Predestination vs. Fatalism, Part 1

Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to the Archie Hardy Ministries Program.

I'm Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Our message today is an eye-opening teaching that I believe is sorely needed in Christianity today. It is predestination versus fatalism. Much of what is being heralded as destiny by many preachers and teachers is really fatalism, that God has chosen certain people and chosen certain destinies for them that will happen regardless of what they do or don't do.

If you've been confused by the terms predestination, election, or just the latest buzzword, destiny, you will be helped by this message, predestination versus fatalism. Hallelujah. There's nothing that will give you a greater spurt of instantaneous joy than for you to say yes, Lord. I tell you, you can't feel any better than you feel when you say yes, Lord. Amen. Amen. Yes, to God's will, His purpose, His way. I will gladly give Him all my cares, all my burdens, and surely give Him all my pain for the joy of the Lord.

I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty good deal. So I'm not going to carry around unnecessary loads and burdens when the Lord said I could cast all my care on Him because He cares for me. Hallelujah. Amen. How many love the Word of the Lord? I want to preach this morning a message that is a little different than maybe anything I've preached in the past, but I think it's something that will open your eyes up, and I hope that it will be a blessing to you. Now, you know, there's a major buzzword, at least I've been aware of it, and I think some of you will probably agree with me, that today in Christian teaching, a lot of times when you tune in and watch Christian television and you hear people, you know, talking and preaching, teaching, and even testifying, there's a big emphasis that's put on the word destiny.

I mean, it's become the hot word, the buzzword. Amen? And everything is about destiny, destiny. And, you know, technically the word destiny is not in the Bible. However, predestination is in the Bible. So what does predestination mean? It simply means to determine or decree or ordain something beforehand.

Amen? And what I want you to see as we go in the scriptures today and we see what the Bible has to say about predestination, the emphasis is not on the who. The emphasis is on the what. In the Bible when it teaches about predestination, it's not emphasizing so much whom God has predestinated and who will receive his salvation, but the emphasis is more on the what.

What are they predestined to? And I'm going to make it really simple for you. What is your destination? That's how simple it is. What is your destination?

I mean, as a child of God, as a Christian, what is your ultimate destination? And we'll come back to that. Amen?

I think you know the answer. It's really, really easy. It's only one word. It all boils down to that. And you see the emphasis in the word of God is not so much on who, but on what. Now let's begin by going to Romans the eighth chapter. And you know these scriptures very well, but we'll look at them and then we'll be able to see as we go along what we mean by what God has predestined us to, ultimately. Okay, Romans eight and verse 29. Well, let's look at verse 28 since that's a really good one.

There's no sense of wasting it. We may as well read it. Romans 8, 28. 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 for no, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be, that is his son, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, in addition to that whom he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called, then he also justified.

And whom he justified, then he also glorified. Now there you have really the whole doctrine of predestination. We find out that it all began with God's foreknowledge and there is a difference between foreknowledge and predestination because foreknowledge precedes predestination.

Amen. God has perfect foreknowledge. There are many verses that tell us that.

Don't turn there, but if you take notes, you can write it down. Acts says, Acts 15, 18, known unto God are all his works from the beginning. That just says it all. God knows everything that he's about to do, will ever do.

He knew it from the beginning. Amen. Now let's look at this for a moment on a minute scale. Let's look at us. We have, even we human beings, we have foreknowledge of certain things and certain people. And let's try to see how this might work in our lives. We can predict about people that we know really well, our spouses, our children, our parents, very close friends.

We can predict certain things we know they would do or would never do based on our knowledge of them. Amen. Okay. Let's say you go to a theme park and they have a water slide there and it's one of those ones that it's way up there and it has a 90 degree drop straight down. Now you may know someone in your family that you could beg cokes. You could promise them $50.

You could say, if you don't get on that water slide, we're all going home right now and you're going to ruin it the whole day. It wouldn't matter what you said. It wouldn't matter what you did. It wouldn't matter how much you promised them.

You know that you know they're never going to get up and go down that 90 degrees because they're afraid of heights and they're afraid of water and you know they're not going to do it. Amen. You have foreknowledge of that person is not getting on that ride.

Amen. And this happens all the time. Maybe where you work, maybe there's a big change that needs to be done and a lot of the employees get together and they said, we're going to do this and maybe, maybe there's something that it involves that's not really on the up and up. Maybe it's just a little bit on the side of deception or you've got to tell a few little white lies. You know, you got to promise people something you know good and well you're not going to do, but you promise them so they'll sign the contract.

And so you know that in order for you to do that, everybody in the office has got to be on board or everybody on the board has got to be in agreement, but there's one person, that person is a stickler for the truth. They are honest as old Abraham Lincoln himself. They're not going to lie. They're not going to cheat. They're not going to defraud. You know that you know what no matter what you do, you're not, and somebody can say, you know them really well. Now, do you think possibly you could persuade them?

You could tell them this or that or the other and you could persuade them to come along with us. I don't care what you say. I don't care what you tell him. You can threaten to fire him and he won't do it. I know it's against his core values.

It's against his core beliefs and he's not going to go along with it because you know that person. Now that is foreknowledge on a very limited basis. Amen. God has perfect foreknowledge.

Amen. He absolutely has perfect knowledge and he knew from the foundation of the world what his plan is and who would be a part of it. Let's turn to 1 Peter 1.18. 1 Peter 1.18.

For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Now pay attention to verse 20. Who verily, who truly, who absolutely was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. So Peter tells us that when God create the world and God created Adam and Eve before there was a sinner, before Adam and Eve ever sinned, God already had his son as the lamb of God who is God's mind and was slain way back then. He was slain before there was ever a sinner to sin to need a savior. From the foundation of the world, he was slain. How many understand this is in God's mind, in his mind of perfect foreknowledge. He saw Jesus already on the cross. That's why, and I'm going to get ahead of myself.

Don't do it, but I got to. That's why he can see you and me already glorified sitting up there on the right hand of the father. If we just read that, all right, that's all we got to wait, getting ahead of ourselves. Okay, so in his mind, Jesus was already slain from the foundation of the world. Hold your finger in verse Peter because I want to read another verse, but if you want to follow me or you just want to take notes, that's up to you. John, John 17, John 17, we have Jesus in Gethsemane praying the true Lord's prayer.

Amen. The other one was for the disciples, but this was his prayer in his moment of agony. And you can read the whole chapter later, but I want you to look at verse 24. Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Again, confirming what Peter said, before the foundation of the world, God had already given his only begotten son to be that lamb on the tree, to be that sacrifice. And not only that, he said, you gave me these. You gave me these from the foundation of the world, from the foundation of the world. God gave him Peter, James, and John, and Matthew, and Thaddeus, and all the other disciples from the foundation of the world. He had given him those who followed him that were with him, Mary Magdalene and the other Marys and such. Amen. And not only that, if you look at verse 20, it says, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word.

Well, who is that? Every hand should go up here. Are you a believer? Did you believe the gospel?

Amen. So he said, I'm praying for them too, because from the foundation of the world, God gave you to Jesus. God said, here's, here's the ones I'm going to give you. I'm going to give you Sharon Ann Hardy Knots.

I'm going to give you a William somebody shaking, AKA Murph. That's what he said from the foundation of the world. I'm going to give these to you. He gave them to Jesus. I want, do you see that? Amen. So he said, God gave Jesus from the foundation of the world and he gave him Peter, James, and John.

Why? Why did he give them? Because he knew that they would choose Jesus. He knew that when Jesus said, follow me, he knew that they would throw down their nets and follow him. Imagine that, that they would forsake all immediately and go follow Jesus. That's why Jesus went to them. That's why he didn't go to the some other guys somewhere else. Some other ones here or there. God sent him to the ones that he knew would follow him.

How many are getting the picture? All right, let's, we went, we were back here in Peter. Let's look at verse two, first Peter one, two.

In verse one, he talks about, he's writing his letter to those in these different places and cities, but here's what he calls them in verse two. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Now here's the word elect. The word elect is synonymous with the word chosen. Elect or chosen, chosen, elect. They're the same word.

Don't think it's some special group of people somewhere other than what you already know. So where it says that we are the elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, don't you see that foreknowledge precedes election? Foreknowledge precedes predestination.

God chooses whom he already knew would answer the call and do what we just did a moment ago and say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, yes, yes. Do you understand that? All right. If you understand that you're well on your way to understanding the whole message. All right. It says in second Thessalonians two and 13, I love this verse, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord.

Anybody here? Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. From the very beginning, God has chosen us.

Let's flip over just a few pages to second Timothy one nine who had saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Before the world began, God gave me God gave you this holy calling. Why wasn't even born? I wasn't even thought of. Amen. Before the world began. Oh, but I was, but I was in the mind of God. God with his perfect foreknowledge looked all the way down to November the 27th, 1951, 1151 AM. Did you notice that my month is 11 and my birth year is 51 and my time is 1151. I don't know what it means, but I like it.

It's just interesting to me. Amen. I'm sure it means something and maybe I'll find out when I go to heaven or, but what I'm saying is God looked down and he saw in that moment that I would come into the world and he knew that when the time was right and I was able to understand and to know that I wouldn't just go to church because my motherfucker drug me there and made me go and said, you're going to your 18, whether you like it or not. But he knew that one day he would knock on my heart's door and I would come weep into the altar and say, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, yes, Lord. He knew me from the foundation of the world. I was elected. I was chosen from the foundation of the world in Jesus Christ. Now here's what I want you to understand. God chose us simply because he knew that when we were given the offer and the opportunity, we would choose Jesus.

Amen. And Jesus is the chosen one. Now let's turn to Isaiah 42 one and we'll see this.

Jesus is God's chosen one. This is one of the messianic prophecies in the book of Isaiah. I'm only going to read the first verse, but really it goes on to tell you what his ministry will be like and it's beautiful.

It really is. If you continue on down, you'll find out that it talks about his healing ministry and his delivery ministry, et cetera. But I'm interested in verse one. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect.

See the word there? Mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him and he shall bring forth judgment or justice to the Gentiles. To prove it's the Lord Jesus you read on and it gives you all the messianic signs of his ministry. But what I wanted you to see is that he's God's servant, God's chosen one, the one God delights in.

He's God's elect. Now turn to Matthew the 12th chapter. Matthew 12 and verse 17. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, here we go. Behold my servant whom I have chosen.

Elect and chosen are the same thing. Whom I have chosen, my beloved. My beloved is the same thing as the one in whom my soul delights.

Amen. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.

That he goes on and tells you about the messianic ministry of Jesus Christ. So what I wanted you to see is from the foundation of the world, God chose Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, who we know according to John the first chapter was the word of God, but he chose him to come and take on human flesh, to be his servant in whom he would delight and whom he would choose because he elected him to be the chosen one, to bring light or bring truth, not only to the Jewish people, but also to the Gentiles. So what I want you to see is because God knew that we would choose his chosen one, he chose us. He chose us from the foundation of the world because he knew when he would reveal to us his chosen one, we would choose him. And that right there is the very crux of predestination.

God doesn't go around arbitrarily saying, I like the way you look, I'll choose you. No, I don't care for you. So no, you're out. And I don't care how much you beg and plead me. I said, no, you can't come. And I don't care how rebellious you are and what a hard time you give me.

I said, you're coming. That's not what God does, but that's what some people think. Amen. What you have to understand is once we choose Jesus, God chooses us. God never violates our free will. He does not arbitrarily, he does not indiscriminately choose us because if he did, he would be taken away, our right of free will.

And this he will never do, and I've said this many times and I'll say it again, he will never do that even if it would be better for you if he did. If he just thrust his will on you because he knew that what you're choosing is not going to be a good outcome. He didn't force Adam and Eve not to choose to eat that tree. It was their choice, but once they chose, they had to deal with the consequences. See, that's another thing about free choice. You get to choose whom you will serve, but once you make the choice, you do not get to choose the consequences. The consequences are what they are, whether you receive Jesus and choose him and receive eternal life or whether you reject him and receive eternal damnation. That you don't get to choose.

Amen. The consequences are what they are and God is upfront. He never deceives anybody.

He lets you know upfront what the consequences will be. He even goes so far as to say, I want you to know if you do choose my son, if you do choose Jesus, I promise you eternal life. I promise you that your ultimate destination is heaven, is to be glorified with my son, but I'm not going to lead you astray. I want to let you know right up front if you choose my Lord, if you choose my Jesus, I want you to know you better count the cost because you're going to have to take up your cross and follow him.

He didn't make the way look easy. He said, no, the way is straight and narrow and many are going to try and not be able. But if you choose Jesus, if it's in your heart to say, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, I promise you that I will give you what you need to make it all the way.

Amen. So God gives us free choice and he foreknew that we would choose Jesus. And so he predestinated our destination and our destination is heaven. Once we choose Jesus, we are now on a new path and the final destination is to be glorified with Christ as we saw here.

God in his foreknowledge sees it as already done. That's why he allowed Paul to write in Ephesians that not only is Jesus seated at his right hand on the majesty on high at his right hand, but he said we are seated with him. We're seated with Jesus.

Amen. God sees us in our final position. Jesus said that if you will suffer with me, you're going to reign with me. If you overcome like I overcame, you will sit down with me in my throne like I'm sitting down with my father in his throne. Now, if it was automatic, why would Jesus write those seven churches, those letters and say to every single one of them the same condition?

If you overcome to him that overcome it, if it was already chosen and a done deal, what do we have to overcome? Amen. So Jesus, when he left, he said, I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. Hallelujah. He's been working on that place for over 2000 years. He's been preparing a place for those who choose him. Hallelujah. And Peter said, we have this place. We have this inheritance. It's undefiled.

It fades not away. It's reserved in heaven for us. My name is already on that door.

My name is already up there on that title. It is just as done as if I was already there because I chose Jesus and I'm going to go all the way. Amen. I hope you're being spiritually informed by this revelatory message. Predestination versus fatalism. Perhaps you've noticed that a favorite buzzword in Christian teaching and preaching today is a destiny. While this term is not actually in the Bible, the closest word to it is predestinate, which means to determine, decree, or ordain beforehand. But the emphasis is not on who, but what. Not whom God has predetermined to be saved, but what are they predestined to?

What is their destination? Once they choose to follow Christ, where will the road lead them? The scripture says that known unto God are all his works from the beginning. And Paul said in Romans 8 29 that God foreknew who would answer the call to receive his son and who would not. And God will never violate man's free will and he does not arbitrarily choose or refuse anyone.

He did not force Adam and Eve not to eat of the forbidden tree. It was their choice, but once they made that choice, they had to deal with the consequences. We also get to choose whom we will serve, but we don't get to choose the consequences. Those whom God foreknew would choose Jesus, he predestinates our destination. Once we choose Christ, God chooses us and puts us on the path to our final destination, which is to be glorified with Christ in his eternal kingdom. God is no respecter of persons and he is not willing that any should perish. So even knowing many will not choose Christ, he invites all to receive him so that on judgment day they are without excuse. The false claim that everyone's destiny is predetermined by God and nothing you can do will change it, even if you fail, is fatalism. And it is motivated by a desire to eliminate any negative feelings over mistakes, as though they are also meant to be a part of one's preset destiny. They quote King Solomon who said, there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord shall stand.

I will show you why this very verse disproves predestination and Solomon's life is exhibit A. Don't miss this landmark teaching. Order your copy today on CD, Predestination versus Fatalism, for a love gift of $10 for the radio ministry. Request offer SK157, that's SK157, mail to Archie Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203, or you may order online at ArchieHardy.org. Again, send the minimum love gift of $10 to the radio ministry, mail to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Until next time, this is Sharon Ahtse, Maranatha.