2012 9-9 ‘Who Can Be Saved’ (Selected Scriptures)

“WHO CAN BE SAVED?”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
“Who can be saved?” I would venture to say that the vast majority of Christians would immediately answer, “Anyone can be saved. While there’s life there’s hope.” But is that literally true? Is that biblically accurate? Was it true in Exodus after God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Was it true in John after Satan entered into Judas when he walked out of the Last Supper to go and betray Jesus to His enemies?

Both Pharaoh and Judas were still alive physically, but were they already cut off from any hope of salvation and irretrievably lost? Listen to King Solomon.
Proverbs 29:1
1 A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. (KJV – “destroyed without remedy”)

So can we say with biblical assurance, “While there’s life there’s hope”? I’m not sure we can. I have no doubt that we would like to say yes, but I’m not at all sure that we can.

So again I ask the question, “Who can be saved”? Again, most Christians would answer, “Anyone can be saved. There’s no sin so great that the Lord will not forgive it.” But is that literally true? Is that biblically accurate? No, it is not!
*Matthew 12:30-32
30 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32 “And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be for-given him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come.”

What is it to “speak against the Holy Spirit”? It is rejecting Christ even when you know He is who He says He is. The Pharisees did this when they refused to admit what they knew to be true – that God, through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, was working the miracles that were taking place before them. But their hatred for Jesus was so intense that they attributed His miracles not to the power of God, but to the power of Satan.

By rejecting Jesus, God in human flesh, and by calling the power of God’s Holy Spirit satanic, the Pharisees committed a sin that would never be forgiven. Some argue it is a sin that cannot be committed today because Jesus isn’t here. But isn’t the Holy Spirit here? Listen, the Holy Spirit is the One who testifies that Jesus is God’s Son. So if you reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit, you reject Jesus. And every true Christian knows that anyone who dies rejecting Jesus has once and for all committed the unforgivable sin.
So again I ask, “Who can be saved”? Anyone who will commit the unforgivable sin can-not be saved. God knows who they are. Regardless of how smart or insightful we may think we are, we do not. That’s why we preach the gospel to all people and every nation.
Matthew 28:19
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…”

The command is about all nations and all people. Since you and I do not know who will commit the unforgivable sin of ultimately rejecting Christ, or who will gain eternal life by receiving Him, we are commanded to tell everyone. “While there’s life, there’s hope,” is from our perspective, true enough, but from God’s omniscient and eternal perspective, it is not true at all!

So, only those whom God knows will not commit the unforgivable can be saved. That much is indisputable. But what is in dispute is this: Who decides who can be saved? Who makes the decision? Who has the final say? When all is said and done, who ulti-mately determines your eternal destiny? Is it you or is it God?

Therein lies the theological argument, the conundrum, the dispute, and it is no small dispute. That question has been before the church for two thousand years, but it took on greater significance during and after the Protestant Reformation. Those questions, “Who decides who can be saved? Is it you or is it God?” remain with us today. The answers determine what you believe about God, yourself, and your salvation.

Your answers to those questions impact your fundamental concept of the sovereignty of God, the nature of the human will, the ultimate purpose of Christ’s finished work on the cross, and your understanding of the Bible. That’s all!

The answers to those questions and many others are wrapped up in the biblical doctrine of election. This doctrine speaks to the manner in which God will accomplish His eternal purpose. The doctrine includes our predestination, God’s foreknowledge, and numerous details of His plan for the ages.

We cannot hope to do an in-depth study of the doctrine of election in one sermon. Whether the Arminian or the Calvinist view reveals ultimate truth, or whether some blending of the two gives us the fullest and most accurate understanding of God’s plan, we will only scratch the surface this morning. We’ll not be able do an exhaustive study of how God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility work together in salvation either. There simply isn’t time. So we won’t try.

But what I will try to do is present an overview of these issues as they apply to the ques-tion, “Who can be saved?” We’ll look at a number of references that you may want to write down for further study. As always, the transcript of this sermon will be available on our website by Tuesday.
II. Text
We’re taking time out of our verse-by-verse exposition of Luke’s gospel today because of something Jesus said to His disciples after the seventy men He had empowered to preach the gospel had returned to Him with great joy at what they had seen God do.
Luke 10:21-22
21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You did hide these things from the wise and intelligent and did reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Your sight.
22 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

In v. 22 Jesus says, “All things have been handed over to Me…” All things means all things. Ponder that for just a moment. “All things” includes our salvation, doesn’t it? Here is wisdom the world fails to comprehend and much of the professing church refuses to believe. Who can be saved? Who can understand these things about God? Jesus an-swers that question in v. 22. “…anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

The Lord is saying that the only way any man, any woman, or any child will ever under-stand these things and be saved is if Jesus wills it. So when it comes to a person’s salva-tion, doesn’t that at least bring the issue of the free will of man into question? In Luke 10:22 Jesus is saying that He alone, by the power of His spirit, reveals the truth about His Father “to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” He says virtually the same thing in John.
John 5:21
21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

If Jesus doesn’t do it, it doesn’t happen. That is a clear statement of divine election.

But is it possible that these are merely isolated comments by Jesus that we just misunder-stand? The best way to find out is to compare Scripture with Scripture. Despite many people’s emotional response to the doctrine of election, to God’s choice of those whom He will save, the Bible clearly and repeatedly teaches it. What follows are only a few of the NT references that speak to the whole issue of election by God.
Ephesians 1:4-5
4 …just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.

Colossians 3:12
12 And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…
2 Thessalonians 2:13a
13a But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation…

Titus 1:1a (Paul’s greeting to his young protégé.)
1a Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God…

1 Peter 1:1-2a, 2:9a
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…
9a But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession…

Paul’s point is that since God has chosen His elect – justified them, made them righteous, and saved them – who can change that or even challenge it? The answer is, “No one!”
So it’s obvious that the apostles believed and taught election. But what about Jesus?
Matthew 24:24 (Jesus referring to the last days.)
24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

Mark 13:20 (Jesus referring to the Great Tribulation.)
20 And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days.

John 1:12-13
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become child-ren of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 6:37a, 44a, 65b
37a “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me…”
44a “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him…”
65b “…no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

John 13:18a
18a “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen.”

John 15:19
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

John 17:9 (Jesus praying for us prior to the crucifixion)
9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours.”

Acts 13:48 (The response to Paul’s preaching in Galatia.)
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Who believed?)

I could go on, but there’s really no need. Election, God’s choice of whom He will save is an established biblical truth. It cannot be denied, yet it often is. Not only is it denied, it’s hated by many who actually claim it to be a damnable heresy. Then there are those who believe it secretly, but refuse to teach it claiming that it’s “…too deep and dark a sub-ject.” Some simply ignore it and write it off as “…extreme Calvinism.” But is that all it is? If it is, why would the Apostle Peter tell us, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you…(2 Peter 1:10a)”?

Why wouldn’t the Sovereign Creator God choose those sinners whom He would save? Why would He leave His eternal plans up to us? And if He did, how could He still be sovereign over His creation?

Listen, God chose the holy angels. Paul’s charge to Timothy regarding elders in the church is made, “…in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels (1 Timothy 5:21).” Then, to name only a few others, God chose Abraham, his offspring Isaac and Jacob, the nation of Israel, David, Mary, the twelve apostles, and the elect.
Genesis 18:19a (Abraham and his descendants)
19a “For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD…”

Isaiah 44:1 (the nation Israel)
1 “But now listen, O Jacob, My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen…”

1 Samuel 10:24a (David)
24a And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen?”

Luke 1:35 (Mary)
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.”

John 15:16 (the twelve apostles)
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…

Mark 13:20b (the tribulation saints)
20b …for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened those days.
The doctrine of election teaches that God chooses, elects, and predestines all of those. So why wouldn’t he choose, elect, and predestine you? Yet His Word clearly teaches that anyone who wants to be saved will be saved. He puts that desire in the heart of the elect.

One of the most common arguments against election is, “The Bible says, ‘Whosoever will may come.’” That’s taken from Revelation.
Revelation 22:17 (KJV)
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Is this a true statement? Of course, it is! It’s Holy Scripture! We don’t question it for a moment. Its truth isn’t in question. What it means and how it applies are the questions. One of the questions is, “Who will actually come?” It doesn’t tell us. Another ques-tion is, “What causes anyone to come?” The statement from Revelation 22:17, or any other “whosoever” statement for that matter, only tells us about what is available or what will happen to the person who comes. It does not tell us who or why anyone would.

But that’s what the doctrine of election addresses.
• Who will come? Will those whom the sovereign God has not chosen come? Of course not! No, the chosen will come. Every one of them!
• Who will come? Will those whom the sovereign God has not elected and predes-tined come? Of course not! No, the elect will come. Every one of them!

There’s only one way the chosen and elect would not come. That’s if you and I, by the exercise of our own free will, could overrule God’s sovereign choice and make the final decision about our salvation ourselves. But then the obvious question is this: “What happens to God’s choice?” I have heard highly respected pastors, theologians, and semi-nary professor say, “God is sovereign in everything except salvation.”

Sadly, most Christians today think that’s the way it works. That’s the way we evan-gelize, isn’t it? “You decide. You make a decision for Christ.” What? That isn’t the sovereignty of God. That’s the sovereignty of man. That’s human pride run amuck. Let me try to illustrate this with a rather fanciful conversation. Suppose God says to you, “It is My will to save you.” And you say, “No, I don’t think so.” Or suppose God says, “It is My will to not save you.” And you say, “Oh yeah, then I’ll save myself.” How ridicu-lous is that? Whose will accomplishes God’s eternal purpose, His or yours?

But there is something else here. And I believe it is far more insidious and has far more damaging consequences. Listen, listen carefully, please. When it comes to salvation, if God makes a divine decision for you, who gets the glory in eternity? But if you make a human decision for God, then who will get the glory? And what does God say about who gets the glory?

*Isaiah 42:8; 48:11
8 “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.”
11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

Our salvation is all of Him and none of us. The glory for it is His, not ours.
*Isaiah 43:11-13
11 “I, even I am the LORD; and there is no savior besides Me.
12 “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you; so you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, and I am God.
13 Even from eternity I am He; and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

Here is where man’s finite wisdom and reasoning collapse under the weight of divine and infinite truth. I cannot begin to tell you how it works. No one can tell you how it works. But that really isn’t the point. The point is that regardless of what role we may think we play in our salvation, the writer of Hebrews tells us that we are to look to Jesus.
Hebrews 12:2
2 …fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Every aspect of our salvation is in God’s hands.
• He has justified us. It is by His grace we believe; we have not justified ourselves. He is the One who makes us holy in His sight.
• He is sanctifying us. It is by His grace that we are enabled to cooperate with His Spirit; we are not sanctifying ourselves.
• He will glorify us. It is by His grace that we will one day step into His glorious presence; we will never glorify ourselves.

But just as God chooses, elects, and predestines, so too does He require the sinner to believe. In a transaction that is beyond human comprehension God accomplishes His purpose. Somewhere deep within the heart of election and predestination the Bible also tells us that we must believe in order to be saved.

How can sovereignty and free will work together? How can they be reconciled? In the mind of man they cannot be, but in the mind of God they work to perfection.

But still this question comes from the heart of man. “What about my free will?” What free will? What does Scripture say about it? We know about the doctrine of election, but what about the “doctrine of free will?” Well, there isn’t one. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that sinful man is anything but free. He’s enslaved to sin and his sin nature. His will is controlled by his sinful flesh.
From the perspective of the unsaved man, he believes he is free to exercise his will just as he pleases. And so he does. But because of sin, the natural man is corrupt. This corrupt-tion came from our first parents, Adam and Eve, and it permeates to the very core of our being. Theologians call this condition total depravity.

So the natural man isn’t free at all. He is in bondage to sin and to Satan. Therefore, there is nothing in an unbeliever that will draw him or her to Christ, nothing. It simply cannot be done. Jesus said it twice in John 6. “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him…(v. 44a).” “…no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father (v. 65b).”

Unless and until God does these things no one can ever be saved. People will remain physically alive but spiritually dead.
*Romans 8:6-7
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the (Holy) Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.

That’s the key to this argument about who decides for a person’s salvation, why it can’t be man, and why it must be God who decides. The natural man doesn’t make a decision for Christ because the natural man can’t! The natural man’s so-called free will isn’t free at all, it’s enslaved to sin. Listen, the only truly free will that exists is God’s.

He exercises His free will and chooses whom He will save. That person, one of God’s elect, hears the gospel, believes it, and receives Christ all the while thinking he made a decision for Christ and only later coming to the full realization that God had made the decision for him in eternity past. It is that which makes a person free.
John 8:31-36
31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine
32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You shall become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
35 “And the slave does not remain in the house forever; (but) the son does remain forever.
36 “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Why did God choose to accomplish our salvation in this manner? I am not trying to be glib when I say, “Because He felt like it.” We must understand that God designed His plan so that He would get 100% of the glory.
He did not design our salvation so that we might give Him 99% of the glory and only keep 1% for ourselves. No, it’s 100% Him! How else could we sing, “To God be the glory, great things He has done…”? What would we say? “God gets some glory, but we get some too?” That’s not just ludicrous, it’s blasphemous as well.

Human pride is so deeply rooted in us we often don’t even recognize it when it bubbles up to the surface. The gospel that says, “You’re in control, you make the choice, you say these particular words and pray that particular prayer,” serves to strengthen the miscon-ception that, when all is said and done, you have final authority over God. You can thwart His plans. It gives life to the mindset that when it comes to salvation, your will trumps His, and He must succumb to yours. And where is the sovereign God in that?

God chooses. But we ask, “Is that fair? How can He choose some and not others? How can He hold people accountable for their sin if they are not among the elect?” Doesn’t John 3:16 say, ‘God so loved the world…’? It doesn’t say, ‘God so loved the elect.’”

The Apostle Paul deals with this most perplexing of questions in Romans 9. Let me warn you before we read it. Paul’s answer will only satisfy your soul if you are willing to trust God to do what is right, no matter what. But whether you trust God or not, this is the only answer we will get this side of glory. Why did God choose Jacob but not Esau.
*Romans 9:14-20a
14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
20a On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?

We can take it no further. God is God. He decides. He chooses. He gets the glory. So someone asks, “How can I know if I’ve been chosen? How can I know if I’m one of His elect? How can I know if I’ve been predestined to salvation?”

Who can be saved? You can. If the desire of your heart is to be saved you will be saved. I can say this with confidence because if there is any desire there, God has put it there. How can you know? Repent and Believe.

Do you hear His call? Then put your faith in Christ and you will discover that you have been chosen, that you are one of the elect, and that you were predestined to salvation. God is sovereign in the affairs of men. What a magnificent and staggering truth this is!
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IV. Conclusion
A. W. Tozer was one of the great Christian minds of the twentieth century. In wrestling with the truth of God’s sovereignty and man’s freedom, he proposed the following as a simple way to illustrate a profound truth.
“An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of Sovereignty. On board the liner are several scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port. Both freedom and Sovereignty are present here and they do not contradict each other.”

You see? It is perspective that determines how we define the will of man versus the will of God. Aboard Tozer’s mythical ocean liner the passengers all believe that they are exercising their free will. It is allowing them to do what they please, but of course, God’s sovereignty is directing their overall path. The people think that they are in control of their destiny, but the sovereign God knows that He is.

Joseph Hart was an eighteenth century English pastor and hymn writer. He wrote a hymn about God’s choice. Listen to one of its verses.
“Why so offensive in their eyes
Does God’s election seem?
Because they think they themselves so wise
That they have chosen Him…
‘Election!’ ‘tis a word divine;
For, Lord, I plainly see,
Had not Thy choice preceded mine,
I ne’er had chosen Thee”

~ Pray ~