October 19, 2025
Chosen
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Am I really free, or is all of my life decided ahead of time?
“I know God has a plan.”
“What’s meant to be will be.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
Proverbs 16:33 NIV
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.
Jeremiah 10:23 NIV
Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.
Proverbs 16:9 NIV
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
How should I understand God’s sovereignty and human free will?
Ephesians 1:3 NIV
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:4a NIV
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
What did Paul mean when he says “God chose us” & “before the creation of the world”?
- 5-Point Calvinism: God unconditionally chose specific individuals for salvation before creation, based solely on His sovereign will.
- Classical Arminianism: God conditionally chose individuals for salvation based on His foreknowledge of their free-will faith in Christ.
- Molinism: God’s election is based on His middle knowledge of how each person would freely respond in any circumstance, allowing Him to actualize a world that fulfills His purposes without violating free will.
- Corporate / Provisionist View: God chose Christ as the Elect One and corporately chose “those in Him” to be saved, so individuals become elect only by freely joining that chosen body through faith.
Ephesians 1:4b-6 NIV
In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Before the world began, God made the sovereign “choice” to radically change the identity of everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:20 NIV
He (Jesus) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
Revelation 13:8 NIV
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s (Jesus’) book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
God’s “choice” is ultimately about securing and caring for those who have come to Him by faith in Jesus Christ as His one true Son.
Ephesians 1:7a NIV
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
Ephesians 1:7b NIV
in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
Ephesians 2:6-7 NIV
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
God’s “choice” is that He did the work of salvation so you could do the work of the Church.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You have a glorious purpose, value, and mission as a child of God!
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NIV
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
God chose Kingsway Christian Church to “go” and make followers of Jesus who are becoming more like Him.