Cornestone Sermon on Predestination Part 1

7 Topics ::: Predestination from Cornerstone Community Church ::: on Vimeo.

I begin this undertaking with the understanding that some will object to my testing of this sermon against Scripture. Some may say that I am being judgmental or mean spirited but I testify to you that all that I am going to write comes from a heart of humility. I understand that I do not have every piece of theology correct. My hope is that by doing this some misconceptions about Reformed Theology may be exposed and the importance of rightly dividing the Word of Truth might be magnified. That being said this is an examination of the truthfulness of the sermon entitled “Predestination” preached by Pastor Ron at Cornerstone Community Church in Wildomar, CA. The video is embedded so that you may know that I am not pulling anything that he says out of context. This first installment will cover 2:55-3:23 of the sermon.

As we begin Pastor Ron takes us to 2 Peter 3:9 to demonstrate what he believes is a clear cut verse that opposes Reformed theology. It is clear that he takes this verse to mean that it is God’s desire that every single human being repent. I, however, disagree. The key to understanding this verse or any verse of scripture rightly is context. You cannot pull a scripture from its context and determine its meaning correctly. So the question then is, what is the context of this verse? To understand that, we need to go back to the beginning of this chapter because this is where Peter expands on the theme of false teaching he began in chapter 2 as he revealed the character of the false teachers they were facing. Beginning in chapter 3 he shifts his focus and begins to reveal what exactly these false teachers were bringing into the church. The main doctrine that was being attacked was the return of Christ in judgment. They were claiming (mocking) that all was going to remain as it has from the beginning and that no judgment was to come (vs. 3-4). What they are missing according to Peter, is that God has already destroyed the world in judgment once before through the flood (5-6) and that with his word he is currently withholding his judgment which will come by fire (7). He then brings home the imminence of Christ’s return by bringing to mind the idea that how we view time and how God views time is entirely different (8). To us, His return seems like it is taking forever but to Him everything is right on schedule.

In verse 9 Peter is answering one very specific question, why is God waiting or what is God waiting for. The point of this verse is not to teach how many people God wills to save. Instead, it is to proclaim that God is not slow or late in keeping His promise but rather He is perfectly on schedule. What Peter is saying is that the reason that God’s judgment is delayed is because He desires that none perish (referring to the final judgment in this context) but that all come to repentance. That leaves us then with one final question, who is the all that Peter is referring to? The all that God is waiting for is all of His elect. He is not waiting for every single person to come to repentance. Why, because all will never come to repentance. Unless you are a Universalist (everyone will be saved), you recognize that some men will find themselves in Hell forever. If God is seeking to wait until every single human comes to repentance, He will never return because that will never happen. There would be no need for a judgment! Jesus said it this way in John 6:39, “"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” The father has given the son a people, chosen purely by grace, and every single one of them will be gathered in; none of them will perish in the final judgment.

Election is the evangelist’s greatest encouragement. We can say as Paul did that “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” 2 Tim 2:10.