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The question is based on that phrase that I called attention to in, uh, Ephesians chapter one. That says, to read it again, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love, having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to good, good pleasure of his will. So we notice two phrases, two phrases that have caused a lot of, uh, argument and discussion among Christians.
I'll give you what I think they mean myself. If you seriously object, well, raise it tomorrow then, if you will. But some people think that God has chosen some people to be saved and others he's chosen to be lost. Or he has chosen some people to be saved and just bypasses everybody else. These people think, uh, that a phrase that we shall come across, so note it now because we shall come across it later in our studies, that faith is described in chapter two as the gift of God.
And so the idea has come around that God gives some people faith to believe with, and he doesn't give this faith to other people. And he did- does that of his own sovereign will. It's nothing to do with the people or their behavior or anything to do with them. This is just God deciding. He elects some people to be saved, and them he gives the faith to believe with. Other people he doesn't elect, he doesn't predestinate them, he doesn't give them the faith, and as a result, they can't believe.
Now, that is not true. And we can know it isn't true because of what is said elsewhere in Holy Scripture. In Romans chapter ten, and at the end of the chapter, Paul is discussing why so many Jews in his day were not saved. He had preached as a Christian preacher hundreds and thousands of times to Jews and then to Gentiles.
And hundreds of Gentiles had got converted and received Christ. But so many of his own dear beloved, and he did really love them, fellow national Jews hadn't been saved. And in Romans ten, he discusses the reasons why not, and a number of reasons he gives, of course, that's a very important chapter. But he comes finally to this, let that suffice for us tonight. Is it... that God wouldn't save them? He decided not to save them.
They couldn't be saved unless he give, uh, gave the f- them the faith, so the idea goes. He couldn't, they couldn't be saved unless he gave them the faith to believe with, and he decided not to give them the faith. So they couldn't believe. And they couldn't believe because God didn't give them the faith to believe with. Well, if that were true, now watch what Paul says about God. For God, speaking through Isaiah the prophet, says of these people, all day long. I have stretched out my hands. Can you see the image?
Like a parent calling a little child, come. And the parent just doesn't stand there and say come. Come to mommy. Mommy puts out a hand, stretches them out to the little chap, and he's got to take the step and try and come to mummy, yes. She wants him to come? Of course she does. If not, those arms stretched out would be a lie, wouldn't they? She's not pretending when she stretches out her arms and says, come. And God? All day long?
I stretched out my arms. Did he want the people to come, or didn't he? Look at that gesture. Arms outstretched, pleading with them to come. Will you say that he really didn't want them to come because he hadn't elected them? And standing there pleading with them to come, he knew they couldn't come unless he gave them the faith to come with, and he decided not to give them the faith. So he knows they can't come, and they can't believe, and yet he pretends he wants them to come.
To hold that view would be a very serious charge against the character of God. When God stretched out his hands, he wanted them to come. And God, the Bible is quite clear. God gave Christ a ransom for all. He would have all to be saved. What God has d- decided in election is this. If you will notice the passage, he chose us in Christ.
That is God laying down the terms of salvation. Yes, let's use the old illustration of Noah and his ark. God wants to save people from the flood. How will he save them? Well, he he'll provide an ark, that is. Anybody in the ark will be saved. If folks don't get into the ark, they won't be saved. God has chosen to save. And he has a r- God has the right to lay down the terms. He elects to save those who will come to Christ and enter in through Christ. He lays down the terms, has a right to lay down the terms.
You see. It is in Christ, and he has not only elected to save all who will come to Christ and are in Christ, but having saved them, he doesn't have to say, now I've got a lot of people on my hands. Oh dear, I didn't expect so many to believe Christ. Now, what on earth shall I do with all these? No, of course not. He thought out the destiny he would bring them to before he s- put the proposition to them. The destiny he had for those that would receive Christ and would be in Christ, the destiny would be that he would, God himself would adopt them as his sons and daughters.
That's the predestiny bit. So my answer is, what then if we were not, if we were not chosen, uh, uh, or predestined, is it, is it then impossible to become a child of God? No, because the terms upon which God elects are laid down in scripture. He decides the terms. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Come to Christ, receive Christ, you will be saved. You come without your works. You can't merit salvation.
You must take it as a gift. If you try to, uh, uh, go- gain it by your works, says God, no thank you. You can't have it on those terms. You must come on God. Well, that's what election means. He elects to save those that will come on his terms. If we won't come on God's terms, then we won't get saved. Yes? But you say faith is a gift of God, isn't it? Well, of course it is. Uh-huh. You're a businessman, sir, and you have a friend who comes on unexpectedly on the scene, and he's been given your name, and he has a big business deal to propose to you.
How do you decide whether to trust him or not? Well, one of the things you do is to watch him as he's talking to you and watch his body language and, uh, uh, the tone of his voice and, uh, what kind of a man is he? And does he look a bit shifty? Uh, uh, and is his, uh, proposal a bit, you know, doubtful or something? You're making up whether to trust him or not, partly by what he says and what you can judge of his character. If he's a, you judge him to be a sound man, and he can give you examples of his reliability and validity and all that, you may well trust him.
And if you do, it's he that has convinced you. He that has produced the faith in you. If you want to be saved, says God, come to Christ. Listen to Christ. Let Christ convince you. He who hears my word, says Christ. Faith comes, how does faith come? By hearing, says the Bible, and hearing by the word of Christ. Come to Christ and let him convince you. And if you take him seriously, you'll find your faith responding to him as he draws it out from you.
One other question. Can a person lose his or her salvation? Oh, there's another one. Uh, uh. Can a person lose his or her salvation? Well, that's a very big question, and Christians hold some hold one view and some another. I can tell you tonight what I hold, and if you think that's unsatisfactory, uh, come back, um, um, and put another question, uh, to me tomorrow and say, I didn't like your answer last night. I didn't think it was good enough, so please, what do you say to this?
But Christ, and he came as a shepherd of the sheep, and he was talking to people who didn't accept him as a shepherd, the Pharisees. So he stood there, and if I may use the vulgar term, he advertised himself as the shepherd. As a good shepherd, indeed. Now, what would you expect a good shepherd to do? He said, I'm a good shepherd, and I lay down my life for the sheep. That's one thing. Christ did that at Calvary. Yes, he's risen again now. Then he says, do you know what? I give my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. This is the shepherd talking. He defies anybody to pluck his sheep out of his hand. And if that's not enough, he says, my father gave them, those sheep to me, is greater than all, and none shall pluck them out of my father's hand. I rest my case there. The shepherd won't lose any of his sheep. Oh, another question here. How can I find out that sort of information from a Bible passage like this?
I don't seem able to understand the Bible like you experts. Okay. Perhaps that's not altogether to be surprised. I have been saved for seventy two years. And from early in my teens, at school, I went to a very old fashioned school, and uh, I started Latin when I was ten. that's how they used to do in those far off days, and Greek when I was twelve.
So by the time I got to my teenagers, to responsible years, we hope, I thought I would, uh, really start reading the New Testament in the Bible to see what it had to say. So I've been reading it now for sixty years like that, I suppose. So I have an advantage, don't I? Yes? And the Bible says the risen Christ gives to his church various gifts. One of those gifts, not the biggest by any means, is to be a teacher, and some are evangelists.
So you'd expect the teachers to know a bit more than those who aren't teachers, yes? Okay. But how can you, uh, discover anything? You may say, but I would never have dreamed that that passage is about what you said it was about tonight. Oh, well, okay. Read it again, do you see? But, um, when you read the Bible, do start by believing this is God's word, and he will speak to you personally in it.
He might show me a lot more things because of my years and experience, but he will certainly speak to you if you will trust him and read his word a little bit at a time. Yes? For he made us. And he speaks to us. And if you're one of his sheep, it says his sheep hear his voice. And they know him. So start reading it anyway. And talk to the Lord about it, you see. I do, when I come across a scripture I don't understand, I say, well, Lord, I see what you say, but I don't understand you. I will make sense of this. I tell the Lord that much in all humility and say, please, Lord, show me what it means.
I recommend it to you. Don't be discouraged because you can't see all the things I see in it. Read it for yourself, but ask the Lord to speak to you in a way that's suitable to you.
