Gateway Podcast: Episode 72

You can listen to or watch Gateway Podcast Episode 72 here.

(NOTE: Timestamps are for video version only.) 

Predestination Questions 

We received many questions from several different listeners all asking about similar topics. What follows are those questions lumped together into 4 Big Ideas. We tackled parts of Ideas #1 & 4 in part 1 of our Predestination Q&A and address #2 & 3 today. 

Big Idea 1 - Predestination: It is my understanding that God wants all people to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), but we know that not all people are saved. If salvation is 100% up to God with zero human involvement, why doesn’t he choose to elect and save everyone? Does the word “all” actually just mean “some?” Similarly...if God predestined some to be saved, then he must have also predestined some to be condemned to hell. Why would God predestine humans, whom he created in his image and loves, for eternity in hell? 

Big Idea 2 - Losing salvation: Back in Romans 6 we learned that God gave us freedom from sin and he also gave us freedom for righteousness. So how does this relate to the example of the person who was resuscitated by God's grace after being dead, drowned at the bottom of the sea. Can that saved person then, refuse life by wading back into the mire? What about the basketball player in your sermon...was he saved based on committing his life to Christ when he was younger despite his change later in his life?

God’s will and our will (8:45):

• Proverbs 19:21
• Psalm 33:10-11
• Proverbs 16:9
• Daniel 4:34-35
• James 1:18
• 1 Samuel 26:17-21
• Acts 9:1-19a
• Genesis 50:20
• Isaiah 10:5-19
• Habakkuk 1:5-11
• Acts 2:22-24
• 1 Chronicles 13:2-3
• Psalm 145:19
• Acts 15:28
• 1 Thess 4:3
• 1 Thess 5:16-18
• 2 Peter 3:9
• 1 Timothy 2:1-4
• 1 Timothy 4:10
• Romans 6:17-20
• Ephesians 2:1-5
• Colossians 2:13
• 1 Tim 5:6
• 2 Tim 2:23-26
• Titus 1:15-16

Limits to our freedom (45:15)

“Choose whom you will serve” passages (53:35):

• Deut 30:16
• Joshua 24:14-16
• 1 Corinthians 10:13
• Philippians 2:12-13
• Romans 7:15-25

Big Idea 3 - Free Will: Is it Gateway’s belief that a person has no choice or free will in accepting the call of God? I have always believed that all who God creates are chosen and all are called but some do not accept the call and therefore do not have salvation. You did mention at the end of your sermon that how we respond to God's call to salvation is important, but you didn't really expand on that. What are we actually doing when we “accept Christ into our hearts?” It feels like there is some free will in our response to God's call.

Big Idea 4: Why evangelize? If the golden chain of salvation is unbreakable, and those he foreknew, he predestined, called, justified, and glorified, then why do we need to share the gospel? Are some people doomed hopelessly to deny Christ no matter how much they hear about him? (58:55)

• Rom 10:10-17
• Matthew 28:18-20
• Mark 16:15
• Acts 1:8

Final Thought (1:09:55)