This sermon discusses the concept of God's love and salvation without distinction but not without exception, using the analogy of a store offering discounts on merchandise. It delves into the theological debate around predestination, God's omniscience, and the idea of being one of the elect. The speaker challenges the Calvinist perspective on salvation, emphasizing the importance of faith and obedience in determining one's final destiny.

Without distinction, but not without exception. So, I have a store, and I advertise in the paper, all merchandise 50% off. And you come, and there's an item you want, but I say, no, no, that's full price. But, and this one's full price. But you said, all merchandise 50% off. I didn't mean all without exception, I meant all without distinction. Some of this, and some of that, every kind of merchandise in here, some of it is 50% off. So the Calvinist says, when God so loved the world, he's not willing that any should perish, he wants all to come to knowledge. Well, that doesn't mean without exception, it means without distinction. Some of this kind, and some of that kind. So, I think you have to begin to change the meaning of the Bible. I don't think an ordinary person would get that. And incredibly, maybe most incredibly of all, see if I can find this quote quickly, I think they've given me until 3.30, if you folks don't mind. Here's John Piper again. Listen, I first heard of John Piper from a friend of ours who's a missionary in Mongolia. This man has gotten around, and very influential around the world. He says, We do not deny that all men are intended beneficiaries of the cross in some sense. What we deny is that all men are intended as the beneficiaries of the death of Christ in the same way. All of God's mercy toward unbelievers, from the rising of the sun, the worldwide preaching of the gospel, is made possible because of the cross. Every time the gospel is preached to unbelievers, it is the mercy of God that gives this opportunity for salvation. What? You're giving an opportunity for salvation to someone that God has already predestined to eternal damnation. And isn't this a wonderful manifestation of God's grace that you preach the gospel to them? Have these people gone mad? It's a contradiction. It doesn't make sense. The cross, they're the beneficiaries of the cross in some sense. I said, it doesn't make sense. What do you mean? Oh, but God is kind to all because he gives the sunshine to everyone, you know, in the rain. Wait a minute, I'm sorry. That's like giving a nice meal to a man you're about to torture to death. Oh, it's kind to give a man a nice meal. Not in that context. How could it be kind for God to give, no matter how many, temporal benefits to someone he has predestined to eternal damnation? Didn't Christ himself say, what shall a prophet of man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? But the Calvinist has to do these things. It mocks mankind. And then, of course, the problem that we mentioned. How do you know you're going to be elected? Well, it gets into other problems here. Such as, the Calvinist says, God only knows the future because he has predestined the future. Wait a minute. That's limiting God's omniscience. God is not omniscient if he can only know what he himself has predestined. And so they argue, if man has a free will, then he could surprise God. You have a teaching like that in America. I don't know whether it's gotten here yet. It's called The Openest View of God. Gregory Boyd, a Baptist pastor, is teaching it. YWAM, Youth with a Mission, maybe you're not aware of it. They have taught that for many years. At least going back 30, no, more than that, 30 years. Gordon Olson, a gentleman, was teaching it many years ago. Joy Dawson has taught it for many years. God is surprised. He doesn't really know what's going to happen, but when it happens, then he, as God, he steps in and tries to deal with it. But the Bible very clearly says, known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the cosmos. Right? Well, how could God know everything he's going to do if he doesn't know some things that men are going to do? And then he wouldn't be able to tell in advance what he's going to do in order to respond to what man is going to do. Well, yeah, but wait a minute now, look. If God knows what Mr. Jones is going to do tomorrow, and God can't be wrong, so what God knows Mr. Jones is going to do tomorrow, he's going to have to do tomorrow. Then how can Mr. Jones have a free will if God already knows what he's going to do? Well, the philosophers have discussed that for centuries. It's a very simple problem. Another one of your own, John Wesley, I think about 1780, he preached a sermon in which he said, I mean, man was right up to date on this for sure, right up to date with modern science. The latest physicists would agree with this. Time is part of this physical universe. When the Bible says, in the beginning, I think Joe would agree with me, I hope, it's the beginning of time. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and part of what he created was time. It's part of this physical universe. God is not part of this physical universe. That's pantheism. This universe is separate and distinct from God. He didn't create it out of himself, he created it out of nothing. So, time has nothing to do with God. He's timeless. I am that I am. And so, John Wesley very accurately said, God observes everything from outside. He sees past, present, and future. What is past, present, and future to us? He sees it as already as it is. So the fact that God knows what Mr. Jones is going to do tomorrow does not cause Mr. Jones to do it, has no influence whatsoever upon what Mr. Jones is going to do. Well, we have a problem. How do you know you're one of the elect? You are saved eternally if you're one of the elect. I mentioned that I concluded I'm a zero-point Calvinist, because I believe in eternal security for the wrong reason. Let me quote R.C. Sproul, who has some problems as a Calvinist. He says, A while back I had one of those moments of acute awareness, and suddenly the question hit me, R.C., what if you're not one of the redeemed? What if your destiny is not heaven after all, but hell? Let me tell you, I was flooded in my body with a chill that went from my head to the bottom of my spine. I was terrified. I tried to grab hold of myself, I thought, well, it's a good sign that I'm worried about this. Only true Christians really care about salvation. Then I began to take stock of my life, and I looked at my performance, my sins came pouring in my mind, and the more I looked at myself, the worse I felt. I thought, maybe it's really true, maybe I'm not saved after all. Piper said, quote, Our final salvation is made contingent upon the subsequent obedience which comes from faith. So you can't really know that you're saved until you're ready to die, and you can look back and say, well, I've lived a pretty good life. No, what about the man in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul says his works are tried by fire. He doesn't even have one good work, does he? But Paul says if he had his faith in Christ, he is saved. Yet so is by fire. We're not saved by our works, and that is not the manifestation of whether we're saved or not. So I just want to remind you where we began. We haven't been able to really cover the topic, but I think we cover it very thoroughly in the book, as thoroughly as we could in one book. All the arguments that Calvinist will engage in, all he'll go to, and we do, we go to Romans chapter 9, What about Esau and Jacob? As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Well, it's very clear, as it is written. Where is it written? Go find out where it is written. It's only written in one place. That's in Malachi. Not in the Old Testament. Never said that in the Old Testament. And it's very clear in Malachi, it is talking about the nations descended from Jacob and Esau. It is not talking about the salvation of either individual. It's very clear. Go back, and I go back, and I don't find that the Calvinists quote this verse, where God said, before she gave birth to Jacob and Esau, God said to Rebekah, Two nations are struggling in your womb. The elder shall serve the younger. If that was about the two individuals, Jacob and Esau, it was a false prophecy, because the elder never served the younger in their lifetime, those individuals.