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LUKE 19 1-10 SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 01 Free choice and predestination
📖 Luke 19:1-10
15Nov2020 - *Free choice and predestination* - _Luke 19:1-10_ SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 1 – Bible reading: _John 3:14-17_
We have completed the study of the healing of Bartimaeus, which we had titled as, *The faith of Bartimaeus*. We now begin a fresh study of the conversion of Zacchaeus, which we will title as *Seeking to save the lost*.
_Luke 19:1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho._
As we concluded the last learning, we saw that God’s heart is to reconcile a lost world back to Himself. This is the theme that we take into this fresh study. The Lord is longing for the people of the world to be reconciled with Him.
As much as this is the purpose of God, God is, at the same time, seeking and searching for the lost, individually, to be saved.
The Lord Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. It was for the people of Jericho to know Him and also for one man, Zacchaeus. Though there were the crowds of people, the Lord was reaching out to one man, Zacchaeus. The good news was presented to the crowds but the Lord was restoring one man, Zacchaeus to a relationship with Him.
We, therefore, need to ponder on these two long-held truths that seem contradictory, which we need to hold in tandem. On one side is the free choice of man to choose or reject God and on the other side is the predestination of God in choosing those, who belong to Him. These two views are popularly termed as Arminianism and Calvinism.
Let us consider both these views from scripture. _Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared *to all men* I Timothy 2:3-4 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, (4) who desires *all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth*._
God desires all men to be saved and come into a relationship with Him, who is the truth.
_Ezekiel 18:23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live? Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'_
God does not want those who are rebelling and rejecting Him, to perish but that they should repent and turn to Him in full surrender and submission to His lordship. God longs for man to choose life and not death. Therefore, God is constantly bringing this matter of man’s destiny to the attention of all people, everywhere.
_John 3:14-17 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15) that *whoever believes in Him* should not perish but have eternal life. (16)
For God so *loved the world* that He gave His only begotten Son, that *whoever believes in Him* should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that *the world through Him might be saved*._
As we hold this position that God longs for all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of Jesus, let us also deliberate on the fact that God does choose those whom He has predestined to be His own.
_Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren._
Jeremiah shares with us the nature of his call. _Jeremiah 1:4-5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: (5) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."_
The choosing or predestination of God is for a purpose. God has chosen us with both a generic purpose, which is valid to everyone who is called of God, as well as with a specific purpose, such as it was with Jeremiah. He was to be a prophet to the nations.
Each of us, chosen by God are under two mandates. One is the common purpose of God that applies to all who are chosen. We are also under God’s specific purpose that He has for us in predestining us.
_Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,_ God’s predestination of us is with a general purpose that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
_John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you._ God’s common purpose for all of His people is to bear fruit and fruit that would remain.
The Lord was reaching out to the larger crowd in Jericho and at the same time, He was seeking for one man, Zacchaeus.
*Thought to ponder*
```We need to carry on us this dual position, at all times. One, to reach out to the public with the gospel of Jesus and second, to seek out those individuals for whom the Lord has given us a burden.```