"EleventhHour,
[So you give a false message of hope of they are not the chosen of God?]
Hello 11H,
Good question, let's look at it a bit closer.
We are to be faithful to the message itself and the souls we preach, teach, and speak to.
Election is certainly a biblical truth. God has chosen who He is going to save.That is a biblical truth, however;
He has not revealed to us a list of names, but you can see for yourself in Acts how God himself explained this to Paul;
9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
God reveals to Paul...He has many, or much people in this city.
He does not say who they are, he does not say how many, but clearly does not say all.
God uses means, the preaching and teaching of the word. The Spirit quickens the word to those he has purposed to save.
No false hope, all men are commanded to repent and believe the gospel.
We tell them both about salvation in Christ, and second death for those who remain in rebellion.
I would like to give another great example to your point in the effectual call of Lydia. This is how it happens for every believer.
(Acts 16:13) And on the sabbath day we went forth without the gate by a river side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down, and spake unto the women that were come together.
(Acts 16:14) And
a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God,
heard us:
whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul.
(Acts 16:15) And when
she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
1) A certain woman, not all women who were listening.
2) Whose heart was opened by the Lord... not by herself or the will of herself.
3) Heard the message. Because having been born again (John 3:5-8), and given a fleshy heart (Eze. 36:26), she now possessed hearing ears.
4) She gave heed to what was said.
5) Was baptized.
These points are crystal clear in these verses. The distinction that is being made, is between
the General call of the Gospel and the
effectual call of the Gospel. This is also what is being taught in the parable about the seed. (Mark 4:3-9). Preaching goes out to ALL in a "general call" but it will only be "effectual" in the hearts of the ones the Lord has opened.
Let us look at Ezekiel's message again. Who is
doing these things and who are
receiving them.
(Eze 36:26) A new heart also will
I give you, and a new spirit will
I put within you: and
I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I will give you an heart of flesh.
(Eze 36:27) And
I will put my spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Again, these things are so clear, any babe in Christ can see them.
1) The Lord gives a new heart,
2) The Lord is going to replace our useless, dead spirit, with a new one,
3) The Lord takes away the stony heart, (stony heart is symbolic of an unregenerate heart, which is still suffering from depravity)
4) The Lord gives the heart of flesh, (Regenerate heart)
5) The Lord His Spirit in us,
6) His Spirit will cause us to walk in His statutes. Not in the legalistic way of the Old Testament nation of Israel but in their precepts.
If you are really interested in what the Bible teaches, then don't kick against these obvious meanings. Thank you Iconoclast for your words. Keep up the good fight of faith.
