I worked the game out painstakingly when I was a youth by starting with only two cards left, then going to three, then four, etc., and recording the pattern of how many cards had to be removed in order to win.
I think I remember learning later that in the movie, the winner makes a mistake but then corrects it in the next round. God of course would not make a mistake.
It is easy, on the other hand, for someone who does not know the pattern to make a mistake.
It is easy, on the other hand, for someone who does not know the pattern to make a mistake.
All men have access to the pattern -- God's holy Scriptures. And all men make mistakes. Whether or not those mistakes have been paid for by Christ is up to God, not men.
Those who have been given the Holy Spirit to lead them will understand, repent, believe and be saved. Those who have not been given the Holy Spirit to lead them, but instead are perfectly content to lead themselves wherever they want to go, will not understand, repent, believe nor be saved.
Beyond that, none of us knows the names of the elect but God. We can be reasonably certain of our own salvation since Christ said that if a man believes in Him as Lord, King and Savior then that man is saved. So we know, as much as is possible, our own heart.
Other hearts, and other times, are just guesswork on our part. We know men by their fruit, whether they be good and of God, or evil and not of God.
But since none of us starts out understanding and believing, we reserve judgment for all men's eventual destination because none of us knows where God will bring an unbeliever tomorrow. Our responsibility is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all men, everywhere, and thereby to rejoice that Christ will lose none of His sheep whom the Father has given to Him to bring home.
All in all, a marvelous plan by God, ordained for His glory from before the foundation of the world.
(This conversation is a wonderful diversion from the nerve-racking hockey game. The U.S. just scored to tie the game and take it into overtime!)