A Truth Denied

 I’ve been studying the short book of Jude today.  It’s only 25 verses but it is overflowing with so much truth and so much power it’s just amazing.  I’ve already written about 18 pages of notes and I’m still on verse 1. See when I study the Bible I don’t just read it, I pray, I take notes, I meditate, and I use a Greek lexicon because when you go back to the original Greek you understand much better what the writer was trying to say and that excites me to no ends.  Sometimes what I discover makes my hair stand on end.

I know I’ve said this before but Greek is the most precise language on the planet.  It’s not stupid and confusing like English.  In English the meaning of a word depends on the context of the sentence, but in Greek, the context depends on the word.

For instance, Greek has 8 different words for love and the context of the statement depends on which word is used.  In English we only have 1 word for love…love and we throw it around all Willy nilly without even thinking about what we’re saying.

Look at this…

In Ephesians 2:1 and 5 where Paul says that we were dead in trespasses and sins he is obviously talking about spiritual death, but he uses the word “nekros” which in Greek can only be translated as physical death.  It cannot be used for anything else, at least not correctly.  The word he should have used is “Thanatos” which means spiritual death.  Or it can be used interchangeably depending on the context.  But interestingly Paul chose to use the wrong word in the wrong context.  Accident?  No.  He was trying to make a point and his readers who were very familiar with Greek would have clearly understood.  

He was saying that in our lost state we were so spiritually dead that we might as well have been physically dead because we had no will and no ability to choose to turn to Jesus without God first choosing to wake us up and call us out of our grave. God had to make the first move.  God, not us.

I said all of that to say this. In the first verse of Jude we find the entire doctrine of predestination and eternal salvation all wrapped up in a nice tidy bow.

Look at Jude 1

To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.  The NASB which is the most accurate and literal translation that exists today says “kept for Jesus.”

Now look at Romans 8

Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

We are called by God, justified by God and kept by God in Jesus and for Jesus forever.

A couple of years ago I went on a journey through scripture.  I went on this journey with an open mind which for me is unusual because when it comes to scripture I take it literally because that’s how God means for it to be taken and my mind is closed like a set of vice grips with the two ends welded together, and it still is.  But, I went on this journey actually trying to disprove the doctrine of predestination.  I wanted it be be wrong. I wanted what I believed to be wrong because millions of professing Christians hate this doctrine and deny it even though it’s clearly taught. Of course most of us ignore most of Gods word everyday anyway so no surprise there.

But, the more I read and the more I studied and prayed and tried to prove it wrong, the more I saw it.  I started seeing it everywhere in scripture from Genesis to Revelation.  Scripture is littered with it. It’s everywhere.

You see, the problem so many of us have is pride.  We simply cannot accept the biblical fact that our salvation has absolutely nothing to do with us. We aren’t saved because we prayed a prayer or because we made a choice or a decision or even because we turned to Jesus.  No.  We are saved because God, before He even started creating the universe predestined us to be saved.  We did not choose Him, He chose us.  And He chose us before the foundation of the world.

Folks, to deny predestination is to deny that God is sovereign.