Some have argued that the topics of election and predestination should be avoided in preaching due to their complex and difficult nature, and even that they are a hindrance to evangelism. Do you agree or disagree? Provide rationale for your position.

I would say that it is not easy to talk about election and predestination in our evangelism correct, however there are some phenomenal truths that can be very appealing to the non-believers in evangelism. For instance God from all eternity by His most wise and holy council of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass and yet he is not the author of saying, and also he does not violate the free will of the creatures, neither is the liberty and contingency of secondary courses being taken away but rather established. That to me is a very appealing voice of the attribute and the character of God. Because he’s totally in charge in control and yet he gives us the free will to respond he doesn’t control his creation robotically. And also the liberty or contingency of the secondary causes are not taken away but rather established. That means what we do matter and we are not going towards fatalism.

JI Packer also expounded that the whole Bible is the outworking of God’s sovereign purpose for his world, the purpose that led him to create, the sin that disrupted, and his work of redemption is currently restoring. I think that’s a really appealing message that in this broken world which non believers will acknowledge, to know that God is currently restoring the world, it is a real message of comfort and encouragement and relevance of God. And the purpose of all this restoration is the endless expression and enjoyment of love between God and his rational creatures- love shown in their worship, praise, thanks, honor, glory, and service given to him, ending the fellowship, privileges, jaws, and gifts they give to them. Bible tells us that what God has done to advance God’s redemptive plan for sin damaged planet earth, and they look ahead to the day of its completion, when planet earth will be recreated in unimaginable glory. They proclaim God as the almighty creator Redeemer and do all constantly of the multifaceted works of grace that God performs in history to secure for himself a people, a great company of individuals together, with whom his original purpose of giving and receiving love can be fulfilled. God has shown himself absolutely in control in bringing his plan to the point and working out everything according to his own will and completing his redemptive project.

Considering the area of pastoral care alongside of preaching/evangelism (you hint at an answer, but aim it toward this question): How might you discuss election & predestination with someone faithfully attending your church, who did not grow up in a Reformed church, but who wants to talk to you about how they believe “election and predestination don’t have any practical use,” instead, they say: “these doctrines just seem to make people complacent in their faith”?

Topics of election and predestination should be avoided in preaching due to their complex and difficult nature?

I would say that while election and predestination is highly mysterious, and we cannot deny it as its plainly written in the Bible. And WCF has really articulated it beautifully, though, hard to swallow sometimes, because, the reality is its still hard to understand fully, but we have to remember that we are his creature, and He is God. And He reserves the right to mystery that He hasn’t revealed, and He has the perfect right to reveal what He chooses to His creatures, as in: Deuteronomy 29: ²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

An important point is that God doesn’t violate our free will. WCF: “God does not violate the free will of the creatures, neither is the liberty and contingency of secondary courses being taken away but rather established.”

That settled, I would then focus on the restoration of this broken world, as JI Packer puts it, “The whole Bible is the outworking of God’s sovereign purpose for his world, the purpose that led him to create, the sin that disrupted, and his work of redemption is currently restoring.”

God’s sovereign purpose and work now is the work of redemption that’s currently restoring what’s been destroyed by sin, and it’s that restoration, we believers in Christ, we are honored and called, to take part in. And it’s the highest calling for all of us all.

First of all the distance between God and humans is so great that we can never have any fruition of him as our blessedness and reward except by God’s condescension upon us, which he has expressed by way of covenant. So, God has chosen to relate with us and to reveal himself to us through a covenantal way like the Abrahamic covenant, Mosaic covenant, and eventually the new covenant by the son of God our Lord Jesus Christ himself. All these covenants are in fact the covenant of grace not of law. So, covenant is the means whereby we enjoy God as our blessedness and reward. Therefore, our justification and sanctification in life completely depends on the revelation and the relationship of God with us through the covenant which is the only means we can enjoy his blessings and reward.

Our justification is completely dependent on Christ’s fulfillment of the covenant works which is the first covenant God made with man whereby life was promised to Adam, and in him his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience. That covenant of works points to the terms of conditions on which the blessings of the covenant continues. Man by his fall has made himself incapable of life by that covenant of works, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; Whereby he freely offered unto sinners life in salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring them of faith in him, that they may be saved and promising to give unto all those who are ordained unto eternal life his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe. Now this is a huge promise because fallen man like all of us will not be able to be willing to believe in Christ if it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, those of us who are the elect. In the covenant of grace, there is blessing despite disobedience. The covenant of grace conditions are fulfilled by Jesus on our behalf. Our faith is required of us in the covenant of grace but it is not the basis of salvation. It is merely the means to receive the blessing which Jesus has obtained on our behalf. Therefore our obedience is tied up with Christ’s fulfillment of the conditions.

The only way we can go on in our lives sanctified is by and through the mediator of our Lord Jesus Christ to stay in grace. Like Westminster says we are brought into this covenant by grace and stay in it by our mediator our Lord Jesus Christ. Our ongoing sanctification depends on our obedience to Christ. Our obedience can only follow from the active and passive obedience of Christ because Christ fulfilled the conditions of the covenant of works, our salvation is by grace alone and by faith alone in Christ who has obeyed perfectly the covenant of works on our behalf.

This is hugely encouraging to folks in church to understand that it is not by our effort to continue to be sanctified and walking with Christ but it is rather Christ has already won the battle on the cross by his perfect obedience, and that we are drinking in that benefit and walking in him by the Holy Spirit, commonly called abiding in Christ. And then we are justified by Christ because he fulfilled all the conditions of the works of covenant which our forefather Adam failed. And now we can continue to be sanctified because of his complete obedience that our obedience is tied up with Christ fulfillment of the conditions and because he has fulfilled it, we can be overcomers in our Christian walk with God.