Does God Predestine People to Hell?
00:00:00.000 | A podcast listener named Steve writes in to ask a very pointed question, and it's this.
00:00:12.160 | Pastor John, are some people predestined for hell?
00:00:18.360 | Before I give my clear and definite answer, it really is crucial that a few preliminary
00:00:28.080 | things be said that are always lurking right there below the surface, ready to turn the
00:00:34.200 | answer into something it's not.
00:00:37.160 | So here's some preliminaries and then a few Bible verses and an answer.
00:00:43.440 | There are many people for whom a yes answer to this question, yes, he predestines people
00:00:49.640 | to hell, would have to mean God is unjust and he's not good.
00:00:57.400 | So a positive answer to that question is simply not possible for them.
00:01:02.680 | In fact, I would say if that is who you are, if God's predestining who is saved and who
00:01:12.840 | perishes can only mean that he's unrighteous or unjust or not good, you shouldn't believe
00:01:21.940 | it, even if it's true.
00:01:24.680 | I know that sounds strange.
00:01:26.660 | Only believe it if you see it taught in the Bible and if it does not undermine other true
00:01:36.800 | and important things taught about God in the Bible.
00:01:40.440 | I know that sounds almost outrageous to people to say, "Don't believe it even if it's true,"
00:01:46.080 | but I'm not eager to undermine anyone's confidence in the goodness and the justice of God.
00:01:54.040 | And I know what it's like to see these things at first and not see how they fit with his
00:02:01.720 | justice and goodness.
00:02:03.040 | And I have wept.
00:02:04.320 | I mean, my early 20s was a season of great torment mentally and emotionally over theological
00:02:14.920 | issues like this.
00:02:16.620 | I have tasted what it means to put my head on my desk, face in my hands and cry out to
00:02:22.400 | God.
00:02:23.400 | "Get this!"
00:02:24.800 | So I want to be patient with people.
00:02:27.120 | I don't want to undermine anyone's confidence in the righteousness and the goodness of God.
00:02:32.280 | That's my first preliminary.
00:02:33.360 | A second preliminary thing would be that God never, never, never sends, never will send
00:02:40.680 | anyone to hell unjustly.
00:02:43.200 | No one will ever be in hell who does not deserve to be there.
00:02:47.640 | And this fact that they deserve to be there will be open and plain in all the universe
00:02:53.000 | in that day.
00:02:55.320 | Third preliminary.
00:02:56.760 | This means that if God ordains ahead of time that anyone will perish, he does it in a way
00:03:03.940 | which is probably inscrutable to us and beyond our understanding.
00:03:08.200 | He does it in a way that the person is really responsible, really accountable for his choices,
00:03:15.400 | really guilty, really deserving of punishment.
00:03:18.680 | That's the hardest thing to grasp.
00:03:21.280 | But it is essential if we're going to believe all of scripture, I believe.
00:03:26.520 | Everyone who perishes has chosen sin in such a way as to be truly responsible for his choice
00:03:34.400 | and truly guilty and truly deserving of judgment.
00:03:37.600 | That's preliminary number three.
00:03:38.960 | And here's the last preliminary.
00:03:41.080 | We live in a time where it is very difficult for people to let God be God.
00:03:49.040 | And to conceive of a God with this much authority, this much complexity, this much power is almost
00:03:55.160 | impossible for many modern people.
00:03:58.400 | Beware of being stopped from believing the Bible by being a child of your time.
00:04:06.160 | Now with those preliminaries, let me just give you some texts and draw a conclusion.
00:04:11.680 | First Ephesians 111, "In him we have obtained an inheritance in Christ.
00:04:17.840 | Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the
00:04:22.560 | counsel of his will."
00:04:25.520 | All things.
00:04:26.520 | Now the question is, does all things worked according to the counsel of his will include
00:04:32.320 | the final destiny of individuals?
00:04:35.400 | I think so.
00:04:36.720 | Next, Proverbs 16, 4, "The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day
00:04:43.740 | of trouble."
00:04:44.800 | God has made the wicked for the day of trouble.
00:04:48.760 | First Peter 2, 7, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a
00:04:55.240 | stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
00:04:57.480 | They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do."
00:05:04.680 | They disobey the word as they were destined to do.
00:05:08.760 | Jude 1, 4, "Certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for
00:05:17.240 | this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God."
00:05:21.800 | Second Peter 2, 3, "And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.
00:05:26.900 | Their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep."
00:05:34.000 | Romans 9, 11, "Jacob and Esau were not yet born, had done nothing good or bad in order
00:05:39.720 | that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who
00:05:44.440 | calls.
00:05:45.520 | She was told," this is before they were born or had done anything good or evil, "She was
00:05:49.440 | told the older will serve the younger.
00:05:52.840 | As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.'"
00:05:56.960 | That's a quote from Malachi 1, 2, and 3, which ought to be read in context where the text
00:06:02.060 | makes clear that God is sovereignly before they were born, choosing Jacob over Esau,
00:06:09.400 | but showing that Esau's wickedness was real and blameworthy and he was responsible for
00:06:18.920 | it.
00:06:19.920 | One last verse, Romans 9, 22, following, "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to
00:06:24.200 | make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction
00:06:31.280 | in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared
00:06:36.960 | beforehand for glory."
00:06:39.240 | So I'm leaving those texts pretty much uncommented on, just holding them out there.
00:06:45.300 | My answer is yes, God does determine from eternity who will be saved, who will be lost,
00:06:52.760 | but he does it in ways that are mysterious to us so that on that day, no one will find
00:07:00.280 | any legitimate fault with God.
00:07:03.340 | No one.
00:07:04.340 | The redeemed will know we are saved utterly by grace while deserving hell, and the rest
00:07:12.400 | will know that they suppressed much knowledge of God's grace and they deserve to perish.
00:07:22.000 | Very sobering.
00:07:23.000 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:07:24.400 | So is election, then, divine favoritism?
00:07:27.920 | That was a related question and we addressed that back in episode number 399.
00:07:31.380 | You can find that episode in the Ask Pastor John podcast archive if you'd like to hear
00:07:35.680 | that.
00:07:36.680 | That was episode number 399.
00:07:37.680 | And if you want to know more about God's sovereignty, see John Piper's new book titled The Five
00:07:41.360 | Points Towards a Deeper Experience of God's Grace.
00:07:44.200 | You can download the entire book free of charge from our website, desiringgod.org.
00:07:48.880 | Click on the tab that says books and then click on the title, Five Points.
00:07:53.240 | While we return to talk about one prayer that can hold your entire life together.
00:07:57.560 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:07:59.120 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:08:01.040 | [END]
00:08:01.540 | 1.
00:08:02.540 | What is the most important thing that God has given you?
00:08:03.540 | 2.
00:08:04.540 | What is the most important thing that you can ask for?
00:08:05.540 | 3.
00:08:06.540 | What is the most important thing that God has given you?
00:08:07.540 | 4.
00:08:08.540 | What is the most important thing that God has given you?
00:08:09.540 | 5.