Sovereign Grace (Part 2)

For a paperback book in outline form which addresses over 150 difficult verses that Arminians use against Sovereign Grace, check out: Problem Texts for Sovereign Grace: Rooting Arminianism Out of Every Verse. 4. Those whom God chose before the foundation of the world were chosen in Christ (Eph 1:4) and were given to Christ to give eternal life to (Joh 6:37-39; Joh 10:27-29; Joh 17:2). A. God did not give all of mankind to Jesus, but only a limited number of them and Jesus did not give His life for all mankind, but only His sheep (Joh 10:11,15 c/w Joh 10:26). B. No man can come unto Jesus unless the Father draws him to Him (Joh 6:44). C. Draw - 1. a. trans. To cause (anything) to move toward oneself by the application of force; to pull. D. Jesus gave eternal life to every last one that the Father gave Him without losing even one (Joh 17:2-4 c/w Joh 10:28). E. Jesus did this by offering Himself to God for His elect once (Heb 10:14 c/w Heb 9:12,14). F. Jesus did it "by himself" (Heb 1:3), by His obedience alone (Rom 5:19). 5. Once God's elects' sins were paid for on the cross and they were made legally righteous and holy, Jesus then at some point in each of their lives regenerates their souls, making them born again with a new heart and a new spiritual nature (Eze 36:24-29). A. This is referred to in scripture as: i. Regeneration (Tit 3:5). a. Regeneration - 1. a. The action of regenerating; the process or fact of being regenerated; re-creation, re-formation, etc. 2. a. In religious use: The process or fact of being born again in a spiritual sense; the state resulting from this. b. Regenerate v. - 1. a. trans. In religious use: To cause to be born again in a spiritual sense; to invest with a new and higher spiritual nature. ii. Being born again (Joh 3:3,7; 1Pe 1:23). a. Born-again - a. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by (an experience of) new birth in Christ or spiritual renewal; of a Christian: placing special emphasis on this experience as a basis for all one's actions, evangelical. b. fig. Regenerate, revitalized; characterized by the extreme enthusiasm of the newly converted or re-converted. iii. Being born of the spirit (Joh 3:5-6,8; Gal 4:29) iv. Being born of God (Joh 1:13). v. Quickening (Eph 2:1; Col 2:13). a. Quicken v. - 1. a. To give or restore life to; to make alive; to vivify or revive; to animate (as the soul the body). vi. Being begotten again (1Pe 1:3). B. God is sovereign in the new birth. i. Just as the wind blows where is wishes and no man can control it, so does the Spirit make men born-again (Joh 3:8; Joh 6:63). ii. Jesus quickens whom He will (Joh 5:21). iii. Men are dead when Jesus quickens them, thus they have nothing to do with it (Eph 2:1). iv. Jesus quickens men by the sovereign call of His voice (Joh 5:25) and dead sinners have no choice but to come to life. v. A sinner is passive when he is called to new spiritual life, just as a dead man is passive when God calls him to physical life (resurrection) (Joh 11:43 c/w Joh 12:17; Joh 5:28-29; Job 14:15). vi. All that were foreknown and predestinated are called, and only those who were foreknown and predestinated are called (Rom 8:29-30). vii. This effectual call of regeneration is not to be confused with the gospel call to obedience. a. The effectual call of regeneration to eternal life precedes the gospel call to faith and obedience (Joh 5:24). b. Heareth, believeth, and hath are present tense verbs meaning the person who presently hears and believes has eternal life. c. Is passed is a present perfect tense verb phrase which denotes an event that happened in the past, the effects of which continue into the future, meaning that the passing from death unto life occurred in the past before the person presently hears and believes. d. It is the effectual call of regeneration by the voice of the Jesus Christ which causes a man to pass from death unto life (Joh 5:25). e. To those who have only received the gospel call, it is foolishness to them (1Co 1:23), but to those who have been effectually called by the voice of Christ, the gospel call is the power and wisdom of God to them (1Co 1:24). viii. Men are regenerated not because God is rewarding them for their works, but because of His mercy (Tit 3:5). 6. God is sovereign in preserving one's eternal life. A. God's saints are preserved forever (Psa 37:28). B. Preserved - ppl. a. 1. gen. Kept safe, protected; kept in existence, maintained, retained, etc. C. Jesus will not lose even one of those whom the Father gave Him (Joh 6:37-39). D. No man, including himself, can pluck one of them out of God's hand (Joh 10:28-29). E. Jesus gave eternal life to all his elect (Joh 10:28; Joh 17:2-4; Heb 9:12). F. Eternal - 3. a. Infinite in future duration; that always will exist; everlasting, endless. The New Testament expressions eternal life, death, punishment, etc. are here referred to sense 3, this being the sense in which the adj. in such contexts is ordinarily taken. G. Temporary eternal life is an oxymoron. IV. The fairness of sovereign grace. 1. Does this mean that people who really want to go to heaven won't be saved if they are not God's elect? A. No, those who hunger after righteousness are blessed and shall be filled (Mat 5:6). B. Those who seek for glory, honour, and immortality will have eternal life (Rom 2:7). C. Those who cry unto God are His elect (Luk 18:7). D. If a person desires to be saved from his sins, it is evidence that he is one of God's elect. 2. If election is true, does that mean that heaven will be a relatively empty place? A. It is true that God's elect are described as a remnant (Rom 11:5; Rom 9:27). B. Remnant - 1. a. With the. That which remains or is left of a thing or things after the removal of a portion; the remainder, rest, residue. Now applied only to a small remaining part. C. But consider, even if God's elect only comprise 10% (Isa 6:13) of the human race, that is still 700 million people (7 billion * 0.10) only counting the population today. It has been estimated that 90 billion people have lived since creation, so that would be 9 billion (90 billion * 0.10) in heaven. D. That is: i. 28.8 times the entire population of the USA (9,000,000,000 / 312,000,000). ii. 2,372 people per sq. mile of the entire USA (9,000,000,000 / 3,794,000 sq. miles) iii. 3.7 people per acre of the entire USA (9,000,000,000 / 2,428,160,000 acres) iv. 103,520 people per sq. mile of MN (9,000,000,000 / 86,940 sq. miles) v. 162 people per acre of MN (9,000,000,000 / 55,641,600 acres) vi. If lying in a line head to toe, they would wrap around the earth 411 times (9,000,000,000 x 6Ft / 131,477,280 Ft) E. Put another way, if each of them would contribute $1, it would run the US federal government for 20.8 hours ($9,000,000,000 / ($3,796,000,000,000 / 365 days * 24 hours)) 3. If the doctrine of God's sovereign election of grace is true, won't it result in less people in heaven than the free-will gospel will? A. Arminianism teaches that only those who hear and believe the gospel will be saved eternally. B. According to Arminianism, a tribe out in the deepest jungles of Africa who hasn't heard the gospel will be sent to hell. C. The Bible teaches that all those who hear and believe have eternal life, but it also says that God's redeemed comprise men from every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation (Rev 5:9). D. The Bible even teaches that some people who are enemies of the gospel are God's elect and will be saved (Rom 11:28-29). E. So it is the doctrine of sovereign grace, not Arminianism that will have more folks in heaven.