October 18, 2026 Elder Josh King - "The Two Wills of God"

The title of my message today is The Two Wills of God and Problematic Verses.

The Two Wills of God and Problematic Verses.

So as Brother Don mentioned earlier, that we have been preaching through a series of, I guess, looking at the perspective of people who do not believe in predestination election and the things that they say that are a problem with that in the Bible in their mind.

And this morning, I want to bring that section of our study to a close.

And then we're going to be, good Lord willing, next Sunday, back on preaching through the quote-unquote catechism or looking at different questions and answers about the Bible.

But this morning, I want to specifically address some of the very scripture verses that people cite in the Bible that they say refutes predestination and election.

And so we're going to get to those.

We're going to deal with four of those passages of scripture this morning.

But before we do that, I want to lay the foundation of that.

And I want to talk about the two wills, W-I-L-L-S, the two wills of God.

Because this will lay the foundation for us to talk about these verses.

So God has a decreed will, which in our catechismal study, we've talked about the decrees of God.

These are the things that God sovereignly decrees will come about.

So God has a decreed will, and then God has a revealed will.

And so I'm not just going to leave you to your own devices to figure out what that is.

We're going to try to talk about that this morning.

So I want to talk about God's decreed will first and try to explain and show examples of that in the scriptures.

And then I want to talk about God's revealed will, what that is, and show examples of that in the scriptures.

And then we're going to get to these four most common verses that are cited to speak against predestination election in the Bible.

So let's dive into it.

So we're going to first start talking about God's decreed will.

So what is the decreed will of God?

What is a definition of that?

So God's decreed will is what God has determined to happen, and it always comes to pass.

No one or no thing can change God's decreed will.

So what are some examples in the Bible of the decrees of God's or God's decreed will?

What is some examples of that?

So the first place we would start with that would literally be Genesis chapter 1, verse 1.

Genesis 1:1

Genesis chapter 1, verse 1.

Genesis 1:1

And what I want you to notice about God's decreed will is that God is not asking anyone to do anything in regard to God's decreed will.

God is not asking anyone to do anything, as in you need to do this or you need to do that in order for this to happen.

In regard to God's decreed will, he is just simply decreeing what will happen.

In other words, this is God's sovereign plan, and God is decreeing what is going to be.

So the first example of that would be creation.

God didn't ask man to participate in creation.

God just decreed in Genesis 1:1, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

And the earth was without form and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

So God didn't ask anybody permission.

God didn't seek for anybody's assistance.

God just said, It is my desire, it is my decree, it is my sovereign plan or will that I'm going to create.

So He, as it says here, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

He spoke into the darkness and created light, and then so on and so forth.

You can read through the entire Genesis account.

But God just simply decreed that this is going to be.

Amen?

That is the decreed will of God.

God said, this is going to happen, and it happened.

And Satan couldn't stop that.

Man couldn't stop that.

Satan didn't participate.

Man didn't participate in that.

God just did that.

That is an example of God's decreed will.

And God said, and it was so.

That's God's decreed will.

Let me give you another example of that.

Another example of that would be found in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Now I mentioned before that these are things that he's not asking people to do.

And he's not doing that here, even though he's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage of Scripture.

So in Acts chapter 2, we're going to begin in verse 22.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2 and verse 22.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

This is when Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, and he is preaching before a large gathered crowd of people from different areas of the world, or that area of the world that were from different languages and so on and so forth.

And they're gathered in Jerusalem to worship the Lord because there are many believers of different languages.

But he now he's addressing Israel, the men of Israel, in Acts 2.22.

He says, Ye men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.

Y'all know who I'm talking about.

Peter was telling the crowd, y'all know who I'm talking about when I'm talking about Jesus of Nazareth.

And then he says in verse 23, Him, Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

Stop.

It was God's decreed will that Christ be offered as a sacrifice for God's children.

Now, well, Brother Joshua, I thought you said that God wasn't asking anybody to do anything here.

You know, well, didn't he ask his son to do this?

Well, brothers and sisters, Jesus is part of the Godhead.

Amen.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

So this is God Himself deciding how he is going to redeem all of his children.

And so God's sovereign plan of redemption involved God electing, Christ dying for, and the Holy Spirit burning again, all of his children.

Amen.

This is God's design of how that redemption would take place.

And so God is not asking Christ to do anything.

God in his mind, because he and the Father are one, God decreed that this would be done.

And Christ was in a hundred percent agreement that that is the way things would be done.

Christ is not asking, quote-unquote, any man to do anything.

But the Bible simply tells us here a statement of fact when it says, Him, Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

Now the Bible tells us that no man could take Christ's life from him, that Christ willingly laid it down, but it's of a dual truth that Christ willingly sacrificed himself, but also that he was slain by wicked hands.

That is a dual truth.

Those things can exist simultaneously, and that's the case.

And Peter's just declaring that look, this is the way that God chose to redeem his children through this avenue of Christ, and God also used the wicked of the world.

They were the ones who slain Christ.

God allowed that to happen.

But I want you to see that this is part of God's decreed will.

Could Satan have stopped Christ from going to the cross?

No.

And much less, could Satan stop Christ from being resurrected from the dead?

No, absolutely not.

Actually, the sermon here says that it was not possible that the grave could hold Christ.

And again, if you go on and read on.

Verse 24, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.

The grave could not hold Christ, could not contain God.

God chose to resurrect himself after three days.

He chose to resurrect Jesus Christ.

So I just want to show you that when God spoke into the darkness and created light, or God decreed that this is the way that his children are going to be saved through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he's not asking anybody to do anything.

God just says, this is how it's going to be.

God decreed it to be, and it was so, and nobody can prevent that.

Alright.

Let me give you a third example, then we're going to move on.

So the third example of God's decreed will or his sovereign will is the predestination and election of all of God's children.

God is not asking man to do anything, instead, he's decreeing how it's going to be.

So turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

And look at the language.

And there are sometimes, brothers and sisters, when I lose those chapters in the Bible altogether.

Here we go.

In Ephesians chapter 1, we're going to begin in verse 3.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

And look at the language.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ.

So God just blessed us.

He just did that.

According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Stop.

What is He asking man to do right there?

Nothing.

Man is Man doesn't do anything here.

God chose to bless us, and then He uh He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

God has said, I have made a way that sinful men before me can be made righteous.

I've made that way.

I've made I've declared this.

And how did He do that?

Verse 5.

Having predestinated, that word means to determine beforehand, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.

Stop.

What is He asking man to do in these verses?

Nothing.

God is just saying, This is how I have accomplished this blessing.

Because I've decreed that these people are going to be righteous before me.

Well, how did I do that?

Because I had determined beforehand them to be adopted as my children.

And I did this according to the good pleasure of my will.

And he did this why?

Verse 6.

To the praise of the glory of his grace.

God gets all the glory, not man.

Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

God has made his children acceptable or righteous to him.

How?

In the finished work of Jesus Christ, he didn't ask anybody to do anything in all of that.

He just decreed it to be so.

Verse 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

His grace is to be praised because he did all of that.

Now, so what we've been referring to here is things that fall under the category of God's decreed or sovereign will.

God spoke into the darkness and created light.

Didn't ask anybody to do that, he just did it.

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross, this was God's sovereign plan of salvation in order to redeem his called children.

And he didn't ask anybody to do anything.

This is the way he chose to do it.

In regard to predestination and election, this is God making sons and daughters of the king, and this is the way that he chose to do it through adoption and through the finished work of Christ, through his grace.

His grace gets to praise, his will gets to praise.

He didn't ask anybody to do anything.

This is the way he just chose to do it.

Period.

That's God's decreed will.

Now, let's talk about the second will of God or the second type of God's will.

God also has a revealed will.

That is what God commands and approves, and he genuinely delights in when people obey.

So, what are some examples of God's revealed will in this world?

One of the perfect examples is the Ten Commandments.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Stop.

Are there people in this world who worship things other than God?

Almighty God, the God of the Bible?

Y'all tell me.

Yes.

All throughout the ages, people have made other religions and other idols and other things to worship.

Now, have some men worship God throughout the ages?

Yes.

Have other men not worship God or even claim there wasn't a God?

Y'all know that to be true, right?

But God has said, God has said, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

That is God's revealed will to the world, saying that, look, I'm God.

Pharaoh's not God.

You know, Buddha's not God.

Muhammad is not a God or God's prophet.

In other words, God has revealed his will to the world, but can man, but you understand that's different than God's sovereign decreed will.

God's sovereign decreed will, when he created the world, when he sent Christ, when he born again a child of God, man has no control over that.

Man has no involvement in that.

God doesn't ask anybody to do anything in regard to that, his decreed will.

But in regard to God's revealed will, you and I are supposed to embrace it and obey it.

So when God says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, that is a clarion call to mankind saying, Look, lay down all your false gods and obey and follow the one true and living God.

Amen.

The God of the Bible.

That is a call, that is a command.

But y'all tell me, because it's not God's decreed will, man can then say no to the revealed will of God.

Y'all see that?

Let me give you another example.

Let's just go on with the commandments.

Again, we're going to skip through some of them.

But let's say one of the commandments is the fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, right?

That's one of the Ten Commandments.

Is everybody this morning on October the 18th, 2026, is everybody on planet earth in a Christian church this morning on Sunday morning worshiping the one true and living God in the risen Jesus Christ?

No, they're not.

There are people that are out doing their own thing.

There are people that are worshiping false gods.

There are people that couldn't care less about a church house or a church service.

But yet God has said to man, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, because the Sabbath is holy unto the Lord.

In six days you and I are supposed to work, and on the seventh day, you and I are supposed to rest and honor God and come to the church house and give him our due service and present our bodies a living sacrifice unto him because he is deserving of that.

Amen.

So that is part of God's revealed will to mankind, yet men deny it and reject it all the time and don't obey it.

Let's look at a couple more.

Thou shalt not kill.

That word means murder.

Do some men murder other men?

Well, Brother Josh, I thought God told men to not murder other men.

He's not talking about in just war or the just condemnation of a sinner's action that the state would put a vicious, murderer, wicked man to death.

That's not what he's talking about.

This commandment means thou shalt not murder.

You shall not premeditatively murder another person, like innocently.

That's what the commandment literally means.

So, do, but do men in this world murder other men?

Of course they do.

And they have throughout all the ages.

Well, Brother Josh, I thought the Bible says, Thou shalt not kill or murder, but yet men do it all the time.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against my neighbor.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Y'all tell me, have all of these sins been committed?

Absolutely.

But wait a minute, I thought that God told us not to do them.

He did.

But you understand that these things fall under God's revealed will to the world.

They are not God's decreed will.

Satan himself, the dragon, cannot stop the decreed will of God.

God spoke in the darkness, creed light, Christ went to the cross, God's children being born again.

No one can prevent that from happening.

Because God had said, God has said, this is the way it's supposed to be.

But God's revealed will is what He calls men to do.

He says, this is what you should do.

This is what you are supposed to do.

You're not supposed to lie.

You're not supposed to commit adultery.

You're not supposed to murder other people.

You are supposed to go to church on Sunday.

You are supposed to honor your mother and your father.

You aren't supposed to worship other gods.

This is part of God's revealed will and his commandments to mankind, but yet men all the time say, no, I'm not going to do this.

And how can they do that?

Because God has not decreed them to do it.

You understand that?

So there's a difference between God's decreed will and God's revealed will.

Just so we can make this clear.

And for time's sake, I want to reference to you Matthew chapter 22, verses 36 through 40.

Matthew 22:36–40

That is the passage of Scripture when Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Testament, when he is asked the question, you know, Master, what is the greatest commandment in the law?

And he says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and the second is likened to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

This is actually a summation of the Ten Commandments.

Because when he says, Thou shalt love the good Lord with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, that's actually pertaining to that God is supposed to be first in your life, you're supposed to obey him, follow him first, and then you're also supposed to love other men as well, like you love yourself.

Prefer them above yourself.

Well, y'all tell me.

So, Matthew 22, 36, when the Bible clearly says that you and I are supposed to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our fellow man like that, y'all tell me, do all men do that?

No, they don't.

So you understand that that is part of God's revealed will to mankind.

He's telling us this is how you're supposed to operate, this is how you're supposed to act, this is what my desire is for you, but yet it's not God's decreed will.

That's separate from his revealed will.

How about uh in Jesus' Sermon on the Mountain, uh, Matthew chapter 7, verse 12.

Matthew 7:12

That's what's commonly referred to in the Bible as the golden rule.

It's basically surmised as saying, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Uh I think the scriptures have something to the effect of whatsoever ye would that men uh would uh do unto you, do ye also unto them, something to that effect.

Again, I'm not quoting that exactly right, but my point is, is that is a biblical verse.

Matthew chapter 7, verse 12.

Matthew 7:12

It's referred to as the golden rule, and that is telling men how they ought to approach interacting with other men.

That uh you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

In other words, don't treat people like you don't want to be treated.

But y'all tell me, don't men do that all the time?

Don't they treat men terribly harshly, abuse them, use them, uh, and then throw them away?

So they are violating the revealed will of God when they do that.

Well, how is that possible, bro Josh, that they can violate God's command and not be struck dead in a moment?

Because it's not part of God's decreed will.

In other words, God has put these commandments forth in the world and says, This is the way that you are supposed to operate.

You know, that uh that's also one of the reasons why.

Well, you know, Bo Josh, why do you Christian folks say that uh that people aren't supposed to live together and get married?

The Bible says all the way back in Genesis that you know a man is supposed to leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife.

You know, the the state or the United States government or whatever uh it didn't invent marriage.

God invented marriage, the union of one man and one woman.

And so when two young people decide to, hey, you know, that old marriage thing, that's an antiquated thing.

I don't really want to get married, you know, mama, daddy, and grandma, granddaddy did that, but you know, that's an antiquated thing.

You know, we're just gonna live together for five, ten years, we're gonna try these pants on, and if we don't like it in four or five years, we'll just, you know, uh get us somebody else and not do that anymore.

Or let's just say they do live together for 15 or 20 years.

Well, you know, we don't we don't really need to be married.

We've been living together for 15 years.

You understand that you're violating God's revealed will.

Because his design for mankind is that a man would leave his mother and father and be joined in union to his wife in a legal way.

In other words, God wants you to be obligated to the woman that you live with, that you share a house with, that you have children with.

God wants the man to be legally bonded and yoked to her.

The man can't just willy-nilly, you know, just go and live how he wants to.

Well, if I get tired of her, you know, I'll just throw her away and go find me another one.

No, the Lord wants you to be covenantally obligated and yoked to the woman that you say that you love.

So, Brother Josh, why is it wrong that people just live together and aren't married, you know, because by the way, that's a huge trend in our world today.

That a lot of young people just say, well, you know, I don't think that I really want to be married, we're just gonna live together.

They're violating the revealed will of God and the design of y'all tell me, Christ is the bridegroom of the church.

The church is the bride.

We are supposed to follow Christ's example.

You cannot be a Bible-believing, obedient Christian and be living in sin, be chambering or shacking up with your girlfriend because that violates the word of God.

That young man should marry that young lady and be yoked to her and be bound to her and honor the Lord.

Now, I didn't mean to get off on a tangent.

But my point is, is that see, that's part of God's revealed will.

He's told man in his commandments how man is supposed to act, how things are supposed to be carried out.

But that's not God's decreed will.

God's decreed will come about.

God's revealed will is the commandments that he gives the world.

Now, I'm gonna have to uh, you know, uh, husbands love your wives, wives submit to your husbands, children obey your parents.

Again, that's part of God's revealed will.

Uh, I want to get one more, and then we're gonna get to these four verses very quickly.

But I do want to get this one.

Acts chapter 17, verse 30.

Acts 17:30

This is a good one.

Very important one.

Acts chapter 17, verse 30.

Acts 17:30

Part of God's revealed will.

Acts chapter 17 and verse 30.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.

God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, repent of their sins.

Well, Brother Josh, if this is God's will, then why don't all men do it?

There are some men who don't repent, they don't change their ways, they don't, you know, uh come to the Lord in repentance and change their wicked ways.

Because that is part of God's revealed will, not part of his decreed will.

Now, so now quickly we're gonna move on.

I told you that we're gonna get to four problematic scriptures or scriptures that people cite to say that this disagrees with predestination and election.

So let's just dive straight into this.

So, first one is gonna be found in 1 Timothy chapter 2.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

We're gonna begin in verse 1.

1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

And we're gonna read through verse 6.

1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 through 6.

1 Timothy 2:1–6

Now, pay special attention.

The quote-unquote problematic verse is verse 4.

But let's begin reading in verse 1.

Uh 1 Timothy, chapter, I'm sorry.

Yeah, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1.

1 Timothy 2:1

I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men.

Now, stop.

I want y'all to see the context.

So Timothy is saying that I exhort you Christians, that these prayers and intercessions and givings of thanks be made for all men.

Look at the language.

For kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Verse 4.

There's your problematic verse.

God who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

Well, Brother Josh, right there in verse 4, here's your problem with predestination election, because the Bible clearly says God who will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

How do you deal with that?

Look at the context.

What did he start out with in verse 1?

I exhort, therefore, that first of all supplication and intercession and givings of thanks be made for all men.

Timothy is trying to make a context here to show us that Christian folks in the church who you are common folks, you don't just need to pray for yourselves and your church folks and your family.

You need to pray for all men.

What do you mean I need to pray for all men?

Who is the all men?

And he tells us, verse 2, for kings and for all that are in authority.

I want to confess this, y'all.

I want to confess something to y'all today.

I did not pray for President Biden like I should have.

I want to tell y'all that.

Did I wake up every morning of my life during the time when President Joe Biden was president of the United States of America, the leader of the country that I live in?

And did I pray for him that the Lord would give him wisdom and godly insight, that the Lord would change that man's heart and give him direction to go in a godly way?

Did I get up every morning and pray for him that prayer every day of my life during the length of his presidency?

I will confess to you, I did not do that.

Was there occasions that I did pray for him, that very thing, and ask the Lord to intervene in his life and do things?

Yes, I did do that.

But what I want to show you, Brother Josh, why don't you tell us that story?

Because is it mine and your default nature to pray for people outside of our immediate family and friends and those that you and I know of, or something that's directly affecting our life?

A lot of times we don't pray about those things, do we?

You know, we just let them go.

Well, the Lord will handle that.

Timothy is trying to show us here, I exhort you that supplications and prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men, all types of men, all categories of men, kings and presents, for slaves and free men, for the wealthy and for the poor, all manner of men, for Jews, for Gentiles, for black and for white, for men and for women, for all men, all types of men, all categories of men, all classes of men, that there's there's nobody that's beyond prayer.

There's nobody that's beyond this.

So he literally mentions kings and he says, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved?

Y'all tell me, has there been born again folks who were president of the United States?

Has there ever been one of those?

Has there been born again folks who've been slaves?

Have there been born again folks who in past ancient times who have been kings of entire nations?

Yes.

Have there been born again folks who were literally uh uh street sweepers, or nurses or doctors or lawyers, or you fill in the blank?

Have there been born again folks who've been in a jailhouse or who've been in a mansion?

Who've been in positions of authority, and who people have been who have been under authority?

Had there been born again folks who've been men and women and Jews and Gentiles of every color, of every class, of every age?

Yes.

So, Brother Josh, what is your response to this quote-unquote problematic verse in the scriptures that the Bible says here God who will have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

I believe that verse.

But I believe the context of that verse is not talking about every single human being that has ever been born.

It's talking about the God who will have all men, i.e., the context of this chapter, all classes of men, from the king to the peasant, God has a people among every tongue and tribe.

I believe that's exactly what it's talking about.

That's the context.

God will have all sorts of men to be saved, whether they're kings or slaves.

So that's a quote-unquote problematic verse.

I don't believe it's a problem.

I believe it's clear what it's talking about.

Let's go to another one.

2 Peter chapter 3.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

We're gonna look at verse 9.

Again, we're dealing with scriptures that are supposedly problem scriptures for those who believe in predestination election, or people believe that these speak against God's predestination election.

2 Peter chapter 3, verse now 9.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Well, see right there, Brother Josh, it is God's desire that all men everywhere, without exception, should come to repentance.

So that's a problem for you folks who believe in predestination election.

Is it?

Look at the verse.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward.

Stop.

Who's the us word?

The us-word is the context of this passage of scripture because he's writing to Christian people.

So when Peter says that God is not slack and is long-suffering to usward, he's saying God is long-suffering with his children to the usword, to this book was written to.

He's not talking about all men in the world without exception.

He's saying that God is long-suffering to usward.

The one that this book was literally written to, the Christian church, the one Peter was directing it to, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God is desirous that all his elect will come to repentance.

And by the way, that's part of God's decreed will.

And by the way, all of God's elect will come to repentance, they will repent.

The very context of that verse is the us word.

It's not all men without exception.

Let's get another one.

In the Old Testament, Ezekiel chapter 33.

Ezekiel 33 · chapter mention

We have two more, we're almost done.

I'm hurrying, folks.

Y'all stay with me.

This gets better.

Ezekiel chapter 33.

Ezekiel 33 · chapter mention

We're going to look at verse 10 and 11.

Excuse me.

Ezekiel chapter 33, verses 10 and 11.

Ezekiel 33:10

Therefore, Ezekiel 33, 10.

Therefore, O thou son of man.

By the way, when he says son of man, he's referring to Ezekiel.

In other words, uh the prophet here, and so he he refers to Ezekiel as the son of man.

So look at his language.

Therefore, thou, O son of man, speak unto the house of Israel.

So this is Ezekiel is saying, This is what the Lord told me.

Therefore, Ezekiel, or O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel.

Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

Question mark.

The context of this scripture is the fact that the Lord told the people that, look, if my prophet hadn't told you about these things, then he would be guilty of not telling you.

But once he's told you, then you're guilty of them.

And so here the prophet is saying, Look, I've already told the Lord's people about this.

It's on you.

And so when he says, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, because he's already warned us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

What are we supposed to do now?

Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

But the part of this verse that people cite is problematic is this that the Lord God says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

Well, that's a true statement.

But y'all tell me, uh, does God have pleasure in adultery?

Does God have pleasure in children not obeying their parents?

Does God have pleasure in somebody forsaking the assembling of their cells together on the Sabbath day to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy?

God wants people to go to church.

God wants people to be faithful to their wives.

God wants children to obey their parents or husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

You understand that this verse is part of God's revealed will, not his decreed will.

So when God says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, that's God's revealed will.

You know, when God put Adam in the Garden of Eden, he made him good, right?

Who was the one who broke the law?

Adam and Eve and man.

God didn't make them do that.

But now God has to destroy man who's in his sins, the ones that he leaves alone, because God can't tolerate that sin.

But my point is when the Bible says, Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, well, God could have decreed every single human being to be saved, but he didn't do that.

Because man didn't deserve that.

But God did decree or predestine an innumerable number that no man can number to be sons and daughters of God.

God did do that.

I want to close with this.

We're done this morning.

The last quote-unquote problematic verse.

John chapter 3, verse 16.

John 3:16

Y'all all know it.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Why is that a problematic verse, Brother Josh?

It's not.

This is what I want y'all to see.

John 3.16 is not an invitation to the lost.

John 3.16 is a comfort and an assurance verse to those who already have been born again.

For God so loved the world, by the way, the context there is the world of the elect, but even if you didn't believe that, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth should not perish, but have everlasting life.

You understand that everlasting life is only to the believer.

Do y'all agree with that?

That you must believe to have everlasting life.

But you understand that belief or faith is downstream or follows after someone being born again.

Because in this very same chapter, Jesus talked to Nicodemus about a man must be born again that he might see or enter into the kingdom of God.

Brothers and sisters, faith or belief is an evidence that you have salvation or that you have been born again.

In other words, it's not an invitation to hey, law sinner, go and have faith in God, and then you can be born again.

No, that's the wrong biblical.

Order.

The correct biblical order is God chooses Orlex, then he born agains and regenerates, and then the regenerated person then has faith, that faith is actually a fruit that the Spirit bears in the life of a child of God.

If you don't believe me, look at the fruit of the Spirit, Capital S in Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Then when it lists the fruit of the flesh and all those sins, and then it lists the capital S, the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control.

One of the fruit that the Holy Spirit bears in the life of the born-again believer is faith or belief in God.

And even in John chapter 3, this faith or belief in God follows or comes after someone being born again by God's doing.

John 3 · chapter mention

So the correct order is God elects or chooses by his decreed will.

Then Christ came and died for and saved all of God's children in time.

He did it before the foundation of the world, but he actually did it.

And so in time the Holy Spirit comes and regenerates or burns again.

The wind bloweth where it listeth.

Thou hearst sound thereof, canst not tell whence it cometh or whether it goeth.

So is everyone that is born of the Capital S spirit.

God has to first born somebody again before they have faith or belief in God.

Faith is downstream or follows after somebody being born again.

John 3.16 is not an invitation to the lost center to, hey, come and you lost center have faith, and then God will born you again as a result of your faith.

No, it is an assurance verse.

By the way, by the way, that when it says there, uh, whosoever believeth should not perish.

Whosoever believeth is present tense.

Why is that significant, Brother Josh?

That means if you're sitting in this church house today or hearing the sound of my voice, and you currently believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that means past tense, the Lord has already done a work of grace in your life and you are already a born-again soul.

In other words, because part of the fruit of the Spirit, part of the fruit of somebody being born again, is they actually believe in God.

So what God is telling you in this verse, it's a comfort verse, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him hath everlasting life.

If you're sitting in this church house today and you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you already have everlasting life.

It is a comfort verse to you that look at the work the Lord has already done in your life.

He has born you again, and therefore you have faith, and because you have faith or believe in Christ, you also have eternal life.

It's not a universal invitation to lost people to come and have faith, then you can be saved.

That's not what he's talking about.

The very context of this verse is that the Holy Spirit must born you again first, and then one of the evidences of you being born again is that you actually have faith in the Lord.

If you don't believe me, keep on reading in John chapter 3, when it goes down to verse 20 and 21 and says, For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 3 · chapter mention

Well, the Bible tells us that we are all sinners, and uh, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

In Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 5 and 6, the point is, who is coming to God?

Romans 6 · chapter mention Romans 5 · chapter mention

Those who already have faith or belief.

Well, where did they get the faith or belief?

God gave it to them as a result of them being born again.

Faith, brothers and sisters, does not precede you being born again and becoming a child of God.

You becoming a child of God, being born again by the Holy Spirit, precedes you having faith or belief in God.

The only difference in what primitive Baptists believe and what other faith and orders believe is they switch the order to an unbiblical order.

The correct biblical order is that God decrees or chooses and elects, he adopts.

Christ died for them, the Holy Spirit burns them again in time, and then as a result of being born again, people have faith and want to follow God and want to be obedient to the commands.

Because before then they didn't want to do any of that.

They just get it out of order.

They say the lost, unregenerate sinner, who the Bible says mine is actually wickedness against God, that they just, of a random decision one day, in their state of lost and wickedness, just decide, hey, I think today I'll follow Christ.

And then when they do that, like a lightning bolt, strikes their head and then completely transforms them.

No.

Instead, God chose them before the foundation of the world because Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

And then Christ died for them at an actual point 2,000 some odd years ago, and he had already saved every single one.

Christ has already saved people, brothers and sisters, that if this earth lasts another thousand years, haven't even been born yet.

They're already saved, they're already bound for heaven.

Their names are already written in the Lamb's book of life.

More names are not being written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

It's already a sealed book.

It's done.

And every one of his sheep is guaranteed to go to heaven because he never tried to save any one of them.

He has past hence already saved every one of them, even though some of them haven't even been born in the world yet.

But in time, the Holy Spirit comes in this world and burns again that little son or daughter of God, and then their eyes are open and they see the thing.

They understand the thing.

And then when the gospel preacher comes and preaches, then they hear the thing and they understand what he's talking about because it actually makes sense to them.

It's no longer Greek or Russian to them, because they understand the spiritual thing, because they are a spiritual person.

Before they weren't.

And then now we're going to quickly turn over to Paul and we're going to close.

I just simply want to read it.

Paul says exactly what I just got through saying in way too many words and speaking way too loudly.

I'm sorry for that.

Paul says the exact same thing that I just said, and the exact same thing that John 3 teaches in different words in Ephesians 2.

Y'all turn over there and we're done.

We're going to read Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, and we're done this morning.

And this is the close to our looking at those things that people have against predestination election.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1.

Ephesians 2:1

Look at what it says.

And you, by the way, he's writing to believers, to the Ephesian church, he's writing to believers, folks already born again, and you hath he quickened or made alive.

Who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Stop.

Did God ask you to be made alive?

Did God ask you to have faith?

Or did he decree that you dead folks and me a dead folk, he just made us alive?

That's what he did.

He didn't ask us anything about that.

And you hath he quickened or made alive, who were dead in trespassing sins, wherein in times past, ye, you and me, walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan, the lowercase spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

You and I used to behave like lost heathen folks, among whom also we all had our conversation.

That word means behavior, that's an old antiquated King James word.

Among whom also we had our behavior in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

In other words, he's saying, look, he's writing the Ephesian church, he's saying, you Christian folks used to be like everybody else.

See that?

Follow me?

We were all natural folks, we all behaved alike, thought alike, did the same things alike, we were terrible folks.

Verse 4, now look at this.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, stop.

Doesn't that kind of smack you of John chapter 3, verse 16?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

Here it says, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, he's telling us the same thing.

But here he's explaining to us how he accomplished it.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins at that time, hath quickened us together with Christ.

By grace are ye saved.

The word quickened means to be made alive.

So he's saying, look, do you know how you were saved, and how brother so-and-so was saved, and how Paul was saved, and how Moses was saved, and how your great granddaddy, who was a loving Christian man, was saved.

Do you know how he was saved?

We were quickened together with Christ.

By grace are ye saved.

And that at the times when you and I were dead in our trespasses and sins.

God chose you, grandfather.

He chose Moses, he chose Paul, he chose me or you if you and I are a child of God.

And he just quickened us.

He just made us alive by his grace.

He just decided to do it by his decree, and you and I had nothing to do it or no say in it whatsoever.

That's how you and I were saved.

Just like every single human being that is saved, that's how they were all saved.

All the same way, no different methodology, no different, they were all saved the exact same way.

Verse 6.

And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, for by grace are ye saved through faith in that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God.

Brothers and sisters, being born again of the Holy Spirit by God's sovereign grace precedes you and I having belief or faith in God.

Having belief or faith in God is a fruit that the Spirit bears in the life of a child of God.

The reason why you believe in God is because God, past tense, has done a work in your life and born again to save you.

So the good news, brothers and sisters, is if you're sitting here today listening to this fat man hollering at you about the gospel, let me calm down.

If you are here today and you believe this word, that means, brothers and sisters, that you're a saved soul, that you're a child of God, that you've been transformed by the Holy Spirit and by his grace.

Praise God.

You're one of the saints, you're one of the number, you're bound for heaven, and you didn't have anything to do with that.

God did it all.

He gets all the credit for it.

You get none, and the preacher gets none.

That is the gospel.

That is the good news.

It is proclaiming that you have life and immortality.

It's telling you about it.

What God has already done.

Being born again precedes faith.

For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Closing my Bible.

Now that I'm two minutes over.

Wow.

Where does the believer get his belief from?

Not in and of itself.

The belief comes to you as a fruit that the Holy Spirit bears in your life, but in order for the fruit to be born, the Holy Spirit must already be there.

Right?

The reason why you're bearing the fruit of faith is because you're already an adopted son or daughter of God.

To God be the glory.

I hope this has been an encouragement to you.

I'm going to ask for the Don if you wouldn't come up and help us close in a word of song.

The church doors are always open if you desire to unite with a membership of our church.