The Divine Initiative
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 3 September 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since God has already predestined all those who will be saved, why should we evangelize? Today, R.C. Sproul offers a compelling answer to this common question.
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Meet Today’s Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In light of the whole concept of predestination, if God has decreed from all eternity that certain |
| 0:05.4 | people are saved, then certainly those people will be saved, why then should we be concerned |
| 0:11.2 | about evangelism? |
| 0:16.6 | When the topic of God's sovereignty comes up, that may be one of the most asked questions. |
| 0:23.7 | It seems to make sense, doesn't it? Since God is in charge of salvation, what does he need us for? |
| 0:29.6 | Well, that's the question R.C. Sprawl will tackle today on this Wednesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. |
| 0:36.5 | Chosen by God is the series you've been listening to this week, and it was this series |
| 0:41.4 | and book that the Lord used to help me as I wrestled with the doctrine of God's sovereignty. |
| 0:47.1 | That story is shared by countless Christians, and if you'd like to help fuel the spread |
| 0:52.2 | of trusted teaching, like that found in Chosen by God, |
| 0:56.1 | when you make a donation before midnight tonight, we'll send you a special hardcover edition of Chosen by God |
| 1:02.7 | and unlock the entire series and study guide for you in the free Ligonier app. |
| 1:08.7 | But today is the final day you'll hear messages from this series, |
| 1:12.4 | so if you'd like this special resource offer, respond while there's still time. |
| 1:17.6 | So how does evangelism relate to predestination? Here's Dr. Spraw. |
| 1:21.8 | We come now to the last of our series of lectures on the theme of predestination, |
| 1:30.3 | and throughout this series I've made references from time to time to Paul's teaching on this matter |
| 1:37.3 | in his letter to the church at Ephesus. |
| 1:40.3 | And in this session, I want to consider further what we call in theology the divine initiative, |
| 1:55.0 | referring to that first step of salvation that is brought to pass in our lives unilaterally and exclusively by the |
| 2:05.2 | power of God. And we see this in this passage in Ephesians 2 that I have made occasional reference |
| 2:12.3 | to, and I'd like to spend a little bit more time on it now. Let's look if we may at chapter two of Ephesians, |
... |
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