At Todd's Road Grace Church,
we'd like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neither. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nivert. I want to preach this morning
on the issue of predestination. Now people usually think of predestination
as something that theologians argue about, and to be quite
honest with you, I don't even like the term theology. But I
don't want to try to prove that the Bible teaches predestination,
because it does. The word is mentioned six times
in the New Testament. What is the issue? of predestination. That's what
I want us to consider. Now, the text is Acts chapter
4, verses 27 and 28. We looked at this last week,
if you heard last week's program, and I made the statement last
week that if you don't believe the God of predestination, the
God of absolute predestination, you might as well be worshiping
a totem pole. because the God that is is the
God of absolute predestination. Now, that's a very strong statement,
very strong. Is it true? Is it so? In Acts
chapter 4, beginning in verse 27, For the truth against thy
holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius
Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. Now that
demographic covers everybody. They were gathered together for
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Now that word determined before
is the word that's generally translated predestinated. When that Roman soldier drove
the nails in the hands and the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ,
it was because God predestinated that to be done. God is the God of absolute predestination. Everything that happens in time
was determined before to be done. Now here we have the most wicked
thing to ever take place, the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it says that everything that took place, took place because
God predestinated it to take place. Yes, without a doubt,
The Bible teaches predestination. We read in 1 Corinthians 2, verse
7, that we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom which God-hear this word-ordained before the foundation of the
world to our glory. Now, that word ordained before
is the word predestinated. And then there's the passage
in Ephesians chapter 1. It says in Ephesians 1 verse
5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. And in verse 11 of the same chapter,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated. according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things, after the counsel of His own will."
And then there's that, those two verses in Romans 8, verses
29 and 30, for whom He did foreknow, them 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." Now, you can
see from those scriptures that the Bible does teach predestination. Somebody says, I've not seen
predestination in the Bible. Perhaps you need to read it again,
because it's there clearly. This is who God is. God is the
God of absolute predestination, but what is the issue involved? What is the issue involved in
predestination? Number one, if I do not believe
in the God of absolute predestination, The God I believe in does not
exist. I'm believing in a fantasy, a
man-made God, an idol. And like I said, if I don't worship
the God of absolute predestination, I might as well be worshiping
a totem pole. The issue is that of worship. When we're talking about the
God of absolute predestination, the issue is that of worship. You see, you will only worship
a God over whom you have no control. A God in whom you're in His hands. He's not in yours. a God who
acts according to His will, a God who cannot be manipulated, a
God who cannot be bargained with, the God of absolute predestination. God does not negotiate with sinners. He's the God of absolute predestination,
and you will only worship an absolutely sovereign God. What is the issue of predestination?
If you don't believe predestination, you really have no understanding
of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And this universe
was made for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have
no understanding of the primacy of the cross, why God gave His
Son, if you don't have some belief in the God of absolute predestination. Now, if you don't believe in
predestination, the God of predestination, you really don't believe men
are dead in sins. You believe there's something
they can do to get God to respond to them. And you know, it's a
complete denial that men are dead in sins, and you have equipped
them who are dead in sins, Paul said to the Ephesians. But if
I don't believe predestination, I deny the sinful, helpless state
of man to save himself. If I deny predestination, the
God of predestination, I deny that salvation really is all
of grace. And my dear friend, salvation
is not all of grace. It's not by grace at all. It's
ultimately dependent upon something you do that God responds to. It puts salvation in your hands
and not in God's. Now, let me say this. If predestination is not true,
I have no hope of being saved. Now I hope we'll get some understanding
of what predestination is and what the issue of predestination
is, but predestination, listen to this statement carefully,
predestination is nothing less than God being God. Listen to this scripture from
Isaiah chapter 45, verse 7. This is God speaking, and he
says, I form the light. and create darkness. I make peace
and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things."
Isaiah chapter 46, beginning in verse 9. Remember the former
things of old, for I am God, and there's none else. I am God,
and there's none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. Calling a ravenous burst from
the east, the man that executes My counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have
purposed it, I also will do it." Acts chapter 15, verse 18, known
unto God are all his works from the beginning. And Hebrews 4.3
says the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Before time began, all the works
were finished." Now God is not bound by space or time, the way
you and I are. He has no limitations because
He is eternal and omnipotent. His omnipotence is seen in creation,
when He created this universe from nothing. His omnipotence
is seen in providence, that's everything that happens in time,
He's in complete control of. There's not a sparrow that falls
to the ground without your heavenly Father. He is in control of everything
at all times, most especially His omnipotence is seen in salvation,
where He took somebody like me, a sinful man, and made my sins
to not be. And He made me to be what I was
not, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. Oh, Christ, the
power of God in saving a sinner. His decrees are His purposes
being brought to pass. I'd like to say a few things
about the decrees of God, and I think this will be helpful
in us understanding this thing of predestination. Not that we'll
ever really understand it, but we believe it. That's what I'm
concerned about. I don't understand the Trinity,
but I believe God's in the Trinity. You don't have to understand
a thing to believe it. But the decrees of God are His eternal
purpose. according to the counsel of His
will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatsoever
comes to pass." Let me repeat that. The decrees of God are
His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby
for His own glory He foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. Now,
His decrees, I have purposed it, I also will do it. His decrees
have one purpose, His glory. His decrees are eternal. They're as old as God is. They
never had a beginning. His decrees are immutable. They
never change. If they could change, that would
mean he lacked wisdom or he lacked power. His decrees are absolutely
sovereign. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?
His decrees are efficacious. That is, they're absolutely certain. They most certainly will occur. Everything He has decreed will
take place. And the decrees of God relate
to all events. You can't say there's nothing
that happens outside the scope of God's decrees. Why, we just
read of the cross that they did whatsoever His hand and His counsel
determined before to be done. The lot is cast into the light,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And the free,
uncoerced actions of men were all foreordained by God. What you do and what I do, we
do what we want to, but everything that takes place has been foreordained
by God, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God you have taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain." Now, I know people will object to this. They say, well,
this makes men puppets on God's string. If He controls everything,
I think of the objection mentioned in Romans 9, verse 21, How can He find fault? Who is
resistant of His will? If His will is always done, how
can He hold me responsible? How can He blame me if I'm simply
doing His will?" Paul answered, "'Nay, but, O man, who are you
to reply against God? Since when can you set in judgment
on God and say, I don't think this is fair? Hath not the potter
a power over the clave, the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor?' God is God, and if predestination
is not true, and men have a free will and can thwart God's will,
then God is a puppet on man's strings. Now, I'd whole lots
rather have God in control than man, wouldn't you? God is the
God of absolute predestination, and before time began, There
were some people whom he did foreknow. Romans 8, 29, whom
he did foreknow. He knew them beforehand. And
that word knew. Adam knew his wife Eve. There was an intimate relationship
between the two of them. Joseph knew not Mary. He did not enter into this intimate
relationship with her until after the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before that, he knew her not. This word, no, speaks of an intimate
relationship, whom he knew beforehand. Them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Now, there's people
that He doesn't know like that. He said to that one group after
they boasted of their works, depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Oh, he knew who they were. He
knew what they were guilty of. but he never knew them the way
he knows the elect. Whom he did foreknow, them he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." Now,
the elect are the people who've always been in Christ. Before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee." They're eternally united
to the Lord Jesus Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. Now, do I understand how somebody
can be eternally united to Christ? Of course I can't understand
that, but I believe it with all my heart. Scripture teaches it.
I believe what God says in His Word. I can't understand the
Trinity, but I believe it. How God can be one God in three
distinct persons? I don't understand that, but
I believe it. But because God is, God is eternal. And everything He does is eternal. And His people have been eternally
united and in the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in the scriptures
of eternal life, eternal salvation, eternal judgment, eternal redemption,
eternal inheritance, the blood of the everlasting or eternal
covenant, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. God predestinating is God being
God. Ephesians 3.11 speaks of the
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now
regarding this thing of predestination, Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, and God predestinated that all
of those people who he predestinated would be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. How can I reach that point that
I would be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ? You see,
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinful man with a sinful
nature and sinful actions. I'm not proud of that, but that's
the truth. And you are too, whether you
acknowledge it, know it or not. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. If man says he has no sin, he
deceives himself, and the truth is not in him. He's lost all
credibility. I'm a sinner. I'm somebody who
cannot not sin. What I hate, I do. What I want
to do, I don't do it. I know exactly what Paul meant
when he said, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I'm a sinner. I'm an evil man. I'm somebody who deserves to
go to hell. Now, how in the world am I going to be perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ? Look at me. How could that be?
I know how that could be because Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And before there was ever a sinner,
there was a Savior. Now when Adam fell, I fell in
him. When he ate of the fruit, I did
too, because I was in his loins. I was represented by him. God
doesn't charge me with a sin that I didn't do. When Adam sinned,
I sinned, and I fell in Adam. And that was all a part of God's
purpose, his predestinating purpose. God could have prevented the
fall, but he didn't. He said, in the day you eat thereof, you
shall surely die. Not if you eat, but in the day
you do, you shall surely die. You see, the fall was for the
cross. Now do you hear that? The fall
was for the cross. The cross was not for the fall.
The fall was for the cross. You see, God determined the cross,
and He determined that everybody that Christ died for, all that
He had predestinated, would be through the cross of Christ,
through His death, through His life, death, burial, and resurrection,
what He accomplished by that, that all of those who were predestined
would be perfectly conformed to the image of His Son. Now,
here's what predestination is. It's before the world began,
Christ took full responsibility for my salvation, before I was
even born. We're given this beautiful picture
of this in the Old Testament when Judah took full responsibility
for Benjamin to go back to Egypt. Jacob didn't want to send Benjamin. That was his favorite son. He
wanted to leave him behind, but you'll remember if you know the
story, Joseph said, he can't, I'm not going to, you're not
going to get anything unless you send Benjamin. And oh, Jacob was so upset. And then Judah said these words
to his father, I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou
require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. And Christ said before the foundation
of the world to his Father concerning all of his people, will be surety
for them. Of my hand shalt thou require
him." Christ took full responsibility for making me perfectly conformed
to His image. That is predestination. I was predestinated to be just
like Christ, and it's because Christ took full responsibility
for my salvation. And in time, He came to save
me. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. When He came,
He came for His people, those who were predestinated, and He
kept the law for them. My obedience before the law is
His obedience. He died for them, paying for
their sins. My sin became His sin, so that
He actually became guilty of it, and the wrath of God came
upon Him. When He was raised from the dead,
it's because God was satisfied with what He did, and He justified
everybody that he died for, everybody that was predestinated. Now you
can't understand the gospel without this. The people who prayed that prayer
that we read of in Acts chapter 4 had just been saved for two
or three days. but they knew the God of predestination,
and all who know God know Him that way." You may have never
heard the word of predestination before this morning, but if you
know God, as soon as you hear this, you know it's true. You
know this is who God is. God is the God of predestination. What did He determine before
to be done? He determined that the Lamb would be slain before
the foundation of the world, and this Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world would come in time and save His people
from their sins. And He determined that everything
that takes place in time is subservient to that end. This is not deep
theology that theologians debate about. It is the ABCs of the
gospel. and any objections to the God
of predestination are objections to God being God, and those objections
are frivolous and spurious. They're not so. People say, well,
predestination makes men God's robots. Well, for one thing, I think
I'd like to be God's robot. I have no problem with that.
Programmed to do His will. But still, that's not so. If
you believe men have some control over their fate, you make God
men's robots and men's puppets. That's the truth of it. Either
God rules or man rules. Predestination says God rules. Somebody says, well, predestination
kills the spirit of missions. All the great missionaries of
the past have believed in absolute predestination, and you wouldn't
even bother to go if you didn't know God had a people. That's
why these men go that are true missionaries, true preachers
of the gospel. It's because they know God has predestinated some
to believe, and that's their encouragement to preach. Somebody
says, well, predestination destroys motives for obedience. You don't
have a motive for obedience if everything's already predestinated.
That's just not so. I want to obey the Lord. I want
to glorify and honor Him. I believe in absolute predestination,
and this doesn't take away my motive for obedience. I want
to please Him because I love Him. Somebody says, well, predestination
will make men fatalistic. Well, it'll make you fatalistic
if you're already a fatalist. But fate is blind fate. Predestination has to do with
the God of predestination who predestinates all things. Now, predestination is this. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. That's what Joseph said to his
brothers. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. It
wasn't you who did this, it was God. Now, the issue of predestination
is ultimately God being God. The issue of predestination is
the primacy and the glory of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The issue of predestination is salvation. really is all of grace,
and it is the God of predestination who saves by His grace. I am resting in the Christ, the
God, the Holy Spirit of absolute predestination. It lets me know
that salvation has nothing to do with my will and my determination,
but it's what God has done. Salvation is not what you do
for God. It's what He has done for you. Thank God for predestination. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church right
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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