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Can My Silence Cost Souls? · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Well, God puts lost souls into our lives, not to
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  Speaker 1: make fun of them or ostracize them, but to love them,
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  Speaker 1: to pray for them, to share the hope of Christ
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  Speaker 1: that we have with them. So what if I don't
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  Speaker 1: send the text message I know as you send to
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  Speaker 1: reach the unbeliever? What if I fail to make the
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  Speaker 1: phone call I know I need to make to the
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  Speaker 1: friend who doesn't know the Gospel? What if I stop
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  Speaker 1: praying for the salvation of my family members and neighbors
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  Speaker 1: who need Christ. What if I refuse to take risks
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  Speaker 1: for the sake of reaching the lost as a Calvinist,
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  Speaker 1: do any of those decisions really matter in the end
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  Speaker 1: at all? Today? I asked Pastor John, can my silence
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  Speaker 1: cost souls? Eternally? A young man, an aspiring missionary in
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  Speaker 1: his early twenties, is thinking about this very thing. Pastor John, Hello,
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  Speaker 1: I'm struggling with Paul's math. If God saved us and
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  Speaker 1: called us, and he did it because of his own
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  Speaker 1: purpose and grace before time you've started, as Paul says
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  Speaker 1: in Second Timothy one to nine, why is Paul's agony necessary?
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  Speaker 1: He says, I endure everything for the sake of the
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  Speaker 1: elect that they also may obtain the salvation in two
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  Speaker 1: Timothy two ten. This feels like a contradiction to me.
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  Speaker 1: If the finish line was decided by a sovereign God
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  Speaker 1: in eternity past, why is Paul's suffering now required to
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  Speaker 1: get them there? It makes me wonder does my effort
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  Speaker 1: actually change an eternal outcome? Does someone's eternity actually hang
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  Speaker 1: on my willingness to suffer as a messenger? I'm too
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  Speaker 1: scared to suffer and I stay home. Does God's eternal
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  Speaker 1: purpose fail because my pain was the only way he
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  Speaker 1: planned to get the job done.
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  Speaker 2: There are two really good questions in this one question,
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  Speaker 2: at least as I hear them. One is fairly common
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  Speaker 2: and the others less common. The common question is, if
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  Speaker 2: God decreed whatever will come to pass from eternity, does
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  Speaker 2: my effort to change things in the present make a difference? Specifically,
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  Speaker 2: does anyone's eternal destiny hang on my willingness to be
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  Speaker 2: a messenger? That's the first question. The less common question
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  Speaker 2: is if God decrease all things from eternity past, and
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  Speaker 2: my life really does make a difference, and things happen
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  Speaker 2: or don't happen because of my effort. Why did God
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  Speaker 2: set it up this way? That's the why question. I
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  Speaker 2: think the answer to the first question is yes, your
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  Speaker 2: life and effort and prayer and witness make a difference,
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  Speaker 2: a huge difference in what happens in the world. And yes,
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  Speaker 2: there will be people who are not saved because some
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  Speaker 2: Christians failed to share the Gospel with them. I know
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  Speaker 2: that sounds contradictory to some Calvinists, and I am one,
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  Speaker 2: and I say it believing totally that the Bible teaches
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  Speaker 2: God plans and predestines all things before they happen. I
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  Speaker 2: believe that Revelation thirteen eight says there are names written
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  Speaker 2: from the foundation of the world in the book of
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  Speaker 2: the Life of the Lamb who is slain. So some
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  Speaker 2: names are there in the book from eternity, and some
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  Speaker 2: names are not there. These are the ones whose rebellion
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  Speaker 2: God plans to overcome and bring to himself. The names
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  Speaker 2: in the book are God's elect These are the ones
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  Speaker 2: Luke was talking about in Acts thirteen forty eight when
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  Speaker 2: he says, as many as were appointed to eternal life
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  Speaker 2: believed God appointed them, and so they believed. These are
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  Speaker 2: the elect that Paul is referring to in eph he
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  Speaker 2: chose us, He elected us, selected us in Christ before
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  Speaker 2: the foundation of the world, and a few verses later,
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  Speaker 2: verse eleven of Ephesians one, he says that these elect
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  Speaker 2: are predestined according to the purpose of Him who works
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  Speaker 2: all things, all things according to the council of his will.
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  Speaker 2: It is a faithful biblical teaching that God governs all things,
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  Speaker 2: and that He decides from eternity whose rebellion he will
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  Speaker 2: overcome and save. And it is equally biblical to say
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  Speaker 2: that God uses human means, human instruments to accomplish those
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  Speaker 2: eternal purposes. Jesus says to Paul, I am sending you
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  Speaker 2: to open their eyes so that they may turn from
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  Speaker 2: darkness to light. You do that, Paul, You're my instrument.
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  Speaker 2: Go make that happen. I will give you the power.
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  Speaker 2: Paul says. I endure everything for the sake of the elect,
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  Speaker 2: that they may obtain salvation. Paul is the means of
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  Speaker 2: the salvation of the elect to have been destined to
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  Speaker 2: salvation before the foundation of the world. In Romans ten
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  Speaker 2: to one, he says, my heart's desire. Paul says this
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  Speaker 2: my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them
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  Speaker 2: is that they may be saved. He says, he magnifies
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  Speaker 2: his ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles to make
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  Speaker 2: his fellow Jews jealous if by any means he might
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  Speaker 2: save some of them. He is a real instrument by
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  Speaker 2: prayer and by witness, a real instrument in the salvation
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  Speaker 2: of his Kinsman James says, you do not have because
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  Speaker 2: you do not ask James four to two. And when
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  Speaker 2: Paul addressed the elders in X twenty, he said, I'm
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  Speaker 2: innocent of the blood of all of you, for I
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  Speaker 2: did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel
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  Speaker 2: of God. Had he not told them the truth, their
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  Speaker 2: blood would be on his hands. That's what he implies.
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  Speaker 2: From these texts and many like them, we learn that
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  Speaker 2: God has set up the world in such a way
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  Speaker 2: that we human beings bear the burden of real causality.
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  Speaker 2: We are causes in the world. We make things happen
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  Speaker 2: under God's providence. Our actions make things happen. Our failure
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  Speaker 2: to act fails to make things happen. And therefore it
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  Speaker 2: is not right to say, because of predestined my failure
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  Speaker 2: to act will not prevent someone's salvation. We don't know that.
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  Speaker 2: We cannot see into God's book of decrees and plans.
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  Speaker 2: What we're told is that we should pray for lost people, evangelize,
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  Speaker 2: tell the Gospel to lost people, do good to lost people,
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  Speaker 2: because that's how they are saved. And we're told you
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  Speaker 2: have not because you ask not. Prayer makes a difference,
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  Speaker 2: and we are told we will be innocent of the
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  Speaker 2: blood of them if we tell them the truth. So
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  Speaker 2: our friend asks us in this question, does someone's this
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  Speaker 2: is his very question, does someone's eternity actually hang on
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  Speaker 2: my willingness to suffer as a messenger? And I answer, yes,
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  Speaker 2: we don't know who or when that is the case,
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  Speaker 2: but that it can be the case is what the
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  Speaker 2: Bible teaches, which is sobering, and I hope he takes
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  Speaker 2: it to heart, and that if God is calling him,
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  Speaker 2: that he will follow, which brings us now to the
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  Speaker 2: second question. Well, why did God set set it up
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  Speaker 2: this way? He asked this, If the finish line was
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  Speaker 2: decided by a sovereign God in eternity past, why is
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  Speaker 2: Paul's why? He's asking the why question? Why is Paul's
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  Speaker 2: suffering now required to get them there? That's that's his
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  Speaker 2: why question. And here's here's how I would go about
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  Speaker 2: trying to answer a question that may partly lie We
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  Speaker 2: just have to admit this, it may partly lie hidden
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  Speaker 2: in God's mind, and that he just is gonna let
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  Speaker 2: us look through a glass dimly and not see the
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  Speaker 2: whole picture yet. But I think part of the picture
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  Speaker 2: at least is visible. Paul says in Ephesians that the
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  Speaker 2: aim of God's election God's choosing a people for himself
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  Speaker 2: before eternity or in eternity. The aim, he says in
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  Speaker 2: Ephesians one six of God's eternal decrees before the foundation
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  Speaker 2: of the world is quote the praise of the glory
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  Speaker 2: of the grace of God. What an important phrase. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, God created and governs the world so as
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  Speaker 2: to maximize the authenticity and the intensity of our praise
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  Speaker 2: for the beauty of his grace. Now, how is that
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  Speaker 2: grace manifest in the world and at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the world so that it can be praised with maximum
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  Speaker 2: authenticity and intensity. And of course the center of the
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  Speaker 2: answer is Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. That's the most
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  Speaker 2: beautiful manifestation of God's grace. That ever was, or will be.
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  Speaker 2: But that's not the only place where God's grace is
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  Speaker 2: manifest in the world for our admiration and our praise.
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  Speaker 2: It's manifest in the humble, happy service of God's servants,
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  Speaker 2: who are called stewards of God's grace. When they suffer
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  Speaker 2: in order to make him known. That's a beautiful thing.
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  Speaker 2: That's a beautiful demonstration of grace. In other words, when
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  Speaker 2: God plans that humans become the instruments to bring about
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  Speaker 2: his eternal purposes, he also plans that in that very action,
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  Speaker 2: they are beautiful demonstrations of the grace of God. So
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  Speaker 2: the very means, for example, missionaries, the very means by
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  Speaker 2: which God pursues his final purpose, namely the praise of
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  Speaker 2: the glory of his grace, those means are themselves a
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  Speaker 2: demonstration of that final purpose coming back into this world.
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  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful thing. Grace stands out as beautiful when
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  Speaker 2: a person lays down his life for another person in
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  Speaker 2: the cause of missions. So Christians get to participate not
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  Speaker 2: only in real causation in bringing about God's final purposes,
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  Speaker 2: they also get to participate as manifestations of the beauty
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  Speaker 2: of God's grace in their sacrificial service, and thus they
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  Speaker 2: become a foretaste of the beauty of the grace of God. So,
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  Speaker 2: to put it in a sentence, Paul's suffering as a
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  Speaker 2: means of saving the elect is required because that suffering
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  Speaker 2: for Christ is itself a beautiful manifestation of the grace
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  Speaker 2: We are being saved to praise.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you best, John. Yeah, God has set up the
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  Speaker 1: world in such a way that we human beings bear
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  Speaker 1: the burden of real causality. We are causes in the world.
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  Speaker 1: We make things happen under God's providence. Our actions make
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  Speaker 1: things happen. Our failures to act fails to make things happen.
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  Speaker 1: And therefore it is not right to say that, because
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  Speaker 1: of predestination, my failure to act will not prevent someone's
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  Speaker 1: salvation quote. That's really sobering and motivating. God's overwriting sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: and his decree does not mean that human means are pointless.
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  Speaker 1: We pray, and we text, and we speak, and we witness,
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  Speaker 1: and we suffer as instruments God designed to reach the lost.
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  Speaker 1: And so well, then if the stakes are this high,
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  Speaker 1: if God's plan requires my ministry, then should any of
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  Speaker 1: us be employed in any vocation other than missions. This
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  Speaker 1: topic entails just a lot of other related questions to answer,
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  Speaker 1: like is the missionary greater than the algebra teacher? And
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  Speaker 1: am I wasting my life in any other vocation other
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  Speaker 1: than missions? And then of course how can I climb
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  Speaker 1: the corporate ladder and reach the lost at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: Those are three follow up topics that can be found
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  Speaker 1: in succession in the Aspect Down book on pages seventy
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  Speaker 1: three to seventy six to get into more issues related
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  Speaker 1: to this episode today and speaking of motivation to share
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  Speaker 1: the gospel, you need more motivation after today. The very
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  Speaker 1: nicest unbeliever that you know will one day stand before
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  Speaker 1: God to face eternal judgment. That's next time, when nice
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  Speaker 1: people face God. I'm Tony Rank. You will see back
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  Speaker 1: here on Monday.