Predestination vs. Fatalism, Part 4

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

I'm Sharon Notts 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. One reason why God ministers and reaches out and chooses those who come to Christ and then backslide is because he knows like the prodigal son. For it came to pass that when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his goddess was the heart of his father David. And he went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milchim, the abomination of the animites. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.

He went not fully after the Lord as his father David had done. He built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab. Chemosh was the god that they offered their living babies to on the fire.

Can you imagine Solomon building a high place for him? In the hill that is before Jerusalem and for Noloch, another one that they gave child sacrifice to, the abomination of the children of Ammon. Likewise he did for all his strange wives, all their gods.

He built places for them, burnt incense and sacrificed unto them. And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel which had appeared unto him twice. Not send a prophet like God usually did, not send an angel like God often did, but God appeared to Solomon personally twice and commanded him concerning this very thing that he should not go after other gods. But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, for as much as this is done of thee and thou has not kept my covenant, my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee and will not and will give it to thy servant. Was that God's will? Was it God's will and destiny for Solomon to marry a thousand women? And those women, most of them were God's enemies and then go and serve their gods. I'm not going to read it to you, but you could find out in other places it tells how that he sent people to Egypt to bring back horses.

And we know he had so much gold it was laid up like dust. Now I want to know, was that his destiny? Was that God's counsel that stood? Did God want to rend the kingdom away from him and divide the kingdom up?

No. So that verse does not mean what people say it means. Amen. Your destiny, God has the perfect destiny for you, but you get to choose. Amen.

You get to choose. And if you choose the wrong thing and make the wrong choices, you'll end up like Solomon. Now very quickly, let me tell you what Solomon wrote after when he was old and now he's bitter and unhappy. Oh, he's got gold like dust.

He's got horses. He's got wives and children galore, but this is what he said. He unbears his soul in the book of the Ecclesiastes. I looked on all the works of my hands and all my labor and it was vanity. It was profitless and vexation of spirit. Therefore I hated life because I would leave all my labor to the man that shall be after me. Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with vexation of spirit.

Listen to this. Better is a wise child than an old foolish king who will no longer be admonished. He would to God, he could go back and be that young man full of love and only wanting to do the things of God. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life for that is thy portion in this life. That's God's will for you.

One wife, first wife is your portion in life. Now we know circumstances happen, people turn on God, things happen in our lives. Amen.

We're not going down that road because you all know that's not the point I'm preaching from. Amen. Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

He summed up all of his wisdom. Fear God. Keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be for good or whether it be for evil. So you have something to say about your predestination. God said, I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, now God is even begging you. He's imploring you choose life, choose life. You know how you've played little games with your children and you say, what hand is it in?

You know they're going to get that $5 bill and you really want them to get it. So you say, which one do you want? Choose whatever one you want. Amen. And that's what God has said. He said, choose life that you may live, that I might bless you and that I might fulfill the destiny that I have for you. Joshua said, choose ye this day whom you will serve, whether it be the gods whom your father served or whether you serve the Lord.

I'm going to tell you right now, I hope you do what I'm doing. I hope that you will say like I am, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen. I'm going to serve the Lord. Many times we are warned and admonished, flee youthful lust, flee idolatry. Amen. Flee fornication. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill it in the lust thereof. These are all things that will alter God's plan for our life that can change our destiny.

Amen. If you don't flee fornication and you're a young girl and guy, you're not married and you end up getting pregnant and having a child, that is going to alter your destiny. You may not finish school or you may finish your way down the road and miss time. You, that young man may not be able to go to college or something because now he's going to have to support. How many understand what I'm saying? And sometimes they decide to get married and that seems like a noble thing to do, but I found out through wrongs don't make a right.

Sometimes they get married and they're divorced a year later cause they were too young to be married and they made mistakes and they keep compounding them. How many understand what I'm saying? So we have choices to make. Some people waste their talent, they waste their resources, they choose the wrong career or the wrong ministry. Amen.

Sometimes we choose not to forgive certain people. We carry that offense with us throughout our life and it alters our destiny. It changes what God would do in our life. Amen. A lot of the things that we do causes grief to come into our life that God never planned and some things are irreversible.

You can unscramble eggs, but I'm so glad we started off with Romans 8 28. Amen. Because our God is a God of great mercy and graciousness and he will even take our mistakes.

Now please understand we won't get the certain exact destiny he had planned for us, but he can still take our mistakes and the things that we've done when we come to the Lord and bring them to him and God is so magnificent. He's so wise. He's so powerful. He's so resourceful. He can work them together and bring something good out of them. Amen.

He can work it all together for good. Maybe you did something that sent you to prison. God didn't want you to go to prison, but you did something and you ended up in prison. But maybe while you were in prison, you got not jailhouse religion, but you got a real, a real transform.

You were, I mean, prison. I mean the thought, look at me behind bars and my God, you got a wake up call from God almighty himself and you began to seek after God and go after God and get in the word of God that you probably would not have never done if you were outside running around, running in the streets. But God worked it all together for good.

Amen. I know it wasn't enough for me to end up the back injury that literally put me in bed for years in suffering and pain and all kinds of mental anguish that went with it and all kinds of torment that I had because I didn't understand how this could happen to me and all the time I lost and wasted trying to answer that question. But God worked it all together for good because I couldn't even get out of bed and do anything. I went from a life that was so busy directing the choir, preaching and teaching, doing radio announcements, doing TV announcements, working on the magazine. I had so many irons in the fire.

I didn't know if it was coming or gone. I didn't have nothing to do but read the Bible and read the Bible day in and day out, cover to cover again and again, reading the word of God, listening to Holy Ghost, anointed preaching and teaching. And I want to tell you, it not only saved my life and raised me up, but it transformed my ministry. I would not be the preacher, the teacher that I am today because I will be honest and tell you I would have never disciplined myself to spend that many hours reading the Bible. And I love to read the Bible, but I'm not talking about a quick little devotional.

I'm talking about hours on end. I would have never done it, but I didn't have any choice. That's all I could do. And I can say today that God has worked it all together for good. Hallelujah.

My life was like a train wreck then. Oh, but let me tell you something. My God said, no, you're called and you've answered the call and you said, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, yes, yes. When I got over all of my bitterness and anger and don't knows and wise and gave up on going down that road that led nowhere, I began to say, yes, Lord.

I don't understand it and I don't like it. And you know what? God's big enough. He can deal with that. Amen. He could deal with it.

He said, I know you don't like it. And you know, Sharon, I believe that in the heart of God, he didn't like it either that I was suffering the way I was, but he knew that I had to come to that place, that my faith had to come to that place, that my love walk had to come to that place that God could transform my life. Not for one day, but for the rest of my life. Hallelujah. Because God works all things together for good when you love him and are called according to your purpose. Hallelujah. Whatever your purpose is, God will work it together. If you will work with God.

Amen. I'm going to finish with one verse. Turn with me to second Peter, verse three, according as his divine power have given unto us all things that pertain unto our life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now you know these verses well. We've had our pastor preach this to us many times, so I'm not going to labor on this, but here's the thing I want you to see. I say this probably almost every day when I pray because I like to pray God's word back to him.

It's not that he doesn't know it, but he wants to know that I know it. Amen. I'm not saying I thank the Lord that according to his divine power way, way, way, way, way, way back there, he already provided everything that I personally, you personally would need that pertains both to our natural physical life and to our godliness, to our journey on our final road of destination to heaven and being glorified with Christ. If you're a young person here today, I envy you. I really do envy you. I wish that you could know what we old folks know now. I wish we could just somehow go up there and pull it out of our brain and give it to you.

I wish I had known then what I know now. Amen. That God does have the right person for you. That God does have the right job for you, the right career for you, the right house for you, the right cars for you, the right everything for you. God cares about every little tiny thing in your life. He said, acknowledge me in all of your way and I will direct your path.

If you're young, I envy you because you have a clean slate before you. Amen. And if you will earnestly seek the Lord, he will, he will be more than happy to show his way for you. But you know, some people, the Lord is trying to show them, don't marry that person. And people even come to him and say, oh, I see some red flags there. Do you see those red flags?

No, I don't see no red flags. All I see is stars. And you know, but you just can't make them see it. And so you see, if you're young, you have so many opportunities before you really get a hold of God. Take him at his word, start off with little things. It also it's if you start with little things, you know, something simple, you know, Lord, should I take this course in school? Or would that be a waste of time? You think I don't care about that?

Yes, he does. And not only that, it's training you in something small. If you make a little mistake, it's not a big deal. But you've learned something.

Amen. So the when it comes to the important decisions in your life, you will be acquainted with seeking God. And you will be acquainted with listening for the answer.

And that he's showing you that he can do great and mighty things. When I was going to graduate from high school, we were on William Street then and Southern High School was located at the original place, right caddy corner with the church. You could see one from the other. And of course, I live right next door. And so Southern High School had been graduating on Sunday nights for years and years and years. They always graduated on a Sunday night. And they graduated from the Civic Center.

Well, you know, that was really upset me. Now we hadn't probably a half a dozen at least or more of other seniors that were graduating that were went to faith tabernacle. We were on the choir and all that. But you know, back then Sunday nights was what it was probably like, I'm you remember how it used to be a main main service.

And so you know that that service superseded everything. And I was trying, I'm thinking to myself, my mother and father not coming to my graduation. And I was the valedictorian going to give the graduation speech. And I mean, I've just got a hold of God. And I said, you know, I don't know, this just ain't right, Lord, you know, something's got to get here. And you know, the Lord could have worked it out lots of different ways. He could have done a lot of different things.

But I've really went after God. I would say it was like a week or so right before graduation. And they announced over the announcements of the speaker system for all the seniors to come immediately to the auditorium that they were having a special meeting and a special announcement. And so we all got out of class. And we all met up there and everybody's buzz, buzz, buzz, what's this all about? And so finally, someone stood up and said, we have an announcement to make due to some unfortunate circumstance, etc, etc, etc.

We are not going to be able to graduate on Sunday night. And I had told all the kids in my class, especially my girlfriends we all hung with and you know, they were like really sympathize with me. And they says, because of it, we're moving it to three o'clock Sunday afternoon, I could have fallen off the chair. And all my girls say, it was like a miracle. It was a miracle.

Now I believe I am just silly enough to believe that God orchestrated all that just for me. Because I know all the other kids that were in the church there, their parents were just going to miss Sunday night. And you know, when we when I was there, when we had our graduation, whenever my name was called, or when I stopped to give the speech, because it was Sunday afternoon, when we got out of Sunday morning service, half the church went down there to the convention center, we had a whole side of faith tabernacle. And every time somebody from faith tabernacle got called, they were all we had our own cheering section. It was fantastic. It was exceeding and abundantly above all that I could ask or think.

I just wanted my mother and father to be there. And God orchestrated it. I want to tell you that has stuck with me.

I've been out of school a long time I graduated in 1969. And I want you to know that has never left me. God showed me then if I care about something like that, it may seem like a small thing in the grand scheme of life. I want you to know I care about everything that concerns you.

Everything. Hallelujah. So learn to give it all to God.

Bring him every problem every situation. Hallelujah. He delights in showing off and showing you what a mighty God he is. Hallelujah. To show you that he hears and answers your prayers.

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 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 pre-set 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 vs. Fatalism, for a love gift of $10 for the Radio Ministry. Request offer SK 157, that's SK 157, mailed 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, mailed to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Until next time, this is Sharon Otse, Maranatha.