Question from the youth life groups:
Why do we bother to evangelize if God knows who will be saved and who will not be saved?
This question is akin to a previous post on why pray when God is all-knowing? God does indeed know who will be saved and who will not be saved. He is the one who decides. He is after all, sovereign. He has not left it to the whim of men. Some people think that salvation is the choice of man but if we read the Scriptures honestly, we will see that it is God who chooses. This way, he gets the glory for our salvation. For example in Ephesians 1 and in Romans 9:
Ephesians 1:4–6
[E]ven as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace...Romans 9:15–16
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
In love he predestined us. For what purpose? For the praise of his glorious grace! When he chooses us to be saved, God is showing mercy and we get to glorify him. Remember now, no one deserves to be saved. If everyone single last person on earth were sent to hell, God will be fully justified. Everyone has a guilty verdict on him. (Romans 3:23). But in his mercy, God saves.
Now the question is, if God knows who will be saved and who won't, why do we bother to go spread the gospel? God will save those whom he wants to anyway. Why do we risk our time, resources and our lives to do missions? The answer is simple: God may know but we do not, and his work for us is to spread the gospel.
In other words, the act of saving is God's work. The act of telling people about God's salvation is our work. We don't save. Even if we speak to a friend and he believes, that's not the result of our work. The Holy Spirit did that. We merely shared the gospel. God will do his act of salvation with or without us. But he wants us to be the agents to bring the message of the gospel to every person on the earth. It is our joy to bring the gospel. It is a joyous thing to be able to share the good news with someone who has not heard it before.
In Romans 9, Paul makes it clear that it is God who chooses who will be saved and who will not. Then in Romans 10, Paul says that it is our job to be the agents of bringing the gospel to everyone.
Romans 10:14–15
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
Yes, God saves but he chooses to do it through human effort. Will your neighbour across the corridor be saved by God? We don't know. Our role though, is to use our feet, get ourselves over to him and share the gospel. How can they believe if they have not heard? They need to hear. We need to speak. And God, in his sovereignty will act. That's a beautiful partnership.
Over and over, we see this in the Bible. God is sovereign. He rules but he uses us, we who are created in his image, to be his agents. In Eden, he created a perfect garden. He asked Adam to be the caretaker. As if God needed a gardner! But Adam was to be God's representative.
In prayer, God invites us into a dialogue with him. We get to see him acting out his will. We become a participant in it (cf. Exodus 32). God wants us to be his partner and share in the work. So it is with salvation. He saves, but he gives us the task of taking the gospel to the nations. Thank you God, for using us frail humans to be your servants. We get the joy in doing the work, and you get the glory!
