God's Choice In Election - Part 2

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

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And this is the tension, right? Those of you who are informed on this subject, you know that there is a unresolved tension between man's free will and the sovereignty of God.

And you say, well, which is it? Well, does it have to be one or the other? Here is where I will express an opinion.

I don't think it's going to come as a shock to most of you. I lean a little more on the side of God's sovereignty. You may lean a little more on this side, and I love you anyways.

You're wrong, but I love you anyways. But why do I lean on the side of God's sovereignty?

Because God is God. God moves first. God foreknows. God elects.

God foreordains. Of course mankind has a will. I would argue it's not completely free, and it's certainly not neutral, because man has a bent towards sin.

Man has a will. The term free will, I mean I think of what Paul says in Romans chapter 6.

He says that unregenerate man is a slave to sin. So man does have a will.

Man is a volitional creature. We can make decisions. And all throughout the

Scripture, what is the Lord doing? He's calling upon people to act, to repent, to believe.

We call upon all people to place their faith, make a choice, a decision for Jesus Christ.

But at the same time, when someone does make that choice, we know that's the result of God the

Holy Spirit working in their heart. So this is the tension that exists.

And certainly this whole subject, and you think of the term predestination, I mean that raises more questions than there are answers.

So just accept that there is an unresolved tension. Man's choice and God's choice.

And as I said, there are many viewpoints on this. And you know, excuse me, please don't tune out, okay?

Maybe I'll decide to quiz a couple of you afterwards, to see if you're listening.

So you do not tune out. But excuse me for being theological for a moment.

There are two theological terms that you should be familiar with. There is

Arminianism and Calvinism. Calvinism is a school of thought named after the

French reformer of the 1600s, John Calvin. Calvinists emphasize the sovereignty of God.

Arminianism, named after the theologian around that time, Jacob Arminius, they take the side more of man's free will.

So Arminians believe that salvation is man's choice, not God's choice. I mean God plays a role, but it's really man's choice.

Because man has to do something to be saved. Guess what? Man can also do something to be lost.

So Arminianism teaches that people can lose their salvation. So whatever I am or I'm not,

I am not that. Calvinists believe election is unto salvation.

That it is God's choice and because salvation is of the Lord, salvation can never be lost.

That is the Calvinist position. I admit to you, years ago, I'm talking like 10 or more, 15 years ago,

I used to struggle with the idea of not being able to lose your salvation or can you lose it.

I know what I was taught. That's what I believed. But in the back of my mind, I wasn't fully convinced.

Maybe you can lose your salvation. It looks like people lose their salvation. You know what settled it for me?

This subject. Predestination is what settled it for me once and for all.

Predestination is kind of the buzz term that is all -encompassing with these subjects.

But I think that is the way the Apostle Paul uses the term predestination. In regards to believers are, think about the word, they are predestined.

Predestination. Destination is where you end up, right? Pre is before.

God has determined beforehand that His elect, those who are saved, will end up in eternity.

You cannot lose your salvation. It has been sealed. Has been sealed.

So those are the two groups. That's the test. So if I ask you after, Arminians, Calvinists.

Arminians, free will, you can lose your salvation. Calvinists, God's choice, you cannot lose your salvation.

So the bottom line for me is this. I don't think we have all the information.

God has not given us, I don't believe, all of the information because even if He did, our pre, our pre -brains could not understand it.

So with election and predestination, what we are doing is we are doing the best we can with what we have to work with to understand these deep truths and really they are eternal truths.

Now turn to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. And of course

I say there's two groups, Calvinists, Arminians, listen there's all sorts of people in between who don't want any label, of course.

2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. For those of you who did not hear last week's message,

I would encourage you if you're interested in this subject go back and listen to it. It's titled, The God of this Age Has Blinded Them, where we went through Romans 8, 28 through 31, which talked about God's foreknowledge.

That's an important part of this. And that word foreknowledge, this is one of the ways that people explain the doctrine of election.

You know, God choosing, man's choice. The foreknowledge view, this is how many people understand all of this.

They say, and you've heard this before, that God looks down the corridor of time and he sees who will trust in Christ.

He sees that in advance and he in turn elects those that he knows will believe in him.

So that's the foreknowledge view. I say, do you believe that?

Well, I like what Dr. R .C. Sproul said about that viewpoint. He says that does not give an explanation for the doctrine of election.

That is a denial of the doctrine of election. But people will quote 1st

Peter chapter 1 verse 2. What does Peter say to believers? Elect according to the foreknowledge of God.

And people say, see it's based on God's foreknowledge. So God foreknows that you're going to believe and from eternity past he elects you based on what he knows you're gonna do.

So it's really, it's really you. The Bible doesn't say that. People read that into the text.

The Bible does not say that. 1st John 4 19 says we love him because he first loved us.

Not we love him because he first loved us because he knew we would love him. It's not what it says.

And again, to go back to last week's sermon, if you want more information about foreknowledge,

I uploaded a shortened version titled foreknowledge, election, and predestination where I go into detail on what foreknowledge is.

That it's not just what God knows ahead of time. It is much more than that. It is a predetermined relationship that God has with his people.

Alright, 2nd Thessalonians 2. You're all there? So before we read, as I begin to bring all this to a close,

I want to establish this may be the controversial part. I don't think I've said anything controversial up until this point.

So this might be the controversial part. What is the purpose of election?

What is election unto? Is it unto salvation?

Is it unto service? Is it unto sanctification? The answer is yes.

Again, people say no, God only chooses corporately. No, God chooses individually. It's both. No, it's not salvation.

It's service. It's sanctification. No, it's all of it. And I'll prove that to you.

As you were reading Genesis 25, maybe one or two of you said, well, it doesn't say that God chose to save Jacob and did not choose to save Esau.

It doesn't say that. That's true. That is absolutely true. But how do you know that election is unto salvation?

Well, don't take my word for it. Don't take my word for it. Look at verse 11.

You remember we read this last week. And for this reason, Paul says, God will send them, this is unbelievers in the end times who reject

God. God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

And we had said that they had a chance and they made a choice. It's not unfair. They did what they wanted to do and they got what they asked for essentially.

But look at verse 13. But we, okay, that's them. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the

Lord, because what? God from the beginning chose you for what?

I didn't go into all of the Bible and before you guys got here and wrote that in, that was there before.

Because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth.

So again, you have to believe in the truth. So election according to Paul is unto salvation.

What else is it unto? Remember last week we referenced Acts chapter nine,

Saul of Tarsus. He was chosen by God. Nobody argues with that. Paul was chosen by God.

Acts 9, 15 says, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

So Paul was chosen for service. So God elects,

God saves, God sanctifies, we serve. It is through the sanctification of the spirit,

Paul says, and belief in the truth. So God will use his word and the working of the

Holy Spirit to bring these things about is all by grace. No one is deserving.

Salvation is not by works. Election cannot be conditional to where it is based on works.

God's choice is not based on works, even the works that he foresees us doing.

Now turn to Ephesians chapter one and that is where we will close. Again, the common reaction is, well, this isn't fair, doesn't seem fair.

Paul already addressed that, but he also says this in Romans 9, but indeed, oh man, you want to call

God unfair? Indeed, oh man, who are you to reply against God? I love that.

I love it. Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, why have you made me like this?

Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

It's interesting, the great Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, who has to be one of, if not the most influential

Christian leader in church history, apart from the pages of scripture. He's certainly one of them, if not the most important.

You know what Luther said about the doctrines of election and predestination? He called it in Latin, the core ecclesia.

What does that mean? He says, this is the heart of the church. Probably not the way you've thought of it before, but according to Luther, a brilliant theologian, he wasn't right about everything, but he said, this is, predestination is the heart of the church.

I personally believe, my opinion again, but I think if you look at it,

I think you'll agree. I personally believe that these subjects, God's sovereignty, these are the most comforting teachings in all of the

Bible. Deep, difficult, a lot of questions come along, but the idea that you as an individual are chosen by God, that's that God is in control, that he's working all things to your good.

What is there more comforting than that? That he loves you and that he will keep you safe and secure both now and forever.

God is in control. And this is so wonderful. In Ephesians chapter one, verse three,

Paul says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

You know, in chapter two, Paul says that God has made us, not will that he has made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

You know what he's saying there? God who is outside of time and space. It's like, we're already there.

We're already seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ. You say, how can that be?

Because verse four, just as he chose us in him, that is God chose us in Christ when before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.