FOREKNOWLEDGE & PREDESTINATION

ROMANS 8:28-30

Pastor Rick Jackson

Here is a topic the Bible speaks sparingly of, but men write volumes about, yet the Bible is clearer and more concise and has more to say than all the man-made volumes put together. I have been asked over the years if I am a Calvinist or an Armenian, as if those were the only two choices. The answer is neither, I am a Biblicist. I believe the Bible, not Calvin nor Arminius, is the authority. I believe a Biblical view rather than an Armenian view or Calvinistic view. Where either of these groups agree with the Bible, I have no problem with them, but when they part from the Word of the living God, they part from me.

Obviously if volumes have been written we will not exhaust the subject in a sermon or two but I do believe we can see what the Bible actually teaches on any subject and then you can go from there on your own.

I. WHAT IS FOREKNOWLEDGE? [Acts 2:23]

1. Foreknowledge is knowledge known before.

Good Dictionary: to foreknow is “to know beforehand”.

2. Foreknowledge is NOT causative.

It doesn’t cause things to happen. For instance, your foreknowledge that tonight’s church service would start at 7 pm did not cause it to happen, it could have been changed- by the weather, or some other such thing. Trains, planes and football games are all known with a certain degree of foreknowledge but that does not stop them from being delayed or postponed.

3. Man’s foreknowledge isn’t perfect, but God’s is!

Since God is omniscient, He knows all about the delays and such, is never taken by surprise, and continues His plan perfectly.

II. WHAT IS PREDESTINATION? [Rm. 8:29-30, Eph. 1:5, 11]

1. Beware of Man’s Definition.

The standard dictionary, influenced by false teaching and written by fallible men, causes more problems than it solves. “In theology, 1) the act by which God foreordained everything that would happen. B) God’s predestination of souls to damnation or to salvation.” Herein is the tragedy that is man’s definition, not God’s!

2. God does Predestine certain things, but Specific Souls are NOT one of them.

In a general sense God predestines souls but not in the way most people think. God does not pick and choose individuals to be saved or lost, but He did predestinate that all who trust Christ will be saved, go to Heaven, and be like Jesus, and that all who reject Christ will go to Hell.

3. God’s Sovereignty is NOT minimized.

This view does not abrogate, negate, or minimize God’s sovereignty. For some strange reason the Calvinistic mind thinks that because we don’t believe God appointed certain individuals randomly to Heaven and/or Hell then we do harm to His sovereignty. The answer is simply “no”. We believe that God, in His sovereignty, gave man a choice, but the results of that choice are predestined. Jesus made this abundantly clear when he wept over the inhabitants of Jerusalem and said, “how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” [Mt. 23:37] You can’t reject Christ’s work on the cross and go to Heaven.

III. WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT FOREKNOWLEDGE & PREDESTINATION

1. It took God’s “Determinate Council” to bring this foreknowledge to pass. [Acts 2:22-24]

2. Those God Knew would Trust Christ, He Predestined Them to be Like Jesus. [Rm. 8:29-30]

“Predestination has application only to those who love God - God's children - and it simply guarantees that God's high and holy purpose will be consummated in them.” - J. Vernon McGee

3. God Always Knew that Israel would Not All be Saved, but that Some Would Be. [Rm. 11:1-6]

4. Those That Trust Christ have a Predetermined Destiny. [Eph. 1:3-11]

Will you one day be like Jesus? Have you trusted Him or are you condemned already, on your way to a well-deserved Hell?

Christian, are you sharing the Gospel with others?