I am often asked, "If God is sovereign, why evangelize?"
This questions arises from people who really don't understand God's sovereignty or His Grace.
J.I. Packer answers this question this way:
(1) The belief that God is sovereign in grace does not affect the necessity of evangelism.
Whatever we may believe about election, the fact remains that evangelism is necessary, because no man can be saved without the gospel.
‘There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,’ proclaims Paul; ‘for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord (Jesus Christ) shall be saved.’
Yes; but nobody will be saved who does not call upon the name of the Lord, and certain things must happen before any man can do this.
So Paul continues: ‘How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?’[Rom x.12 ff.]
They must be told of Christ before they can trust Him, and they must trust Him before they can be saved by Him. Salvation depends on faith, and faith on knowing the gospel. God’s way of saving sinners is to bring them to faith through bringing them into contact with the gospel.
In God’s ordering of things, therefore, evangelism is a necessity if anyone is to be saved at all.
We must realize, therefore, that when God sends us to evangelize, He sends us to act as vital links in the chain of His purpose for the salvation of His elect.
I will post the rest of his response in following blogs...
7 comments:
If God know the exact moment of your death, why eat?
Actually, the foreknowledge view of election must ask the same question: If God knows right now who will or will not be saved, why witness? It won't change anything unless God is wrong right now.
Point well taken Dr. Spry!!
Anyone else care to comment?
foreknowledge better answers the question why eat?if you don't eat you die.if you don't eat at at age 18 you die before you're 19. if you don't eat at age 40 you die before you're 41. you can choose and GOD in his foreknowledge recognizes your not eating and your day of death. the same principle would apply applying foreknowledge to witnessing and salvation.
Gods good pleasure is that mankind (who as a result of his sin nature is estranged from God )that mankinds relationship with God be restored.what kind of relation is it where one party elects and has no choice but to be a puppet.man has a choice because the sovereign God allows him to have a choice.just as god gives satan the freedom to rule this world for awhile doesn't diminish the sovereignty of God neither does God's giving man freewill threaten His sovereignty.is God's sovereignty so fragile that He has to be a dictatorial party to a relationship.how much more sovereign is the God who can allow His creation to react and stll have ultimate and eternal control.
LYNN HELTON
l_helton@bellsouth.net
oops!typing error.what kind of relationship is it where one party elects and the other party has no choice but to be a puppet
LYNN HELTON
Hi, Lynn. It's been a long time. You said it well - if you don't eat, you die. My point is similar - if you don't witness, someone is not going to get saved. If a person is to get saved at 19 (which I don't know), I witness to them til they're 19. If a person is going to get saved at 41 (which I don't know), I witness to them til they're 41. We witness because God ordains the means as well as the ends.
Lots of dangerous rhetoric tho - puppet, dictatorial, fragile - that doesn't help the conversation.
Lynn, I'm glad Paul didn't think like that. He was discouraged after some abuse from the Jews.
In Acts 18:9-11, we read "One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: 'Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.' So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God."
God told Paul that He had many people in the city. Why stay if God "already has them?" If Paul had been thinking fatalistically, he could have concluded that God had already determined to save many in Corinth and therefore, it really didn’t matter if he stayed or went. Paul concluded differently, understanding that he was perhaps the sole means by which God was going to reach those “many people in [the] city.”
The same is seen in Acts 27:22-26. In a boat in the middle of a storm, Paul recounts:
22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.
23 Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me
24 and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’
25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.
26 Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”
Paul then noticed several sailors attempting to leave the boat and escape the soon-to-beshipwrecked
lot. This would leave the others helpless with no real sailors left behind to steer or manage the boat. When Paul noticed this in, we read his reaction:
30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow.
31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it fall away.
Paul could have started thinking, “That’s OK. Go ahead and run. God will save us anyway.” He did not. He realized those seasoned sailors were the means God intended to use to save them all.
jeff,perhaps i don't understand reformed theology.my understanding is that it allows for gods foreknowledge only because of gods decree.thus god knows who will be saved because he has decreed who will be saved,he has predestined some to salvation and some to damnation.he has also predestined some to not eat and die.with foreknowledge based on eternal omniscience though god within the framework of eternity can allow mankind freewill to believe necessitating evangelism.at the same time god can know how the freewilled person will respond .he then predestines according to his wise counsel the paths of a man to fulfill his divine purpose.1st peter 1:2--gods elect have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of god the father.romans 8:29 for those god foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son.romans 5:1-2 access to gods grace is gained by faith.i would add not by pre-time decree.jeff you and i probably agree on what is truth 95% of the time.and based on your superior intellect you might even be right on some of the other 5 percent.i admire your seeking the truth and encourage you to continue to do so.i see us walking side by side for the same cause not as opponents head to head seeking to destroy.
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