Does Jesus Need My Permission To Save Me? (Conclusion)

     Here's a summary of what we've shown about God's sovereignty in salvation so far.


     * Faith and repentance do not come from within us, but are gifts from God.

     * God chose His people in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world, according to His pleasure and will.

     * God gives His people understanding so that they can know Him.

     * God does not choose someone because of anything that person does, but because of His own
sovereign will.

     * God changes us by taking our heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh, and puts His
Spirit within us.

     * No one can come to God unless the Father draws him, and those who come, Jesus will never cast
out, but will raise up on the last day.

     * God raises His people from spiritual death.


     I'll close this series with words from two giants of Reformed theology (John Piper and A.W. Pink),
regarding God's sovereignty in salvation, and then a few comments of my own.

     John Piper - Five Statements

     1. God gives His chosen ones to Jesus.

     2. Because God gives them to Jesus, they come to Jesus.

     3. Those who are given to Jesus, come to Jesus, and are omnipotently and eternally kept by Jesus.
None is lost.

     4. Jesus will raise us from the dead on the last day.

     5. Finally, the unshakeable foundation for all this sovereign work of God - His giving, our coming,
His keeping, His raising - the unshakeable foundation of it all, is the will of God!


    
     A.W. Pink

     "God has 'ordained to eternal life,' certain ones, and that in consequence of His ordination, they in due time, 'believe;'  that God's ordintation to salvation of His elect, is not due to any good thing in them, nor to anything meritorious from them, but solely of His 'grace;'  that God has designedly selected the most unlikely objects to be the receipents of His special favors, in order that 'no flesh should glory in His presence;'  that God chose His people in Christ before the foundation of the world,
not because they were so, but in order that they should be holy and without blame before Him;'

     That having selected certain ones to salvation, He also decreed the means by which His eternal
counsel should be made good;  that the very 'grace' by which we are saved was, in God's purpose, 'given us in Christ Jesus before the world began;'  that long before they were actually created, God's elect stood present before His mind, were 'foreknown' by Him, i.e., were the definite objects of His
eternal love."



*********************************************************************************


     God has ordained His children to eternal life, and at the appointed time each one WILL BELIEVE.
     Acts 13:48 - "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord;  and
ALL WHO WERE APPOINTED FOR ETERNAL LIFE BELIEVED."

     Jesus does not need my permission to save me.
     Jonah 2:9b - "Salvation is of the Lord."

     2 Thessalonians 2:13 - "But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because FROM THE BEGINNING, GOD CHOSE YOU TO BE SAVED THROUGH THE SANCTIFYING WORK OF THE SPIRIT AND THROUGH BELIEF IN THE TRUTH."

     God is not waiting for us to believe in Him, because he knows that one day, because of His mercy
and grace, all of His children will be redeemed.
     Romans 8:28-30 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him,
who have been called according to His purpose.  For those God foreknew He also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers."
     "And those He predestined, He also called;  those He called, He also justified;  those He justified,
He also glorified."


     God is so kind and considerate and merciful, that He will keep His promise to save His children, and according to Mark 13:27, "He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven."

    
     I am so grateful that, when I should have been destined to hell because of my sins, at the appointed
time, God reached down, grabbed me, and turned me around, and graciously granted me the repentance and faith I needed to trust in Him for salvation!



     Thank You Jesus!!!