Paul’s First Epistle to The Thessalonians (3)

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Dr. Lars Larson

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The Thessalonians. Well today we begin to address a very important matter, a matter that should be of interest for each of us, a matter actually that should even be a great concern for each of us.
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The Holy Scriptures, God's Word, tells us we should be very earnest and put forth great effort to assure ourselves that God has chosen us and called us on to salvation.
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Peter wrote when he was writing to Christians, professing Christians, wherefore the rather brethren
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Christians give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall.
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This command leads to a question that each of us should ask. How may I know that I am called of God unto salvation?
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How may I know that I am one of God's elect? Peter says you should give all diligence, the
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Holy Spirit tells you through Peter, give all diligence to make your calling and election sure.
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How do I do that? How do I know I'm one of God's elect? And in the context of Peter's admonition we could look there in 2
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Peter 2 chapter 1 verse 10 and following and find an answer there if we wanted to.
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We can find it there. However, we can also find direction in our passage here in 1
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Thessalonians 1 enabling us to answer this question, how to know you're one of God's elect?
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And so Lord willing we will attempt to do so today and next Lord's Day by addressing
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Billy verses 4 through 10 of 1 Thessalonians 1 in which we'll be able to answer this question, how to know you are one of God's elect?
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And so let us read this chapter once more. We've read it every week but I hope it's becoming more and more familiar to us.
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Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ grace to you and peace.
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We give thanks to God always for all of you constantly mentioning you in our prayers remembering before our
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God and Father and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our
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Lord Jesus. And here it is in verse 4, for we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you.
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See Paul was convinced that they were numbered among the elect. We know brethren loved of God he has chosen you and really beginning with verse 5 he begins to list the reasons that convinced him they were numbered among the elect.
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Because our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
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You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the
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Lord for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
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For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything.
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For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you. How you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
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God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
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And so the apostle wrote to the church after having received a good report from Timothy regarding the church.
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Timothy had reported to Paul their work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. We addressed that last week.
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Again Paul had started the church but he had to leave there because of persecution only after a few
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Sabbath days of preaching the gospel to the Jews in the synagogue and then to the Greeks. He didn't know how they were doing.
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He sent Timothy to find out and he got this good report from Timothy and so Paul wrote to them.
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And based upon what Timothy had told them about these people he could write to them. We know brothers loved of God he has chosen you.
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Note the confidence he had. We know that you're numbered among the elect. Note how
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Paul described them as brothers loved by God. Most folks assume that God loves all people alike whether they're
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Christian or not. After all God is love. He loves everybody the same. He's not a respecter of persons.
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That's a misunderstanding of that statement but people argue that God has the same love for everybody whether you're
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Christian or not. But the Bible does not teach this. Contrary to the belief of most people
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God does not love everyone alike. Although God is loving to all because that's his nature.
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God is love. He even loves his enemies. That is he's loving to his enemies. Patient, merciful, long -suffering but they're his enemies.
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But he's loving to them. However he loves his own people with a special kind of love.
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An internal covenant love. And this is a very important matter.
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The Lord reveals quite clearly and quite frequently in his word he has a love for his people that is unique and special.
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A special love for his people that he doesn't have for those that are not his people. For those that are out in the world.
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Those who are not among his elect. We read that Christ loves his church and he gave himself for it.
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John 13 1 reads, And Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the
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Father having loved his own which were in the world he loved them on to the end. Clearly that indicates that he has a special love for his people.
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The love that God has for his people is special. He loves them because he regards them as spiritually united to himself.
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And because he loves himself he loves those who are united to him. And this is by God's decree from eternity.
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The Lord Jesus spoke of this in his prayer in John 17. His prayer to God the
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Father. And so here are Lord's words. I in them.
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Think about that. Jesus is talking to his Father. I in them. That is in believers. Those who are redeemed.
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And you in me. The Father in me. Christ says. That they may be made perfect in one.
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That the world may know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
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That to me is one of the most incredible statements in all of scripture. If you're a
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Christian or if you're going to become a Christian one day you may be far from Christ right now. But if you are one of the elect.
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God the Father loves you with the same love he has for his Son. That's overwhelming.
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And the reason is he sees you as united to his Son from eternity. He loves you in this special covenant love because you are seen to be in him.
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They in me. I in you. And I pray that they would know that they love you as you have loved me.
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Incredible. And then he went on to say pray and I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which you have given me.
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For you love me before the foundation of the world. And that love for us is before the foundation of the world.
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We weren't aware of it of course. But it was in the purpose of God. These words cannot be ascribed to all people indiscriminately but rather for the elect of God only.
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Christ is only in them. You can't say Christ is in those who are
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Christ rejecters, unbelievers that continue in their unbelief. Christ is only in them and therefore it can only be said of them that the
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Father loves them as he loved his Son. And this is in accordance with Paul's words in Romans 8.
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When he wrote I persuaded that neither death nor life or angels or principalities nor powers nor things present or things to come nor height nor depth or any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God.
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And then he qualifies or describes that love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
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Lord. Nothing can separate us from that love. It's a covenant love, eternal love and it's unique to the people of God that are saved by Jesus Christ.
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Now as we work through this passage of 1 Thessalonians 1 we should say a word about the translation of verse 4 because we read it in the
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ESV, the English Standard Version. But it really isn't the best translation. We read, for we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you.
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It's rather an innocuous statement. It really doesn't slap you in the face. But this is not the most literal of translations.
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The New King James Version better reflects the Greek grammar for it reads, knowing beloved brethren your election of God.
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That's a little more direct isn't it? And so the ESV has taken the
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Greek noun for election and has made it into a verb, has chosen you. I don't know why they did that because it is not what the text says.
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Perhaps, and I think this was the reason, they were attempting to make the doctrine of God's election of sinners unto salvation less pronounced.
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It doesn't sound as offensive, God has chosen you, or rather than saying beloved brethren we know your election by God.
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Because election is a buzzword isn't it? It'll get people upset. I upset someone last week with this.
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Raymond and I were in Home and Depot getting some goods for our sealing and materials and there's a kindly old fella, he's a good
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Christian man, he's in the Salvation Army, and he learned
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I was a pastor quite a long time ago. So he's always asking me, what's your text this coming week? What's the title of your sermon this coming week?
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I said, how to know you're one of God's elect. And you know, immediately it was like, you know, again
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I slapped him in the face. And, oh you're a Calvinist. I said, yeah.
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And he says there's only one election, God cast his vote, the devil cast his vote, and I cast a deciding vote.
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You know, that's how our minions think, only one election. I said, hey, it's all of grace.
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Raymond came up with this wonderful quote from Spurgeon, I don't know where he came up with that one, but it was wonderful and fitting.
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And I imagine we'll have more discussion about that. But the very word elect or election will get a rise from people.
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They don't like that doctrine. So maybe the translators of the
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ESV and some of the other translations too, the newer translations, were trying to make the doctrine of God's election of sinners less pronounced.
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Perhaps offering a translation that would be less likely to have a negative reaction by his readers. For this doctrine of election is not valued by many, but it is biblical.
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So let's consider man's aversion to sovereign grace and the doctrine of election. Indeed, the doctrine of God's sovereign grace and salvation of electing sinners unto their salvation is actually hated by most people, both outside and inside the church, as I just testified.
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Charles Spurgeon once gave a sermon entitled, Sovereign Grace Hated by Religionists. Religionists would be churchgoers.
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They hate sovereign grace. He declared the natural enmity of fallen man toward the doctrine of God's sovereign grace in election.
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If anything is hated bitterly, it is the out -and -out gospel of the grace of God, especially if that hateful word sovereignty is mentioned with it.
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Dare to say he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion,
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Romans 9 15. And furious critics will revile you without stint. The modern religionist not only hates the doctrine of sovereign grace, but he raves and rages at the mention of it.
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He would sooner hear you blaspheme than preach election by the Father, atonement by the Son, or regeneration by the
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Spirit. If you want to see a man worked up till the satanic is clearly uppermost, let some of the new divines, that's another name for minister back in the 19th century, let some of the new divines hear you preach a free grace sermon.
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In other words, God's free to bestow grace but not obligated to do so. A gospel which is after men will be welcomed by men, but it needs divine operation upon the heart and mind to make a man willing to receive into his innermost soul this distasteful gospel of the grace of God.
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My brethren, do not try to make it tasteful to carnal minds. He was writing to pastors.
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Hide not the offense of the cross, lest you make it of none effect. The angles and corners of the gospel are its strength, and to tear them off is to deprive it of its power.
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Toning down is not the increase of strength but the death of it. Learn then that if you take Christ out of Christianity, Christianity is dead.
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If you remove grace out of the gospel, the gospel is gone. If the people do not like the doctrine of grace, give them all the more of it.
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I preach the doctrines of grace because I believe them to be true, because I see them in the scriptures, and because my experience endears them to me, and because I see the holy result of them in believers.
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The doctrine which I preach to you is that of the Puritans. It is the doctrine of Calvin, the doctrine of Augustine, the doctrine of Paul, the doctrine of the
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Holy Spirit. The author and finisher of our faith himself taught the most blessed truth, which well agreed with our text.
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For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Spurgeon, in fact, there's a whole book, you know,
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The Forgotten Spurgeon. I think Ian Murray wrote that, didn't he? And The Forgotten Spurgeon.
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Everybody loves Spurgeon. All evangelicals love Spurgeon, but they conveniently forget the fact that he was solidly reformed in his understanding of sovereign grace.
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The reason people hate sovereign grace is due to the effect of the fall of man into sin. This is why people get angry and they reject it, and they're not, maybe not even aware of why.
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At the heart of Adam and Eve's sin was their desire to usurp God's sovereignty over their lives, to become autonomous.
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That is, they desired to determine for themselves how they would live in this world. They wanted to rule themselves rather than have
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God rule over them. And so the serpent told Eve, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened.
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That's why God didn't want you to eat it. He didn't want any rivals. He knows the day you eat it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
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Basically saying, you'll be able to determine for yourself how to govern your life and what's right and true, what's wrong.
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You'll be like God. And so the serpent was tempting Eve and Adam through her to assert herself as assuming the role of God of her own life.
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She would be the determiner of her own life, her own destiny. And fallen man ever since then has insisted that he would be the one who determines his final destiny.
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God cast his vote, Satan cast his, but I'm the one who determines my destiny. I cast the final vote.
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The Bible doesn't teach that. And so when the doctrine of sovereign grace is presented, that is,
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God among all fallen humanity, even before creation, made a choice.
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I'm going to say this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, and I'm going to allow the rest to continue in their sin to their just condemnation.
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People reject that doctrine, but it's found throughout the entire Bible. Not just here or there.
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It's found everywhere. And so when the doctrine of sovereign grace is presented and understood, the immediate reaction to one who has not been enlightened by the
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Holy Spirit is one of offense, rejection, and objection. In fact,
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Paul, when he wrote to the church at Ephesus, he wrote in Ephesians 1, since I heard of your faith and your love for all the saints,
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I cease not to pray for you, that the eyes of your understanding would be open, that God would give you a spirit of revelation and of himself and wisdom of himself, that you would comprehend basically the hope of God having called you.
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All they knew as they heard the gospel, they were lost, they called upon God, they called upon the Lord to save them. He wanted them to know in actuality it was
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God that called them. And he knew that God had to open their eyes to believe it, to embrace it, and to see the glory of it.
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And so people that have not been operated upon by the Holy Spirit in that way, they don't see it. They don't see the glory of it, but rather they despise it.
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They think, hey, that's unfair. Why is it unfair for God to be willing to show mercy on some?
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Nobody's deserving of mercy. None of us were. None of us are. Mercy, by definition, has to be freely bestowed.
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It cannot be demanded, otherwise it's not mercy, it's justice. And so God is free to bestow mercy, but he can refuse to do so, and people are justly damned for their sin.
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Even though the gospel is freely offered to them, come to Jesus, you can have an eternal life, forgiveness of sins.
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Now I don't want any part of that, because I want to be the determiner of my own life. I want to be my Lord. I don't want to submit to the law of God and do his will,
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I want to do my will. And that's the result of the fall of man. And yet they'll be the first ones to react and to argue against this matter of sovereign grace.
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And so it's commonly assumed that a fallen man has the ability in and of himself, granted with some help of the
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Holy Spirit, he has to help us, to believe savingly on Christ of his own free will.
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I have the ability. Sin did not render me totally depraved, but rather partially damaged.
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And with a little bit of help of God, I can come to Christ. John Murray, a reformed fellow of the 20th century, with the
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Lord, described the prevailing position in this way, In much of present -day evangelism, it's assumed that the one thing man can do in the exercise of his own liberty is to believe in Christ for salvation.
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It is supposed that this is the one contribution that man himself must make to set the forces of salvation in operation, and that even
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God himself can do nothing towards this end until there is this crucial decision on man's own part.
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In this assessment, there is total failure to reckon with human depravity, with the nature of the contraction that sin involves.
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Paul tells us that not only is the mind of the flesh not subject to the law of God, but also that it cannot be.
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The fallen man cannot submit to the law of God that tells him to turn from sin and believe on Christ.
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It is impossible. This impossibility extends to the gospel as well. It is the implication of Paul's other word that the natural man does not receive the things of the
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Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned.
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But to this truth we have the most pointed and expressed witness of our Lord himself. No man can come unto me except the
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Father who hath sent me draw him. No man can come unto me except it were given to him of the
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Father. Here is the witness of him who knows what is in man, and who knows the Father as the
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Father knows him. And it is to the effect that it is a moral and spiritual impossibility for a man to come unto him except by the free gift from the
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Father in his secret and efficacious drawing. Hence there has to be a doctrine of election or none of us would be saved.
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Many of you were like me, had no interest, no thought in Christ. I was opposed to it. I used to cuss out my
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Christian friends who witnessed to me because I didn't want to hear it. I not only didn't have an interest,
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I had an aversion to it. You know how in high school you had the most likely to succeed?
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I was the most likely anti -Christian person I think in my school.
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But thankfully the Lord overrules, doesn't he? But we need not take the word of man, of natural aversion, even hatred, of following man toward this doctrine, for we see it displayed everywhere in Holy Scripture.
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In John 6 our Lord Jesus proclaimed God's sovereign grace before the crowds. They were gathered to hear him, many of which claimed to be his disciples.
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By the end of his teaching session in John 6, almost all had forsaken him, for he taught them sovereign grace, and they didn't like it.
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Here is the setting of the passage. Our Lord, the day before, had performed the great miracle of multiplying the bread which he fed a multitude.
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And so this resulted in a large devoted following looking for him the next day. Hey, let's have another meal.
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They had been hungry, they wanted more of the same. And this will always gather enthusiastic crowds. But it will not ensure genuine converts to Christ, and our
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Lord knew this, and so he told them, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, in other words, it indicated who
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I am, the Son of God, the Savior, but you seek me because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
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And throughout this discourse in John 6 our Lord set forth the sovereign grace of God in bringing sinners to salvation.
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And so he declared these words, I said to you, you have seen me, yet you do not believe, all that the
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Father gives me will come to me. Every one of them. There you have the elect, all that the
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Father gave me. See, the Father gave the elect unto the Lord Jesus in eternity past.
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And in history, every one of them will come. And the one who comes to me,
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I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the
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Father. This is the will of the Father, that would be the elect. I should lose nothing.
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He doesn't lose a one. The Father promised him a hundred sheep. He doesn't end up with ninety and nine.
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He ends up with a hundred. Jesus answered, said to them, do not murmur among yourselves.
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See, they didn't like what he was saying. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
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No one is able to. It's the Father that saves people, draws them by his grace.
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And I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets, they shall all be taught by God. Every true
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Christian has been taught by God. Oh yeah, it came forth from the words of a preacher that God was the one that was given weight to it.
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It's true. It's right. It's God's word. I believe it. That's God at work, drawing the sinner to himself.
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Verse 61. When Jesus knew it himself, his disciples complained about this. They didn't like what he was saying either.
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He said to them, does this offend you? What then, if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? It's the
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Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. See, an unsaved man profits nothing.
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It's the Holy Spirit that has to give life, or it's not going to happen. The words
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I speak to you are Spirit, they are life, but there are some of you who do not believe. Because Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe, and who would betray him.
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And he said, therefore I've said to you that no one can come to me unless it's been granted to him by my
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Father. And then the reaction to that, again this natural aversion to the doctrine of election and sovereign grace, from that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more.
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And at the beginning of John 6, again he had over 5 ,000 men, and then women and children, clamoring, wanting to make him king.
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Hey, he'll feed us every day. Sounds like people going to the polls in November, voting for the person who's going to give them the most goods, right?
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That seemed to be the motivation these days, to get a vote. But by the end of John 6, he had 12 disciples, and they were in doubt of him.
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Then he turned to them and said, are you going to go away also? Now's your chance. And Peter responded, to whom are we going to go?
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Nobody else. You have the words of everlasting life. But the point is, people do not like sovereign grace.
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They didn't like it when the Lord Jesus preached it in his own synagogue. Luke 4, that's why they wanted to throw him over the cliff.
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He basically told the Jews in that synagogue, you think you're favored of God? You think you're God's people?
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God has mercy on Gentiles sometimes and not you. He healed a
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Syrian army general of leprosy when he passed by many lepers in Israel.
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He showed mercy upon that woman in Sidon, that Gentile woman, when there were lots of widows here in Israel.
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And they didn't like that idea that God is sovereign in the bestowal of His grace. And so they, even though he was raised among them, grew up in synagogue with them, in church with them, so to speak, they would kill him because they hated sovereign grace.
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And they didn't like it when he preached it there or here in John 6. And people still hate it today.
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That's probably one of the major reasons that Christians that are looking for a church will look anywhere and everywhere but here.
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Because they know that we espouse this. It's known. Oh, you're that Reformed guy?
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Yeah? We'll go over here. And so this matter of God's sovereign grace in His election of sinners unto salvation is a subject of great debate.
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Always has been. And it's one that generates a great deal of controversy and division.
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And hard things are said about this doctrine and the ones who hold it. Oh, you don't believe in evangelism, which is nonsensical.
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A great deal of false accusation is leveled against those who hold to the biblical teaching of God's election of people to be saved.
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But it's not a subject that you can just skip over if you truly desire to understand the scriptures.
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I wasn't Reformed when I became a Christian. It took about five years when just the overwhelming testimony of scripture led me to that conclusion.
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The fact is, God has chosen for Himself out of fallen humanity a people and they will be saved.
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Every one of them. God the Father has chosen them. The Son of God redeemed them. The Holy Spirit applies the salvation purchased by Christ to them one by one.
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And so God has purposed that Jesus Christ would save His chosen people, His elect. And Paul was not ashamed of this doctrine of election of sovereign grace.
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He gloried in it. In fact, his whole life was given over to see the elect of God come to salvation through faith in Christ.
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He wrote to Timothy, I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
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He loved the people of God and we should love the people of God. And we should hope people out there who do not know
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Christ will be numbered among the people of God and we pray and work for their conversion. Well, let's consider this subject a little bit more in detail.
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And we actually won't consider until next Lord's Day, Lord willing, the various ways you can know you're one of the elect.
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But let's consider this doctrine of election. So let's explain it and defend it a little bit.
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First, consider a formal statement and explanation of this biblical doctrine. God has chosen certain persons from fallen humanity to be recipients of His salvation, having chosen them in Christ before creation, not based on any foreseen condition or response of them, but solely due to His own good pleasure according to the purpose of His will.
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So, as holy is at His discretion, why me?
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And why not my friend John who used to go to Bible studies with me but was never truly converted?
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Was it because I was a little wiser than he? A little less sinful than he? No, we were party buddies.
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We did the same things, thought the same things, talked the same things. I didn't hear from John for 40 years.
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You might recall he contacted me about a year ago. Last time
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I knew him, he was breaking tires in a tire capping truck shop.
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Come to find out now he's got a Ph .D. and he's teaching. He's a professor at University of California, Davis and works for the state of California.
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And we exchanged, I think, two emails. He asked me what was going on and he tried to call back all the fun times we had together.
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And I wrote back, yeah, we had a lot of fun times together, but I lament our dishonesty toward our parents and the breaking of law that we committed in our drinking underage and everything.
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The last time I ever heard him, he never wrote back. And I was just trying to get a little bit of inroad to see where he, you know, wanted nothing to do with me.
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Divine election of sinners unto salvation follows from an understanding of man's total depravity. Man is unwilling and unable to come to God.
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Left on his own, even though you instruct him, admonish him, persuade him and plead with him, he will not have
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God rule over him because he's spiritually dead. He wants to be his own Lord. I will be the determiner of my life and how
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I live, not God. And so his salvation must originate outside of himself.
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It's got to come from God. And it originates in God's intention and purpose to save him.
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Election. There's no indication in scripture why God chose certain ones he chose, passing over the other, other than it was good in his sight and it was in accordance with his purpose to glorify himself and his grace.
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We could have gone to 1 Corinthians 1 and showed, actually, those who are elect are the worst of humanity.
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You see, there's not many among you that are wise or noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world.
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That's us. Because he wants to display how great a God he is and great his power is.
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So he takes the worst cases, finds them, I'm going to save him, glorify myself in him or her.
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And so if anything, if you're elect, it's not because you're better than everybody else, but probably you're worse than everybody else.
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And God wants to get the credit for it. And so he takes you from out of the pit and he establishes your feet on solid ground through Christ.
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The scriptures declare that God loved his own with an everlasting love.
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Because there was some time in eternity past he purposed this one and this one I'm going to regard as being in my son
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Jesus Christ. And because I love my son, I love them. And I'll not allow their sin to damn their soul.
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I'm going to do what I have to do to save them from their sin. God's purpose and will most certainly will obtain the salvation of his people and no others.
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Our statement of faith is the Second Baptist London Confession of 1689, but here's a statement from the
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First London Baptist Confession of 1646, written by Benjamin Cox primarily, who was also a writer of the
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Second London. We affirm that as Jesus Christ never intended to give remission of sins and eternal life unto any but his sheep, he's not trying to save goats.
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He's trying to save his sheep. So these sheep only have their sins washed away in the blood of Christ.
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The vessels of wrath, as they are none of Christ's sheep, nor ever believe in him, so they have not the blood of Christ sprinkled upon them, neither are partakers of him, and therefore have all their sins remaining upon them, and are not saved by Christ from any of them under any consideration whatsoever, but must lie under the intolerable burden of them eternally.
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And the truth of this appears unto us by the light of these scriptures compared together, and a number of them are cited.
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God intends to save his sheep. The term predestination, although often used interchangeably with the term election, really is biblically different.
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Predestination speaks of the design or end to which his chosen ones he purposed to bring his chosen ones.
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He chose certain ones and he predestinated them. You're going to be like my son one day.
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And so predestination speaks of the destination to which
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God chose these sinners. And it's undeniable that the
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Bible presents redemption of his people in history consistent with this matter of election.
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God has not been trying to save all humanity. Was he just trying to save the whole world in the days of Noah?
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No. He purposed to save Noah and his family. Was he trying to save the
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Egyptians in the days when Israel was brought out under the leadership of Moses?
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No. He wasn't trying to save Pharaoh. He was trying to save Israel. And he did save Israel. He's not trying to save everybody.
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He didn't try to save all of Abraham's family. He said, you come out of her, the Chaldeans, go to a land and be separate from them from your family and from your native land.
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And even among Abraham's own descendants, not all of them did he purpose to save. He didn't save Ishmael, Abraham's son, but chose to save Isaac.
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And then Isaac's twin sons, Jacob and Esau, it wasn't because one of them was better than the other.
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Paul makes it clear in Romans 9. It's one of his chief arguments for election, the sovereign grace.
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Before the children were born, God told the mother, the elder shall serve the younger.
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See, the common order was the younger would always serve the elder. Even the twins, the first one born would be the head of the household.
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Not so. In order that the doctrinal election might be confirmed, Paul wrote, it was said to her that the elder shall serve the younger.
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In other words, Jacob would be the one that God purposed to save. Not Esau.
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That's sovereign grace. We don't have time to look in detail in Romans 9, but read it. It's very straightforward.
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The Lord Jesus himself probably taught more about the matter of election than any other recorded in scripture.
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Again, John chapter 6. And John 17 is so clear, his prayer to the Father. Over and over again, he speaks about the elect of God and his purpose to save them.
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Toward the bottom of page 6, if you're looking at your notes. John 17. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven.
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Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you, as you have given him authority over all flesh.
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See, Jesus has authority over all the world, over all humanity. Why? That he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
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That would be the elect. He had to have authority over fallen men so that can happen.
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Verse 6. I have manifested your name to whom? To the men whom you have given me out of the world.
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They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. See, they were given to him by the
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Father even before creation. Verses 9 and 10. I pray for them.
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I don't pray for the world, but for those you have given me. See, the world's damned due to experience the judgment of God, even though God's been gracious and merciful and long -suffering, offering them salvation through Jesus.
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Come and believe on Jesus. You can have forgiveness of sins. You can have peace with God. No, no, no thanks.
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I don't pray for the world. I pray for those you have given me. For they're yours.
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Verses 11 and 12. I'm no longer in the world, but these are in the world. Verse 24.
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Father, I desire they also, whom you gave me, may be with me where I am. No prayer of the
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Lord Jesus to his Father is refused. We're going to be with him. Because the
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Son prayed to the Father. I pray that they will be with you. So from this passage we read repeatedly, true believers are a gift from the
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Father to the Son. It's mentioned, what, how many times? Seven times in that passage? Page 7, middle of the page.
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Second, true believers were originally the Father's possession. Thirdly, true believers are the objects of Christ's mercy and grace.
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They're given eternal life. They're the objects of his prayer, his intercession. They are divinely kept, and they will be with him in glory.
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And there are many passages that speak of this. Sovereign grace. Ephesians 1 .4,
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top of page 8. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. There you have it.
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There's the idea of election, chosen. 2 Timothy 1 .9.
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Of Christ who has saved us, called us with an holy calling, not according to our work, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
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Oh, there's the passage in 1 Corinthians 6. Behold, your calling, brethren, not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
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There's a few, but not many. But God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise.
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God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong. The base things of the world, the things that are despised,
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God chose. And the things that are not, that he might bring to naught the things that are, so that no flesh should glory or boast or take credit in his presence before God.
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What about arguments against the biblical doctrine of election? There are several that you commonly hear. First, why this doctrine makes
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God unjust with respect to those whom he did not choose. How can they be held responsible for their sins if God did not choose them?
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The answer is simple, of course. This argument reveals a terrible lack of understanding of God's justice.
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Because all humanity is damned. If they don't believe on Christ, they're already damned.
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They were damned when Adam broke God's law. And they're damned for their own sins. They're damned because they're defiant and rebellious.
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And therefore, God's not being unfair or unloving by being just to them.
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God is a just God. People get what they deserve. Except for Christians, they get what they don't deserve.
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They get mercy. And they don't deserve that. Simply because God can pardon people, doesn't mean that he would be wrong if he doesn't pardon people.
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I always fall back on the old illustration. Years ago, in California, we had a state
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Supreme Court Justice, Rose Byrd. And she was against the death penalty. And she pardoned everybody on death row.
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And, of course, the victims of these murderers were up in arms.
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And finally, she got thrown out of office. Because she would pardon them. And, of course, when she pardoned people, she was unjust for doing so.
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She would freely pardon. But justice was not being rendered. God can freely pardon us, however, because justice is fully satisfied.
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Because the payment that we owed fell upon Christ when he died upon the cross.
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And so God is fully just, even in pardoning sinners freely, for Christ's sake.
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And so the Lord Jesus can extend mercy and bring salvation.
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But I thought of this scenario. Let's say the governor of California, who had that authority as well to pardon, was walking down that row where all those people are due to be executed.
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And he comes up to cell number 98. And he says, I pardon you.
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You're free. And the governor of the state of California has that authority by the Constitution. He doesn't have to have a reason for it.
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He can say, I free you. Well, if that prisoner in cell 98 goes free, the prisoner in cell 97 can't rattle those bars and say, you've got to set me free too, to be fair.
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No, he's there for his own crime. He's receiving what was due him, justice.
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And this is how God deals with fallen humanity. If we got what we deserved, it would be everlasting wrath from a holy
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God. But if God chooses to have mercy upon us, then it ought to be a wonder to us.
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And how humble and grateful we should be. And there's no basis whatsoever for pride or self -righteousness in assuming that it was because of something we did or didn't do that God showed favor upon us.
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Not at all. It was wholly and solely due to the grace of God.
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And so the argument that says this makes God unjust is simply not true.
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A second common argument against divine election, to believe this doctrine would discourage evangelism. Why go out and preach the gospel?
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If God's going to save whom he's going to save, and he won't lose a one, and he's not going to save any of the others, why preach the gospel?
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Well, one could argue, apart from John and Charles Wesley, every noted evangelist in history has believed in this reformed doctrine of sovereign grace.
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All the great missionaries did. And it didn't discourage evangelism, it actually emboldened them.
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William Carey, the father of modern missions in 1800, he held to sovereign grace.
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And while the Armenians were sitting around, the world's too dark, there's no hope, no point in going, and there were certain hyper -Calvinists that said, don't go,
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William, what's the point of going? God's going to save whom he wants to save. William Carey thought to himself, no, God has elected a people, and there's people in India that he's going to save.
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And so I'm going to go and take the gospel to them. And he did. He translated the
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Bible into over 30 languages in India. There's a man who attends church across the street.
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He was in our food and clothes closet yesterday. His former daughter -in -law, they're from Karachi, they're
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Christians, and so I assume they were converted from Islam or whatnot. And I was asking her, this was maybe five, six years ago, how far back
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Christianity was in her family. Oh, way, way back. She said, my grandfather was a
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Baptist pastor in Karachi. I said, is that right? How far back? Oh, way back in the 1800s. How far back?
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Oh, I don't know, way back. And I said, you know, through an American missionary? Yeah, yeah.
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I said, William Carey, you ever hear that name? That's him. That's him. Isn't that not incredible?
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You know, people here today that are Christians as a result of the legacy of William Carey and his confidence in God's sovereign grace.
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He's going to bless that gospel and save people. And that is the kind of confidence that we ought to have.
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And so to argue that somehow it's contrary to evangelism, and I put a statement from the
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Confession there to that, it's ridiculous. A third common argument against election is this doctrine makes
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God a respecter of persons. No, just the opposite. The Bible teaches
49:18
God is not a respecter of persons. And that certainly is true. But what does it mean for God not to be a respecter of persons?
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It means that God doesn't take into consideration anything of the creature. In other words, there's not because of some merit in the creature.
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He's not a respecter of persons. And therefore, God is free to bestow his mercy and grace on anyone.
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And it's not because of anything in them. That's consistent with the doctrine of election. It's the
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Arminian who makes God a respecter of persons. He knew ahead of time that you would be a believer, and so he chose you, is what they try and argue.
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That's not even logical, let alone biblical. There are many other arguments against election.
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But basically, it's an argument that is contrary to the scriptures.
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Page 10, we'll close with this paragraph with Charles Spurgeon and how he learned sovereign grace.
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Toward the bottom of page 10. Well, can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant, born as all of us are by nature in Arminian?
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In other words, I'm saved by my free will. God made the plan, and I came to hear the plan, and I embraced the plan.
50:37
It was me, first and last, with a little help from the Lord. I still believed the old things
50:43
I had heard continually from the pulpit and did not see the grace of God. And when I was coming to Christ, I thought
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I was doing it all myself. And though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me.
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I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when
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I first received these truths in my soul, when they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron.
51:08
I can recollect how I felt that I had grown all of a sudden from a babe into a man, that I had made progress in scriptural knowledge through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God.
51:21
One weeknight, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it.
51:27
The thought struck me. How did you come to be a Christian? I thought, the Lord. Well, how did you come to seek the
51:34
Lord? And the truth flashed across my mind in a moment. I should not have sought
51:39
Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought
51:45
I, but then I asked myself, how came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the scriptures.
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I did read them, but what led me to do so? And then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, that He was the author of my faith.
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And as the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make it my constant confession,
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I ascribe my change wholly. And so, the doctrine of election.
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It brings glory to God. It humbles man. It must be of God, if it does that.
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And so, the passage before us, we'll consider next week. Paul knew.
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I know, brethren, your election of God, beloved brethren. And then he gives the reasons why, beginning with verse 5.
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Because, and he actually listed, I think we can identify six specific reasons that convinced
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Paul these Christians were numbered among the elect of God. In other words, what he was doing was, he was considering a work of grace in their lives.
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Not just what they claimed to believe, but he saw the influence of that faith in their lives, and what it produced.
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And he said, I'm convinced you're elect. Non -elect people don't behave this way. They don't respond this way, but you did.
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I'm convinced of your election. And so, next week we'll work through these six points. And if these things characterize you, you too may be confident that you are numbered among the elect.
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Amen? Thank the Lord. Thank you, Father, for your word, and for the clarity in which you express it.
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And we pray you'd help us to take it to heart, and believe it, our God. All to the end, our
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Father, that you alone receive the glory for all that we have in Christ.
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In whose name we pray, amen. They're Christians, and so I assume they were converted from Islam or whatnot.
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And I was asking her, this was maybe five, six years ago, how far back Christianity was in her family.
53:56
Oh, way, way back. She said, my grandfather was a Baptist pastor in Karachi.
54:02
I said, is that right? How far back? Oh, way back in the 1800s. How far back? Oh, I don't know. Way back.
54:09
And I said, you know, through an American missionary? Yeah, yeah. I said, William Carey, you ever hear that name?
54:15
That's him. That's him. Isn't that incredible? You know, people here today that are
54:23
Christians as a result of the legacy of William Carey and his confidence in God's sovereign grace.
54:30
He's going to bless that gospel and save people. And that is the kind of confidence that we ought to have.
54:38
And so to argue that somehow it's contrary to evangelism, and I put a statement from the
54:44
Confession there to that, it's ridiculous. A third common argument against election is this doctrine makes
54:50
God a respecter of persons. No, just the opposite. The Bible teaches
54:56
God is not a respecter of persons. That certainly is true. But what does it mean for God not to be a respecter of persons?
55:02
It means that God doesn't take into consideration anything of the creature. In other words, there's not because of some merit in the creature.
55:11
He's not a respecter of persons. And therefore God is free to bestow
55:17
His mercy and grace on anyone. And it's not because of anything in them.
55:23
That's consistent with the doctrine of election. It's the Arminian who makes God a respecter of persons.
55:29
He knew ahead of time that you would be a believer, and so he chose you, is what they try and argue. That's not even logical, let alone biblical.
55:38
There are many other arguments against election. But basically, it's an argument that is contrary to the scriptures.
55:48
Page 10, we'll close with this paragraph with Charles Spurgeon. And how he learned sovereign grace.
55:58
Toward the bottom of page 10. Well, can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant?
56:04
Born as all of us are by nature in Arminian. In other words, I'm saved by my free will.
56:09
God made the plan. And I came to hear the plan. And I embraced the plan.
56:15
And it was me, first and last, with a little help from the Lord. I still believed the old things
56:21
I had heard continually from the pulpit, and did not see the grace of God. And when I was coming to Christ, I thought
56:27
I was doing it all myself. And though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me.
56:33
I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when I first received these truths in my soul.
56:41
When they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron. I can recollect how
56:48
I felt that I had grown all of a sudden from a babe into a man. That I had made progress in scriptural knowledge through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God.
56:59
One weeknight, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon. For I did not believe it.
57:05
The thought struck me. How did you come to be a Christian? I thought, the Lord. Well, how did you come to seek the
57:12
Lord? And the truth flashed across my mind in a moment. I should not have sought
57:17
Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought
57:23
I, but then I asked myself, how came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the scriptures.
57:28
I did read them, but what led me to do so? And then in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all.
57:35
That He was the author of my faith. And as the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me.
57:41
And from that doctrine, I have not departed to this day. And I desire to make it my constant confession.
57:47
I ascribe my change wholly to God. And so, the doctrine of election.
57:55
It brings glory to God. It humbles man. It must be of God. If it does that.
58:02
And so, the passage before us, we'll consider next week. Paul knew. I know brethren, your election of God.
58:11
Beloved brethren. And then he gives the reasons why. Beginning with verse 5. Because. And he actually listed,
58:18
I think we can identify six specific reasons. That convinced
58:23
Paul these Christians were numbered among the elect of God. In other words, what he was doing was.
58:29
He was considering a work of grace in their lives. Not just what they claimed to believe.
58:36
But he saw the influence of that faith in their lives. And what it produced. And he said,
58:42
I'm convinced you're elect. Non -elect people don't behave this way. They don't respond this way.
58:48
But you did. I'm convinced of your election. And so, next week we'll work through these six points.
58:54
And if these things characterize you. You, too, may be confident that you are numbered among the elect.
59:01
Amen. Thank the Lord. Thank you, Father, for your word. And for the clarity in which you express it.
59:09
And we pray you'd help us to take it to heart. And believe it, our God. All to the end, our
59:15
Father, that you alone receive the glory. For all that we have in Christ.