HANDLING THE DOCTRINAL CORRUPTION OF GOD'S PREDESTINATION

I. Christ's Prophetic Overview Of The Problem

(Matthew 13:33 et al.)

I. Introduction

A. A huge debate is increasingly afflicting evangelical realms on the doctrines of election and predestination, with the Augustinian-Calvinists opposing and being opposed by the Pelagian-Arminians.

B. Remarkably, as we will learn in this lesson series, both schools are impacted by errant beliefs, and Christ predicted this doctrinal corruption and how we are to respond to it in Matthew 13:33 with its context.

C. We view His prophetic overview of the problem for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. Christ's Prophetic Overview Of The Problem, Matthew 13:33 et al.

A. The day Israel's leaders said Jesus performed miracles by Satan's power (Matt. 12:38-45; 13:1-3a), Jesus began to withdraw His offer of the Kingdom to that generation and to teach His disciples in parables on how to function in view of the Kingdom's postponement, Matthew 13:10-11 (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 48)

B. That instruction predicted that between Christ's postponement of His Kingdom and His installation of it at His return, Christ's servants would face ministry opposition like He had, so Jesus taught them how to respond to it:

1. First, Jesus predicted many who heard His servants would not be responsive to the Word, and even the responsive would respond to it in varying degrees. (parable of the sower, Matthew 13:3b-23)

2. Second, taking advantage of the presence of weak believers in ministry groups, Satan would secretly infiltrate those groups with unbelievers, and God would not immediately remove the unbelievers lest doing so harm the discipleship of weak believers. (parable of the tares, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) In the end, God will remove all unbelievers from the groups, and the upright will be glorified, Matthew 13:40-43.

3. Third, Satan will try to curb the ministries of Christ's servants by discouraging them to where they cease discipling, what is predicted in the parables of the mustard seed (Matt. 13:31-32) and leaven (Matt. 13:33):

a. Satan will allow for the growth of groups of believers infiltrated with unbelievers to become very large (Matt. 13:31-32) to dilute the groups' spiritual vitality with unbelievers to where even demons (represented in the birds, cf. Matt. 13:4, 19) would be comfortable residing in such groups!

b. Also, Satan would use his infiltrators of such groups to corrupt Bible truth in the groups with worldly error (Matt. 13:33), for "leaven" (zume) elsewhere in Matthew only refers to corruptive false teaching (Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 340). This would further oppress God's servants.

4. Fourth, the upright in the end-time in Matthew 13:43 correspond via the context to the teachers of God's Word in the end-time who turn many to righteousness in Daniel 12:3-4, so the parables of the hid treasure (Matt. 13:44), the pearl of great price (Matt. 13:45-46) and the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50) all address the ministry of godly teachers noted in the parable of the householder (Matt. 13:51-52). We explain:

a. According to Christ's question to His disciples in Matthew 13:51, one must understand all of the Matthew 13 parables in order to comprehend and apply the parable of the householder in Matthew 13:51-52.

b. In the Matthew 13:52 parable of the householder, like a scribe, an expert in the Scriptures, he will bring from his Scripture treasure things new and old, Matt. 13:52. The old things are the used treasure that was hidden in the field (Matt. 13:44) and the new things are represented in the new pearl of great price being sold in the marketplace (Matt. 13:45-46). Christ's servants are then to invest all their resources (parables of the hid treasure and pearl of great price) to learn and expound Old and New Testament truths about Christ's Kingdom in the eras between Christ's postponement of His Kingdom in Matthew 12-13 and His Second Coming to the earth to establish His Messianic Kingdom!

c. To encourage His servants amid the evil opposition they would face, Jesus repeated His Matthew 13:40-42 theme of God's punishment of unbelievers at Christ's return in the parable of the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50).

Lesson: A great spiritual war rages between God and Satan over the discipling of people today, and God's servants face institutional and doctrinal corruption in groups of believers. However, they must faithfully learn, expound and teach Old and New Testament truths for God's great eternal reward, motivated by the realization that in the end, God will separate the lost infiltrators from true believers, punishing the lost and rewarding the just.

Application: The Calvinist-Arminian debate is one product of the corruption of Bible truth, so may we servants of God invest all our resources to learn and expound Scripture to counter that error, motivated by knowing that in the end, God will separate the lost from the saved and greatly punish the lost while richly rewarding the godly!