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Today John Samson continues his review of the TULIP and focuses on Unconditional Election.
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Welcome to The Dividing Line. It's my joy to be with you. My name is John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Phoenix, Arizona, filling in for the illustrious, the amazing Dr. James White who is still out in Kiev, Ukraine, known to the locals as Keev, and he's doing well, and it's been great to see his blog and some of the ministry that has taken place has already been posted there on the blog at aomin .org.
You know of that site because that's how you're watching this, I assume, and it's a joy to be with you. We've been talking through the Doctrines of Grace, and we've dealt with the first one, and later in the program perhaps there'll be time for calls.
The number to call later on will be 877 -753 -3341, and we'll see how that goes. I'm interested in your comments, questions, and theories, and we'll see how we go. But I'm looking forward to today because we're going to talk about unconditional election, and some people have a problem with that because they think if God elects certain people to salvation, it would preclude the need for evangelism.
Such is not the case, I believe, in the inspiration of Scripture, and Romans 9 is a chapter that outlines in absolute detail just how sovereign God is in the salvation of sinners, and it's followed immediately by Romans 10, which is the call to say, how will they hear without a preacher?
How will they preach unless they're sent? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ, Romans chapter 10, verse 17. And so those chapters are not in contradiction to the Apostle Paul, nor was it a feature of Jesus being perplexed about it.
He said, I praise you, Father, that you've hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to babes, and in the very next verse said, come unto me, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
For Jesus, divine election and the call of the gospel go hand in hand as it was to Paul. We know going in to any evangelistic effort that it's the elect who will respond. We don't know who they are. They're not running around the countryside with a letter E stamped on their foreheads.
Not at all. We don't know who they are. We just know that God has his sheep in every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. A lot of people who are presently Islamic will come to Christ. Presently Mormon will come to Christ.
Presently English will come to Christ. They might stay English, but we're hoping for conversion in every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, and the Bible assures us that will take place as Revelation 5 says Jesus redeemed men for God out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
I have a quote from Dr. James White. It's only the right thing to do when you're on his show to quote him at least once or twice, and here's a quote that I believe just sums up why these things are important.
What are the doctrines of grace and why do they matter? Search is like asking what does the Bible teach about the very heart of the gospel, and does it matter one way or the other? The doctrines of grace are the biblical teachings that define the goal and means of God's perfect work of redemption.
They tell us that God is the one who saves for his own glory and freely, and they tell us that he does so only through Christ and only on the basis of his grace, only with the perfection that marks everything the Father, Son, and Spirit do.
The doctrines of grace separate the Christian faith from the works-based religions of men. They direct us away from ourselves and solely to God's grace and mercy. They destroy pride, instill humility, and exalt God, and that's why so many invest so much time in the vain attempt to undermine their truth.
As I say, Dr. James White, let me quote Spurgeon, Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the word of God as with an iron pen, and there's no getting rid of it. To me, it is one of the sweetest and most blessed truths in the whole of Revelation, and those who are afraid of it are so because they do not understand it.
If they could but know that the Lord had chosen them, it would make their hearts dance for joy. George Whitefield, who outside of Bible times is probably my favorite all-time preacher, George Whitefield wrote this,.
The doctrines of our election and free justification in Christ Jesus are daily more and more pressed upon my heart. They fill my soul with a holy fire and afford me great confidence in God my Savior. What are we talking about when we talk about election?
We're talking about a word that means to select. The word elect means to select or choose out, and the biblical doctrine of election is that before creation, God selected out of the human race for seen as fallen those whom he would redeem, bring to faith, justify, and glorify in and through Jesus Christ.
Here's a quote from Dr. J .I. Packer,. The divine choice is an expression of free and sovereign grace, for it is unconstrained and unconditional, not merited by anything and those who are its subjects.
God owes sinners no mercy of any kind, only condemnation, so it is a wonder and matter of endless praise that he should choose to save any of us, and doubly so when his choice involved the giving of his own son to suffer a sin-bearer for the elect.
Understanding what we saw in the last program about total depravity, that man is radically corrupt, his entire being has been corrupted by the fall of man, by the fall of Adam, as in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive, Adam as the federal head of the human race, what he did in the garden as our representative affected everyone who followed after him, and so we were born in a state of spiritual death with no desire for God or the things of God, maybe the benefits of God like forgiveness and a freedom from guilt that perplexes our minds at night or during the day oftentimes, but we certainly didn't want the God of the Bible until God intervened.
It's interesting, there were no angels, there will be no angels who have fallen who will ever be redeemed, God did not become an angel to save angels, he became a man to save the sons of men, and so when no angel is ever saved there's not even an angel in heaven missing a beat in terms of proclaiming the holiness of God, they don't think it's a bad thing on God's part that he didn't become an angel to save angels, no, they just simply cry around the throne, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, and the whole point about mercy is it's not demanded, it could never be demanded and still be called mercy.
What grace has been given to the sons of men, those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and it's for everyone, and we proclaim the gospel to everyone, but we know ahead of time only the elect will respond.
I'm reading a passage in Acts chapter 13 about the apostles going out and preaching and summing up, Luke the writer of Acts says in verse 46, when the Gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed, excuse me that's verse 48, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed, and so he goes on, it's just like a footnote in the history of the early church, as many as were appointed to eternal life believed, let's go on, let's go to the next thing that happened in the early church history, let's just move on and talk about Paul and Barnabas and when they're at Iconium, when they're at Lystra, but stop for a minute, hear what he says, as many as were appointed to eternal life believed, all who had the appointment made the appointment.
Jesus said it this way, John 6, 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me. The reason I believe the doctrines of grace is not because of an auspicious admiration of some reformers and some theologians, it's because I see these doctrines articulated strongly and powerfully by Jesus himself, by the apostle Paul, by the apostle John, by Luke in the book of Acts and elsewhere, it's because these are biblical doctrines, it's because I see it in the Old Testament also, I see it from Genesis to Revelation, God is sovereign, he chose Abram and he didn't choose Hammurabi who lived down the street, he had dealings with Abram and we call this unconditional election for the simple reason that if the first doctrine in this five doctrine tulip is true, if that is true, if men are totally depraved and have no desire for God or the things of God till God intervenes, if that is true, then all of the rest of the doctrines follow and flow naturally, they're the outworking of that total depravity because if mankind is spiritually dead, there are no conditions that they can fulfill and so unconditional election is simply the fact that God has to intervene and choose, not because he foresees people doing things, which is the popular Arminian or synergistic view, because if we don't understand the biblical understanding of mankind in sin, we'll come to false conclusions and that is man can come to Christ and so God looks down the corridor of time as it's called and sees men coming on the basis of him seeing ahead of time what they will do, he chooses them.
But if we understand that man cannot, apart from the drawing of God which is such a powerful drawing that it results in salvation, you look at John 6 44 and we dealt with it last time, if that is true, if no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws that person and that one is so drawn that they're raised up to eternal life, if that is true, and it's true because Jesus said it, who would he see in terms of foreseeing those who'll come to him if he just understood without his intervention directly, which was this powerful effective grace given to the elect, all he would see would be a bunch of spiritually dead people not even looking back at him, they're spiritually dead, they have no desire for him, he would see no one raising a hand, walking an aisle, praying a sinner's prayer, he'd see no one coming to Christ.
That's a powerful statement and so God has to intervene and do so unconditionally or else no one would be saved. If it were not for election, no one would be saved, but people say, well wouldn't that stunt evangelism if God has this elect people?
No, it's the only hope for evangelism and it was believers understanding this throughout church history that propelled the missionary movement. William Carey and others just went from their home country to nations like Africa, others to India, others to China, knowing, seeing the scripture says that God has his sheep in every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
It's the only hope for evangelism, that God has his sheep. God said in revealing to the apostle Paul, stay in that city because they have many people in this city and we don't know who they are, that's why we go preach the gospel to everyone.
It's important we understand these things otherwise just like buttoning a shirt, if you get the first button in the wrong hole, you're going to be getting it wrong all the way down the rest of the shirt and it's true.
If we don't get this right, we'll have false understandings about God's grace. Election is unconditional because if it meant we needed to fulfill conditions, spiritually dead people cannot do that. Let me give you a quote because some people are incensed by this.
I've taught this and I've been thrilled to see Christians who've known the Lord a long, long time, even longer than I've known the Lord. I remember teaching a six or eight weeks class and at the end of it, this little old lady in her eighties came up to me and she's hovering after the time of the class and she just wanted to say, John, she says, my love for Jesus is much more immense since I started this class, seeing what he's done for me.
Other people react very badly and say, I cannot stand this doctrine. I cannot fathom how God would choose some and not all, but that's exactly the case and God has never told us why. He just says, I reserve the right as sovereign king.
You read Romans nine and he just says, who are you, oh man, that you would answer back to God. Let me give you a quote by a gentleman called Mark Webb. After giving a brief survey of these doctrines of sovereign grace, I asked for questions from the class.
One lady in particular was quite troubled. She said, this is the most awful thing I've ever heard. You make it sound as if God is intentionally turning away men and women who would be saved, receiving only the elect.
I answered her in this vein, you misunderstand the situation. You're visualizing that God is standing at the door of heaven and men are thronging to get in the door and God is saying to various ones, yes, you may come, but not you and you, but not you, et cetera.
The situation is hardly this. Rather God stands at the door of heaven with his arms outstretched, inviting all to come. Yet all men without exception are running in the opposite direction towards hell as hard as they can go.
So God in election graciously reaches out and stops this one and that one and this one over here and that one over there and effectually draws them to himself by changing their hearts, making them willing to come.
Election keeps no one out of heaven who would otherwise have been there, but it keeps a whole multitude of sinners out of hell who otherwise would have been there. Were it not for election, heaven would be an empty place and hell would be bursting at the seams.
That kind of response, grounded as I believe that it is in scriptural truth, does put a different complexion on things, doesn't it? If you perish in hell, blame yourself as it's entirely your fault, but if you should make it to heaven, credit God for that is entirely his work.
To him alone belong all praise and glory for salvation is all of grace from start to finish. If we look at the passage in John 6, which is a passage that tells us exactly how things work in the kingdom of God, we have a crowd that said at least that they believed in him.
Their faith was a false faith. Jesus saw through it. He did not see them as true disciples. They'd seen him as a miracle worker. He'd done some miraculous things. If you remember, he'd fed the 5 ,000.
He'd walked on water. Then he starts talking about who he was and who he is as the bread of life. In John 6, 35, Jesus said to them, that's the crowd, as they've asked for this bread always, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.
Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. So this is Jesus looking at a crowd full in the face and says, you've seen me, but I don't buy into the fact you think you're believers.
I know you do. You think that, but I don't buy it. You're not true believers. You do not believe. Then looking at them, he continues, all that the Father gives me will come to me. I wonder if you can picture this thought in your mind.
The Father before time gives a group of people to the Son as a gift. These will praise him, the Lamb of God, for all eternity and be saved by him and redeemed by him. All that the Father gives me, not some, not 85%, but all that the Father gives me, Jesus said, will come to me.
What's the obvious implication of this? Looking at a group of people who he says, you don't believe, the implication is my Father didn't give you to me because all that the Father gives me will come to me and you're not coming to me, but all that the Father gives me will come to me.
That's the hope of divine election. It's a certain hope. It's not that 30 of those the Father gave to Christ will come to Christ, but all of them. That's what stirs our hearts in evangelism. All that the Father gives to Christ or gave to Christ will, in time, come to Christ.
Which comes first, the giving or the coming? Answer that question. Which comes first, the giving of the Father to the Son or the people coming to the Son? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? All that the Father gives to me will come to me.
It's the giving of the Father that comes first before the coming of the people to Christ. All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I'll never cast out. I cannot imagine for a single moment Jesus failing to do the will of the Father.
He said in clear terms, John chapter 4, my meat, my very food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Did he do it? Yes, he did. He did it through his lifetime of ministry and service, but also at the cross.
He says, I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Okay, so what is that will? The will that Jesus came to do. He says, he speaks categorically in verse 39, and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.
So understand, Jesus is talking about something that we would have no knowledge of except he tells us. It's revelation. We were not privy to the conversation when the Father gives a group of people to the Son in eternity.
We weren't there, but Jesus is telling us there was such a time, there was such a conversation, there was something that happened between the Father and the Son. The Father gave a people to the Son and he says, this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me.
That's a key phrase in the book of John. All that he has given me, it's the will of my Father that I lose none of them, but raise it up on the last day. It being the entire group. These are not nameless faces.
This is a group of people given by the Father to the Son, and Jesus said, it's the Father's will I lose none of them. Verse 40, for this is the will of my Father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I'll raise him up on the last day.
Who are those who are given by the Father to the Son? These are the people who will come to the Son, and they do so by looking on the Son and believing in him. The Jews grumbled about him because he said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven.
They said, is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know? How does he now say I've come down from heaven? And Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves. Then verse 44, no one, that's a universal statement, no one can, speaking of ability, you could translate it, no one is able, no one has the ability.
This is not speaking of permission, this is speaking of ability. No one has the ability, no one can come to me, and realizing this, if that was the end of the statement, if that was the end of the sentence, there'd be no one saved.
We have to come to Christ to be saved. We're not saved by election, we're saved by having faith in Christ. But we know only the elect will have faith in Christ. No one can come to me unless God intervenes.
Thank God there's an unless, there's an acceptive clause. Unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I'll raise him up on the last day. I remember hearing Dr. James White talk about this passage, and he said in the original language, you cannot differentiate between the him that is drawn and the him that is raised up on the last day.
They happen to occur so close in the text that you can't make a demarcation. It says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and him I'll raise up on the last day. That's in the original text.
The one drawn is drawn in such a powerful way that he's raised up on the last day. He has eternal life. This is a calling and a drawing that results in salvation. One of the reasons I named my blog Effectual Grace is God's grace in terms of his elect is absolutely effectual.
It takes place. It happens. He saves. God saves sinners. Verse 45, as it's written in the prophets, and they'll all be taught by God. Everyone who's heard and learned from the Father comes to me, not that anyone who has seen the Father, not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God.
He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life, and so he goes on, and he talks about eating his flesh, which represents coming to him, feeding on him.
When they heard all of this, just jumping to verse 60, when many of the disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, he said to them, do you take offense at this?
Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no avail. It's the Spirit who gives life. The old King James says, the flesh profiteth nothing.
Martin Luther said that nothing is not a little something. In the other view that many Christians have, the Arminian synergistic view, the flesh doesn't just profit a little something, it profits everything, because a man in the flesh supposedly, while still unregenerate, can call upon the name of the Scripture says that's impossible.
Jesus said it this way, John 3, unless a man is first born again, he cannot see and he cannot enter the kingdom of God. I don't know what it is about the word cannot. We don't always apply that word where we should, but Jesus said it's impossible.
With man, it's impossible. Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. The Arminian synergistic view totally opposes Jesus' words in John 3, because they have non-born-again people entering the kingdom of God and then becoming born again.
Jesus said, no, you have to be regenerated first. You have to be born again first. The flesh profits nothing. Jesus said in John 6, that which is of the flesh is flesh. That which is of the Spirit is Spirit.
You must be born again. How does this happen? Jesus said, well, the wind blows where it wishes. And so is everyone who's born of the Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit himself who regenerates the human soul and gives people what they didn't have before, a heart that now wants Christ.
It's powerful stuff because we have a powerful Savior going on. Jesus said it's the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no avail. The words that I've spoken to you are Spirit and life. God uses means to achieve his ends.
The words that I've spoken are Spirit and life. They're spiritual. They're life-giving. But there are some of you who do not believe. Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him, talking of Judas.
And he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me, speaking of ability again, unless it is granted him by the Father. This is not a popular message. And verse 66 outlines that after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walk with him.
They don't like this subject. They don't like Jesus saying what he's saying. He's looking the crowd full in the face, saying, I don't believe you're believers. And here's the truth. God in the election didn't choose you to be mine.
I wanted to jump in here real quick, and I don't want to derail you. I know you're on a roll here. Two things. I like to point out in the John 660 arena there, if you think about how the popular preachers of today would treat a situation where they've got 5 ,000 people that, you know what?
The night before, you kind of snuck across the lake to get away from them, and they figured out where you were, and they followed you. And then so you give another sermon, and that sermon now offends them.
What would the popular preachers of today do when they see all those people turn their backs and start walking away? Wait, wait. Hang on. Now, wait a minute. Come on now. You must have misunderstood me.
And they would work to bring them back, talk them into staying. Let's talk this out. Maybe we can set up a committee and find out what the problem is here. But no, no. Don't leave. Don't leave. No reason to leave.
We've got to keep them here. And that, in today's vernacular, is evangelism. Jesus let those people walk away because they were not of his sheep. They were not of his fold. The other thing is, in the arena of John 6, 37 through 45, you and I talked about this just the other day, I find it interesting that we, so many people from the Arminian persuasion that interact with Calvinism, consider themselves to be apologists.
And when you're an apologist, one of the things you notice right off with the cults is their inability to interact with context of a passage. Colossians 1, Colossians 2, 9, those particular ones come to mind at the moment, and you get the Jehovah's Witness coming along saying, well, he created all other things.
Always having to insert words in there that flip the context on its head. They can't walk through a passage. Yeah, and their inability to do that. And so the first sign that you're dealing with a cult is inability to walk through a passage where they hopscotch it.
So this portion, I don't like very much, so I'm going to stop at this verse and jump to that verse, okay? Or they run away from the passage, we're going to stop at John 6, 36, and then we're going to run to John 17, okay?
Running away from the passage. And then the third, which is my favorite when Arminians interact with John 6, I've never, honestly, never, ever heard an Arminian actually exegete John 6, 37 through 45 in order.
This is what happens. They hit verse 37, they read it, and then they jump to verse 45 and they start reading backwards. My point in each and every one of these circumstances is the red flag for the man who is willing to do this is this is exactly what the cults do.
They do this in order to prop up their false doctrine. If you ever, ever find yourself in a situation as a believer where you're handling the Word of God in that manner, you're not rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
You're not honestly coming before the Word of God. You're not honestly coming before God. The honest man who comes before the Scriptures knows that first and foremost, we must deal with the immediate context of any passage in all of Scripture.
That is the foremost, valuable lesson to be learned from it. And when we can't do that, we are not submitting to the Word of God, we are making it submit to us.
I totally agree. In preparing this, I was hoping you would say exactly that, because I heard you say that the other day, and it's just a powerful statement. And it's true in my own life. I'd interpreted John 6 according to my tradition, and it was hard for me to listen to someone actually walk through the text to realize I had not only believed something else, but I'd preached it.
And such is the power of tradition. I found many people are not even willing to do that. They say, look, I know the election, divine election is not the way the reformed peoples teach about it, because I've studied the Scripture.
And they haven't. I hadn't studied John 6 in order, and hearing it outlined the way you're describing it, and realize I had to jump to other texts and not just stay in the text, and hearing others outline the text and realize they have to go somewhere else to try and reinterpret what is staring us in the face here.
And it's a hard process, because not everyone's willing to do.
That and submit to Scripture. In my 20s, I had a number of Armenian friends in a Southern Baptist church I was going to, and this one fellow and I just kept going back and forth, back and forth. And it was kind of little jabs here, little jabs there.
And one day we finally just said, you know what, we've got to just sit down and hammer this out. And I challenged him. I said, I dare you to sit in front of me with your Bible open and start at Romans 9, verse 1, and you walk through that entire chapter with me, verse by verse, in order, and you can't run away to any other passage.
You must stay in the context. He was convinced he could do it. And it was just a few verses in before you could physically see the guy's shoulders start to shift like this. He didn't even realize he was doing it, and he was shifting from side to side as he was squirming with what this was saying to him directly in his face.
We got halfway through it and he gave.
Up. He just couldn't do it. The idea that in Romans 9 it's talking about nations, Jacob and Esau or whatever. Okay, Jacob and Esau became nations. Isaac and Ishmael became nations, but Paul doesn't mention that in Romans 9, and that's not his point.
He's talking about.
Twins in the womb. Yeah, he's talking about them as individuals, and to incorporate the national idea and shoehorn that into that text totally ignores and abandons the way he's using it. So in a backhanded manner, the person who uses that argument and inserts it into Romans chapter 9 is actually saying that the apostle Paul misused the text and taught false doctrine.
Right, and it's interpreting something differently from the way Paul interpreted that text in the Old Testament under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I don't want to be guilty of that. So back to John 6, after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Jesus said, oh, oh, sorry, sorry, there'll be more miracles tomorrow. Please come. No, he didn't. So Jesus said to the 12, you're going to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. We've believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12, yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him.
Amazing passage. John chapter 8, we have something similar. Jesus is, again, first class master teacher, but hadn't attended the church growth seminars of today and we're losing people every time he opened his mouth.
They were running away or walking away and shaking their heads. And it doesn't get better in John 8 when he tells a group of people, you're of your father, the devil. That's not a popular thing to say.
It's not usually words you find on your refrigerator, but there it is. Jesus said exactly that. He says in verse 42, Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here.
I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot, there's that word again, you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil.
Beautiful, comforting words from the lips of Jesus. You're of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because there's no truth in him.
When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? I couldn't say that to even friends.
They could say, well, I can convict you of sin, John. I've seen you miss the mark a number of times. Jesus was able to say this to his enemies. Which of you can convict me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
Here's an amazing statement. Verse 47, whoever is of God, here's the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. He's not going to explain to the people again why they don't believe, why they don't hear the word of God.
Are you ready to hear Jesus? Why do they not hear the word of God? Are you interested in Jesus telling you the answer to that? Jesus is going to tell this group of people why they do not hear the word of God.
Let's read it again. Whoever is of God, here's the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. They didn't like this message. The Jews answered him, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?
Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. Chapter 10, just moving on. Jesus is the true shepherd, the good shepherd. Verse 14 tells us he lays down his life for the sheep.
That will become a powerful verse when we look at this subject of particular redemption, what Jesus did at the cross. He who is a hard hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
Verse 15, just as the father knows me and I know the father, I laid down my life for the sheep and I have other sheep that are not of this fold. Again, this is a wonderful statement about evangelism because this is telling us that he has other sheep that are not of this fold.
This fold being the Jewish fold, this fold representing the people of Israel. He says, I've got other sheep. I have, not I will have one day. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.
And there's a 38 chance they're going to listen to me. Nope. Nope. And he said, and they will listen to my voice. Jesus is certain that his sheep will hear his voice and they'll come to him. Why? Because all that the father gave him will come to him.
I have sheep, other sheep that are not of this Jewish fold. In other words, I'll bring them also. I must bring them also. And they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I laid down my life that I may take it again.
No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up again. Moving on. Verse 22. At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.
It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, if you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe. Oh, we've got the same scenario again. Jesus looking at a crowd. They don't believe. And he's telling them they don't believe. Sounds familiar? Absolutely.
Jesus answered, I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name. Bear witness about me. And he's going to reveal an answer as to why again. And guess what? It's the same answer as John six.
It's the same answer as John eight. It's the same answer right here. You do not believe because. Oh, stop, stop, stop. Why do they not believe? He's going to say because and a because statement means he's going to give you the reason why you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.
One version says you do not believe because you are not my sheep. Hmm. I remember reading this and thinking, well, if they're not his sheep, they can make a decision, right? And become his sheep. I'm reading into the text when I assert that.
And I realized my old thinking as an Arminian, as a synergist would say. If I'm not a sheep, I can choose to be a sheep. But Jesus said, no, you got it backwards. The reason you don't hear is because you're not of God.
The reason you don't believe is you're not my sheep. That's the reason, Jesus. Yep. That's the reason. And in contrast, he says my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My father has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one. I am the father. We are one in this. We're one in this unity of purpose.
We're not the same person here. We're united in person. We're united in this. The father gave this group to me and it's the will of my father. I lose none of them, but raise it, the entire group up on the last day and they will hear my voice.
They will come to me. No one can come unless the father draws. The one drawn is effectively drawn and is raised up on the last day. They will come. Let's go to John 17. Rich mentioned this passage. I love this passage because of just the clarity of Jesus telling us what he's doing the night before his crucifixion, when he's dying for the people of God.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you've given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all, here's that phrase we're going to pick up again, to all whom you have given him.
You have given him authority to give eternal life to everybody? No, to all whom you have given him. All whom you have given him. And this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. I just would encourage you right now, if you don't already have access to a Bible, just go online or get your Bible out and just look at this passage in your own Bible.
Just look at it. Verse four, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.
Now, I've labored this point that Jesus has this expression, all that the Father has given me, all whom you gave me, all you have given me. And we're going to see it here in John 17 again. And he's praying, making intercession for this group, the group that the Father gave him.
And he makes it very clear he's not praying for everybody. He's praying for this group. One of the things that is so apparent when you see the picture of the salvation that God gives in the Old Testament times was the ministry of the high priest.
He made intercession and made sacrifice for the people of God. When he went into the Holy of Holies with that once a year atoning sacrifice on the day of atonement, it was not an offering made for the people outside of Israel.
It was not for the Canaanites, the Jebusites and any other rights out there. It was for the people of God, wearing the names of the tribes on his own uniform and tunic, the stones representing the 12 tribes.
He went in, made intercession and made sacrifice. The difference is only in this. Jesus makes intercession the night before here in John 17 and dies for that same exact group. The next day, he lays down his life for the sheep.
The angel said to Joseph, you'll call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 121. He gave himself for the church. He laid down his life for his friends. It's fathomless. I've manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
Yours they were. Now think about this. Yours, that's the sheep. Yours they were and you gave them, that's the sheep, to me. And they, that's the sheep, have kept your word. Now they, that's the sheep, know that everything that you've given me is from you.
For I've given them, that's the sheep, the words that you gave me. And they, that's the sheep, have received them and have come to know in truth that I've come from you. And they, that's the sheep, have believed that you sent me.
And I am praying for them, that's the sheep. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, the sheep, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them, the sheep.
And I am no longer in the world, but they, the sheep, are in the world and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them, the sheep, in your name, which you have given me, that they, the sheep, may be one, even as we are one.
While I was with them, the sheep, I kept them, the sheep, in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, the sheep, and not one of them, the sheep, have been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I'm coming to you and these things I speak in the world, that they, the sheep, may have my joy fulfilled in themselves, the sheep. I have given them, the sheep, your word, and the world has hated them, the sheep, because they, the sheep, are not of this world, just as I am not of the world.
I do not ask that you take them, the sheep, out of the world, but that you keep them, the sheep, from the evil one. They are not of the world. Here's the they, the sheep, just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them, the sheep, in the truth, your word is truth, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them, the sheep, into the world, and for their sake, the sheep, I consecrate myself. He consecrates himself for the sake of the sheep, that they, the sheep, also may be sanctified in truth.
I do not ask for these, the sheep, only, but also those who will believe in me through their word. That's other sheep. That they, the sheep, may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.
That they, the sheep, also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. This glory that you have given me, I have given to them, the sheep, that they, the sheep, may be one, even as we are one.
I in them, the sheep, and you in me. That they, the sheep, may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and have loved them, the sheep, you've loved them, the sheep, even as you loved me.
Father, I desire that they, the sheep, also, whom you've given me, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Oh, righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these, the sheep, know that you sent me. I made known to them, the sheep, your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you loved me may be in them, the sheep, and I in them.
I'm quickly walking through the passage, and we could take days and months to unfathom and show forth all of the wonderful ramifications of everything that is said here, but you get the big picture. He's praying for the sheep.
He loves the sheep. He wants the sheep to come, and he's certain they will. He gives himself for the sheep. One of the reasons we embrace this doctrine of divine election is it's staring us in the face.
It's there over and over and over and over again at the risk of being redundant. Jesus is praying for his sheep, and he dies for that same group the very next day, makes intercession for them, and Romans 8 tells us the exact same thing.
God has a people. God has people whom he foreknew, which is not talking about their actions. It's actually talking about the people, those whom he foreknew, Romans 8. He predestined. He had an intimate love, a redemptive love for this group.
Romans 8 28 is built on a foundation that is outlined in verses 29 and 30 when we see the word for when God is saying, now this is the foundation of which that wonderful building of Romans 8 28 is constructed and erected that all things work together for good to those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose.
It doesn't just work for anybody. God doesn't make a promise to say that everything works for the good of those who hate him. In fact, nothing works for the good. You can win the lottery. It doesn't work for your good.
It will increase judgment when at the end of time God has blessed you with amazing riches and you have not used them for his glory alone. Nothing works for the good of those who hate God, but all things work together for good for a certain group, those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
In the next verses, he explains who the called are. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
See this in your own Bible, would you? Again, turn to Romans 8. There's one word that stands out for me as I've looked at this passage for a number of years now. It's the word called. It's a call that results in justification.
Not everybody who hears the outward words of the gospel responds in faith. Not everybody we tell the gospel to comes to Christ. But we know this, all that the father gives to the son will come to the son.
Jesus said so. And so this calling is what we would call the inward call. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. It's the drawing power of God that results in a call that accompanies the word of God when we're preaching it.
We don't know who the elect are. We preach the gospel to all. But the call of the gospel is not the call that is mentioned here. It's the calling that results every single time in justification. If we were to march 100 theologians into a room and say, what is the implication of these verses?
Is it some or all? In other words, is it some of those he foreknew that were predestined? Some of those he predestined called. Some of those he called, he justified. Some of those he justified, he glorified.
They said, no, no, no. They may not agree on a whole bunch of things, but they say, no, the implication is the word all, not some. Because the whole point of Romans 8 is to bring us to a place where we know that there's no separation for those who are in Christ.
Romans 8 1, there's no condemnation. End of Romans 8, no separation. And that's the context in which these words are found. What comfort would it be if the word of God was to say, now, here's the good news.
Some of those he calls, he justifies. Some of those he justifies, he glorifies. There's a good chance you're going to make it, guys. No, the whole point is to remove all doubt, to remove all anxiety that even in the storms of life, God will accomplish his goal.
These are things that God does. God foreknows. God predestines. God calls. God justifies. God glorifies. And he's so sure of the outcome, he speaks of glorification as in the past tense. It's as good as done.
From his perspective, from eternity past to eternity future, everyone in that chain, the five-linked chain called the golden chain of redemption, no one is lost through the cracks. It's amazing. He foreknew, he predestined, and he called and justified and glorified those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
Now, continue reading. Here's a big picture thing I want to give you. Just as we saw a big picture in John 6, let me show it to you in Romans 8. What then shall we say to these things? A lot of people say, I don't like that.
I never said you would, but this is the God we're dealing with. And this is the build-up to Romans 9. There are no chapter divisions in the original text. And Romans 8 spells out that God has this elect group.
Jesus called them all that the Father has given me. And what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who's the us here? It's the elect. It's those who are called according to his purpose. If God is for us, who can be against us?
I want you to walk through this passage and just look at the word us and our and words like we and see it's the same group in view all the way through the passage. Here we go. If God is for us, the sheep, the elect, who can be against us?
The sheep, his elect. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. I believe the us all there is the same group, all of the elect. How will he not also with him graciously give us the elect, his sheep, all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? You see it's the same group in view. Who shall bring any charge against God's chosen ones, his elect people? It is God who justifies. What's the answer?
It's a question that's asked, but no one's going to successfully bring a charge against God's elect. No one. Because it's God who justifies. God is the judge in the court. He doesn't say, look, I'll do my judgment.
Now someone else can come into the judge's seat and make a decision on this. No, when God has said, I'm justifying this group, who is the one who condemns? Doesn't matter. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? The obvious answer is no one can successfully do that. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, for the people of God, the elect.
Who shall separate us, the elect, from the love of Christ? And then he lists all the things that could ever happen, show tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, as it's written.
For your sake, we are being killed all the day long. Who's the we, the elect? We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we, the elect, are more than conquerors. Hyper-conquerors, more than conquerors, more than victorious.
The word Nikeo is related to the word Nike, which means to conquer. And we are hyper-Nike people. We're more than conquerors. We, the people of God, are more than conquerors through him who loved us, the people of God.
For I'm sure, I hope you're sure, I'm sure that neither death nor life, that basically covers everything. Any event that could ever happen to you is covered by the words death and life, right? If it happened to you, you were living, right?
If you were dead, you're out of the picture anyway. But I'm sure that death itself, nor any event in life, then he goes on, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate who? Us, from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Nothing can separate the people of God from the love of God. That's right. Romans 8 .1, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8, verse 38, no separation. So the obvious question is, if that's all true, weren't there a people called Israel?
What about them? Certainly they had promises, right? And a lot of them didn't recognize Messiah when he came. So did God fail in providing the assurance of bringing that promise to fruition? Did he fail in his word?
Did God make a promise and did he fail to make good on his promise? He says, look, I'm praying. I'm praying. I love my people, Israel. I wish I could even be accursed, if it was possible, that they would come in.
They've got so many benefits. That's what chapter 9, verses 1 through 5 talk about. To them, we're given so many benefits. But let me tell you this. I know you've got that question in your heart. What about Israel?
What about Israel? But it's not as though the word of God has failed. That's not what has happened. Why? For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. Not everybody who's a physical descendant of Israel is truly Israel in God's sight.
And God made good on his promise to the true Israel. And let me give you Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and he goes to speaking about Abraham, speaking about his children, speaking about Isaac being the one called, not Ishmael, speaking about Jacob being the one called, not Esau.
And that's what Romans 9 does. It follows on from Romans 8. It's a message about God having a group of people given to the Son who will come to the Son who will never be lost. Rich, any comments? We've got to wrap up?
Okay, well, thanks for listening in. It's been a joy to come to you. God willing, we'll be here again on Thursday. Keep praying for Dr. James White. God bless you as you walk in the light of his word.
