THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
PREDESTINATION
DR. JIM DIXON
NOVEMBER 29, 1987
JOHN 6:36-47
Kronos sounds like the name of a Greek god, but really it’s simply a Greek word. It’s a word which means “time.” It’s the word from which we get words like “chronic” or “chronology.” And at the IMAX Theater at the Denver Museum of Natural History, there is currently showing a film called Kronos. This film seeks to show the effects of time upon this Earth. It seeks to show the effects of time upon this world in which we live. And if you watch this film, you see great canyons that have been carved over vast periods of time by mighty rivers. You see ancient structures that have experienced the effects of time, from the great stones of Stonehenge to the great Pyramids at Giza. And you see the ancient Parthenon on the hill of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, next to the Areopagus where the Apostle Paul preached that sermon 2,000 years ago.
The Parthenon has stood the test of time, but it has been weathered by time and changed by time. Everything in this world is affected by time. You are affected by time. I’m affected by time. But you see, the Bible tells us there is one entity that is not affected by time, and that entity is God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is immutable. He is unchangeable—the same yesterday, today, and forever. God, the Bible says, changeth not. He transcends time and space. And this morning we are going to explore two Christian doctrines that have to do with God’s relationship with time and how God interacts with our experience of time.
These doctrines are controversial, and the first doctrine that we’ll be discussing this morning is the doctrine of predestination. I’m sure that most of you have heard of predestination, but perhaps some of you don’t fully understand it. Now, in the Islamic religion, in Muslim theology, there is an individual called the angel of death. This supernatural being called the angel of death sometimes also appears in the ancient Jewish cults and sometimes in the ancient religions of India, China, Greece, and Egypt.
Now, some people wonder if the angel of death isn’t mentioned in the Bible. And some people think that perhaps the angel of death is mentioned. For instance, they cite the angel of the abyss, the angel of the bottomless pit mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the ninth chapter and the 11th verse. This angel, called Abaddon in the Hebrew or Apollyon in the Greek, has a name that means “destruction.” But this angel mentioned in the Bible, whoever he may be, does not really equate with the Islamic concept of the angel of death. Now, others have thought, “Well, perhaps in the Book of Exodus there’s a reference to the angel of death,” because in the Book of Exodus there’s a reference in the 11th and 12th chapters to an angelic being that journeyed over the tops of the Egyptian and Israeli houses taking the lives of the Egyptian firstborn (an event celebrated in the Jewish Passover). And this angel is referred to in the 12th chapter of Exodus as “the destroyer.” But even this angel does not really equate to the Islamic concept of the angel of death.
You see, in the Bible there are many references to angels of God used in judgment, but none of them are the same as this concept of the angel of death for the Islamic people. For the Muslim people, the angel of death appears to everybody at the moment when you are meant to die because the Islamic peoples believe that before all time Allah—God—established, decreed, and predestined the hour and the minute when you would die. It is predestined. it is foreordained. It has been decreed by God the very day, hour, minute, and second when you will die. And at that moment, according to Islamic thought, the angel of death appears. He appears to take your life. You cannot change it. You cannot thwart the angel of death.
In Islamic folk tales and in ancient Jewish tales, there are stories of people who tried to cheat the angel of death. They sensed that the angel of death was coming, so they ran and journeyed to another city. But of course, whatever city they went to was the very city where the angel of death was meant to meet them. It had been decreed, ordained, and predestined from before all time. And for the Islamic religion, death is not the only thing that is predestined. Birth is also predestined, and everything between your birth and your death is predestined. Every single event of your life—every single happening in the world and in the history of the world—has been predestined, foreordained, and decreed. It cannot be changed. Life is like a chessboard. We are pawns. God is playing the game, and it was determined long ago how He would play the game. It is like a novel written by God and we are characters in that novel. God wrote the book long ago. We are simply playing it out. We have no true freedom. Freedom is an illusion.
Now, some people have asked, “Well, is this concept of predestination taught in the Bible? Does this reflect the thinking of God? Does it truly does reflect Christianity?” Within Christian thought, there are really two extremes. One extreme is Calvinism, based on the teachings of the 16th century Protestant Reformer John Calvin. Calvinists believe that God predestined certain people for salvation before the foundation of the world. They believe that God foreordained, before He ever created the world, for some people to be saved. He decreed that certain people would be saved. He didn’t do this on the basis of any merit in these people. He simply chose some people to be saved. He rejected others. They are reprobate. And from our perspective, it appears arbitrary and capricious. But God predestined some for salvation. That’s what the Calvinists say.
Having predestined them for salvation, God then sent His Son into the world to die for them to atone for their sins. But Jesus Christ, in Calvinist thought, didn’t die for everybody. He only died for those who were predestined to be saved. He only died for the elect. That is the Calvinist doctrine of limited atonement. Jesus Christ only died to atone for the elect.
Then God, in the providence of time by His Holy Spirit (according to Calvinist thought) called the elect by His grace and by His gospel He called the elect, but He only called the elect. He only effectually calls the elect. He only draws by His Spirit the elect. He only offers His grace to the elect. And when He offers His grace, they cannot refuse it. It is irresistible. They have to come. They have to respond. That is the Calvinist doctrine of irresistible grace.
Predestination. God has chosen some before all time. He has not chosen others. Those whom He chose, Christ came to die for. Those whom He chose, He drew by His spirit. They could not resist the grace of God. Now, in our passage of scripture for today, there are a couple of verses oftentimes quoted by Calvinists (verses that reflect the words of our Lord Jesus Christ) where Christ said, “No one can come unto Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and everyone whom the Father gives to Me will come to Me.” For the Calvinist, this means that God doesn’t draw everybody. God only draws the elect. And for the Calvinist, this means that when God calls you, you cannot resist it. His call and His grace are irresistible. Of course, these verses are capable of other meaning. And there is another extreme in Christian thinking today, and this other extreme is called Arminianism.
Arminianism is based on the teaching of the late 16th century post -reformation theologian Jacobus Arminius. The Arminians believe that God didn’t really predestine anybody to salvation. God didn’t foreordain anyone for salvation, God simply foreknew before the dawn of time who would be saved. But He didn’t predestine it. And then God sent His Son into the world to die for everybody (according to the Arminians). God through His Son offers salvation to all, and grace is offered to all, and the gospel calls all wherever it is preached. But that grace and that call can be resisted according to the Arminians because we have freedom of choice. And the people of the Earth can accept or reject the call of God. So that, in a sense…
Now, some Arminians believe in predestination, but they base it on foreknowledge. They say God has predestined certain people to become like His Son Jesus Christ and He predestined them before the foundation of the world, but He did it on the basis of His foreknowledge that they would freely accept Christ. Foreknowing that, He then predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son. This is Arminianism.
Obviously this is a very, very difficult theological issue. And within the Christian community today, there are many people who are Calvinists and many people who are Arminians. And then there’s people like most of you who don’t know what’s going on. And perhaps you’re not really that concerned. Perhaps that’s not so bad, because if you love Christ and you love people for His sake and you want to serve Christ all the days of your life, you can’t go wrong.
I must confess that personally on this particular issue, I’m more Arminian than I am Calvinistic… I mean, I believe in the sovereignty of God, but I also believe in the freedom of man. I believe that God in His sovereignty has granted freedom to us, and I believe that God in His sovereignty, in granting freedom to us, limited (in some sense) His control of all the happenings in this world (although God retains ultimate control and will bring history to consummation). And I believe that when the gospel is preached God calls everyone. And I believe everyone is given grace to accept or reject the gospel. The call is God’s, but the responsibility is ours.
But this is a difficult issue. And the truth is that there are Christians who are Calvinists and Christians who Arminians. The tragedy is that sometimes Christians separate themselves from one another on the basis of issues like this, which was never meant to be. You know, two of the greatest Christians who ever lived were John Wesley and George Whitfield. They should have been great friends. They were both born in the 18th century and both died in the 18th century. Both of them were British. Both of them were born in England. Both of them were reared in the Anglican Church. Both of them broke from the Anglican Church. Both of them were educated at Oxford University. Both of them were brilliant. Both of them had amazing conversion experiences wherein they gave their heart to Jesus Christ. Both of them entered the full-time gospel ministry. And the truth is that George Whitfield accepted Jesus Christ partly through the influence of John Wesley and his brother Charles. And the truth is that John Wesley began to preach outdoors to vast crowds because he had seen George Whitfield do it. And for a while they were great friends. But then, in the year 1740, something tragic happened.
You see, there was a conference and George Whitfield and John Wesley were both speaking at that conference. One night, George Whitfield was standing up front giving a sermon and John Wesley was up front sitting and listening. George Whitfield preached a sermon on predestination where he took a Calvinistic position and he spoke of foreordination and he spoke of the decrees of God. And John Wesley was so offended he walked off that stage and he never spoke to George Whitfield again. They were two Christians, both loving Jesus Christ, who separated because of this issue.
Most of you have probably never heard of Augustus Toplady. Augustus Toplady wrote a number of hymns in the 18th century. You’ve sung some of those hymns. One of his best known hymns was “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.” Augustus Toplady and John Wesley knew each other and they should have been friends because they both loved Christ, but they weren’t friends. In fact, John Wesley said that Augustus Toplady was garbage. He said, “I would not touch this man because I would soil my fingers.” And Augustus Toplady said that John Wesley was a heretic and a distorter of the truth of God. What was the problem between these two Christians? The problem was this: one was Calvinists and the other was Arminian. They both loved Christ. They hated each other. That was never meant to be. So if God has a message for us this morning with respect to the subject of predestination, it would be this: don’t make a big deal of it.
Don’t make a big deal of it. Just love Christ. Love people for His sake. Seek to walk faithfully with the Lord all the days of your life. One day when you see the Lord face-to-face, He’s going to say, “Well done.” You see, the great prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 17 is that we might be one. “By this all men will know if you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
Well, there’s a second doctrine referred to in this passage, a doctrine that is also controversial (though perhaps more important to most of you). It is the doctrine of eternal security. Are you secure eternally? I heard a story a couple of weeks ago. It’s kind of a dumb story. This story is about a little boy who goes up to his grandfather and says, “Grandpa, will you make a noise like a frog?” Grandpa says, “Well son, I don’t want to make a noise like a frog and I don’t know how to make a noise like a frog.” Well, the next day this little guy goes up to his grandpa again. He says, “Grandpa, would you pretend to be a frog?” His grandfather says, Well son, I don’t want to pretend to be a frog. I don’t want to make a noise like a frog. I don’t want to be a frog.” Well, this went on day after day and finally the grandfather said, “Son, why do you want me to pretend to be a frog? Why do you want me to make a noise like a frog?” And the little guy said, “Well, mom and dad say that as soon as you croak we’re going to buy a new house with the money.”
Now, that is a horrible story. But the truth is, I think, that most of us don’t want anybody to croak. We don’t want anybody to die. We don’t want grandma and grandpa to die. We don’t want our parents to die. We don’t want our children to die and we don’t want to die. In fact, most of us are very much afraid of death. And yet we all die, every one of us. The Bible says it’s appointed unto men once to die, and after that there is the judgment. Abraham Lincoln died. He was shot on April 14th, 1865, at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth. He died the next day, April 15th. A few weeks later, he was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. His body was laid to rest and the people hoped that his body would rest in peace. But it did not because, incredibly, 22 years later, in the year 1887, they dug up Abraham Lincoln’s body.
Why did they do that? Did they want to see if John Wilkes Booth’s Deringer had really taken Lincoln’s life? No, they took up Lincoln’s body because there was a rumor going all around this country that Abraham Lincoln’s body wasn’t really in the casket. The rumor was that somebody had stolen it away. And so, in 1887, with a crowd all around and newspaper reporters there, they opened that casket and they saw that Lincoln’s body was indeed there (although it was decaying). Well, incredibly, 14 years later, in the year 1901, they dug up Lincoln’s body again. They dug it up because the rumor was going all around this country again. And this time the rumor was even stronger. So with a vast crowd there this time, despite the protests of Robert Lincoln they dug up Lincoln’s body again and they opened the casket. And again, he was there. Well, finally, in 1901, they put him in a permanent crypt in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. His body rests secure and sealed.
You know, I think most of us really don’t care that much whether our bodies are secure, because we know that our bodies are really going to just return to the earth—dust to dust, ashes to ashes, like the Bible says. Most of us are really more concerned that our souls would be secure. We want our souls to be eternally secure. Most of you sitting in the pews this morning want to have eternal life and want your soul to be eternally secure, and you don’t want to know at death whether your soul is secure. You want to know now. You want to be able to sit in that pew this morning and know that your soul is eternally secure.
Is that possible? The Apostle John says, “I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you might know that you have eternal life.” But can you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and receive eternal life and then lose it? Is it possible to lose salvation, to lose eternal life once you’ve acquired it? Well again, the Calvinists and Arminians disagree. And the Arminians say, “Yes, you can lose eternal life,” and they cite passages like Hebrews chapter six and Hebrews chapter 10 and 2 Peter chapter two. And they say these passages show that you can lose eternal life.
Though these passages are problematical (and taken by themselves, they could perhaps imply that a person could lose salvation), there are other interpretations that are equally reliable that are possible. I must honestly say that, on this particular issue, I’m more Calvinistic than I am Arminian because, personally, I don’t believe you can lose eternal life once you’ve truly been born anew. You see, the Calvinists cite (and I would cite) many other passages of scripture which seem to indicate you can’t lose your salvation. It seems to me there are far more scriptures in the Bible that indicate eternal security than there are scriptures which would indicate that you could lose your salvation. In John chapter 10, Jesus said, “I know My sheep; they hear My voice and they follow Me. I give them eternal life. They shall never perish. No one is able to snatch them out of My hand. My Father is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” The Bible has many passages similar to that.
God wants you to know that if you’ve really received His Son as Lord and Savior you belong to Him, then He belongs to you and He’ll never let you go. One of the strongest statements in the Bible concerning eternal security is found in our passage of scripture for today, John chapter six, where our Lord Jesus said, “This is the will of My Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in Him has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day.” That’s pretty strong. That’s pretty clear. Jesus Christ isn’t going to lose anything of all that has been given to Him. He will raise it up on the last day.
You see, I think God wants us to know that His love for us is greater than anything. Nothing is stronger than the love of Christ. And when you come to Christ and you give your heart and your life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you’re married to Christ. And you might not always be faithful to Him, but He’s always going to be faithful to you and nothing can separate you from His love. When we became Christians, we came into the realm of Christ’s love and that love is so strong that nothing can separate us from His love.
I saw a movie about a month ago. It was a movie called Princess Bride. Perhaps some of you saw it. I took Heather and Drew and they loved it. And I must confess that I liked it, too. It’s kind of a children’s story. It’s like a fairytale. And if you’ve never seen the movie but you’re planning to, you might not want to listen to this. In this movie we’re told a story about true love, a story that a grandfather’s reading to his grandson. In this story, there are two characters: Wesley and Buttercup (only in a fairytale will you find a name like Buttercup). Wesley and Buttercup fell in love and it was true love. And Wesley had to leave and go overseas, but he said, “I’ll come back because it’s true love.” And then Wesley was captured by the dread pirate Roberts. And he would’ve taken his life, but he didn’t because it was true love. Then Buttercup was taken captive by three comical thieves—the leader of whom would’ve killed her, but he didn’t. He couldn’t, because it was true love.
Then Wesley came in pursuit of Buttercup, and he had to meet the Spanish master swordsman, but he bested the master swordsman with the sword because it was true love. Then he confronted the giant strongman and he bested him at physical strength because it was true love. Then he met the master genius and he bested him at wits because it was true love. And then Wesley and Buttercup fell into the fire swamp. But they survived it because it was true love. And they fell into the sandpit, but they survived it because it was true love. And then Wesley had to wrestle with rodents of unusual size, but he survived it because it was true love. And then he fell into the pit of despair, but he survived it because it was true love. And then he was given over to the death machine and his life was taken, but he survived that because it was true love. And then he stormed the castle with 60 guards and he won because it was true love. And he conquered the evil Prince Humperdink because it was true love. And finally, Wesley and Buttercup lived happily ever after because it was true love.
Aren’t fairy tales like that? We all grew up on stories like that. But we all know that life isn’t like that. True love doesn’t seem to be like that. Many of us go through our whole life and we never really find a true love. Or, we love somebody truly but they don’t love us. And then sometimes we find somebody that loves us and we love them but something happens and they leave. Or maybe one of us dies and we’re separated. That’s what life’s like. You see, God wants you to understand there is one true love in this universe, and that’s the love of Jesus Christ for His people. Nothing can conquer the love of Christ for His people. It overcomes everything. The Apostle Paul said, “What can separate us from the love of Christ? Can persecution, or tribulation, or peril, or famine, or nakedness, or sword? No. In all these things,” Paul said, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
Paul said, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heights, nor depths, nor anything else in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Does God want you to be secure? If you’re a Christian, He wants you to be. He wants you to have eternal security where you sit today. And if you’ve asked Jesus Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life, you can have that security today.
Now, God does want to caution us. I believe that passages like Hebrews chapter six and chapter 10 and 2 Peter chapter two (which the Arminians say mean that you can lose your salvation) are in the Bible for a reason. God wants you to be secure and He wants you to be confident, but He doesn’t want you to be too comfortable. He wants you to be confident, but He doesn’t want you to be lazy. He doesn’t want you to be flippant about your Christian life. He wants you to take sin seriously, and He wants you to take your Christian walk seriously.
Some of you have probably heard of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (with this we’ll close). Paderewski was, in the eyes of some, one of the greatest concert pianists in the history of the world. He was also a composer and a statesman. He was a native of Poland. He had been for a short time premier of Poland and then later he was president of Poland. He was a friend of many American presidents. He performed concerts all over the world and hundreds of concerts right here in the United States of America. In 1928, when Paderewski was at the height of his popularity, he came to New York City to perform a concert on the piano.
It was an amazing, spectacular event. The auditorium was jammed and it was kind of a high-society extravaganza. There were men there in black tuxedos and women in their finest dresses. There was one mother there who had brought her little son. This little boy was taking piano lessons and he didn’t like it. He didn’t want to learn the piano. He hated piano lessons. He resented the fact that his mother was making him take lessons. The mother thought, “Well, perhaps if I can just get him to hear the great Paderewski maybe he will fall in love with the piano and maybe something will rub off. Maybe he’ll catch a vision for playing the piano and become great.” So there they were in this concert hall, this mother and her son. Paderewski hadn’t come out to the stage yet. The mother was talking to somebody seated next to her and she wasn’t looking when her little boy got up. He wandered out into the aisle, wandered his way down front, and went up on stage. This little guy didn’t like the piano and he wasn’t very skilled on the piano, but he had a lot of nerve.
So it is a historical fact that this little kid went up to that piano and he sat on the grand piano bench and began to play “Chopsticks” on the piano. And everybody in that concert hall began to laugh and there was noise all over the assembly. But everything went silent when Ignacy Jan Paderewski came out. He walked out onto that stage and the little boy was playing “Chopsticks” on his piano. Everybody wondered, “What’s he going to do?” He walked up to the piano and he sat down next to the little boy. And the little boy was so into what he was doing he didn’t even notice. And Paderewski began to play “Chopsticks” too. They played “Chopsticks” together. That night, in 1928, Paderewski played the harmony and the people who heard it said it was beautiful. When the little boy went down from the piano and back to his mother, his mother was kind of embarrassed. Later that night, she said, “Son, what did he say to you?” The little guy said, “Well, he kept saying, ‘Don’t quit. Don’t quit. Keep playing. Keep playing.’”
Now I love that because I believe that’s exactly what Jesus Christ says to you and I believe that’s what he says to me. “Don’t quit. Don’t quit. Keep playing.” You see, you might feel like in your Christian walk you’re playing chopsticks, but Christ says, “Keep playing. Don’t quit. Don’t quit.” With Him, it can be beautiful because He plays with us.
So we’ve got two doctrines of scripture here. Both of them are controversial. With respect to predestination, I believe God would say that He is sovereign, but we are free. And I believe He would say, “Don’t make a big deal out of it. Love one another.” With respect to eternal security, again, God doesn’t want us to separate ourselves from one another over an issue like this. But I know God wants us to believe in His love for us, that Christ will never let those who believe go. He is ours, we are His, and He has us in His hand. He will lose nothing. He will raise us up on the last day. But He cautions us, “Do not quit. Keep playing. Keep the faith.” Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, You are great. You are great and we thank You. We thank You for Your love, a love through which You called us, each one. It is a love through which You have sealed us, all of us who believe. Lord, we thank You that nothing can overcome Your love. You want us to be secure. Help us, Lord, to trust in You but to walk faithfully in obedience every day of our life. And Lord, if there’s somebody here today who, by Your Spirit You have called and they’ve rejected You, I would ask, Lord, that in this very moment, in this very room, they might freely accept You and say, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I want to live for You. Be my Lord. Be my Savior. Give me eternal life.” Thank You, Lord, that You alone give the gift of everlasting life. We look forward to seeing You face-to-face. In the meantime, Lord, help us to be faithful. Help us to keep going and to never quit. We love You, Lord. We pray these things in Your great name. Amen.