Part 1- Zac Poonen on - Calvinism, Arminianism, Election, Predestination, Purification

like someone said you know this is another question here the big movement today in the church is a doctrine of election Calvinism what is the truth some of the well-known preachers in accepted in radical or angelical circles today are strong Calvinists I don't agree with their Calvinism because I don't believe that predestination is to heaven or hell so I believe that God elects us but I believe his election is according to foreknowledge now just to say a few words about election and predestination 1 Peter 1 verse 1 and 2 says we are chosen or elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father that means God could look into the future millions of years and thousands of years the history of man and see that a particular time we would respond to the call of Christ according to his foreknowledge he would elect it's very clear here it's not random it's not just like picking out certain numbers of certain names elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father so which means he knew that I would accept Christ and that's why he chose me because if it were not like that if it was sort of random you couldn't say like it says in second Peter three that he wants all men to repent or like it says in 1 Timothy 2 he wants all men to be saved because he doesn't fit I mean if he wanted all men to be saved he could have chosen all of them so when he put scripture with scripture he wants all men to be saved he wants all men to repent but few there be that find the way to life and whosoever will may come not who's ever is elected only can come and were elected according to his foreknowledge putting all these verses together we can only say that God knew that you would accept Christ I would accept Christ particular time and he chose us or is somebody put it we are all of humanity is walking down a road towards the destruction and we see a gate here which says the way to eternal life whosoever will may come believe in the Lord Jesus Christ repent and enter and some enter through that gate and as they enter through the gate they've got in and they look back over the gate it's written you were chosen before the foundation of the world so you know that only after you go through the gate that's my belief and I think it's consistent with Scripture I don't find any scripture that contradicts that view predestination that's we can look at Romans chapter 8 verse 29 there's not a single verse in scripture that says we are predestined to go to heaven or hell predestination only means a destination determined beforehand like you travel in an aeroplane and you got a ticket it's called a predestination it's your the ticket says to such a such a place so like if I came from San San Jose to Austin but tickets at San Jose to Austin I got into a plane and I plane moves towards Austin and I get off in Austin and if the plane stopped anywhere previously I wouldn't get off so predestination if it were to heaven or hell and God would have written all the ticket you're gonna have it are you gonna help there's no such thing in Scripture what it says in Romans 8:29 is we have predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ so I see that destination on my ticket is not heaven the destination on my ticket is total conformity to Christ so when I see that like a lot of Christians talking but I'm on a journey to heaven I'm not on a journey to heaven I'm on a journey my destination is not heaven my destination is total conformity to Christ and I tell you if if only we would read scripture more carefully we would get rid of all these wrong ideas we've got from Christian tradition there's an evangelical tradition that that's found in a lot of our hymns by people who don't didn't have that theology right I mentioned yesterday how there are hymns where you only believe repentance is not even mentioned and also of going to heaven now we're going to on a journey becoming more and more like Christ that's our destination so if we understood that to be our destination we wouldn't be just sitting back waiting to enter heaven one day we'd be moving forward to becoming like Christ more and more every day if you understood our destination right I find a lot of Christians who just say my sins are all much forgiven I'm on my way to heaven how did they get that idea because they didn't read their Bibles they heard preachers and they believed them and like I said earlier if you don't read the Bible you deserve to be deceived you deserve to go astray because God has given us the scriptures to guide us 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 says this is how we arrived at our destination 1 John 3:2 we shall see him as he is and we shall be like him and if this is our hope if this is really your hope and here's another thing if you ask most Christians what is the Blessed hope what is your hope I think 99% of believers would say my hope is that Christ is coming back that's only half the hope here it says we shall be like him that's the other half that's our destination so the Blessed hope is really that Christ is coming back and when he comes I'll be like him and it says in verse 3 if you have this hope the full hope you spend your life purifying yourself I would say everyday cleansing yourself purifying yourself until you have reached his standard of purity that's verse 3 so I would say that anyone who's not doing what it's written in verse 3 doesn't really have this hole because it says everyone who has this hope purifies himself it's an absolute statement person who doesn't purify himself was not seeking to become like Christ more and more every day you may say what you like but according to this verse you don't have the hope which is spoken of here and that's the tragedy of so many Christians and when such Christians come together

Channel: RavensMinistry

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Keywords: Calvinism, Part1

Id: OpHl7pEl4tw

Length: 9min 14sec (554 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 21 2009