Friday, August 25th | Chosen Recap

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Friday, August the 25th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm Jon Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

That's right. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online, leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from.

We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. Today's verse of the day is coming to us from John 4, verses 23 and 24. It says, But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in the spirit and truth. This is one thing that I appreciate so much about Dr. Shah and about you, Jon, is the emphasis that we place here at Clearview at our church on worship. It's not just a genre of music, it's not just a time in our service, but worship is the entirety of the service.

We are very intentional on crafting those elements and those transitions together so that worship is that seamless experience for people as they walk on the floor. The thing is, and I've been learning this over the past few years, is that you can't mean the songs harder while you're singing them. If your spiritual life, your prayer life, your devotional life is not where it needs to be, then the songs are always going to be just songs. I can't come in here and say the right things from the stage to convince you in the congregation to mean the songs harder.

For you, if you're a worship leader or a worship pastor or director of music, there's no clever segue or Bible passage that you can do to bring that... Everybody's chasing that cathartic moment on stage and in the room, and that's not going to happen because I said the right thing or because anyone in the congregation is meaning the songs harder. You know what I mean? Yeah. You can't manufacture that feeling. You can't dig from a well that is dry. That's exactly right. Dr. Shah taught me that years ago. He's like, look, all the words you say are just words unless they're coming from a place.

If you're pumping a dry well and there's no spiritual depth in you, then you can fool people for a little bit, but after a while, your worship is going to reflect what's actually going on inside. That's right. Had another person write into the show, a million dollars, but you have to...

This one is so dumb. You have to donate a giant fake check to a local charity, but the check will always bounce. I don't think I could do that with a local charity. Because you live here and people know you. I feel like, yeah, where we live is still relatively a small town. People know us.

Especially with The Cleary Today Show, people are getting more and more familiar with our names and our faces. How do I do it local? Being a pillar of the community stinks because I can't do wacky hijinks. I can't do fun hijinks. Like, writing about bad check. If it were a global or even a national charity, I'd be more inclined to take that. You have to present it under your name, though.

It's got to be from Ryan Hill. You do the whole ceremony and everything, and then the checklist bounces. You would present a fake check to Habitat for Humanity. Yeah, sure.

Absolutely. To Cedars-Sinai Hospital, you'd present a fake check. Yeah, because they're so big and they get donations all the time, they'd be like, wow, that was really weird. But then, after a while, they'd forget about it. They're going to follow up. They're going to be like, hey, you wrote us a million-dollar check, and it's not bouncing.

Oh, silly me. I'll get you another one. And then I'll never call them back. And here's the most despicable thing, I've won a million dollars for that, so now I actually have the money to make good on that check, but I don't. I would do it.

I would do it with a local charity. I'd be like, I don't know what happened. To play the hypocrite, I would certainly donate a giant fake check to a local charity, and then knowing it's going to bounce. I don't know what happened. I'm supposed to play dumb.

Deny, deny, deny. It's like, I'll get that to you, and then I just move. Move states.

Move, change your name. We're going to jump into the show in just a second, but if you guys have any questions or suggestions for new topics, these are great. Two days back-to-back, get those suggestions coming.

Text us at 252-582-5028, or visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. We'll be back after this. Hey there, listeners. I'm Jon Galantis.

And I'm Ellie Galantis. And we just want to take a quick second and talk to you about Dr. Shah's and Nicole's book, 30 Days to a New Beginning, daily devotions to help you move forward. You know, this is actually the second book in the 30 Days series, and the whole point of this devotional is to help us get unstuck from the ruts of life. You know, when it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start, but a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish even with a bad start, and that's where this book comes in.

No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck. Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner, like I know I've done several times, 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's Word. Life doesn't have a reset button, but our God is a God who does new things. His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below, and if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text at 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show?

Let's do it. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

That's right. If today's your first time ever joining us here on the Clear View Today Show, we want to welcome you and let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. You can find all of his work on his website.

That's AbbadanShah.com. On today's episode, we are looking back at one of Dr. Shah's messages. We actually looked at another message from this series earlier this week, when we talked about the message justification. This was a chance for us to deep dive into the theology around salvation, the different things that people have questions about, or what does this look like, or what does this really mean. In this message, we talk about things like predestination, what does the Bible say. I know that's on a lot of people's minds, some people who are driving their ears just perked up. Yeah, well, let's listen to what he has to say.

Let's check it out. There are two passages in the Bible that address this issue of predestination. The first one is 1 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2. Now listen to this. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Glacier, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

And then he says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. I love this, by the way. Did you notice that? I can point it.

It looks like I'm like the weatherman. Every service drew a laughter for that. I had never thought, there it is.

People online think, man, that's amazing what Clearview does. No idea, it's just this silly trick. Elect, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now the word for elect is the verb, Greek verb, pro ginoskien. Pro, as you know, before, ginoskien, knowing, which means to know beforehand. The noun is prognosis. That's where we get the word prognosis.

What's the prognosis? Pro knowledge, foreknowledge. It doesn't have anything to do with unconditional election. So when Peter says the word elect, he's talking about according to the foreknowledge. God is God. He knows everything past, present, and future. He can see everything. And based on that, not being bound by time, he knows where everything is headed.

Back in the day, I remember when I used to work in Durham, had to get on the interstate, had to go through the city early morning, seven o'clock, and I would listen to the radio. This is before GPS. And the weatherman in the helicopter, or the traffic guy in the helicopter would talk about, you know, if you go down this road, there's a stalled vehicle over here, and the EMTs are on the spot, blah, blah, blah. And so, you know, based on that, we would change things. He could see the whole layout. Now you have this ugly looking red line in your GPS.

You're like, oh, no. But you see, the whole point is this. We can see the whole, we cannot see the whole picture, but God can, foreknowledge. Another passage, Romans 8 29. Paul says this time, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined, foreknew, same word coming from prognostkin, but this time predestined is the word proorizin, which means pre-appointed.

Nothing about unconditional election. Pre-appointed, a rare Greek word. And pre-appointed to what?

Not salvation. He also pre-appointed to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, from whom he, moreover whom he pre-appointed, he also called, whom he called, he also justified, whom he justified, he also glorified. People try to make a whole sequence out of it, but the whole point of our passage here is this.

God in his foreknowledge, because he can see everything, past, present, and future, he pre-appoints, based on our choice. By the way, in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 5 and verse 11, we're going to come to that later in the message. The same word is used, but it's about being pre-appointed unto adoption as sons.

So here you go, don't miss this. When I receive Jesus as my savior and king, God in his foreknowledge has pre-appointed me to be adopted as his son. And not just pre-appointed unto adoption, but also pre-appointed unto inheritance. He puts all this wealth, the riches of Christ, into my account.

It's already there. Pre-appointed. So the question, what does the Bible say about predestination?

Short answer, nothing. Long answer, those two verses, but they are not about election unconditionally. If you know that Tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, all of that, no, it's not the same here.

Here's the second question. What does the Bible say about election? Predestination, those two verses, but it's not about unconditional election. But how about the passages where the word elect is used or election is used or choose is used? By the way, there are three Greek words. The first is the word eklegomai, which means to choose. Then there is the word eklektos.

We're going to see that in a few moments. It's used several times, many, many times, which means chosen, but also tuck it away in your mind. It also means choice, like special, dear. So eklektos is more than just chosen. It also in the context, certain context can means the choiced one. And of course, ekloge is election. So let's begin looking at this word election, elect, choose, choice.

How does that work? Starting with Luke nine thirty five. In Luke chapter nine, verse thirty five, Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah show up. He is transformed.

Peter, James and John want to build him tabernacles. But the voice comes from the heavens. Listen to the voice.

Luke nine thirty five. This is my beloved son. Hear him. Now, if you are finding in your Bibles, some of your Bibles will not say beloved. It actually says this is my chosen one.

Hear him. Now, I usually don't brag about my education, but I have a Ph.D. in textual criticism, which is examining biblical manuscripts, looking at variants, looking at the original text. In my opinion, in my study, I believe the better reading is this is my beloved son, not this is my chosen one. Now, why in the world did some of the scribes change that? They changed it to conform to Isaiah chapter forty two and verse one. When this voice came from heaven, voice of the father, this is my beloved son.

It was not just a random statement. This was a fulfillment of prophecy. By the way, when you stay the life of Jesus, those thirty three and a half years, those four gospels, prophecy after prophecy was being fulfilled every step he took. And one of the prophecies in Isaiah forty two, verse one, listen to this. Behold, my servant whom I uphold was the next three words. What's the next three words? My elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him.

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. Now, that's one reason I believe that some scribes said, you know, I know it says agape toss, but I think it probably is a collect toss. And they changed it. I think it was a mistake when they changed it. They should have left it alone.

Now, how do you handle that? If it's a prophecy that is being fulfilled, how can we justify the Old Testament saying my chosen one, but the New Testament saying my beloved one? Well, let's look at the Greek word for a moment. The Greek word in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, is a collect toss.

But the Hebrew word, bakir, from which the Greek translation was made of the Old Testament, bakir can mean chosen one, but it can also have the meaning of choice one. I find it very ironic when people, you know, just pick passages here and there and they just go with it. And they create a theology. They get into a lot of trouble.

Sometimes in the church, we have a very, you know, kind of, we talk down about people in stamina as if they don't get it. Just know that a lot of people study the Bible for years and years. They dedicate themselves to studying the word of God in the original languages.

They dig deep so it will benefit the church. So don't quickly write them off. Don't be quick to say, ah, they don't know. I don't, I know just as, no, no, no.

They earned it. So when you come to passages like this, we know what the English is saying, but we have to sometimes get behind that to the Greek and sometimes even further into the Hebrew. The meaning behind that word in Isaiah 42 can be chosen, but it can also be the choice one. The choice one.

Now think for a moment which one is better. Would God the Father say, I have chosen Jesus? Well, here's my question. What are the choices did he have? Was it going to be between him and the Holy Spirit?

Was God the Father in heaven going, okay, one day we're going to create the world and somebody has to go, right now I've narrowed down to Michael, Gabriel, and Jesus. Now, in the context, it's not the chosen one. In the context, it is the choice one.

And hence, choice means my special one, the one I love. Hence, in Luke 9, it says, this is my beloved son. See, many times people say, oh, there are contradictions in the Bible. No, there's a lack of understanding in yours.

You haven't dug deep enough. There is no problem. There are no contradictions.

It is exactly as it says. Behold, my choice one. Now, very quickly, we see these examples where sometimes chosen, sometimes choice.

Again, the context is key. Psalm 105, verse six, it says, O seed of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. God chose the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the chosen ones through whom the Messiah came. But then guess what? The same word back here. But when we get to Psalm 78, verse 31, it's not chosen ones.

Listen to what it says. The wrath of God came against them and slew the stoutest of them and struck down, not the chosen ones of Israel, but the choice one. The choice men of Israel means those that people consider to be the best.

The point I'm making here is very simple. It's the context that helps us. And in the context, it is the choice. Now, how does that affect what we're talking about here, about God choosing or God's choice? When we come to a passage like 1 Peter, chapter two, verse four, coming to him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God.

In that context, it is chosen. God has chosen Christ, which people have rejected. Jesus Christ is the way of salvation. But when we go one step further in verse six, therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect.

But guess what? In this verse, elect is not God's chosen. It is God's choice one. What's the next word?

Precious. And he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Again, the word is choice one there. I know it may seem, wow, I've got a headache now listening to all this. Many times when people have all these ideas, it's because they never have done their research. And research takes time. It takes effort.

It's digging deep and going to the primary sources and finding all this meaning and coming back. And then that's when you realize it's the context that decides. And sometimes the context is not that God has chosen. It's the choice one.

Well, wait, Pastor Shah. How about a simple passage like this? How about when Jesus said in Matthew 22 14, for many are called, what's the next line?

A few are chosen. How can you say anything else about that? Well, have you read the context? Well, in the context, the passage actually begins in Matthew 21, verse 45. Listen to Matthew 21, five. Now, when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes because they took him for a profit. Can you believe that they were trying to kill Jesus? Jesus was giving parables.

They kept opposing him even to the point of killing him. And so in Matthew 22, verse one, the very next verse, Jesus gives a parable. A king through a banquet for his son and his son was getting married. So he threw this banquet and he on the day of the wedding, he sent out his servants to go and invite people to come. The guests to come. The servants went out and the guests declined and said, oh, we're good.

We we we don't need to come. So the king maybe thought they misunderstood. So he said he sent out another group of servants to go and they went out to the same guests.

But this time the guests made excuses. They ridiculed the servants and some even killed the servants. Now, you don't have to be a Bible scholar. Who is Jesus talking about?

He's talking about the Jewish people, the people of Israel. This is what you did to the prophets. And when the king found out what had happened, this is what he did. He sent out his armies to destroy them. To destroy those wicked guests. Burn their cities. And then he gave a command.

Listen to this. Matthew 22, verse eight. Then he said to his servants, the wedding is ready. But those who were invited were not, what's the word?

Worthy. Therefore going to the highways. And as many as you find, as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both, what's the word? Bad and good.

Bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. The Pharisees and the scribes know what Jesus is saying. You are rejecting me, so I'm going to go to the tax collectors, to the prostitutes, to the gentiles. I'm inviting all of them because you rejected me. And the banquet begins and the king is walking around and he sees one guest who is not dressed in the attire of the wedding. And he says, friend, what are you doing here?

Where is your attire? And he doesn't answer. And the king calls his servants and says, take him and cast him in the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then he says in Matthew 22 and 14, for many are called but few are chosen.

Help me out here, those who are awake. What is this about? This is not about salvation. This is about God's offer of the gospel coming to his people, the Jewish people.

They rejected it and now it's going to everybody else. You see, when you take it out of context, it means something completely different. How about verses like John 6 44? No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws. The Greek word is Elku draws him and I will raise him up at the last day.

People go, there you go. You know, God has to draw you. Unless he draws you, you cannot be saved.

Have you read it in the context? In the context, it's not about God drawing certain people and not the others. This is about people rejecting Christ, the religious establishment rejecting Christ. But then there are some who accepted him.

And what does Jesus say? Hey, my father has put his sign of approval on you. He has brought you in. You're welcome in the family, but you know, you rejected me.

You're not. Listen to what Jesus says in John chapter 6 and verse 64. But there are some of you who do not believe for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe and who would what betray him. And he said, verse 65, therefore, I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my father.

People say, there you go again. It seems like Jesus cannot do anything other than wait on the father to send certain people and not the others. But listen to verse 70. Again, I wish I had time to read every verse, which we don't. Jesus answered them, Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve? And one of you is a? Oops, did Jesus choose the devil?

No. You see, the point is, the passage is not about salvation. It's about ministry. Jesus called the twelve, knowing fully well that one of them had already decided to betray him, had already purposed in his mind to go towards the enemy. You see, context is key.

Context is very important. And by the way, the word El Kua draws is the same word we find in John chapter 12, verse 32. You know, here's what I found some of my heroes in the reformed theology. I love them.

I really do. I've been shaped and mentored by their books, by their commentaries, just brilliant, brilliant people. When they come to passages like this, it's like they choke.

They are so conditioned to go a certain way that they cannot see how contradictory they are. Listen to that. John 12 32. Now, here's the passage where the same word El Kua is used.

Listen to what it says. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will what? Draw all peoples to myself. How can they come to that passage and go, well, we know what that means.

Let's not worry about that. The father draws. Unless the father draws, you can't come. Well, Jesus is drawing everybody. Is there a contradiction?

Of course not. In the context, it's about ministry. In the context, it's all peoples unto salvation.

Context, context, context. I appreciate so much Dr. Shah as both a pastor and a scholar, because I feel like a lot of times people don't operate in both worlds. There's some people who do very well in the pastoral side of things. And there are some people who do very well in the scholastic scholarly side of things.

But Dr. Shah has a way of bringing intensely deep scholarly concepts and making them accessible and applicable to the average person. It's a frame game. You know what I mean?

It's okay. You either believe in Calvinism or you believe Arminianism. Those are the two views.

It's like, why? Why are those the two views? Well, because those are the two views on this issue. You either believe this or you believe this.

And I like what he was saying in the beginning and in this sermon as well. It's like both views are very flawed in their ways. Both views have big inherent problems that have to be addressed individually. It's like, okay, but on a spectrum, you got to find where you know the whole spectrum is false.

You don't have to. And I think this is one of the things that he's taught me is that you don't have to accept the frame of the argument that's been presented to you. And that's where scholarship in a pastoral role comes in. But the scholars know that. Scholars know that, no, this view has these benefits and these flaws. And this view has these benefits and these flaws. Dr. Shaw's approach, and I love it so much, is to make your own camp. I don't agree with your premises here.

I don't agree with your premises here. So, I'm going to do my own research and I'm going to come to my own conclusions. And that's where I think Dr. Shaw has this unique ability to help us answer questions that we don't even know we ought to be asking. It's not just answer the questions that we have.

He does that. But answer the questions and help us operate in a world that we don't even know how to. So, like we said, if you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send those to 252-582-5028. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. You can partner with us financially on that same website. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear View Today.