SERMON TITLE: Responding to Your Questions Pt. 3: God’s sovereign mercy is our only hope
SCRIPTURE: Multiple (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 11-17-24
Sermon Discussion Guide
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As always it’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
We’ve been doing something different for a few weeks. We’ve been taking time to do what Paul did in his first letter to the Corinthians. Apparently, the Corinthians had sent Paul some questions. In fact, six times Paul appears to respond to questions they’d asked him. And — over the past few weeks — you have been asking some questions and I thought it’d be good to take time to respond to them.
The questions you’ve been asking are — one — what does it mean to hear from God and two — what is man’s free will in light of God’s sovereignty? Two weeks ago — I answered the first question and — today — I’m answering your question about our — humanity’s — free will — which we also looked at last week.
In previous weeks you’ve heard me mention that I answer questions like these on our church podcast and — in fact — have answered questions on God’s sovereignty and our free will previously on the podcast. So — if you’re not a regular listener to our church podcast — you can find it on our website — gatewayepc.org — if it interests you.
Now — today’s sermon — is a continuation of last week’s sermon where I introduced the ideas of free will, liberty, and both the physical and spiritual effects that we’ve experienced due to sin. And — in regards to our free will and liberty — what we saw last week is that — due to sin — we didn’t lose our free will — what we lost was our liberty. Our wills are now bound to choose what our hearts desire most. And — being born with a sinful nature — we’re free to make choices — but our choices are limited to our nature. Or to say it another way — in being spiritually alive to sin and spiritually dead to God — we live accordingly — we choose to live for sin. Thus what we need is spiritual liberty — or freedom — a rescue from our enslavement to sin and a resurrection from our spiritual death.
I don’t have time to defend all that I just said from scripture today — you’ll need to go listen to last week’s sermon if you weren’t here to get caught up. Obviously I hope you won’t do that right now — some other time — but there was so much more that I wanted to say last week that this has become another case of what I thought would be one sermon turning into two. So think of this as part two of one really long sermon that I spared you from sitting through in one sitting last week. You’re welcome.
So back to the idea of this liberty — this being set free — this spiritual resurrection that we all need. This is what theologians call regeneration. Others call it the new birth or being born again. And regeneration is needed because — in order to choose the things of God — we need to be set free from our sinful spiritual nature — for we’re bound to choose according to what it desires. Thus we need a radical change to our spiritual nature.
So far — Christians — no matter their particular theology of salvation — agree. But — now — the question becomes: Does this radical change to our nature come before or after a person believes in Jesus?
And — know that — at this point — we’re having to infer from what Scripture teaches. Meaning there’s not an explicit verse that makes the answer to our question so clear that there’s no room to debate. Otherwise there’d be no debate among Christians. I should probably take that back — we’d probably debate it anyway.
Anyhoo…some Christians say this radical change to our heart’s desire comes after a person believes in Jesus. That — because a person has believed in Jesus — God gives them a new heart or a new spiritual nature. If this is you — the question you need to be prepared to answer — with Scripture — is, “How did this person choose to believe in Jesus when their spiritual nature is sinful and opposed to God?” To choose Jesus is to choose contrary to what our sinful nature desires — the nature we’re born into this world with and are enslaved to. And — it would seem impossible for people — who are enslaved to their sinful nature — and are declared spiritually dead by Paul — to choose contrary to their nature and believe in Jesus.
But not only does this seem impossible — to choose contrary to the sinful nature we’re born into this world with — Jesus says it is impossible.
John 3:1–6 (NLT)
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” 3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
“Unless you are born again — you cannot see the Kingdom of God,” Jesus says. Being “born again” is the spiritual resurrection I’ve been talking about. Where — individuals who are spiritually dead — experience a spiritual resurrection. But did you notice how Jesus ends his statement about being born again with, “Only the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life” — meaning — we can’t born again ourselves. We can’t spiritually resurrect ourselves. And — you may agree with me — and still mean, “The Spirit gives spiritual life in response to those who believe in Jesus.” Meaning — belief comes before regeneration. To which — Jesus again — says something different.
For later in John:
John 6:41–51 (ESV)
41 the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
And here’s where things get good — for Jesus says that we do actually believe — we do make a choice — so there’s our free will in action. But he also says that no one comes to him — or believes in him — unless the Father draws him — there’s our liberty being restored.
So — first — know that believing in Jesus is really something we do. It’s a choice a person makes. It’s a decision on our part. It’s an option we choose according to our free will.
And second — as I’ve already brought up — in verse forty-four Jesus says:
John 6:44 (ESV)
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
This is our liberty being restored so that we can freely choose to believe in Jesus.
Now the word draw — in the English language — has been the focus of much emotionally charged discussion among Christians. The Greek word translated as draw — where “no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws that person to Jesus” — the Greek word is used six times in the New Testament. We don’t have time to read all of them — but here are examples that’ll show you the meaning of the word — and this is its consistent meaning among all its uses in the New Testament. Two examples are from John’s gospel — these will show us how John uses the word.
John 18:10 (ESV)
10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
In case you missed it — Peter drawing his sword out — that action — is the same Greek word in the phrase, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
At the end of John’s gospel — some of the disciples are fishing when the resurrected Jesus appears to them and tells them to throw their net on the other side of the boat. And — when they did — they caught a massive haul of fish.
John 21:11 (ESV)
11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
“Hauled” is the same Greek word translated as “draw.”
One last example — not from John’s gospel. When Paul and Silas were in the city of Philippi — they were harassed by a girl who was demonized. Paul gets so annoyed that he eventually commands the demon to leave the girl. Now — you need to know that this girl was being exploited by folks who were using her demonic situation for financial gain — but with the demon gone — so was their source of income. And…
Acts 16:19 (ESV)
19 When her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
“Dragged” is the same Greek word translated as “draw” in the phrase, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
Now I took us on this little word study expedition so we’re all cautious to say — as some do — that “what Jesus meant by saying the ‘Father draws people to himself’ is that God woos people or tries to win them over” or something like that.
You don’t woo a sword out of its sheath or a net full of fish over the side of a boat. And it doesn’t seem like the owners simply tried to win Paul and Silas over to get them into the marketplace, does it?
Can words have an exception to their general meaning and definition? Absolutely! But it’s up to those who defend the exception to make it clear why the exception is to be granted. Especially when the word is used multiple times by the same author with the same meaning in mind. And — given what we learned last week about our spiritual condition due to sin — that we’re spiritually dead, impure in our nature, defiled, enslaved to Satan, and so on — does God wooing us appear to be the kind of rescue that we need?
Or — as an admittedly in your face question: Did the crowd crucify Jesus simply because he failed to win them over? Is that all that happened?
My answer is no.
Being born with sinful natures — and as God’s enemy — what we need is not to be wooed or won over — what we need is a direct, certain, and — what may appear to be — a violent rescue. Like the parting of the Red Sea. Or an earthquake releasing prisoners. The resurrected Jesus showing up a blinding a guy who was making his way on a road to Damascus to arrest Christians. Plagues and the sort.
Fulfillment of the biblical visions that describe what God will do to rescue his people: A valley of dry bones who have flesh put back on them as they’re resurrected back to life — and not just physical life — but a resurrection where the Spirit of God removes the dead, stone-like hearts of individuals and replaces them with hearts that are alive to God. It’s the authoritative command, “Lazarus, come out of the tomb” and a previously dead for four days man walks out alive. It’s the words “be still” — which calm a raging sea. The veil of the Temple being torn in two. The shout of victory, “It is finished!”
But it’s up to you to — not to simply agree or disagree with me — but to do the work, the diligent study, opening God’s Word and asking his Spirit to lead, guide, direct, and refine your thoughts on what it means for sin to have entered the world causing every single man, woman, and child to experience both physical and spiritual consequences to their nature — and what this means in regards to our freedom and liberty.
“But, Josh. What about passages that speak about us choosing God? What about passages like…”
Joshua 24:15 (ESV)
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Or…
Revelation 3:20 (ESV)
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Or the many other passages like these?
It’s important to pay attention to who these words were said to. Are they to humanity — in general — or to people whom God had already rescued and chosen? “Choose this day whom you will serve” was said to the children of those who God had rescued out of slavery in Egypt. They had free will — as slaves — but they didn’t have liberty. So God rescued them and gave them liberty.
The words from Revelation were written to a local church — a letter written to people who already believed in Jesus. They’re not perfect people — they were using their liberty to sit on the fence spiritually speaking — but these are words written primarily to people who had already been rescued from enslavement to their sin and corrupted nature.
Or “Brothers, what must we do” was said by a crowd who’d just witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit come upon the first followers of Jesus. It was a question in response to witnessing God at work — to which Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized.” In other places people are told to “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Belief and repentance are part of the theological doctrine known as conversion. Conversion is where we make the free choice to believe in Jesus and to repent of — or turn away from — our sin. And — again — the debate among Christians isn’t whether or not someone really believes and repents — it’s whether our conversion — our belief and repentance — precedes our regeneration — our being born again — or if conversion comes after our regeneration.
Now — earlier — I made the biblical case that regeneration comes before conversion. Which leads us to the question we’re ultimately trying to answer: Why does the Father draw some to Jesus and not others? Why does God save some people and not others? Why do some believe in Jesus and not others?
And know that we’re now on holy ground where it’s best to follow James' advice and “be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” For God’s Word tells us why some believe and why others don’t in verses that we looked at a few years ago during our time in Romans chapter eight.
Romans 8:29–30 (ESV)
29 For those whom he (God) foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Many take this to mean, “Those whom God knew would choose to believe in Jesus are those he predestined.” The problem with this interpretation is that the Greek word translated as “foreknew” is found five times in the New Testament. Once Peter uses the word to mean “knowledge that is known beforehand” — Luke does so once as well in the book of Acts. This is important to acknowledge because this is the definition used by those who interpret Romans 8:29 as, “Those who God knew would choose to believe in Jesus are those he predestined.” Yet Peter and Luke use the word foreknew — with the meaning of “knowledge that is known beforehand” — only when speaking of humans. And this meaning of foreknew is never used in the Bible when referring to God. Not once.
Instead — the two times Paul uses the word — and the one other time Peter uses it — the meaning of foreknew — in referring to God’s foreknowledge — is that of a “friendship with someone — and it implies exclusivity of choice.” An eternal friendship between God the Father and God the Son — and a relationship between God and Israel — a relationship that was God’s exclusive choice. This definition means that — Romans 8:29 — is God saying something similar to, “I’m choosing to be friends with these specific people and this is my exclusive choice.” A choice not based on knowledge of what the individuals will or won’t do in the future — for that definition of foreknowledge is only used when speaking of humanity in the Bible — not of God.
So be careful and allow God to speak for himself. Our role is to submit to his Word — not to reinterpret it to fit what we believe to be true or want to be true. And know that — according to Paul — predestination — or God’s choosing — is not meant to stir up great theological debates. And predestination is not meant to cause us to question if God is good or not because he doesn’t choose everyone — instead — predestination is meant to cause us to praise God. For he writes:
Ephesians 1:3–14 (NLT)
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. 9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. 12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
When’s the last time you praised God for deciding in advance — before he made the world — to choose you in Christ? When’s the last time the doctrine of predestination has led you to worshiping God? Or — maybe I should ask — has the doctrine of predestination ever caused you to praise God like Paul — regardless of how you define predestination? If it hasn’t — your doctrine — what you believe — isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do. For the purpose of our theology — what we believe about God — is to lead us to praise him.
And did you notice the language of God’s freedom in choosing and adopting and making a family for himself in Paul’s words? Did you notice that this doesn’t mean that God isn’t kind — but — instead — predestination is evidence of God’s kindness and grace and forgiveness? For — according to Paul — this has always been God’s plan — from eternity past — when the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit determined to rescue a people who would be set free from their enslavement to sin, who would be resurrected from spiritual death, who would be given new hearts — a new nature — who would be made holy and pure by the blood of Jesus Christ, and who would be guaranteed eternal life where they will live in the presence of their God forever. For the curse of sin will be broken because God has determined it will be broken. And the separation of God and man — lost in the garden — will be restored — for God has determined that it will be so. And people will be drawn to believe in Jesus — for the Father has determined that they will believe. And those whom God rescues will praise him forever in eternity.
But — until that day — why does any of this matter?
First — if you’re not a Christian — you may have heard quite a bit that you disagree with over the past two weeks — about our freedom, our liberty, our nature, and so on. Know that — for the Christian — God’s Word is our final authority on these issues. You can disagree with us — but know that our submission to God’s Word is why we — those who follow Jesus — have certain beliefs about our nature as human beings. To throw in a controversial subject at the end of a short series of sermons on controversial subjects — it’s why we believe being male or female is bound to our physical nature and that we’re not free to choose whether we’re male or female. For — we submit to God’s Word which tells us that we’re bound by our physical nature — that we don’t have the liberty to choose if we’re male or female — even though we have free will.
Have the effects of sin caused serious disruptions to our physical nature — even in regards to sexuality and gender? Absolutely! This is why we acknowledge that — for some — there’s a misalignment between their physical body and the way they view themselves. Yet — we’re still bound by our physical nature — free to be men if men and women if women — but not free to choose whether we’re male or female. Again — if you’re not a Christian — I understand why you may disagree with me — and even do so with much passion. But I hope you also understand why I — and other Christians — believe what we do about our physical nature.
And — if you’re a Christian and quick to say “yes and amen” to what I just said about us being bound to our physical nature — I should probably apologize to you — because I set you up if you’ve disagreed with what I’ve said about us being bound to our spiritual nature. For it’s hard to argue that our physical nature is bound — that a person does not have the freedom to choose contrary to their physical nature — if we deny that our spiritual nature is not also bound — and that we’re unable to choose contrary to it as well. For the fall has affected all of who we are — both physically and spiritually.
And — though we’re free to choose according to our nature — whether physical or spiritual — we’re not at liberty to choose contrary to what our heart desires most. And — those who’ve not had their heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh — by the Spirit of God — are bound to follow what their spiritually dead heart desires. So watch giving the advice to follow your heart to people. For — if their heart has not been made alive to God — following their heart will lead to their eternal destruction.
Why does this matter? Second — for those of us who are Christians — we’ve seen a reason for us to share the gospel with confidence. For it is the Spirit of God who gives life — not us. We’re just the vessels he uses to proclaim his Good News. And it’s through hearing the gospel proclaimed that the Spirit resurrects spiritually dead hearts. And — as we saw last week — God uses people who have faith — to bring their friends to Jesus. And — through your faith in Jesus — God will draw others to believe in his Son.
So — with confidence — for God is on our side — we proclaim the news that God saves sinners. And when asked, “What do I do?” We respond with, “Repent and be baptized — and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” And we do so trusting that God is faithful and his life-giving Word will not return empty-handed.
Third, we must remember that our sin is what got us into this mess — and we can’t get ourselves out of it. So let’s find joy and satisfaction in God’s plan of rescue — for he’s done for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. Praise — as Paul shows us — is the response to God’s plan of salvation — praising our God from whom all blessings flow — including the blessing of salvation.
And — finally — this truth should give us a deep appreciation as to why we gather together with fellow Christians to worship our God and Savior. As one pastor has said, “The whole Christian battle is a battle of the will. It is a battle to overcome a will that is by nature bent in the wrong direction…[And] we come to church so that our souls can be nurtured and be instructed in the things of God in a way that is going to change our lives.” (Sproul 235)
The nature we’re born with — what is natural to us — is bent in the wrong direction. The world is bent in the wrong direction. Culture isn’t leading us towards Christ — but away from him. Day in and day out we’re bombarded with ideas, concepts, thoughts, philosophies, religions, and so on that are bent in the wrong direction. So we gather together — with God’s people — to hear from God — as his Word is preached — and to praise him for redirecting our lives back towards him — the One who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing — including being recipients of his sovereign mercy. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we confess that the journey we’ve been on the past few weeks has been one that challenges what we naturally think and believe about you, ourselves, and how things work in this world. But we come before you confessing that our desire is to submit our thoughts on salvation, our freedom, and our nature — both physically and spiritually — to you and your Word. May we — your people — not reject your Word — but respond to it with praise. For we were dead — but now are alive. We were lost — but have been found. We were blind and you have caused our spiritual eyes to see. And this is not our doing — but is the work of you — our merciful God.
Spirit — you are the One who speaks life into dry bones. You replace dead hearts with ones that are spiritually alive. You give life to our spirit and set us free from our bondage to Satan and sin. For this we praise you and ask you to give life to even more people who’ve yet to believe in Jesus. Use us — we humbly ask — to be the means by which you speak words of life into the hearts of those who are currently following a path bent — not towards freedom — but away from it.
And — Jesus — you demonstrated the mercy of your Father and your great love for us when — while we were your enemies — you gave your life for us. While we hated you — you shed your blood. While our spiritually dead hearts refused to believe — because we were bound to our sinful nature — you said, “Father, these are mine. I give my life in love for them.” And now — not because we’ve earned it — but because of your mercy — we’ve been given a new nature — a spiritually alive heart that now proclaims you as our Savior and Lord.
Therefore Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — we praise you — along with Paul. We give thanks to you for your kindness and mercy towards us who believe — as we anticipate seeing your kindness and mercy be experienced by those who’ve yet to believe. Call people out of darkness — even now — we ask. Give them new life — new hearts — turn them from the bent path they’re on and place them on the path of righteousness that leads to everlasting life with you. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go knowing that God’s sovereign mercy is your only hope — and may you go praising God for all he has done for you. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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