Daily Truth Bible Study Acts 9:1-21 part 2
Daily Truth Bible Study Acts 9:1-21 part 2 Bible Study Bible Study Acts
The doctrine of election. We are waist-deep in it so let’s continue. Where exactly does the Bible say that God sovereignly elects man? Well, I would point you to begin in Genesis and continue to Revelation. Throughout the Bible, God sovereignly does what He does…He chooses whom He chooses…He hardens whom He hardens. Anything less would be our work of ‘making a decision’ to allow Jesus to be our Savior and to allow God to be the sovereign creator and Lord of all!
I am waiting for the dust to settle…Ok. Now, let’s look at what we see and hear today. People believe and preach in some places that man makes a decision to follow Christ. And this is true to an extent. But, the main thing to understand is that man cannot make such a decision unless He is chosen by God.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Not by works lest anyone should boast.”
Some try to suggest that God selects those whom He knows will accept Him ultimately. This still suggests that man sovereignly chooses to allow God to be God. Man has some ability to be good, in other words.
The calamity of American society is that we are a self absorbed nation. We cannot fathom that we are not in control of everything. We even get to determine who God is and what He can and cannot do. Not! The Bible is not in harmony with American thought.
Man is dead in his sin. This death is total and complete. It is unalterable apart from God. The sinner cannot do anything about his condition. Psalm 14:1-3 sums this up precisely, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Ok, so much for man having some amount of goodness or ability to choose God. Let’s look at something Jesus said concerning the subject in John 6:37-40, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” And John 6:44 says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
In the passage above, the crowds were following Jesus because He had fed them physical food. Jesus changes the direction of the conversation and teaches them what it really means to follow Him and who can and does follow Him. Those that God gave Him follows and stays secure in Christ. No one comes to Christ unless the Father draws them. Man does not come up with the idea nor does man have the impetus to do anything apart from God but to hate God and the things of God (refer back to the passage from Psalms). Romans 8:7 says that the carnal mind of man hates God and is not subject to God’s law nor does it have the ability to be.
God sovereignly chooses to save and whom to save. He is able and just in doing so because He is God. Saul is an example of one chosen by God.
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