Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is past from death unto life.

And, in verse 40, Jesus said:

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

In the next chapter, in John 6:40, Jesus said:

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

When those He was speaking to began to murmer in unbelief, Jesus said, in verse 44:

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

In John 11:26 Jesus said:

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

In John 12:46 Jesus said:

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Verses 37-41 say:

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Acts 2:21 says:

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Acts 10:43, speaking of Jesus, says:

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

In Romans 1:16 Paul says:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

But, in Romans 3:11 Paul wrote:

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

Romans 8:7-8 say that:

. . . the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

And, I Corinthians 2:14 says:

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Total Depravity and Inability

The case is clearly this--Whosoever will believe on and receive Jesus as He is and for who and what He is shall be saved, BUT, whosoever WON'T unless God gives him a new will-er. The natural man cannot believe (I Corinthians 2:14) because he is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1) and his mind "is enmity against God" (Romans 8:7). "No man" (John 6:65) can believe unless he is given a new nature by being "born again" (John 3:3), being given the faith to believe, as a "gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

This true and undisputable fact raises many questions. The answers to those questions, if answered in total consistency with the Bible, form the system of doctrine to be presented here. It must be considered as a system because each of the several points either stand together or they all fall together. No one point can be held and proven with consistency while rejecting any of the others. No one point can be rejected without ultimately surrendering and abandoning the rest.

A Just and Merciful God

It is commonly objected that God could not be just in requiring man to repent and believe if man is unable to do so. The same logic would insist that God was unjust in giving the law, knowing that no one would be able to keep it. It further implies that God was unjust in creating man, knowing that he would sin. Those doctrines, if followed, will lead its adherents to the acceptance or approval of some form of belief in works for the obtaining of salvation. That system of belief eventually says that a loving God would not have created a literal hell, and ultimately, that man is his own god, and that every man is free to do whatsoever is right in his own eyes. These false doctrines depend upon the false assumption that salvation is deserved, that since God let things get out of hand, and if by Adam all men have inherited a sinful nature, that God was obligated to provide a plan of salvation. Salvation is not deserved. God did not provide a plan of salvation because of man's merit, but because of His mercy. God was not obligated to save anyone. He is God. He is totally sovereign. He is just. He is merciful. God has said, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Romans 9:15). As Romans 9:16 points out, salvation does not come by man's choice, but by God's choice:

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Election--God's Choice

The fact of man's total inability and unwillingness to understand or receive God's only plan of salvation being proven from the Bible, we are led to the logical conclusion that if anyone is ever saved, it is by God's choice. In John 6:65 Jesus said:

Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

In John 6:44, Jesus said:

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Romans 9:16 says:

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Not only did God specifically choose or elect to save those who would be saved, He made His choice "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4), proving that God's decision was not because of any merit or goodness that we possess. Romans 9:11, using Jacob and Esau for an example, explains it in these words:

For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.

Ephesians 1:4-14 says:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

[underlining added]

Many, finding these verses incompatible with their preconceived "way which seemeth right" (Proverbs 14:12), have labeled them as "difficult passages that are hard to explain" and, not quite willing to literally tear out those pages or to highlight them with a black "magic marker", have abandoned them. Ignoring the truth of God's Word does not make it any less true. We must lay aside all prejudice in the matter and accept these verses as part of the "all scripture" that "is profitable for doctrine" and as part of the "all scripture" that is "given by inspiration of God" (II Timothy 3:16).

Some, in trying to bypass the truth of the doctrine of election have suggested that since God knows all things, He knew who would believe and who would not, and therefore has elected those He knew would believe. That cannot be correct because it is crediting man with the ability to make the right choice and to make himself acceptable unto God, and pictures God as a powerless "yes man" at the mercy of man's free will. Why would God have wasted His time electing people if He knew they would be saved anyway? God knew that there would be "none that understandeth" and "none that seeketh after God" unless He caused them to do so. Man was created with a free will, and look at what he has done with it. Consider Adam and Eve. There were two people with a perfect chance to make a go of it. There were no neighbors to offend, no enemies to hate, no money to steal or cheat for, no bills to worry over, no one to lust after. They had daily communication with God. They had the best of everything. They had a free will, and look how they used it.

Since "there is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 3:11) as He is, and "none that understandeth" God's simple plan of salvation as it is, "none" would ever be saved unless they be given the ability to seek and understand and the mind to receive God and His plan as is. Since "none" are able to help themselves, we can be sure that "none" can give that ability to another. It must be God that gives that ability, and He does so through the new birth that Jesus was telling Nicodemus about in John 3:3-8. God "hath chosen" some unto salvation "according to the good pleasure of his will."

The reality of the total inability and unwillingness of the natural man to understand or to seek a right relationship with God being proven and accepted, we are forced to conclude that no one would be saved unless God elected some. The fact that God has elected some implies that there are others whom God has not elected. That is exactly the case according to the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. God elected Israel to be His chosen nation of people, but did not elect the Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and others to be His chosen nation of people.

Many are teaching that God does not elect some to salvation, while not electing others, and claim that God would be unfair to do so. We must remember that salvation is not deserved by anyone. Salvation is a free gift of God's mercy, not something that God is obligated to provide. God would be perfectly just in allowing every person that has ever sinned to go to hell, without ever having provided a plan of salvation. God said:

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.   (Romans 9:15)

Romans 9:16 says:

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

On pages 75 and 76 of Abandoned Truth, one of the best and most thorough books available on this subject, Tom Ross says:

Men will often commend other men for what they condemn a holy God for. For example, if a wealthy man goes to the orphanage and chooses to adopt a child who is fatherless we would consider it an act of charity. If he would choose a child with several known deformities and defects we would consider the man to be saintly and gracious and worthy of praise. After all, he was in no way obligated to choose any of the children. He did not have to share his wealth, his goodness, his name, and his home, he merely did so because it pleased him. Such a man is to be honored and admired. Yet when you apply the same circumstances to God, men will charge Him with unfairness and injustice in saving some and not others. All of us were deformed rebels corrupted by the same lump of sin, with no righteousness or merit before God. Yet as a loving Father, in an act of sovereign grace, He chose some unto salvation. He sent His Son to blot out the eternal debt of sin which we owed to divine justice. He called us and drew us by His power. He took us out from under the condemnation of the law and now deals with us in grace as His sons and daughters. He has promised an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for us. All of this simply because it pleased Him to love us with an everlasting love.

In Proverbs 16:4, the Bible says:

The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The purpose of man is to glorify God, and everyone will sooner or later, willing or not. "Every knee shall bow" and "every tongue shall confess to God" (Romans 14:11). God has created man to glorify Him and God accomplishes the things He wants to do. God uses all people to glorify Himself; He even uses the ungodly. Romans 9:17 uses Pharaoh for an example on the subject of divine election:

For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

We find that message, delivered by Moses, from God to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16:

And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

Exodus 10:1-2 says:

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.

Exodus 11:9 says:

And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

The example of Jacob and Esau is also presented in the teaching of election in Romans 9:10-13. In Genesis 25:23, God, speaking to Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau, said:

Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Malachi 1:1-3 says:

The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

In Romans 11:7-8, Paul, speaking of God's grace and quoting from Isaiah 29:10, wrote:

. . . the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

In John 12:37-40, quoting from Isaiah 53:1 and Isaiah 6:1, John wrote:

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

I Peter 2:8 describes those "which stumble at the word" as "being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed." II Peter 2:12 speaks of some who are "as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed." Jude, verse 4 speaks of false teachers "who were before of old ordained to this condemnation." Romans 9:22 speaks of some as being "vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Unwilling to submit to a totally sovereign God, many will reject the plain teaching of these simple verses and argue that God could not be just or fair to have mercy on some and not others. Romans 9:14 says:

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

Romans 9:20-24 says:

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Some, unwilling to accept these plain truths, will ask, "Did Christ not die for everyone?" The Bible doctrine known as Particular Redemption teaches that He did not.

Particular Redemption

Just as some would say that a glass is half empty, when it is actually half full, the doctrine of Particular Redemption is sometimes referred to as "Limited Atonement." The Lord's congregations in England were named "Particular Baptists" in the 17th century, because they faithfully upheld the true teaching of Particular Redemption. The General Baptists in England rejected this doctrine and were called "General Baptist" because they believed in a general atonement.

Jesus, the one who did the redeeming, understood and taught that the redemption was particular. In John 17:1-2 Jesus, just hours before His death, prayed, saying:

Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

And in verse 9 He said:

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

The reason Jesus died was to pay for sins--not His own--but the sins of others. That being true, we are forced to conclude that either Jesus actually obtained salvation for those He died for, or that He only made a provision for man to obtain his own salvation. In John 6:39, Jesus said that it was the Father's will "that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." Was Jesus a successful Saviour who accomplished what He came for, or was He a terrible failure, unable to accomplish "the Father's will"?

Romans 5:10 says, "...we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Hebrews 9:11-12, speaking of "Christ being come an high priest" says:

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 10:14 says:

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Hebrews 12:2 claims Jesus to be both "the author and finisher of our faith."

It is conclusive that the purpose of Jesus' death was the substitutionary payment for sins and that for those He died, He hath redeemed from the curse of the law and has obtained eternal redemption for them. If Jesus died for everyone, "having obtained eternal redemption" for them, then no one will go to hell to pay for his own sins because they are already paid for. Would God require someone to pay for his sins in hell if Jesus has already "obtained eternal redemption" for that person. Would God have sent His Son to die for "vessels of wrath fitted to destruction" (Romans 9:22), or those appointed unto disobedience (I Peter 2:8), or certain men "who were before of old ordained to . . . condemnation" (Jude 4)? Is Jesus' blood no more precious than that? Jesus did obtain eternal redemption for those who will be saved.

The reality of divine reprobation, or the hardening of those who reject God as He is, and reject Christ as He is, is certain. We need not trouble our minds about anyone going to hell because of divine reprobation. No one will go to hell for being "fitted to destruction" or being "appointed unto disobedience." They will go to hell because they will have rebelled and sinned against God and rejected His plan of salvation. Those who reject Christ as full and only payment for their sin will spend eternity in hell, regardless of their good works, evil deeds, or reprobation.

The truths of the doctrine of Particular Redemption being proven by these scriptures, we are forced to take one of two courses. We must either ignore these clear and indisputable scriptures and build our doctrine around other verses that could be interpreted to contradict these, or, we must lay aside all preconceived ideas and prejudice and seek the interpretation that agrees with the context and with the rest of the Bible. Those who insist that Jesus died to save every person that has ever or will ever be born, and that God is trying to save everyone, must admit that both have failed terribly. They might as well say, "Poor, poor, pitiful God." In Isaiah 46:9-11 God says:

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

There are some verses that can be made to disprove particular redemption but to do so is to make those verses contradict the rest of the Bible, and certainly those passages such as John 6, John 17, Romans 9, and the others previously discussed. The entire Old Testament describes God as nothing less than TOTALLY SOVEREIGN. It must surely be offensive to the Holy Spirit for someone to try to make one part of the inspired Word of God contradict another part.

These doctrines, because they show the spiritual depravity or inability and helplessness of man, are offensive to our human nature, and therefore, the human part of us resists and opposes such doctrine. I John 2:2 is often employed in disputing Particular Redemption, and as long as the verse is kept isolated from those which accompany it, and if the meaning of the word propitiation is changed or ignored, it may be done so quite convincingly. The chapter and verse divisions were not inspired in the original, but have been added in later times for convenience in reference and location. When we look beyond those divisions and study the verse within its context, it can be seen that there is no contradiction. I John 2:2 says:

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The entire epistle of I John was adressed to a congregation or congregations in a certain location or particular area. Those written to are described as "brethren" (I John 2:7), those whose "sins are forgiven" (verse 12), who "have known him that is from the beginning" (verse 13), who "have overcome the wicked one" (verse 13), and "you that believe on the name of the Son of God" (5:13). The purpose of the epistle is given as "that your joy may be full" (1:4), "that ye sin not" (2:1), and "that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (5:13). I John 2:2 declares that Jesus Christ is the propitiation or full payment for their sins and also for the sins of God's elect among all nations, rich or poor. On page 34 of The Bible Doctrine of Election C.D. Cole wrote:

There are passages like John 3:16 and I John 2:2 which seem to teach that Christ died for every individual. However, the word "world" rarely ever means every individual of the human race. The word "world" is sometimes used to distinguish between the saved and the lost (I John 5:19); between the Jew and the Gentile (Romans 11:11-15) and between the few and the many (John 12:19). I believe John 3:16 and I John 2:2 teach that Christ died for Gentiles as well as Jews. He died for men as sinners and not as any class or kind of sinners. The Jews thought their Messiah, when He came, would deliver them and destroy the Gentiles. But John says that He is the propitiation or Mercy-seat for all believers regardless of class or color. In other words, Christ is no tribal Saviour. If we think of Christ's death as substitutionary, then I agree with Spurgeon, that He died for the elect only. If He died as the substitute for every individual, then every individual would be saved, else His death was in vain. Now I believe there is a sense in which Christ's death affects every person. By His death He bought the human race, not to save every individual, but in order to dispose of every individual. The right to judge this world is Christ's reward for His suffering. All judgement has been committed unto the Son. John 5:22. In the parable of the hid treasure, Christ is the man who bought the field (world) for the sake of the treasure (the elect) for the sake of those given Him by the Father.

Most agree that the same John, the apostle, wrote I, II, and III John and the gospel according to John. In a verse very similar to I John 2:2, speaking of when Caiaphas, the high priest, unwittingly "prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation" (Israel) in John 11:52, John wrote:

And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

The ones Jesus died for is "the children of God that were scattered abroad." John 1: 29 says:

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

If "the world" here refers to every single person in the world, why do people continue to go to hell, if the Lamb of God "taketh away" their sin? On pages 260-261 of The Sovereignty of God, A.W. Pink wrote:

. . . to insist that "the whole world" in I John 2:2 signifies the entire human race is to undermine the very foundations of our faith. If Christ is the propitiation for those that are lost equally as much as for those that are saved, then what assurance have we that believers too may not be lost? If Christ is the propitiation for those now in hell, what guarantee have I that I may not end in hell? The blood-shedding of the incarnate Son of God is the only thing which can keep any one out of hell, and if many for whom that precious blood made propitiation are now in the awful place of the damned, then may not that blood prove inefficacious for me! Away with such a God dishonoring thought.

In Romans 11, continuing with the subject of election from previous chapters, speaking of Israel, God's chosen people, verse 1 says, ". . . Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. . . ." Verse 2 says, "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. . . ." Verse 5 says, ". . . there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Verse 7 says, ". . . the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Verse 15, speaking to Gentiles, says, "For if the casting away of them [Israel] be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" "The world" in that verse does not mean every person in the world, because it excludes the nation of Israel.

The "world" in John 3:16 is limited to "whosoever believeth in him" (the elect). Galatians 3:8-9 says:

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

"All nations" is qualified by "they which be of faith."

Some verses or phrases containing the words all, every, or any are sometimes enlisted in the rejection of election and particular redemption; but they, too, when studied in context, clearly show that it is "all" the elect that is being referred to. II Peter 3:9 says that the Lord is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." The word translated "any" in that verse is the Greek word tis (Strong's #5100), an indefinite pronoun which Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines as:

1. a certain, a certain one; used of persons and things concerning which the writer either cannot or will not speak more particularly. . . .

On page 152 of Abandoned Truth, Tom Ross says:

The all that come to repentance are the us-ward who are identified as the beloved in verse 8. The us-ward are the "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (I Pet. 1:2).

Hebrews 2:9 says:

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

When kept in context, it is seen that "every man" that Jesus tasted death for is, in verses 12 and 13, by quoting the words of Jesus that were prophesied of in Isaiah 8:18, qualified by, and limited to, Jesus' "brethren" and "the children which God hath given" Him. The Greek word translated "every" in Hebrews 2:9 is pas (Strong's #3956) which is also correctly translated "all" in I Timothy 4:10, and many other places. I Timothy 4:10 says:

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

The "all men" that the "living God . . . is the Saviour of" is qualified by the phrase, "those that believe" and is limited with the adverb "specially," which Webster's Dictionary defines as "particular; beyond the usual; distinct; intimate; designed for a particular person or purpose." The "all men" there is the same "all" (Strong's #3956) in John 6:37 where Jesus said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." It is the same "all" (Strong's #3956) as that in John 12:32, where Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Notice, also that "men" is not in the original, but has been added in translation, as indicated by its appearing in italics in the KJV. Jesus DID NOT say, "I will try to draw all men toward me"--He said, "I . . . will draw all unto me." "All" and "all men" is used in other places when it clearly does not mean everyone everywhere, without exception. In John 3:26, there were some that said that "all men come to" Jesus, but it is clear that they did not mean every single person. Acts 2:44-45 says:

And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Verse 45 does not mean that they parted their possessions and goods to every single person everywhere, but "as every man had need" (that they knew of).

I Corinthians 15:22 says:

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

That verse does not tell us that "all" persons universally shall "be made alive," but that all that shall "be made alive" shall be made alive "in Christ." In Matthew 10:22, Mark 13:13, and Luke 21:17, Jesus said, "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." Surely Jesus did not by "all men" mean that each and every individual person would hate them (or us) for His name's sake. Surely He was not telling them that they would hate each other for His name's sake.

II Peter 2:1 is a verse that, I believe, is often, and can easily be, misunderstood. It says:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

That verse is interpreted by some as saying that Jesus redeemed the "false teachers" who "bring upon themselves swift destruction," and therefore proves that Jesus' redemption is universal and not particular. First, let us consider who is being called "Lord" in this verse. The word Lord or Lord's beginning with a capital L is found over 680 times in the King James translation of the New Testament. There are 45 occurrences with a lower case L as lord, lords, and lord's. Additionally, there are 3 occurrences of LORD, using all capital letters, clearly meaning God the Father. Lord with only a capital L, as in this verse, is sometimes used to refer to God the Father and sometimes to refer to God the Son. Distinction is often made by saying, "Lord God" or "Lord Jesus Christ" as in Jude 4.

In all but 11 occurrences, Lord, Lord's, and lords, regardless of capitalization, is translated from the Greek word kurios (Strong's #2962) which Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines as:

. . . he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has the power of deciding; master, lord; used a. univ. of the possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner. . . .

The word Lord in II Peter 2:1 is one of only four occurrences where Lord is translated from the Greek word despotes (Strong's #1203), defined in Thayer's Lexicon as "a master, lord," and in Strong's Concordance as "(a husband); an absolute ruler ("despot"): -- Lord, master." In each of these four occurrences, I believe, "Lord" is referring to the Lord God, the Father. The first of these four occurrences is found in Luke 2:29, spoken by Simeon. It had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Ghost, "that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ" (Luke 2:26). When Jesus was six weeks old (Luke 2:22 and Leviticus 12), the parents brought Him to the temple and Simeon "came by the Spirit into the temple." Luke 2:28-29 says:

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

Despotes clearly refers to God the Father in that verse.

The next occurrence of despotes, translated as "Lord," is in Acts 4:24 which says:

And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

Despotes, translated "Lord" in Acts 4:24 clearly refers to God the Father.

The next occurrence of despotes translated as Lord is in II Peter 2:1, the verse presently under discussion. The fourth and final occurrence is in Revelation 6:10, again, I believe, referring to God the Father. Revelation 6:10 says:

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Notice that in each case where despotes is translated "Lord," it is spoken by Jewish persons, and is in referrence to God the Father. Despotes is also found five other times in the New Testament, where it is translated "master's" (with a lower case M) in II Timothy 2:21 and "masters" (with a lower case M) in I Timothy 6:1, 2; Titus 2:9; and I Peter 2:18.

The first word, "But," of II Peter 2:1 unmistakably connects it with the two verses that immediately precede it. That being so, the false prophets referred to in the first part of this verse are those that "were" among the people "in old time" when the "prophecy of the scripture" came by "holy men of God" (such as Moses) who "spake moved by the Holy Ghost." The recipients of the epistle are being reminded (II Peter 1:15) of those false prophets like Korah (Numbers 16:1-35) and warned by "even as there shall be false teachers among you." The phrase, "the Lord that bought them" in the last half of II Peter 2:1 refers to a temporal deliverance by the Lord God and the verse makes an allusion to the deliverence of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, and to Deuteronomy 32:6. On page 61 of Cause of God and Truth, John Gill commented:

The word buying regards temporal deliverance, and particularly the redemption of the people of Israel out of Egypt; who are therefore called the people the Lord had purchased. The phrase is borrowed from Deuteronomy 32:6. . . .

Deuteronomy 32:6 says:

Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

We who have been blessed with the availability of the Bible, with religious freedom, and the presence of Jesus' congregations preaching the gospel, can be said to have been bought by God and delivered from conditions that could be worse, yet all that can save no one. We must be bought by the blood of Jesus to possess eternal life. Although the Israelites were bought by God and delivered from Egypt, some "fell in one day three and twenty thousand," some "were destroyed of serpents," and some "were destroyed of the destroyer" (I Corinthians 10:6-12). Compare II Peter 2:1 with Jude 4-5 which says:

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

We could continue on and on attempting to answer the objections to the doctrine of particular redemption but the believer who is willing to submit to the God of the Bible as the truly sovereign God that He is, and to the teaching and guidance of the Holy Ghost, can find the answers in God's Word. Those who still object will still object.

Irresistible Grace

Seeing that God has elected to save certain persons, that redemption was actually obtained for those particular persons by the death of Christ, and that God is able to carry out His plans and intentions according to the good pleasure of His will, we may conclude that all whom God has elected, and all for whom Christ has obtained redemption must be ultimately caused to receive salvation and that God's grace is irresistible. That is what the Bible teaches. God has purposed that His elect "should be holy and without blame before him," as Ephesians 1:4-11 says:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The unchanging God says, in Isaiah 46:9-11:

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

Romans 8:28-30 says:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Jesus taught that the elect shall be saved in John 6:37:

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Acts 17:30 tells us that God "commandeth all men every where to repent." A general call goes out from God to all men everywhere. Enough can be seen in creation alone that we are without excuse (Romans 1:20). But, God in His mercy goes much farther--through the inspiration of His Word, the Bible, the preservation of it, and the propagation of it in many languages, the general call is given. Through the preservation of Jesus' congregations throughout all ages, with the orders to "teach all nations" (Matthew 28:19), the general call is given. God has given man a conscience that can be made to feel guilty and condemned, and cause him to shake and tremble and lose sleep at the thought and realization of his impending eternal punishment. Even with all this man will resist that call. Even under the preaching of Paul, Agrippa was only almost persuaded (Acts 26:28). "Almost is but to fail." As was shown earlier from the Bible, the reason man does not respond positively to the general call is that he is unable and unwilling. Some, in opposition to God's sovereignty, have questioned the sincerity and propriety of God in giving a general call to those He knows are unable to believe. Shall we also charge God with insincerity and wrong-doing in giving the ten commandments, knowing that no one could obey them, and knowing that the law would be broken the same day it was given? God forbid. On pages 151 and 152 of The Sovereignty of God, A.W. Pink wrote:

Now let it be clearly understood that, when we speak of the sinner's inability, we do not mean that if men desired to come to Christ they lack the necessary power to carry out their desire. No; the fact is that the sinner's inability or absence of power is itself due to lack of willingness to come to Christ, and this lack of willingness is the fruit of a depraved heart. It is of first importance that we distinguish between natural inability and moral and spiritual inability. For example, we read, "But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age" (I Kings 14:4); and again, "The men rowed hard to bring it to land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them" (Jonah 1:13). In both of these passages the words "could not" refer to natural inability. But when we read, "And when his brethren saw that their father loved him (Joseph) more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him" (Gen. 37:4), it is clearly moral inability that is in view. They did not lack the natural ability to "speak peaceably unto him", for they were not dumb. Why then was it that they "could not speak peaceably unto him"? The answer is given in the same verse: it was because "they hated him." Again; in 2 Pet. 2:14 we read of a certain class of wicked men "having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin." Here again it is moral inability that is in view. Why is it that these men "cannot cease from sin"? The answer is, Because their eyes were full of adultery. So of Rom. 8:8--"They that are in the flesh cannot please God": here it is spiritual inability. Why is it that the natural man "cannot please God"? Because he is "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18). No man can choose that from which his heart is averse--"O generation of vipers how can ye, being evil, speak good things?" (Matt. 12:34). "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6:44). Here again it is moral and spiritual inability which is before us. Why is it the sinner cannot come to Christ unless he is "drawn"? The answer is, Because his wicked heart loves sin and hates Christ.

Later, on pages 154 and 155, Pink says:

We say again that the above distinction between the natural ability and the moral and spiritual inability of the sinner is of prime importance. By nature he possesses natural ability but lacks moral and spiritual ability. The fact that he does not possess the latter, does not destroy his responsibility, because his responsibility rests upon the fact that he does possess the former. Let me illustrate again. Here are two men guilty of theft: the first is an idiot, the second perfectly sane but the offspring of criminal parents. No just judge would sentence the former; but every right-minded judge would the latter. Even though the second of these thieves possessed a vitiated moral nature inherited from criminal parents, that would not excuse him, providing he was a normal rational being. Here then is the ground of human accountability --the posssession of rationality plus the gift of conscience. It is because the sinner is endowed with these natural faculties that he is a responsible creature; because he does not use his natural powers for God's glory, constitutes his guilt.

Yes, the general call is valid, and it is sincere--and it is always resisted. Man is helpless and hopeless except for the grace of God. By His marvelous grace, God gives an effectual call to His elect. The effectual call, being part of God's doing that which He has purposed to do (save His elect), is irresistible. Failing to recognize a distinction between the general call and the effectual call, we may mistakenly perceive that man is able to resist God's effort to do what He has purposed--but that does not change reality. It is not at all uncommon for man to have an exaggerated opinion of himself. Popular opinion does not change the words or plans of the unchanging God. Even though we may have thought that it was within our power to successfully and ultimately resist God and cause Him to fail to accomplish what He had purposed to do, and even though we may have been convinced that we could have refused the last opportunity to receive Jesus as Saviour, that does not give us license to re-invent God. On page 45 of Abandoned Truth Tom Ross wrote:

Preachers in our day have made the free will of man into a god. This supposed free will that man possesses is powerful enough to overcome and thwart the will and purpose of God.

The unregenerated person always resists God as long as he is left in his natural condition. When given a new nature, a new will-er, a person gladly and freely wills to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour. In John 3, Nicodemus was puzzled at the requirement that "a man be born again." In verse 4, Nicodemus asked how that a person who had been born (a natural birth) could be born a second time (another natural birth). In verse 5, Jesus explained that "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (underlining added). In verses 6 and 7, Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." Man, when given a new nature by means of a new birth, no longer resists, but is enabled to see things differently and gladly receives salvation. God elected, Jesus purchased, and the Holy Spirit enables. It must surely be grievous and offensive to the Holy Spirit when we give man the credit for that which is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is by the Holy Spirit that we are "born again" and given the ability to understand and the willingness to receive Jesus as Saviour. We are "sealed" and kept "in Christ" by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is continually active in the persevering and preservation of those "born again." Ephesians 1:13-14, speaking of Christ, says:

. . . in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

In Matthew 12:32, Jesus said:

And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

It is a very, very serious thing to claim that before being "born again" the natural man has the ability to choose God and that it is by man's choice that salvation is obtained. It is a very, very serious thing to claim that our perseverance in the faith is in our own hands--that we are able to keep ourselves saved or able to get ourselves lost. And, God the Holy Ghost should never be spoken of as "it" nor described as "just a kind of feeling that comes over you." To do so is blasphemous.

On page 167 of Abandoned Truth, Tom Ross wrote:

If God could be resisted in the effectual call by the sinner what would prevent the sinner from resisting God in the day of judgement? We could just as well conclude that if God can be resisted in the call to salvation, the sinner could just as easily resist God's summons of wrath and doom at the Great White Throne of Judgement. God's power is equally exerted and manifested in both salvation as well as judgement. Furthermore if man can resist the power of God in salvation we must conclude that men are more powerful than God and have the ability to thwart the purposes of God.

On page 165 of the same book, Tom Ross says:

When a person truly understands that God is responsible for the effectual call, all the gimmicks, gadgets, and psychological trickery that men have resorted to in our day will be regarded as futile. Special days do not bring men to Christ, God does. Long invitations, "altar calls", and emotional appeals do not bring men to Christ, God does. It is for this reason that Paul stated in I Corinthians 2:4-5: "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." One of the reasons why false professions are abundant and church memberships are loaded with lost people is because men have resorted to false and unscriptural methods of evangelism attempting to help God out. We are to preach with all our might but we must depend upon God to draw wayward sinners to Christ. By so doing we exalt God's way of salvation and truly understand what Jesus meant in John 6:44 which states: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

It is NOT the responsibility of Jesus' congregations to "make disciples." Our job is to glorify God, defend and uphold the truth, and go "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). We must faithfully do our part and trust God to do His part. God is not glorified by our giving man credit for God's work. If salvation is obtained in part by man's works then his salvation must be held on to or preserved by man's works. Since salvation is wholly by God's grace we can be assured that we will be kept saved wholly by God's grace. That, too, is what the Bible teaches.

Perseverance and Preservation of All Blood Bought Believers

Would God go this far in saving His elect, in doing that which He has purposed, and then leave the continuation of it to chance, or for man to undo? Philippians 1:6 says:

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

God, who saves those He has chosen, promises to, is able to, and does preserve or keep each one of them saved--and He can and will preserve throughout all eternity. The blood bought believer, having received a new nature by the new birth, will delight in the law of God. The new creature will desire to know and do God's will, and by the enabling of the Holy Spirit, will persevere. I John 5:4 says that "whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world." Verses 11 and 12 say:

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Notice the present tense. God hath given to us eternal life and he that hath the Son of God hath possession of that eternal life right now, and we can know that we possess eternal life--not by how we feel, but by the Word of God. Verse 13 says:

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

In John 5:24, Jesus said:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is past from death unto life.

In the next chapter, in John 6:38-40, Jesus said:

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

In John 10:26-29, Jesus taught Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Particular Redemption, Effectual Calling, Preservation, AND Perseverance ("My sheep hear my voice . . . and they follow me"). In those verses, Jesus said:

But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

The blood bought believer will persevere because he is being preserved. God the Father who elected us, God the Son who redeemed us, and God the Holy Spirit by whom we received the new birth and are "sealed" all continue to work together, doing the preserving and persevering. I John 5:4 says:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

And, that faith which is the victory is "not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

Being still chained to the old nature, a Christian may fail as David did and as Peter did, but it will not be with joy and it will not be with continuation. Both those men repented, as any true Christian will, because of the possession of the new nature that is received in the new birth, which has the ability and desire to be guided and corrected by God.

Many make a profession of faith in Christ and later return to and continue a sinful and ungodly life. Some will say, "See there, he was saved and then got lost again." Others may say, "No, he is only backslidden," but the scriptural conclusion is that the individual has never experienced the new birth. Like "the sow that was washed," in II Peter 2:22, returns "to her wallowing in the mire," there was only a temporary, outward change. Sincere faith may be placed in an imaginary or false "Jesus," but if that is the case, the preservation will also be false.

The Elected Means

In Isaiah 55:8-11, God said:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

On page 18 of The Bible Doctrine of Election, C.D. Cole wrote:

Election is the very foundation of hope in missionary endeavour. If we had to depend upon the natural disposition or will of a dead sinner, who hates God, to respond to our gospel, we might well despair. But when we realize that it is the Spirit that quickeneth, we can go forth with the gospel of the grace of God in the hope that God will cause some, by nature turned away, to be turned unto Him and to believe to the saving of the soul. Election does not determine the extent of missions but the results of it. We are to preach to every creature because God has commanded, and because it pleases Him to save sinners by the foolishness of preaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We believe that God elected means of salvation as well as persons to salvation. He did not choose to save sinners apart from the gospel ministry. Rom. 1:16.

Election gives a saneness to evangelism that is greatly needed today. It recognizes that sinners "believe through grace" (Acts 18:27) and that while Paul may plant and Apollos may water, God gives the increase. Arminianism has had its day among Baptists and what has it done? It has given us man-power, but robbed us of God's power. It has increased machinery but has decreased spirituality. It has filled our churches with Ishmaels instead of Isaacs by its ministry of "sob stuff" and with the methods of the "counting house".

Romans 1:16 tells us that the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation." The gospel must be "according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3) and it must be "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24) or else it is another gospel. Galatians 1:6-9 says:

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Romans 10:17 says:

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I Corinthians 1:21 says that "it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." God has not only chosen to save His elect "by the foolishness of preaching" but has also chosen Jesus' true congregations as the agency for the preaching. In Mark 16:15, Jesus commanded His congregations to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

The Elected Message

I John 3:2 says that we shall see God "as he is." Every person, believer or unbeliever, will sooner or later face God as He is. In John 4:24, Jesus said that they that worship God must worship "in spirit and in truth." Faith, prayer, and worship that is directed toward God as He is imagined to be or wished to be, if it is not as He is is false faith, false prayer, and false worship. Doctrine and teaching that is contrary to as He is is false doctrine and false teaching. God is sovereign. We must recognize and teach of God as He is.

The doctrines of sovereign grace must be guarded, defended, and taught. Many have abandoned them to compromise with false prophets and counterfeit "Christianity". I believe that much evil has been perpetrated against the doctrines of sovereign grace by so called "gospel singing". Many popular songs sneak their way in upon us with a catchy tune and "religious" sounding words, while denying or perverting the true gospel. I Corinthians 15:33 says:

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Too many Baptists have been listening to the radio when they should have been studying the Bible.

Now study Romans 1:18-32 and consider the seriousness of one's having a Bible that describes God and His sovereignty, yet rejecting the doctrines of God's Sovereign Grace. To not regard God as He is is to glorify Him "not as God." Romans 1:21 says:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

For illustration, suppose a woman thinks that she loves a man but after learning more about him and finding out what he is really like, she says, "I don't love him any more--I thought things would be different." I think we would have to agree that she never loved him in the first place, but only thought she did. It was an imaginary love. It was a false love. What shall we say of those who claim to love God but reject the Bible's description of Him?

Rejection of the doctrines of Sovereign Grace logically leads to:

A. Doubt of Jesus' ability to preserve His kind of congregation throughout all ages.

B. Doubt of God's Bible as totally infallible and unchanging.

C. Doubt of God's role in creation.

D. Doubt of God's ability to judge and destroy.