Being
saved under Arminian theology; I was taught that I chose God but on further
study of the bible I realised that this type of reasoning is flawed. To believe
that God, because of His foreknowledge, could look down the pipeline of my life
and see the choices I would make somehow played its part in my salvation. In
other words, to say that I frolicked my part in that equation is wrong. Why is
this understanding so important? Instead at me looking at a loved one who
remains on the fence or any other unbeliever that won’t believe in the finished
work of the cross! Instead of me wrestling with them to wake themselves up, I
realise, unless God wakes them up, it is an impossible quest. My attention now
shifts, all because salvation has nothing to do with me and this
understanding has now freed me from any form of boasting, all praise and
honour now belongs to Him, period! When I address unsaved individuals and I
share the gospel with them, I have nothing to boast about in myself, the
thought that I am better than them, even if it remains a notion that lingers in
the subconscious, it lives! My choice in choosing Jesus for salvation is now nullified.
Here is an explanation on how it all works from John
Piper…
“How did God bring me to himself? How did he call you to himself? What happened in that sovereign act? It’s a question Pastor John addressed in a 2010 sermon on
Jews demand signs and Greeks seek
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to
Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians
1:22–24)
Call That Creates
When the called look at Christ crucified, they
don’t see a stumbling block; they don’t see folly. They see power. So, there
are three groups in those verses: (1) Jews, (2) Gentiles, (3) called. That’s
not quite accurate, is it? Let me say it a little more carefully. There are:
(1) Jews who are not called, (2) Gentiles who are not called, and (3) Jews and
Gentiles who are called.
Those are the three groups. Are you
with me? We’re considering our calling. We’re obeying 1 Corinthians 1:26. There are Jews not called, Gentiles
not called, and Jews and Gentiles, some of whom are called. And then he
describes the response of each to the cross.
1. Jews: “Yeah, stumbling block. A
crucified Messiah? Never heard of such a thing.”
2. Gentiles: “Foolishness. A dying God?
Silly — mythological.”
3. Called: “Power — my God!”
What kind of call is that? I’ll tell
you what kind of call it is: it’s the kind of call that creates what it
commands. The call gives light. The call creates sight. The call raises the
dead. “Lazarus, come forth” (see John 11:43). He didn’t decide to. The call raised him
from the dead.
‘Wake Up!’
Let me give you an analogy that could
be misleading. It helps me. Just to get your hand around it, because lots of
you have never been taught about the call of God: the mighty, effectual,
irresistible, powerful, saving, awakening, life-giving call of God that saved
you. You’ve never been taught about this, so you need a little analogy to help
you, instead of saying, “What is he talking about? I’ve never heard anything
like this. I thought I just believed in Jesus.”
“If
I need wisdom, Christ is my wisdom. If I need righteousness, he’s my
righteousness.”
Suppose somebody is asleep, and you
want to wake them up. What do you do? They’re sound asleep. You bend over them
and you say, “Wake up!” And they bolt right upright. Now, what are the dynamics
of that moment? They were sound asleep, and then they were awake. Did they hear
the call and say, “I’ll think about that before I wake up, and then I’ll decide
if I want to wake up”? That is a good analogy. When God issues a call to your
dead heart and says, “Wake up!” you wake up. You did not make yourself a Christian.
Just face it: you didn’t make yourself a Christian, which is why you should
feel so incredibly loved.
In fact, if you need a text to say
that, just go to Ephesians 2:4, where
Paul says just as clearly as can be that, because of his “great love,” he made
you alive when you were dead. It’s the only place he uses that phrase — “great
love” — in all the New Testament. So, if you have any spiritual life in you at
all, you have been greatly
loved. It’s called regeneration; it’s called calling. You have been called, and you are
greatly loved in this calling.
God Put You in Christ
God loved you by putting you in
Christ. First Corinthians 1:30:
“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus.” That’s pretty clear. In the
original, very, very literally it would go, “From him are you in Christ Jesus,”
or, “Of him are you in Christ Jesus.” “Because of him” is probably a pretty
good translation: because of his doing, because of his work, you are in Christ
Jesus.
So, he chose you “before the
foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). He,
through Billy Graham, or a preacher, or your mom’s testimony, or reading the
Bible, or hearing a worship song, or however he wanted to do it as far as human
agency goes, he spoke the word, “Wake up!” or “Come!” or “Live!” And you
suddenly stopped seeing the cross as folly. You stopped seeing the cross as
boring. You stopped seeing the cross as mythological. You stopped seeing the
cross as a stumbling block. Suddenly, it was what you needed, and true. And you
embraced it. You embraced it. Because God woke you up, changed your heart. And
in that, you were united to Christ.
When we were talking about the doctrine of regeneration or
the new birth, I tried to explain how calling, regeneration, faith, and union
with Christ are simultaneous. There are causal connections here, but there
aren’t temporal gaps. In an instant — in an instant — he awakened you from the
dead. Your eyes were opened, and what you saw was a glorious Christ. And in
seeing him as glorious, you were a believer; you were. That’s what being a
believer means: “He’s glorious. He’s Savior. He’s Lord. He is mine.” That’s
what it is to see him for what he really is. And in that moment, you were
united to Jesus, which means God loved you by making Christ your wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
So, God awakened you, united you to
Christ so that you have a vital union with Jesus. You’re connected with him —
maybe like a vine and a branch?
All He Is, You Are
Look at verse 30 again:
And because of him you are in Christ
Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and
redemption.
“The
call gives light. The call creates sight. The call raises the dead.”
So, when you unite with Christ, all that he is, now
you are — without making you God. All the benefits that are in him, all the
inheritance that is in him, all that he ever purchased, all the obedience he
ever performed, all the forgiveness he ever purchased, you now have by virtue
of union with him, which you feel by faith and which God worked sovereignly. He
has become, through God’s loving you this way, everything for you.
If I need wisdom, he’s my wisdom. If
I need righteousness, he’s my righteousness. If I need sanctification,
redemption . . .
You are loved, Bethlehem. You
are loved sons and daughters of God because God chose you for himself. You are
loved because he called you to himself. You are loved because he united you to
Christ. And by making you one with Christ, Christ becomes everything you need.”
(John Piper)
Signing out
Tyrone
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