Not Chosen To Salvation
By Dr. Max D. Younce, Pastor
HERITAGE BAPTIST BIBLE CHURCH
P.O. Box 573| Walnut Grove, MN 56180 | Telephone (507) 859-2519
CHAPTER TWO (continued)
22.
Pastor Younce
When I first trusted Christ as Savior, I knew that I was doing things God did not want me to do. Drinking and other things were not God's will for my life after I was saved, but for a year I still did a lot of those things. I knew that I was saved and that I still possessed eternal life because it was not predicated upon my good works. When I was saved, God never rescinded my free will. It was God's will and through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and influence of other Christians, my life began to change. Later, I dedicated my life to Christ and went ahead and followed the leading of the Lord, going to Bible college and getting prepared for the ministry. But remember, this was my choice. God did not make me do it. I could have resisted If I had wanted to, and at times there was much opposition against fulfilling God's will for my life. I had difficult decisions to make but I chose to go ahead and put the Lord first in that respect. But I did not have to. Again, God did not take away my free will or my right to make that choice. God did His part, as far as convicting and leading, but it was then up to me to decide if I would yield to God's will or reject it.
Should I seek to please men and stay on the job I had with security, or seek to please the Lord and quit that job to enter Bible school? Again, I thank God that He did not make me a robot but allowed me to choose to serve Him out of love. My free will was not over-ridden by the Lord. I was allowed to make that choice and I thank God for that. You and I must stand responsible for the decisions we make because of the free will that God has given us.
23.
Israel
"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
Romans 10:1
Paul's will corresponded with God's will that all Israel be saved. This corresponds with many other portions of the Word of God where He is "not willing any should perish but that all should come to repentance." If election to salvation were true, then every Jewish person would be saved because they would have no free will to reject God's call by the Gospel. Yet, we find that not all Israel is saved. Each individual Jewish person has a free will to receive or reject Christ. If election were true, then no Jewish person would ever be lost. Here, again, surfaces the free will of man.
24.
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Isaiah 53:6
If the doctrine of election to salvation is true, then we would have to conclude that this verse is an outright lie! This verse explicitly declares two facts: One is that we have all sinned and gone astray, the second is God has allowed Christ to pay for the sins of everyone. One man has rightly said, "If we want to know how to be saved as it includes everyone, you go in at the first all and come out at the last all, and you have been saved." You see, no one is excluded. All the sheep have gone astray; therefore, God Laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all. Why would Christ pay the penalty for the sins of all if all could not be saved? There is no basis for God to choose or reject anyone other than their acceptance or rejection of Christ.
God's character never changes. God is Holy, God is Righteous and God loves the whole world--even while we were sinners. Notice in Romans 5:8...
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were sinners, Christ died for us."
The Lord's will is for all to be saved as we are all sinners. Revelation 22:17 limits no one :
"And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."
25."In him was life; and the life was the light of men." "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
John 1:4 and 9
The doctrine of election is contrary to God's will as seen in these verses. The light of the Lord Jesus Christ lights every man that is born into the world. Notice in verse 7:
"The same come for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe."
"All men." This is God's will. Every man born possesses the illumination that there is a Divine Creator. This corresponds perfectly with other portions of the Word of God such as Romans 1:19,20:
"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."
Man has a God-given sense when he is born to know there is a Creator, so that no man can claim excuse. Verse 20 tells us that man has the knowledge of a Divine Creator by the things he can see--the stars, the sky, the moon, and the things that no man could create or set in order. This is attested to also by Isaiah 45:6...
"That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else."
Why would God instill this knowledge in everyone if it was not God's will for everyone to acknowledge Him, and be saved?
An example of this was a man by the name of Cornelius. We find his story recorded in Acts 10. Cornelius was a man who had desire to know God but did not know Christ. He was a lost man, yet he had a desire to know the Creator. No one had told him about the Lord Jesus Christ. Where did he get the knowledge that there was a God? Acts 10:1 tells us that:
"There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. He was a devout man, and one that feared God with all of his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway."
If you were a neighbor to Cornelius at that time, you would have concluded that he was saved, but he was not. Cornelius was sincere in his worshipping of God but he did not have the truth concerning Christ for eternal life. We find in chapter 11, verse 14, that God had arranged for Peter to meet with Cornelius and tell him how to be saved:
"Who shall tell thee (Cornelius) words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."
This was God's responsibility and He fulfilled it by sending Peter. When any person has a desire to know the will of God, it then becomes God's responsibility to see that that person hears the Gospel. Cornelius is proof that Romans 1:18 and 19 are true.
There are also many who do not have a desire to know the truth. It then becomes our responsibility to take the Gospel to them, even when they are not interested in God. We are to persuade them and compel them to come in. Paul reasoned with the Jews in the synagogues many times on his missionary journeys.
Many people do not have a desire to be saved because of a misconception that salvation has to be worked for. Many have come to know Christ as Savior after they have heard the truth of the Gospel that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8, 9). You see, it is God's will that all would be saved. Romans 1:19, 20 remind us that God has manifested in every person the knowledge that there is a God. In John 1:9, this light is in every man that is born in the world. Notice again in verse 7:
"The same come for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe."
These Scriptures reveal to us God's perfect will. The doctrine of election is in sharp contrast--not in harmony with the will of God and man's free will.
Dr. Max D. Younce, Pastor
HERITAGE BAPTIST BIBLE CHURCH
P.O. Box 573
Walnut Grove, MN 56180
Telephone (507) 859-2519
Web: www.heritagebbc.com
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