As we will now see, the biblical doctrine of "predestination" and the common idea of "fatalism" are entirely different.

By "fatalism" we mean the idea of a blind, unintelligent, inevitable fate in which all events come to pass through the working of some abstract, impersonal force which carries us along helplessly within its grasp as a raging torrent carries a piece of wood.

The biblical teaching of predestination is completely different from the idea of fatalism, but because of a lack of proper teaching on the subject, many Christians confuse the two.

A question that one sometimes hears is, "If all events are bound to come to pass, then why should I pray for something to happen?" Another common thought is, "Why should I preach the gospel to that person over there? If God has chosen to predestinate him to be saved, then He will just save him anyway. There's nothing I can do about it." Similarly, one often hears, "If God wants to do something in my life, then He'll just do it. It doesn't matter whether I believe His promises or not."

This whole way of thinking is completely wrong, and it is usually just resorted to as an excuse for laziness or disobedience or unbelief - or all three. The error of this way of thinking is easy to demonstrate. If you were in a burning house, would you just sit there and say, "Well, if I'm predestinated to escape death in this fire, then I'll escape death; but I suppose there's nothing I can do about it"? Is that what you would do? Would you just resign yourself to the fact that you can't change God's plan, because if He has foreordained you to continue to live, then you'll live; and, if He hasn't, then you won't. Would you just sit there, do nothing, and burn to death? No, you wouldn't do that! You would run out of that house as fast as you could!

It is interesting that people who try to use the teaching of predestination as an excuse to do nothing, usually only bring it up in relation to spiritual things (e.g., witnessing, praying, being holy, dying to self, believing the promises of God, etc.). Those same people never have any trouble believing that they are predestinated to eat, sleep or breathe! (And, yet, our eating, sleeping and breathing are all just as much a part of God's sovereignly-determined eternal plan as is someone's salvation!)

That fatalistic way of thinking - which is very common in the minds of many Christians - is unscriptural for several reasons.

Firstly, it ignores the fact that God didn't predestinate various ends without predestinating the means to achieve those ends. For example, God did not decree or predestinate to save sinners without decreeing the means whereby they would be saved (i.e., hearing the Word - Rom. 10:14; 2 Tim. 2:10 - faith, repentance, etc.). The end (i.e., the person's salvation) was included in God's eternal plan, but the means leading to and producing that end were included in God's eternal plan too.

You cannot have the end without the means. If your attitude toward a lost person is to say, "If that person is predestinated to be saved, then they'll just be saved anyway. There's nothing I can do about it, and so I'll just do nothing." If that person dies and goes to hell, we then see that he was predestinated to die and be lost. If, however, you have read those passages in the Bible where God commands human initiative (e.g., Matt. 11:28-30; Mark 16:15; John 6:37b; Acts 17:30; Rev. 22:17; etc.), and you go and take that person the gospel and he chooses to believe it and he repents and is saved, we then discover that in God's eternal plan that individual was predestinated to be saved and to be saved through your choosing to take him the gospel.

To give a further example, if a Christian were to think, "Well, I'm saved! God has foreordained me to be saved, and so no matter what I do, I'll be saved in the end," but then he falls into sin and forsakes Jesus (John 15:3, 6; Heb. 6:4-8; 2 Pet. 2:20-22; 1 Cor. 15:2; 2 John 9), all that person has done is prove that he was never predestinated to be ultimately saved in God's eternal plan in the first place!

Secondly, to avoid the error of fatalism, we must understand that the Bible teaches both predestination and human responsibility.

For example, choose right now to stand up. Now sit down. Did God force you to do that just now, or did you freely choose to? You freely chose to, of course! If you didn't choose to, you wouldn't have done it. From your side, you freely chose to stand up and then to sit down again. From God's side, however, He had predestinated before the foundation of the world that you would freely choose to stand up and sit down again at that very moment. From your side, you freely chose, but, from God's side, it was all part of His eternal plan - or else it couldn't have happened.

The Bible teaches both predestination and human responsibility. From God's side, everything man does was predestinated before the foundation of the world. From man's side, however, he does exactly what he freely chooses to do - no more and no less.

We will now consider the truth of this from many passages of Scripture.

The Bible teaches that the crucifixion of Jesus came to pass exactly as God had determined before creation that it would:

God had planned it all! Jesus' murderers only did what God had determined before time that they would do.

God had "determined" everything that would happen in the crucifixion of Jesus, and He did it before the foundation of the world (cf. Acts 2:23; 3:18; 13:29; Matt. 26:56).

However, the Bible also teaches that, from their side, the men who crucified Jesus were doing what they freely chose to do:

From God's side, He had foreordained it all before the foundation of the world; yet, from their side, Jesus' murderers freely chose to do what they did. The fact is that God has predestinated the free choices of men.

The Bible says that Judas betrayed Jesus "as it was determined" by God in His eternal plan (Luke 22:22a), and yet Judas, from his side, freely chose to betray Jesus (Matt. 27:4; Luke 22:21) and is therefore held responsible by God for his sin:

In Acts chapter one, the Book of Psalms is cited as prophesying Judas' betrayal of Jesus (vv. 16-20). The very fact that God can give a prediction concerning some future event is evidence that He has already predestinated that event to come to pass (cf. "this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled", v. 16); and so we see from Acts 1:16-20, that Judas' sin and consequent judgment by God was all predestinated in God's eternal plan before the foundation of the world. Yet, Acts 1:25 says:

Acts 1:25 clearly indicates that Judas chose to do what he did. From his side, Judas was as free in his actions as if God was not sovereign, but, from God's side it was as determined and certain as if Judas had no choice.

God is sovereign, and yet man is free. The Bible teaches both truths, and it even places them side by side many times.

God is absolutely sovereign, and He has predestinated everything according to the counsel of His own will, and, yet, man is free in his choices. The Bible teaches both truths. God is sovereign. Yet man is free. From man's side, he freely chooses to do whatever he does; yet, from God's side, he couldn't have done anything else.

God has included in His eternal plan the free choices and actions of man, but man is nonetheless free and responsible for his acts. We may not be able to logically harmonize these two truths, but the Bible teaches both. Thus, it is evident that the one does not cancel out the other.

We should not feel that we are under any obligation to try to explain these two truths. We are only under obligation to state what God has revealed in His Word. Whatever God has chosen to reveal to us in His Word is true, and it is to be believed even though we may not always be able to perfectly understand or explain it. God has seen fit to reveal certain things to us in His Word, and through the revelation and understanding given to us by His Spirit, He expects us to know as much as He has revealed - otherwise He would not have revealed it. But it is foolishness to try to intrude into areas that God has not opened up to us (Deut. 29:29).

The consistency between the sovereignty of God and the genuine responsibility of man must be recognized as a fact, because the Bible teaches both, even though it may not be possible to explain it.

Do not try to rationalize it with your intellect, but do believe it in your heart. God is sovereign and "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11), and, yet, man has freedom of choice; and, therefore, God holds him responsible for the choices he makes.

You will not be able to stand before God on the Day of Judgment and say, "Lord, you made me sin. You predestinated me to get drunk and lie and steal. You made me do it, Lord. It's your fault." God will say, "You chose to do it. You chose to sin, and you're responsible for what you have done, and here's your eternal punishment for your sins." God will not say, "Well, I predestinated your sin and made you do it anyway; so don't worry about it. Just forget it."

While God is sovereign and has predestinated all events, yet, from his side, man is free in his choices and is, therefore, responsible for his actions. God has predestinated the free acts and choices of men. When God ordained the actions of men, He ordained that men would freely choose to do those actions.

Joseph told his brothers that it was God who had been in control all along and had sent him down to Egypt (Gen. 45:5-8; 50:20), and yet Joseph's brothers had freely chosen to sell him to the passing Midianites who took him to Egypt (Gen. 37:28).

Revelation 22:17 teaches us that "whosoever will" can be saved; yet, in John 15:16 Jesus informed His disciples that they did not choose Him but He chose them!

Proverbs 16:9 says:

From man's side, he freely chooses what he does. From God's side, however, He is in complete control and predestinated it all before the foundation of the world.

In John 10:26 Jesus told the unbelieving Jews that the reason they didn't believe was because they were not predestinated to be saved,

and yet in John 5:40 Jesus told them, "ye will (i.e., choose) not to come to me, that ye might have life" (the Greek in this verse indicates their stubborn determination to refuse the truth; cf. John 1:11; 10:25). They freely chose to reject Jesus; yet, God had predestinated their choices.

In John 19:23-24 we see both divine predestination and human responsibility taught side by side:

From their side, the soldiers freely chose to divide Jesus' garments between themselves and to cast lots for His coat. They were not intentionally fulfilling the Scripture! From God's side, however, they were only doing what He had predestinated them to do before the foundation of the world. So we see both divine predestination and human responsibility taught side by side (cf. John 19:33-34 with vv. 36-37; John 13:18; 15:24-25; 18:31-32; Acts 13:27-29).

The Bible teaches that both are true - God has sovereignly decreed or predestinated the actions of men, and, yet, man is nonetheless free in his choices and is, therefore, responsible for his actions. God predestinated the choices of men.

From Isaiah 10 we see that when Assyria conquered Israel, she was only doing what God had ordained for her to do; but, from other verses in the same chapter, we see that, from her side, Assyria was doing what she freely chose to do:

When Cyrus sent the Jews back from captivity to rebuild Jerusalem, he was only fulfilling the purpose of the Lord who had predicted it all through Isaiah over 150 years before it came to pass.

From his side, the king Cyrus freely chose to do it; but, from God's side, Cyrus was like the clay in the potter's hand; and he did just exactly what God had predestinated him to do - no more and no less!

When the world leaders in the very near future give their power and authority to the Antichrist, they will be doing what they freely choose to do,

and yet, from God's side, they will simply be fulfilling His will:

From their side, they will be as free in their choices as if God wasn't sovereign, while, from God's side, it will be as determined as if they had no choice.

The Bible teaches both divine predestination and human responsibility. The Bible does not teach just one or the other. Both are taught. We must keep things in balance and in their correct perspective. Many times Christians with a "half knowledge" of predestination have the wrong attitude of, "If God has predestinated it to happen, then it'll just happen no matter what I do." That is wrong! It won't happen unless you choose to go and do it.

God won't force you to get saved; but, after you have freely chosen to repent and believe the gospel, you then discover that the only reason you did so was because He first gave you the gifts of repentance and faith and had predestinated you before the foundation of the world to be saved. From His side, God sovereignly predestinated you to be saved, while, from your side, you freely chose. However, if you don't choose to repent and believe, you will never be saved - and in eternity you will discover that you were not predestinated to be saved in the first place.

Everywhere in the Bible God places the responsibility on us. He commands us to obey Him. He commands us to believe Him. He commands men to repent. And, yet, it is still true that God "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11).

Both divine sovereignty and human responsibility are taught all through the Bible. God promises to finish the work He has begun in us,

and yet we must work out our own salvation:

From His side, God promises to keep us,

and yet, from our side, we must obey Him and faithfully endure:

Repentance and faith, the Bible teaches, are gifts of God,

and yet you were saved when you chose to repent and believe (Rom. 10:8-9,13).

God everywhere rebukes sin and unbelief and demands faith and obedience, which means man is responsible to believe and obey:

From our side, it is our responsibility to incline our hearts to obey God,

and yet, from God's side, it is He who inclines our hearts to walk in His ways:

Paul teaches that God has predestinated us to be glorified with Christ and he says that God will do it,

but, on the other hand, Paul very often places the responsibility on us to crucify the old man and to walk in the Spirit or else God won't do it:

Paul teaches that God has foreordained the good works that we, as Christians, will do,

and, yet in the same letter to the Ephesians, there are many commands from Paul for us to do good works, which means we are responsible (e.g., chapters 4 to 6).

In 2 Timothy 2:10, Paul declares that he endured "all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Didn't Paul know that those whom God has ordained to eternal life will be saved anyway? Obviously not! Even though God had predestinated someone to be saved, if Paul didn't endure all things and take him the gospel, he wouldn't be saved! Can you see how Paul understood that even though God has sovereignly predestinated all things, yet man is still responsible?

2 Timothy 2:18-19 teaches both divine predestination and human responsibility. From God's side, He will surely keep and preserve "them that are His"; while, from our side, we must choose to "depart from iniquity".

If you choose to obey God and trust Him, you will then discover that it was God all along who was working in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. But if you choose to disobey and disbelieve God, then you will discover that before the foundation of the world you were predestinated to be a "vessel unto dishonour" (Rom. 9:21-22; 2 Tim. 2:20).

From God's side, He has sovereignly foreordained all things that will ever come to pass (Eph. 1:11); yet, from our side, we freely choose, and, therefore, we are responsible for our choices and actions; and we will be held accountable for them. We may not be able to harmonize the two truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, but both are taught in Scripture. It may seem to us that one is a contradiction of the other, but there is no contradiction in God's eyes, and the Bible teaches both. (God, in fact, never even raises the question as to the seeming contradiction between divine sovereignty and human responsibility! He just says that both are true and expects us to believe Him.)

Paul had the right attitude to the relationship between divine predestination and human responsibility. In Acts 23:11 the Lord appeared to Paul and told him he would bear witness of Him at Rome. However, when Paul learned of the p kill him (Acts 23:12-16), rather than just sitting back and doing nothing and expecting God to work out His eternal plan without his help, getting him to Rome safe and sound, Paul did all that was in his power to escape his would-be murderers (Acts 23:17-24).

Furthermore, in Acts 27:21-26 we see how God showed Paul that no one on the boat would be harmed or drowned, and yet when some of the shipmen tried to depart, Paul said, "Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 27:31). Here again we see divine predestination and human responsibility taught side by side (cf. Acts 9:15 with vv. 23-25).

So it is clear that while the Bible teaches the sovereign predestination of all things by God, yet it also teaches human responsibility and freedom of choice. God has not asked us to try to harmonize this apparent contradiction. He has only told us to believe Him and to obey Him.

I would like to address the apparent contradiction of divine sovereignty with human choice. To our minds, these ideas seem necessarily contradictory. If God has predestinated our actions, then it would seem that we couldn't genuinely make our own choices, and God would not be just to hold us responsible for what we do. On the other hand, if we have the power to make our own choices and are responsible for our actions, then it would seem that God couldn't have sovereignly planned what we would do. To our minds, it must be either one or the other. To our human understanding, both could not be true. It could not be possible for God to have predestinated our choice of actions. Either He predestinated our actions, or we chose our actions - either one or the other!

But then we are confronted by the fact that the Bible clearly teaches both truths. We freely choose what we do and so we are responsible for our actions; yet, before the foundation of the world, God sovereignly planned everything that would happen "according to the good pleasure of His will" (Eph. 1:5). So what should our response to this be? Let me suggest that our response should be the following:

Firstly, we should acknowledge that both truths are clearly taught in the Bible. On the one hand, God is absolutely sovereign over all events. On the other hand, men choose to do what they want to do in their lives, and they are genuinely responsible for their actions.

Whether or not you can reconcile it, it is true nevertheless. God says it is true!

These two ideas cannot be reconciled in our minds. It is not possible for us to do that. But since when have our minds been the standard of what is truth? Since when have the limitations of our understanding limited what God says is true? The written Word of God is the final standard of truth in every matter.

Let me give you another truth that, as a Christian, you believe but cannot possibly understand. Think of the creation of the world for a moment. The Bible teaches that God created the world by His Word, out of nothing:

The technical term for this is "ex nihilo", which is Latin for "out of nothing". God created the universe "ex nihilo".

But have you ever wondered how God did that? How did God create the universe out of nothing? How is that possible?

It is not within the realm of our comprehension to conceive of something being made out of nothing. When we make something, we must first take something else and then make a new thing out of it. If we build a table, we have to first get some wood, some nails and some glue, and then out of those materials we make something else. We can only make something out of something else. We cannot make something out of nothing. Neither can we understand how God could do it. We are created beings. We can only understand how something can be made out of something else. To make something out of nothing is entirely beyond the realm of our understanding.

And, yet, we believe it happened that way. Why do we believe that God created the world out of nothing when we cannot understand it? Because the Bible clearly teaches it! The Word of God is a higher authority than the limitations of our understanding; so by faith, we embrace as true what we cannot possibly understand.

Just as we believe that God created the universe out of nothing - even though we cannot possibly comprehend it - purely based upon the fact that God said He did it, even so we must believe that God has predestinated the free choices of men, and that those choices are nonetheless free since He did so, simply because the Bible teaches both truths.

By virtue of the fact that we are created beings, it is not possible for us to understand how God could create something out of nothing. Nevertheless, we believe that God did this, simply because the Bible clearly teaches it.

It's the same with predestination. Our minds cannot harmonize divine sovereignty with human responsibility. In our minds it must be either one or the other - "either God predestinated it, or I chose to do it - one or the other; it can't be both! If God predestinated it, how could it be my choice? If God predestinated it, how could He hold me responsible for it?"

Yet, the Bible teaches both. The Bible teaches that God predestinated our choices, and yet they are still genuinely our choices and we are still genuinely responsible for them. It is not possible for our finite minds to understand this. It is, however, possible for our hearts to believe what the Bible says. And that is what we must do. When we do that, it all becomes clear and liberating. When God predestinated the actions of men, He predestinated that men would freely choose to do what they do. Therefore, men are genuinely responsible for their actions. God predestinated the free actions of men.

God's Word says it; that settles it! That settles it, whether or not we can understand it. Amen!

In view of these truths, how should we live? The answer is quite simple. From your side, live as though everything depends on you - because, in a way, it does. Evangelize those around you. Live a holy life and press in for all God has for you. Don't fall into fatalism or spiritual laziness. In one sense, live as though God were not sovereign.

But, at the same time, let your heart fear before a sovereign, almighty God who has ordained all events for His own glory.

Furthermore, in times of difficulty and trial, rest in the promises of the One who upholds all things by the Word of His power, knowing that He is entirely in control of all events. Only a sovereign God could ensure that:

Neither chance, nor the foolishness of man, nor the malice of Satan control the issues of life; but infinite wisdom, love and power belong to Him, our great God and Redeemer, in whose hand is all power in heaven and earth.

And, in eternity, we will praise the matchless name of the Sovereign Lord of the universe, Who, before eternity, decreed all events as part of His great eternal plan, the One who, in time, "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will", and the One who thought it good as part of that plan to glorify His amazing grace in our lives!