word says,
O Lord. And we marvel at what we looked
at today, and the fact of Your absolute sovereignty and salvation,
and we know in providence. And O Lord, that You, for newer
people, chose us in Christ, all according to Thy mercy and Thy
grace. We who are Your blood-washed people, We who are regenerated
by the Holy Spirit of God, we praise thy mighty name and give
thanks for the great mercy and grace which you have given us
in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's in his name we pray, amen.