Bible, Gifts, Demons, Free Will and Predestination

Church, so today is the conclusion of the big questions series. We've been going through the big questions that you all have submitted. You guys have submitted these and then you vote them up in order to decide every single week which it is that we are going to address. This is the final week. And so last week we voted on four of the remaining big questions and they were pretty much neck and neck. And so we've decided like last week, this week we're going to address all four. You're gonna get four kind of sermonettes. The first that was voted on is how do we know the Bible is true? How can we trust that what we hold in our hands is the word of God and then we're gonna apply the truths of this scripture to the reigning three like our tongues and prophecies still in use today. What role do demons have in our life? And the last question is predestination, question mark, question mark, question mark. And so those are the three that we're gonna address. First, it's going to be how do we know the Bible is true? When you're sick, I get migraines, I have to keep a migraine pill in my pocket at all times. If I get too much caffeine, too much sunlight, not enough sleep, too much stress, whatever it may be, I've gotta take that migraine pill

that I get from the pharmacy. When you are walking through life and you get too much stress, too much anxiety, too much trouble, affliction, sorrow, suffering, darkness that you need a lamp to your path, the word can be like going to the pharmacy. That's the acrostic that we're gonna walk through. You may want to screenshot this. As we can look at how do we know the Bible is true. Now, first, 2 Timothy 3.16 says so. It says, for all scripture is theonoustos. Theo meaning God, noustos meaning spirit or breath. It is God breathed, that the words, every single word on every single page is God breathing them, it's his speech. Now, to an unbeliever or skeptic, they might say, well, that's really circular reasoning. Like, of course the Bible would say that, it would claim that, that's internal evidence, it doesn't tell me anything. Fair enough, let's walk through all of these individually. Just one of these would be proof that this is the word of God that you hold in your hands. All of them combined makes it unthinkably accurate. These are the very words of God. The first, prophecy. It is the only future telling book that has ever been written in the history of the world. There are 1,800 prophecies that have already had an exact literal fulfillment.

1,800, an exact literal fulfillment. There are 700 remaining in the second coming of Christ in end times. It is batting 1,000, so to say. It was 100% hit rate in future telling, by the way, it's not like, and in the end, there will be trouble. It's like, your king comes to you riding on the foal of a donkey, born in Bethlehem. There's like endless, one is about Cyrus, who's going to release the nation of Israel 250 years before he was even born. Sheer impossibility. God calls the shot, 250 years, there will be a king named Cyrus. It's just impossible going to insanely precise detail. Eight of Jesus' prophecies alone in his first coming is an unimaginable exponential probability. It's just true. You look at the prophecies of Scripture and you can know you are holding the word of God. Let's look at just one of them. Psalm 22 is written 1,000 years before Christ. David wrote it, and it says this in verse eight, he trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him. That's literally what the Pharisees said to Jesus when he was on the cross. Save the others, save yourself. It goes on to say in verse 14, all my bones are out of joint.

David wrote this. David did not have all of his bones out of joint, but when he was laying down, nailed to the cross, they lifted the cross up, they took a sledgehammer and hit it into the pole, into the hole, and it came down. It wouldn't have broken his bones, but dislocated them. Verse 16, they have pierced my hands and feet. Strange, given that David never had his hands and feet pierced, and this is 500 years prior to the invention of Roman crucifixion. Verse 18, they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. We know that the Roman soldiers and centurions were doing this at his crucifixion. I would love to stay up here and tell you 20 of these unthinkable, impossible, apart from God's foreknowledge prophecies, and instead just that one from Psalm 22 is mind-blowing. Next, the H in pharmacy is healing. The Center for Bible Engagement. polled and surveyed 40,000 people along with the American Bible Society. Now, they found that reading the Bible one to three times a week does relatively nothing to you. It's kind of an odd statistic to share. But when you increase that to four or more times per week, listen, it says that it triggers a massive statistical spike in mental, emotional, and behavioral healing.

There's a 61% drop in porn use, a 57% decrease in alcoholism, 68% drop in infidelity and risky behavior outside of marriage, 32% drop in anger, 40% drop in bitterness, 30% drop in loneliness, and our very own Baylor found a massive sustained reduction in the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma. The Bible literally heals people. It is living and active, and so it says in Psalm 19, and from those stats, we know it to be true, it is soul-reviving. I mean, it makes you wanna read your Bible, right? Like four more times a week, and all those stats are true, and it says it revives your soul. The A in pharmacy is authorship. This was written by over 40 authors, 40 plus authors over the span of 1,500 years on three different continents with three different languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and yet there was a crimson thread tying every single one of these 66 books together telling of our Savior, Jesus Christ, one cohesive story, and let's just look at a few of the authors. Amos was a shepherd and fig farmer. It was written in part by uneducated fishermen,

a despised and depraved tax collector, a tent maker by day, a Pharisee in devotion who was a bounty hunter of Christians seeking to destroy the faith. There was a teen prisoner of war who died in an old age, still in a foreign land, that's Daniel. There was an adopted son of a foreign king turned refugee on the run, that's Moses, and yet they all told one cohesive story. They had no ability to talk to each other. There wasn't corroboration, and yet they have one singular story telling the glory of God beheld in the face of Jesus Christ. Second Peter 121 says this. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit was guiding them as they're penning these words. 40 authors, 1,500 years, writing one story. Let's go to the R in pharmacy, resurrection. I mean, just compare every other world religion leader. You will find them in their grave to this very day. Jesus Christ alone went into the grave, came back out. Now, if I'm a person seeking to know what happens in the afterlife, which all of us are.

God's put eternity in our heart. Well, what happens when I die? How do I get there? What is it to live a life such that you would go to heaven or paradise or the eternal life afterwards? You know, Hinduism would say you'd be reincarnated or that you have to be absorbed into Brahman, that you have to reach nirvana, Buddhism, that your good works outweigh your bad, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, Islam. Well, how do we know that we know? Look, if I'm in Orlando and I've got five guides that show up at my hotel and they're like, hey, follow me. It's not a short distance. I can take you to Disney World. You know who I'm gonna follow? The one who's got the Mickey Mouse ears. Like, that's the one that I'm like, I think you've been there. And so Jesus goes into the grave after living a sinless life, dies for us, raises from the dead, comes back, appears to 500, shares meals with them, says, touch my wounds. Thomas says, my Lord and my God. All the others, they go off, they go into the grave. They can't really speak to the afterlife, can they? Like, hey, I'll tell you what's on the other side.

It's like, well, you never came back. You don't got the Mickey Mouse ears. So I don't know where you went when you died, but that guy's wearing the ears. I'm gonna trust what he says. Let's look at the M in pharmacy, manuscripts. No one would argue that Socrates existed. No one would argue that Socrates had wisdom, but you know how many extant, which means existent, manuscripts we have of Socrates? Zero. Julius Caesar, no one doubts him as a historical figure that he reigned and ruled. We have 10 manuscripts of Julius Caesar, but it's problematic because the very first ones that we have are 1,000 years after his death. So it's like, well, I don't know how related. liable those are. It would be difficult for me to tell you what happened in 1026 right here. You'd be like, how would you know that? Separated 1,000 years, but we don't doubt it. Plato, we don't doubt his wisdom or his life. There are 200 manuscripts. Those also were 1,000 years from his life. But then you get to the Old Testament. And the Old Testament, written around 1500 BC, so we're talking 3,500 years ago, well, the earliest text that we had for the Old Testament was 1,000 AD, Leningrad Codex.

Well, that doesn't seem very reliable. That's 2,500 years removed from when Moses first penned the words of Genesis 1.1. I mean, that's pretty far off. 2,500 years, how can we be so sure? Well, in 1966, there was a goat herder who lost some of his livestock in the caves of Qumran, trying to spook them out of the caves. He begins hurling rocks into these caves to try to spook the goats out of the caves. And he hears something shatter. He and his dad return to the caves later, and they find over 1,000 scrolls of the Old Testament. And they're a word-for-word match, misspellings, maybe word order, but there is absolutely essentially no difference from what was written. These were found to be from 250 BC, meaning that the Old Testament that you hold in your hands are the words that were penned originally. This is the preservation of God in his scriptures. What about the New Testament? The New Testament, you remember, we have like zero of Socrates, 10 of Caesar. We have over 25,000 for the New Testament within years. Decades of the eyewitnesses who beheld Jesus. The preservation and purity just points to Isaiah 40, verse eight, where it says, the word of God stands forever. No other book has this.

Or the archeology. You look at the archeology, and there are hundreds and hundreds. The more you dig, the more you find this book to be true. But they found the Pilate stone. They originally thought Pontius Pilate didn't exist. You guys have just made this up. This is legend and lore trying to say, oh, sure, there was this Roman person that ruled in that age. There's not a shred of evidence that points to Pontius Pilate ever being in Judea. Well, we found the Pilate stone, which reads this. To the divine Augustine, he's writing to the Caesar, Tiberium, Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, has dedicated this. The more you dig, the more you realize the Bible is divine. It said of the content, that's the C in pharmacy, man couldn't write it even if he would. There is impossible supernatural wisdom, prophecy, revelation, even if man could write it, would write it, he never could. It would be impossible. He couldn't write it. It's like it's impossible and beyond us. But the inverse is true, too. He wouldn't write it even if he could. What do I mean by that? There's no chance that some people seeking to write about their heroes of the faith

would ever include stories about adultery and murder and incest and the fallenness and brokenness. They wouldn't be like, hey, here's who we are, unless it wasn't about them, but it was about the Savior who had come to forgive them of their sins and give eternal life. Even if Jesus's family and his lineage, there's a prostitute, there's an adulterer, and there's a murderer, there's polygamy. Man wouldn't write it even if he could, but he couldn't write it even if he would. There are 1,200 chapters written by unrelated people, yet I want to show you this graphic of the interconnectivity of over about 64,000 connections. Look at this. That's the Bible referencing itself. They didn't have an ability to communicate. It was written over the span of 1,500 years, and yet it's just like tracing back and forth and back and forth 64,000 times, internally referencing himself. But I want to get to the last letter of Pharmacy and how you can believe that the Bible is true, and it's not the one you would suspect, it's you. Your life is a living, bulletproof apologetic for the truths of the Scripture. You see, as I said, it points to a Savior. Jesus, as I said, the Bible is healing. Your life should be, and likely is, a demonstration of the veracity

that this is the very Word of God. Why? Because this Bible changes you. Because Jesus. Jesus changes you. I've come to know God, 30 years ago, I just had a new testimony, I began tearing it apart. I didn't start on, embark on some self-help program, I began reading this God help book. And it changed me, he changed me. These words, sanctify them by your truth. But some of you may be sitting there and you're like, no man, I don't have change in my life. My life would not be an apologetic of the faith or of the scriptures. And if there's no change, you might merely profess the faith but not possess the faith. And if there's no change in your life, there may be no change in your heart. I don't say that to condemn you, I say that to invite you. Like let this be a litmus test over your heart and be like, dude, maybe today I can place my faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Now with all of that internal and external evidence showing that that is the word of God, we are now going to take this word of God and we're gonna lay it over the remaining three passages or three questions from the big questions. The next one is, are things like tongues and prophecy still happening today?

In short, the answer is yes. But why and who and how really, really matters. These are oftentimes put into classifications of cessationist or continuationist. Cessationist, meaning the gifts have ceased. Continuationist, meaning that the gifts still continue. Now in the book of Acts, you see in Acts chapter two, the apostles are speaking in various tongues and all of these foreigners are hearing them speak in their own language. It is used missionally and in ministry. Tongues, there we see in Acts two, is missional. Then we're gonna see in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14 that it's used in a ministry sense to build up the church, both prophecy and tongues. And I would imagine that question embedded there is what about the other gifts, so-called sign gifts? No, what they aren't is evidence of salvation. Every believer, when they trust in Jesus, receives gifts from the Holy Spirit, but we don't choose those gifts. The Holy Spirit apportions them as he sees fit, all for the building up of the body. So as I'm talking about the book of Acts, you might be like, well, hey, look, Acts is kind of crazy, right? Like, Philip shares the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch and then like, the Holy Spirit like teleports him. Like, and I don't think that's happening today, so we can't really look at Acts as our proof text,

but what we can look at is other epistles to the church, like 1 Corinthians, like Romans, like 1 Thessalonians. And those inform us as we allow scripture to interpret scripture to answer our questions. Let me give you a flyover of 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. 1 Corinthians 12, and I'll read a little bit of it on the passage, but what it says is, is like, hey, there are many gifts and they're all like parts of the body. You know, we can't say we don't need a certain part of the body because they all work together. So the eye can't say to the mouth, I don't need you. All those gifts are from the Spirit. Then it goes to 1 Corinthians 13 and says, but let me show you an even greater way, which is love. And Paul would begin that chapter and say, and you've probably heard it at weddings, but it's actually for the church and not for the wedding. If it was used at your wedding, great, love each other well. But it's written to the church, and of course, thus, to married couples. But Paul, writing to the church, says, hey, I don't care if you have all of these gifts. If you don't have love, you're a nuisance. So these gifts have to operate in love, not for self-edification, but for the building up of the body, not for self-glorification, but for the glorification of Christ. And then in 14, he says, eagerly desire these gifts, especially the ones that build up the body.

So in 12, chapter 12, verse seven, I'll read a little bit of it. It says, to each, meaning Christian, is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom. To another, the utterance of knowledge. According to the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing. I mean, I just wanna pause there. Gifts of healing. Like, this is not the book of Acts. This is Paul writing to a church about orthopraxy. The Corinthians were kind of a messed up bunch. I mean, they were like replete with sin. Look at 1 Corinthians 5, that J.P. talked last week. So he's giving them church instruction, and here he's saying, hey, there's a gift of healing. It's not a book of Acts thing, it's a church thing. To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. There we have the answer in part. To another, the ability to distinguish between spirits. To another, various kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation. of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

We don't get to command God as to what gifts we get. He apportions to each of us a variety of gifts, all for the building up of the body of Christ. And then you have the passage on love. Paul ends in verse 1231, right before he speaks about love, earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way, which is love. Love God, love others. Law and the prophets are summed up in this. But then in answering the question, are things like tongues and prophecy still happening today? Listen to a little bit of 1 Corinthians 14, one through five. Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy, which is to speak of the mind of God as he lays on your heart to a person for their upbuilding. Now, we don't do that perfectly. It says in 1 Corinthians 13, we prophesy in part. Nobody's batting a thousand like the prophecy of the word of God. If the Lord lays something on your heart, you don't say like, thus saith the Lord, but instead of like, hey, I don't know, I want you to test this, but I feel as if the Lord may have just laid on my heart to share with you, and you see some of the qualifiers of how that should be as we continue on. It says, for one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God.

Well, that right there answers the question also. Are tongues still happening today? This says, the one who speaks in a tongue speaks to God. For no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their, and here's the qualifications for a New Testament prophecy in the church age, upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation. So there's no prophecy that anybody's gonna say like, you know, thus saith the Lord, Ivan, the Lord's gonna strike you down in 30 days. It's like, well, right here, it's supposed to be upbuilding, encouraging, and consoling, so I reject that. But instead, if I'm like, man, Ivan, what you and your bride are doing with your life to serve this church, I hear the Lord saying like, he's gonna bless and build up your business. That would be a prophetic word, because look, here, it's like upbuilding, encouraging, and consoling. The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesied builds up the church. Now, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. Paul, this is not a rebuke to the church. He says, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.

The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues. That doesn't mean, like, you're a better Christian. It simply means this, unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up. He's like, that's a more beneficial gift, because it's building up the church, unless there's an interpretation. Now, it would go on to say, in case anybody's tempted right now, like, oh, he just gave the green light to tongues, that someone would stand up and just start, like, blasting in tongues. It says, unless there's an interpretation, you're to remain silent and pray between yourself and God, because it says that all things are to be desired, understanding, edifying, and done orderly, that he's not a God of confusion. And so, in 1439 and 40, it says, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but all things should be done decently and in order. In 1 Thess 520, regarding prophecy, it says, do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Right there, it says that the prophecy is not going to be perfect, because we are fallible, and therefore, we are to test it. A prophecy is never going to be in contradiction with the word of God, so pray through it, apply the lens of the scripture,

ask other believers, as we lead each other and seek to build up. Now, with this question, there's two things to be avoided. One would be to avoid like supernatural circus, where it's just crazy. It said, all things are to be done decently and in order. The other side of the pendulum would be to have spiritual cynicism, and be like, no, we're Father, Son, and Holy Bible, the spirit doesn't move anymore, but instead, to remain spiritually centered with the canon of scripture as our guide as we apply these gifts. That's how we know that things like tongues and prophecy still happen today, but in an orderly, decent, up-building way as God instructs. Next question, you'll see it on the screen. What role do demons play in our lives? Much. They have many roles in our lives, but remember, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Jesus Christ, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, has empowered you, protects you, and nothing can befall you that has not yet first passed through the sovereign hand of God, and every intent by every evil demon will be used for your good and for his glory. God will flip the script. What was meant for evil, God will use for good,

for the saving of many lives. Now, our lead pastor, JP, wrote a book on this along with John Green called Your Story as a Villain. You'll see it as a resource here. Identifying Spiritual Warfare and How to Defeat the Enemy. We've got two past sermon series I would refer you to, State of Warfare and Unseen Battles. So if you wanna do a deep dive, knock yourself out. You see 10 things on the screen where demons can have a role in our life, but before we look at those individually and quickly, I wanna tell you this. I've got kids at home. Laura and I have three kids, Hillpenny and Judd. They ride their scooters all over McGregor. They go to the gas station on 84. They ride to their friend's house in Stone Creek. They shoot guns, not in the city, don't arrest us, and not at each other, at animals. They fish, they catch crawdads right over here in actual the Harris Creek. They're like free range, they have a great life, and we don't tell them like, hey, lock yourself in your bedroom, hide under your covers, because something evil might happen to you. Now you might think like, that's irresponsible as a parent. You should keep better track of your kids. It's like, no, I want our kids to have an incredible life.

They're gonna have a great childhood. We're surrounded by an amazing community. We're living on offense. Could many bad things happen to them? Yes, but what's the antidote, to lock them up in the house? No, no, they're gonna go out, and they're gonna live life, and so it is here. That as we look at this, we don't hunker down in a bunker and think like, well, the devil's outside, and a third of the angels that fell with him as demons, and so I better just play defense. You see none of that in the Scriptures, but rather that we are an advancing kingdom of God people pushing back darkness by the name, authority, and blood of Jesus with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and we live on offense. Not that we would be afraid of him. Jesus says, do not be afraid of him who can kill the body, but afraid of him who can destroy both body, and soul, and hell. He's like, we advance, and so it is as we look at the role of demons. It's good to be aware. As Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, you should be aware of your enemy's tactics so that you aren't subject to them. So, they can affect us mentally, demons. Let me give you a phrase. They can't read your mind, but they can seed your mind. They can plant a thought in your mind.

You see this in Acts 5, 3. Ananias, who's a Christian, early church, Peter says, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit? Satan gave him a thought, filled his heart, which is the seat of emotion and will to act in light of the Holy Spirit. They can physically afflict. In Luke 13, 16, there was a woman, Jesus says, ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who Satan has bound for 18 years, be healed on the Sabbath? So, Satan had physically afflicted this woman for 18 years. It sounds like she was maybe hunched over for 18 years, and Jesus heals her. Now, does that mean that every physical ailment is of Satan? No, we live in a broken, fallen world where the world's subject to decay, and so are our bodies. You know this by looking at me now, being 50 years old. I don't look like I did when I graduated high school or college. I'm subject to decay. There is a breaking down of the body as we inwardly are being renewed day by day, 2 Corinthians 4, but he does physically afflict.

Paul said there was a thorn in the flesh. Spiritually, demons affect us spiritually. Ephesians 6 is the quintessential passage here where it says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Like, people are not our problems, but rather against these spiritual realms, and it says that Satan is firing fiery darts at us, but that we extinguish them with the shield of faith. There is a spiritual war that we are in. Temptation to sin, you see this in Jesus in the wilderness as Satan tempts him. Hey, turn those stones into bread. Hey, throw yourself down. Hey, bow down and worship me. He is seeking to tempt Jesus in the wilderness so he will with us with the temptation. He's an accuser, Satan and all of his demons. In Revelation 12, it says that Satan accuses the brethren, Brad and Lisa. David, every person in here, he accuses us day and night before our God. He's saying they're guilty, look at their sin. You know they're guilty and you're just, so you have to do something about it. But Revelation 12 says we overcome him by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. No, Jesus died for my sins and I claim Jesus as the one who washed me. And that silences the accusation. He causes trouble, we see this in Job's life

as Satan like wipes out his livestock, which is his livelihood, that would be his bank account, his finances, he sends in a great wind and storm which collapses a house, which in turn kills his family. So Satan can afflict a great deal of trouble, but take heart, Jesus has overcome. And not everything bad that happens is tied back to the demonic, but we would be unaware to think that some of it didn't. He deceives, he's a liar. John 8, when he speaks out of his own character, he's a liar for he was the father of lies. He also creates division. Oftentimes we're in conflict with one another and you better believe that Satan is delighted in that, he and his demons, even fanning the flame of the conflict, we're told in 2 Corinthians 2, with someone who was caught in sin, there was church discipline, Paul says, now restore such a one, I have forgiven him and you should also, it says, for we are not unaware of Satan's schemes, that he wants to divide us as the body of Christ. There's an obstruction of ministry, like when we're about God's business, he wants to stand in the way of that. He wants to stand in the way of you praying for someone, sharing the gospel with someone, thinking, oh, this is too awkward to invite the coworker to church. First test, 218, we wanted to come to you

but Satan hindered us. And the last one that's perhaps the sneakiest, because it just feels natural to us, is selfish ambition and jealousy. James writes, when you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, it is earthly, unspiritual and demonic. When you feel jealousy and selfish ambition, not kingdom ambition, like I want to do for the glory of God, I told my son, play basketball for the glory of God today. But selfish, self-exalting ambition, he says, it's demonic. But then we're told in Revelation 20, and I want to end on this note with the role that demons play in our lives. In Revelation 20, it says, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. Think about this imagery, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. So he's got a big key with a big chain. This is one singular angel. Then it says, and he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years. So the same devil that we are tempted to be like threatened by and afraid of, rather than fearing God alone, it says that an angel's got a key and with his probably left hand, one hand, grabs Satan. One angel grabs Satan.

That is the power of God and throws him in for 1,000 years. What role do demons play in our lives? Much. What role does God play in our lives? Infinitely more. You are well with Jesus. The third and remaining question, which probably feels perhaps the largest, is going to be the smallest, and it's intentional. The third and final, well, I guess the fourth question, is predestination, triple question mark, which we assume to mean if we have free will, a volition, an ability to decide, how is it, because the Bible says that, that's how we began this sermon series, like where did evil come from? It's like, well, we chose. We have the ability to decide. So if that's the truth and we can choose God, then how can it be when we read election, predestination, that both of those can be there? This is often called Arminian and Calvinist. So we would say the question is, predestination or free will? Which is it? In short, the answer is yes. It's both, in a mysterious tension. At Harris Creek, we teach the Bible.

We go through passage by passage. Is that my two-minute warning? Is that what that is? Is that what that is? Is that what that is? Is that what that is? Is that what that is? We go passage by passage. When the scripture presents that humans have a choice to choose God, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, we will teach exactly that. When we get to Ephesians one and it says that he chose us in him before the foundations of the world to be elect and adopted, we will teach exactly that. And you say, well, which is it? You ask God. Look at his word, he says, yes. Because the Bible represents both, man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. And what that is grammatically called is an antinomy. An antinomy is two truths that seem logically irreconcilable, but are true. And so the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. We can't fathom or reason it, but that doesn't mean that it's not so. God's ways are higher than ours. And so in one verse, he'll say he elects and predestines. And in another verse, it'll say that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And it doesn't violate the character of God or our reality. So to satisfy the question, I wanna give a couple of proof texts. One for predestination and the next for free will. Here's predestination. Proof text just means like you look at this and you're like, that's clear, case closed until you continue reading scripture. Ephesians chapter one, verses four and five. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. He chose us. Sometimes people will say like, well, God just knew who he was gonna choose, who was gonna choose him. And so it was more like he kind of foreknew. No, this is for choosing. He chose us, not that he knew that we would choose him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and his will, not ours. Acts 13, 48, here's another. When the Gentiles, the gospel went to the Gentiles, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord. Listen, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. What? There were some that were appointed. Those who were appointed for eternal life, those are the ones who believed. Well, that sure sounds like predestination and election.

That was an appointment by God. And it feels like, okay, well, that's the end of the matter. That's clear, but it's not. Because you get to John 3, 16, quintessential passage that's held up at every football game. And it says, for God so loved the world, not just the elect, not just the predestined, not just the appointed. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever, whoever, in the Greek means whoever, means whoever, believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Or this one, 1 Timothy 2. This is good and pleases God, our Savior. Who wants all people to be saved? And to come to a knowledge of the truth. Now, let me ask you a question. Is God omnipotent? Is he omnipotent? Is he all powerful? Yes. So if God wants all people to be saved, then they would, right? Because he's omnipotent. He could just make it so. And yet we know there are people who reject the claims of Christ and die in their sins and spend eternity in hell. So what's going on here?

Well, it seems per the text that God wants all people to be saved, but not all people want to be saved. And you think like, well, how can that be? Because God is inscrutable. He is inscrutable. It's a theological term that means this. You'll see it on the screen. Impossible or very difficult to understand fully. Mysterious, beyond human comprehension. Unable to be searched out completely. Paul writes and says these very words. He says the mysterion of the gospel, the mystery of the gospel. Like, wait, what? Like it was hidden, now it's revealed. Predestination, human responsibility and free will and choice. Like, what is it? Romans 11, 33. Oh, the, which by the way, Romans 9, 10 and 11 is the very question of predestination and free will. Paul like wrestles it out right there in 9, 10 and 11. And he ends the whole thing with this. Oh, the depths and riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. That's Paul writing the revelation by the Holy Spirit

in these words. He's like, yeah, this is unsearchable and inscrutable. It's beyond me. I'm writing both and it's beyond me. But a better question, and the question's not wrong, predestination or free will. But a better question would be, how then should we live? Instead of infighting as Christians, like, well, I believe in predestination and election. Well, I believe in human responsibility and choice and that we can choose or reject God. And so. There's all this infighting, and I'm not saying to not study theology. You learn about the knowledge and love of God through it. But a better question would be, how then should we live? Because Matthew 28 applies. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Don't stay and argue, go and make disciples. And so what I am asking is that after this service, you do not come forward and say, well, let me compel you to predestination. Let me compel you further to free will. Do not come forward, go out and share the gospel with your neighbor, your waitstaff, your coworker. Invite them to church, share with them. Don't come try to reason with me. I'm not interested. I'm very interested in everyone leaving these doors

and sharing Jesus with the lost world. Billy Graham was a poster boy for every person making a personal decision for Christ. It's what he would do at his crusades. Stadiums would be filled, and he would say, choose this day, Jesus, for the salvation of your souls. Dr. R.C. Sproul, you could say, was a poster boy for election predestination, a Calvinist theology. Well, Sproul was speaking at a church conference and there was a Q&A on free will and election. And Dr. Sproul was asked, do you think you'll see Billy Graham in heaven? Sproul said with little hesitation, no, I don't believe I will see Billy Graham in heaven. The room fell silent. And then after a pregnant, tense, and unforgettable five-second pause, Sproul said, Billy Graham will be so close to the throne of God and I will be so far away that I will be lucky to even get a glimpse of him. They were opposed in this particular vein of theology, so aligned about the kingdom and love of God. So can the Bible be trusted? Definitively. Are the gifts active? Yes, for the up-building and with order. What role do demons have? Much, but it is limited and we stay on the offense. Predestination and free will?

Yes. So concludes Big Questions. Thank you. Thank you. God bless. God VIDE. God iB görd. God gets criticized. God harms. God is condemned and used against us all. Have a loving life. God gives gifts. If you receive gifts and they don't say the- they're not grace. If you receive them, it adults are to blame for our sin. For that to happen in your life, Jesus, and the family members of your children Everybody stand up. And I want our prayer team to come forward, please. Like line the front of the stage. Here's the thing. All of this theology that we just discussed, it's good. It's important. But what is most important is that every single person in this room knows that when they die, they will go to heaven, that they would be reconciled to God,

that their sins could be forgiven. And so if you're listening and you're like, what is all this nonsense? That's probably an indication that you're not saved. That it's just confusing to you. And that makes sense. And so this is an invitation right now to come forward and just say, I don't know that I'll go to heaven when I die. I don't think my sins are forgiven. None of that made sense to me. And or come forward and receive prayer. Everybody else is gonna be praying as they sing. You just come forward and say, man, I need prayer. I need help. Or today could be the day of salvation. We love you.