Unconverted Elect (Part 2)

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B. The rich young ruler i. During Jesus' ministry, a rich young ruler approached Him and asked Him what he had to do to inherit eternal life (Mar 10:17). ii. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, which he said that he done from his youth (Mar 10:19-20). iii. Jesus then told him to sell all that he had, give to the poor, and follow Him (Mar 10:21). iv. He walked away sad and grieved and didn't follow Jesus because the cost was too high (Mat 10:22). v. Nevertheless, this man was an elect child of God because Jesus loved him (Mar 10:21). a. Jesus loves His own (Joh 13:1). b. Nothing can separate one of God's children from His love (Rom 8:35-39). vi. The rich young ruler was an elect child of God who was loved by Jesus Christ, yet he rejected Jesus' requirements for his life and walked away from him. C. The people who crucified Christ i. Jesus asked the Father to forgive those (or at least some of them) who crucified Him (Luk 23:34). ii. If a prayer is made according to God's will, He hears it and answers it (1Jo 5:14-15). a. God always heard Jesus' prayers (Joh 11:42). b. Therefore Jesus' prayer was answered and God forgave those for whom Christ prayed. c. For them to have been forgiven, they would have had to have been God's elect who were under the blood of Christ (Eph 1:4-7). d. They were some of Christ's enemies for whom He died (Rom 5:10). iii. Some of those who were responsible for Christ's crucifixion were later converted (Act 2:36-38,41), but we don't know that all of them were. iv. Regardless if they were later converted, at the time Christ prayed for them and they were forgiven, they were unconverted elect children of God who had rejected Jesus Christ. v. A beautiful type of Christ's forgiveness of His enemies who killed Him is the story of Joseph saving and forgiving his brothers who sold him into slavery (Gen 45:5; Gen 50:20). vi. A Gentile centurion, after he beheld Jesus die on the cross, said "Truly this was the Son of God" (Mat 27:54). a. This man was clearly not a believer when he took part in the crucifixion of Christ, but his statement shows that he was one of the elect nonetheless. b. He could only have known that by God revealing it to him (Mat 16:16-17). c. Whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (1Jo 5:1). D. Jews in Romans 11 i. Within the nation of Israel (the seed of Abraham, the children of the flesh), there is an elect remnant (Rom 9:27) who are the children of God and the children of the promise (Rom 9:6-8). a. This remnant is according to the election of grace (Rom 11:5). b. Among this remnant there are believers like Paul (Rom 11:1-2). c. But there are also unbelievers who were broken out of the olive tree (the church) because of their unbelief (Rom 11:20). d. Nevertheless, all of the elect remnant of Israel (believers and unbelievers) shall be saved (Rom 9:27-29 c/w Rom 11:26-27). e. Some of the elect remnant of Israel are enemies of the gospel, but are nevertheless beloved according to election (Rom 11:28). f. Even though they are enemies of the gospel, God will not repent of His gifts and calling of them (Rom 11:29). g. This includes the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23) and the effectual call from death unto life (Rom 8:29-30). ii. Therefore, these Jews are unconverted, elect children of God who have rejected the gospel, and are even enemies of it. iii. "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." (2Ti 2:13) 5. De-converted elect - regenerated elect who were converted, but then backslid into sin. A. The righteous will perish by the sword and die without knowledge if they obey not God (Job 36:7-12). i. Their disobedience notwithstanding, they are still righteous before God because of the obedience of Christ (Rom 5:19). ii. Such are an example of de-converted elect. B. There are branches in Christ which bear no fruit which are taken away (Joh 15:2). i. Nevertheless they are still in Christ which means that they are elect and predestinated children of God (Eph 1:4-5). ii. Such are unconverted, or de-converted, elect. C. Solomon i. Solomon was an elect child of God; God chose him to be His son (1Ch 28:6). a. All of the elect will be glorified (Rom 8:29-30). b. Therefore Solomon will be glorified. ii. The Lord loved Solomon (2Sa 12:24; Neh 13:26). a. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38-39). b. Therefore Solomon was never separated from the love of God. iii. Solomon was a prophet who wrote three books of the OT: Proverbs (Pro 1:1), Ecclesiastes (Ecc 1:1), and The Song of Solomon (Son 1:1). a. All the prophets will be in the kingdom of God (Luk 13:28-29). b. Therefore Solomon will be in the kingdom of God. iv. Even though Solomon was an elect, beloved, justified child of God, he backslid into sin and worshiped other gods at the end of his life (1Ki 11:4-8). a. He was beloved of his God: nevertheless outlandish women caused him to sin (Neh 13:26). b. There is no indication in scripture that Solomon ever repented. c. The last recorded act of Solomon was of him trying to kill Jeroboam (1K 11:40). v. Solomon was an regenerate, elect, yet de-converted, child of God. a. Though he didn't persevere in faith, God did. b. "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." (2Ti 2:13) D. King Saul i. God "turned [King Saul] into another man" (1Sa 10:6) and "gave him another heart" (1Sa 10:9). a. A new heart is given to a child of God in regeneration (Eze 36:26-27; Tit 3:5). b. In regeneration a child of God is made into a "new man" (Eph 4:24; 2Co 5:17). c. Therefore Saul was an elect, regenerate child of God. ii. The Spirit of God came upon Saul and he prophesied (1Sa 10:10-11). a. All the prophets will be in the kingdom of God (Luk 13:28-29). b. Therefore Saul will be in the kingdom of God. iii. The story of the rest of the life of Saul is one of sin and rebellion against God. a. Saul ended his life in suicide (1Sa 31:4). b. Yet Saul went to heaven to be where Samuel was (1Sa 28:19). iv. Saul was a regenerate, elect, yet de-converted, child of God. E. Israel in the wilderness i. Israel, our spiritual fathers (1Co 10:1), came out of Egypt by faith (Exo 14:31; Heb 11:29). ii. They were spiritual partakers of Christ (1Co 10:3-4) who had eternal life (Joh 6:53-58). iii. Nevertheless, they were overthrown in the wilderness for their unbelief of the gospel (1Co 10:5-10 c/w Heb 3:17-4:2). a. They were begotten by God (Deu 32:18) and were children of God (Deu 32:19), yet they were children without faith (Deu 32:20). b. Although the Israelites which came out of Egypt were elect, regenerate children of God, they lost out on the temporal blessing of the land of Canaan because of their unbelief. c. Though they lost temporal blessings, being God's elect, they did not lose their eternal life (Joh 10:28-29). iv. Paul used the history of Israel in the wilderness as a warning for NT Christians (1Co 10:11-12). a. If those Israelites were reprobates, what would be the relevance to the born-again saints in Corinth? b. If that were the case, Paul would have in effect been saying, "Listen up ye Gentile Corinthians, there were reprobate, hell-bound Jews who died in the wilderness for their unbelief." c. But on the other hand, if those Jews were elect children of God like the saints in Corinth were, then their history is very instructive because it shows that God's children can rebel and be temporally judged for it by God in this life. v. Israel in the wilderness were elect, regenerate, yet de-converted, children of God. F. There were false teachers in Paul's day who had taught that the resurrection was past and had overthrown the faith of some (2Ti 2:18). i. Those that had their faith overthrown were believers who had fallen away from the faith. a. According to Arminians, they would have lost their eternal life. b. According to Calvinists, they were never elect in the first place. c. According to the Bible, though they didn't know God because their faith was overthrown, nevertheless God knew them (2Ti 2:19). ii. They were elect, yet de-converted, children of God. IV. The key to understanding the doctrine of the unconverted elect is to understand as Jonah did, that "Salvation is of the LORD." (Jon 2:9)