Sovereignty and Free Will

Sovereignty, Election, Foreknowledge and Blessing
Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer about those who follow Him
John 17 – Part 3

By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© June 24, 2012
www.pastorkennedy.com
(On the website above, click the link to “recent message notes” to view this message online. There are also selected messages and poems, available on Amazon Kindle Books - see Dan B. Kennedy.)

For hundreds of years the topics of “Sovereignty” and “Free Will”, in relationship to the Doctrine of Salvation, have been embattled territories for those who call themselves Calvinist/Reformed, on one hand, or Armenian/Wesleyan, on the other. This weekend, as we speak, many from one of the largest denominations in the U.S. and world, will be discussing the Biblical aspects of these very same doctrines in relationship to their own teaching on Salvation. Did God choose us as a Sovereign act, or was our “Free Will” part of the equation?

I did not prepare this message, or choose this topic to enter into a theological argument with anyone. I chose the subject because of the passage we are studying: John 17. It is a passage full of references to God’s people – those whom the Father has given the Son; who believe in and accept Christ’s words, that He is the Son of the Living God and Savior of the world.

In reading John 17 today, we will see that Jesus is speaking about those whom His Father had given Him…Jesus’ words are pertinent throughout the succeeding generations; right into our own century - for us, sitting right here, who believe in Christ!

This is the enlightening High Priestly prayer of Jesus, prayed just before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, and being sent to His crucifixion as the Lamb of God – to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

I have underlined passages in this text specifically about those who had been “given to Jesus” by His Heavenly Father.

Jesus, in John 17 clearly spoke about His relationship with those who trust in Him.

Notice that Jesus draws out three continuing aspects regarding those who follow Him:

• Those who Jesus has were Sovereignly given to Him by His Heavenly Father – (v. 2). God chose you!
• Those who believe in Him have kept His word – Personal Accountability (v. 6). By God’s Grace I am choosing to follow Christ and God knows who I am!
• Jesus wants His own to be One with He and His Father! – “Unity” (v. 23)

John 17
• Those who Jesus has were Sovereignly given to Him by His Heavenly Father (v. 2, 6)

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

• Those Given kept His Word (v. 6)

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

• They knew that everything given to Jesus was from God the Father (v. 7)

7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.

• They truly believed Jesus when He told them He came from God (v. 8)

8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

• Jesus said He was specifically praying for these whom the Father gave Him (v. 9)

9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

• Those whom the Father had were the same given to Jesus, and He was glorified in them (v. 10)

10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

• Jesus prays that those given to Him still in the world will be kept and become one with He and His Father (v. 11)

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

• Jesus’ disciples given Him while on earth were all kept except Judas, the son of perdition, fulfilling Scripture (v. 12)

12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

• Jesus was soon going back to His Father, His prayer was that those given to Him would have His joy fulfilled in themselves (v. 13)

13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

• They had God’s Word, and the world hated them, just as Jesus was treated “alien” in this world (v. 14)

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

• Jesus asked His Father not to take the ones given Him out of the world, but to keep them from evil – and the evil one (v. 15-19)

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

• Jesus prays for those who will yet believe in Him (that’s us!) (v. 20)

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

• Jesus’ prayer is that all who believe in Him will be One with He and His Father (v. 21-26)

21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

John 17 is a passage full of Jesus’ references to a Chosen People – a Body of Christ, a transformed Church made up of those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World and coming King!

Rejoice greatly if you are a Child of God!

Let’s take a moment now and look at simple aspects of God’s Sovereignty, Election, Freewill and Blessing through the windows of two illustrations:

• The Dandelion and
• The Suspension Bridge

The Dandelion Effect regarding Theological Perspectives

Depending on our background it may seem that it could be easy to choose a definite Theological position on topics that have been debated for centuries…it may seem easy at first….

Like a simple yellow dandelion flower, “simple” concepts of Theology, when searched out in fuller depth and meaning, become considerably more complex as we mature in our thinking, through study and understanding, in spiritual profoundness and depth.

The profoundness of Spiritual Truth is that it is so simple a child can accept it, but so deep a wizened Theologian cannot grasp its fullness.

One can begin with an example of a pretty yellow flower called a Dandelion.
We can structure a “theological” perspective, or “doctrine” on this single flower, or handful of flowers (i.e. Sovereignty, Election, Free Will and Grace).

As we study and ponder the profound truths of God and these Truths become more mature in our heart, mind and understanding, we can often find ourselves like those with a dandelion that has turned into a myriad of individual seeds. God’s Word is much deeper than we can fathom.

That is why I tend to pursue my study of God’s Word through the balance of Scriptural “tension”.

When you need to cross a cavern of understanding, it may be best to seek the tension of a balance of seemingly opposing views. That is the way I approach the dilemma of God’s Sovereignty and man’s accountability/“free will”…the acceptance of Scriptural Truths, in tension!

• If I do not understand seemingly opposing viewpoints of Scriptural Truth, and if both parts are soundly taught in Scripture, I can embrace both viewpoints to my best understanding of God’s Word, without compromising my core Biblical beliefs.

Let’s look at the illustration of balance demonstrated in a suspension bridge:

• A Suspension Bridge’s strength is sustained from tensions on opposing sides of the cavern, stream, river or ocean. This makes it stronger than if the bridge is suspended and supported from one side alone.
• A one-sided bridge, in contrast, is a place for observation only, not progression and depth. In theological terms, we might call the example of a one-sided bridge a “systematic theology”. Although a system of theology can be very positive in many cases, it can also resolutely project only one side of a doctrine, while sidestepping other Biblical Truths. This can keep theologians and their protégés continually returning to their own side of the discussion without the strength of the broader balance.

I like to example this through the strength evidenced in the span of a bridge built on “tension”.

• Although the Grand Canyon “Skywalk” bridge has a walkway of glass that is held in place from one side of the canyon only. I would much prefer the strength and security of a “tension bridge” with a deadhead on both sides of the canyon.
• This is the position I take when teaching Sovereignty, in tension with personal “free will”.
• I believe wholeheartedly in God’s unshakable Sovereignty, but I also believe, that in His Sovereignty, He has made mankind accountable for his or her personal actions…that in His Grace, He has given us the freedom of our will to choose Him. I cannot understand it, but I accept it.

John 17 and the Scripture clearly teaches us:

• God knows who will put their belief and trust in Christ.
• God chooses us according to His Sovereignty and grace.

Simplicity is what a child understands, and to have Salvation we must come with simple faith as a child (Mark 10:15). We begin here – although the subject of Salvation is far deeper and more complex than we can ever understand.

Isn’t it wonderful that our salvation is not based on whether or not we comprehend Salvation’s depth!

To understand Jesus’ prayer in John 17 we are going back to three simply profound things:

• God knows us
• God chose us
• And Jesus wants us to be One with God the Father and with Himself!

Foreknowledge

Romans 8:28, is one of the most well-beloved and quoted verses in the Bible.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:29, speaks directly to this amazing concept of foreknowledge and predestination. God knows everything about everyone and from this He predestinates, or chooses.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

If you are here today and have given your heart to Jesus Christ…

• God knows you
• God chose you
• And Jesus wants you to be One with God the Father and with Himself, now, to reveal Himself to the rest of the world, and for eternity!

– What an awesome wonder!

John 17:23
23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Blessing and Benediction

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
Amen.
Jude 24–25