Does the Bible Teach the Doctrine of Predestination?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Romans 8:29, 1 Peter 1, Ephesians 2, Titus 2:11, Romans 1, Romans 2, Acts 10, Acts 11:14, 1 John 2:1-2, James 5, 1 Peter 2, Revelation 22, Hebrews 12:14

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--does-the-bible-teach-the-doctrine-of-predestination
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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the short answer is no in the sense you've just described unconditional election of the individual is not a biblical teaching in fact it's contrary to the bible the apostolic understanding of faith repentance the pursuit of holiness all that is directly contrary to the calvinist doctrine of predestination so let's break it down of course the bible does talk about predestination and election but we have to understand two concepts very clearly first of all predestination relates to god's plan not to an individual destiny so yes um god created humans to have fellowship with him he saw that they would fall in sin and so you might ask well why did he bother to create because he had a plan of redemption from the very beginning and that's why in first peter chapter one the lamb uh was for ordained before the foundation of the world so at creation god already knew these people are gonna sin they're gonna need a savior i will provide salvation that's predestination that's god's plan so we can say with absolute certainty there will be a church there will be a  heaven god's people will be in heaven i don't care what the devil does he cannot stop that that's predestined the sacrifice of christ on the cross that was freed sign that was going to happen no matter what now whether an individual is going to be part of that plan is not predestined by god so god does not decide before you're ever born you're going to heaven you're going to hell you have no choice in the matter and actually that's what traditional calvinism teaches that's contrary to god's word so the first concept is god predestines the plan god predestines the incarnation the atonement the church heaven but whether we are going to be part of that plan depends on our response to god's grace so ephesians chapter 2 says by grace are you saved through faith now in calvinism faith is just a mechanical process it's not something you have any part of god just decrees well i'm going to save you by grace through faith and therefore person a i'm going to give them faith they're going to be saved person b i'm not going to give them faith they're going to be lost but the biblical understanding is god's grace enables everyone to respond but we still have the responsibility to respond and our response does not mean we deserve salvation or that we've earned salvation or we've done good works but but we have taken the capacity of free will that god has given us and even though that has been distorted by sin through the atonement god has given us the ability once again to make a choice now i will agree with the calvinists nobody ever saves themselves and nobody ever initiates salvation god is the one who saves us god who is the one who initiates salvation but titus 2 11 is very clear the grace of god that brings salvation has appeared to all men so the calvinists say jesus christ died only for certain people and god gives grace only to certain people god gives faith only to certain people only those people are saved the other people are lost but the apostolic doctrine accorded the bible and titus 2 11 is a classic example god has given grace to everyone now this grace does not inevitably save them but this grace enables them to respond jesus christ actually died for every human being for the sins of the whole world this doesn't mean every human is automatically saved but it means jesus paid the price and he's given them the ability to respond and i do believe at some point in everyone's life god reaches out by grace to draw them even people have never heard the gospel they have a two-fold witness in creation according to romans chapter one and through conscience romans chapter two if they will respond to what they know of god through creation and conscience then god will continue leading them and they can be led into a truth where they can be saved you see this in acts 10 cornelius did not know the truth about jesus christ but he prayed according to what he did know god sent an angel the angel sent him told him to how to get in touch with a preacher the preacher came according to acts 11 14 to preach how he could be saved how he would be saved so he wasn't already saved but because he did respond to god's grace to what he knew god led him to a place of salvation so there's a good example of how god's grace can lead and so i believe god's grace goes to everyone and so the classic calvinist doctrine actually has five points it's known by the acronym tulip t-u-l-i-p which is is maybe um considered appropriate because this was formally uh put together at the synod of dort in which is now modern dortrich netherlands the home of the tulips so t is total depravity which simply says humans are so sinful so evil that they would never be able to respond to god's grace you unconditional elections so therefore the only way anybody can be saved is god just picks what we say with no conditions not based on their faith not based on their will certainly not based on their works that he just picks l limited atonement jesus didn't die for everyone he only died for those god pre-selected i irresistible grace god gives grace to those he wants to be saved and they can't resist it they have no choice they don't respond he just does it and then p is the perseverance of the saints which is also called uh once saved always saved unconditionally eternal security some people just believe this part not the rest but it means that if you are one of the chosen you will be saved you cannot be lost no matter what you do you cannot lose your salvation well each of those points contradicts scripture total depravity we do believe that humans are sinners but we don't believe they're totally destroyed we believe that through god's grace they can respond and so the answer there is what we might call prevenient grace or the grace that precedes salvation i've already described true enough we would never be able to initiate salvation but we are able to respond to god's grace the you unconditional election no and here's the the second point that i i wanted to illustrate from the outset so my first point was predestination is the plan my second not the individual my second point was election is based on foreknowledge so whom he did for no he also did predestinate romans 8 29 so here's the way it looks at god knows the future so he knows what our choice will be so god knows the future he doesn't dictate the future he knew humans would sin therefore he designed a plan of salvation yes he does know that we will respond but whether we're going to be part of god's plan is not based on god's prayer choice it's based on our choice which god foreknows and i liken it to this let's say you're sitting at the top of a mountain and you can see a valley and a road winding around so you can see the travelers along that road there might be an obstacle ahead that they can't see or that might there might be a fork in the road and you know one way leads to town the other way is the desert the travelers can't see that but you can see the whole thing well as they're traveling on the road and they take a left turn you can say well certainly they're going to end up in the city they don't know that but you know or they're going to up in the desert they don't know that you know did you determine their destiny did you somehow by looking at it force them to go no they chose but you could see in advance where they were end up so the people that believe in calvinism say predestination and foreknowledge are the same so if god knows something he causes it to happen but i say using that illustration no they're different just because god knows something doesn't mean he forces it we still have the choice and so sometimes we get in this this um maybe this conundrum well does god know if i'm going to be saved or not yes well then it doesn't matter what i do whatever it's going to be is going to be and my answer is going to be but what god knows is based on your choice so you still need to choose by grace are you saved through faith well you know if i had time i could give you a lot of scripture for each of those five points we give you scripture um no unconditional election no election based on foreknowledge which in turns mean election based on our response of faith l limited atonement no jesus really died for the sins of the whole world um you know first john chapter two verse one through two he's the propitiation for our sins or the sacrifice or atonement not for ours only the sins of the whole world first peter god's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance aye irresistible grace well the bible talks about people who resist grace who fall from grace who fail the grace of god and then perseverance of the saints the bible talks about people who start in faith but do not continue in faith james talks about james 5 you convert someone who has gone astray you you win that soul from death you know first peter 2 it's better not to have known than to have known the truth and turn away from the truth and finally i would just say the whole bible is full of admonitions deuteronomy admonishes israel choose life you have a choice of life or death choose life joshua choose you this day whom you serve for me in my house we will choose the lord you know the prophets you know choose what's right and then in the new testament of course whosoever will revelation 22 whosoever will let him take the water of life freely but the bible is full of these admonitions are those all illusions where god says you need to make a choice oh but really i already made it for you it's just a joke it's just an illusion you're going through the motions but really i'm i'm pulling the puppet strings you think you're making a choice but you're not making a choice i'm the one manipulating you is the whole bible just talking about illusion or manipulation or mirage or is it giving a real choice and i think if you read the scripture honestly it's giving a real choice so under under calvinism faith is just something god gives you under apostolic doctrine the bible faith is an actual decision an actual reliance and trust in response to god's grace repentance is an actual act god works in you but we let him you must repent you must be baptized in jesus name yes god is the one who washes away your sins but you have to show up and accept it god fills you with the holy spirit it's a gift but you have to open your heart to receive holiness is god's work in you but you must pursue holiness it's not automatic and if you don't pursue holiness you won't see the lord hebrews 12 14.

so the entire bible would stand against the doctrine of calvinism we are saved by grace through faith not our works yet it is a real experience where we respond to god's grace