Does God Choose Who Gets Saved? Predestination vs Free Will EXPLAINED | Pastor John MacArthur and Jonny Ardavanis

Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis

Jonny Ardavanis

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

5 • 663 Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Does God Choose Who Gets Saved? Predestination vs Free Will EXPLAINED | Pastor John MacArthur

In this powerful theological discussion, Pastor John explains:

✅ Biblical evidence for predestination - What Scripture actually says

✅ Human responsibility in salvation - Why unbelievers are still accountable

 ✅ How both truths coexist - Understanding God's infinite mind vs. finite understanding

✅ Practical application - How to know if you're among the elect

Key Topics Covered

• Predestination before the foundation of the world

• The Lamb's Book of Life

• Election and chosen people

• Dead in trespasses and sin

• Sovereign grace and human faith

• Biblical paradoxes explained

• Assurance of salvation

Transcript

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0:00.0	Pastor John, one of the most pressing and prominent questions I often hear from different
0:10.5	people is, did God indeed choose whom he would save before the foundation of the world?
0:16.5	And if he did, how are those who do not believe responsible and held accountable for their disbelief?
0:23.6	First of all, yes. God did predestined those who were to believe before the world began, because that's exactly what the Bible says.
0:32.6	You were chosen before the foundation of the world. Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Predestination is a word in Ephesians chapter one. We were predestined
0:43.2	to be in Christ. So yes, we have to understand God is God is God. And God is the one who ordains
0:51.4	everything. And God is not a spectator. God is the one who ordains everything. And God is not a spectator. God is the one who acts. He doesn't react.
1:00.4	So the Bible is crystal clear. He chose Israel. Israel has chosen people out of all the nations
1:06.8	of the world. And he chose his church. He tells the apostles to go into a certain city, he said,
1:12.3	because I have many people in that city. Well, the gospel hadn't even been there, but he knew who
1:16.5	the people were that were chosen. So yes, God chooses. That is clear in Scripture. Secondly,
1:23.5	sinners are responsible for their unbelief. That is clear in the Bible. Jesus says, why will you die? Because you don't believe in me.
1:33.3	That's clear responsibility. So you say, well, how do those go together?
1:38.3	And I say, I don't know. I have no idea. But is it possible that the mind of God is beyond mine, or does everything have to be
1:48.1	understandable to me? Can I leave a little room for an infinite mind that may be able to grasp things
1:54.0	that are beyond my understanding? So throughout all the years that I've taught the Bible, I can teach
2:00.1	without hesitation that God predestanced
2:02.3	people to salvation. That's the only way they could be saved because they're dead in trespasses
2:06.8	and sin. They don't have the power to believe or the will to believe. So the Lord has to
2:11.2	awaken the sinner and grant him the repentance and faith to be saved. At the same time that I believe that is a sovereign work of God, I also believe that it is not
2:21.5	apart from faith and that the sinner must believe.
2:26.9	How God harmonizes those two things is beyond me.
	...

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