Ministry's Only Hope: Election (part 5) - [Ephesians 1:4ff]

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Ministry's Only Hope: Election (part 6) - [Ephesians 1:4ff]

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I had a defining moment this week. I don't know if you've ever filled out a job application form, but I got to fill out one this week for Southern Seminary as they've asked me to be an adjunct faculty member in Northboro.
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And sometimes they ask you about your educational background and job description.
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I remember they did that when I worked for the phone company. Well, this was one of the questions on the application for employment from Southern Seminary.
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And it just made my day that they would ask. Article 5 sets forth a very clear statement of unconditional election.
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Do you affirm this statement of God's electing purpose? Have you ever had to try to get employment for a company where they would ask you, do you believe in unconditional election?
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I responded, quote, I affirm unconditional election and this statement.
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Ephesians 1, 4 -6 is clear that God chooses for Himself, by Himself, before eternity past, not based on any foreseen merit or faith, for His own pleasure, with a view toward the elect's future holiness and blamelessness.
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In other words, Southern Seminary says, do you believe it and will you teach it? Because if you don't believe it and you won't teach it, you cannot be hired at this
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Christian institution. Now, there's lots of things they could have asked and they asked about 25 questions.
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But they picked that doctrine because it shows and displays, it manifests how great
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God is. It is a non -negotiable of the Christian faith. If you're a
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Christian at any amount of time, you begin to realize that God is sitting on a throne and He is majestic and He is sovereign and He does whatever
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He pleases. I just love to preach that about God. I hope you like to listen to it.
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You might say, well, this is week 5 on election, how many preaching sermons will you preach? Well, George Whitefield in this area, matter of fact, preached,
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You Must Be Born Again, how many times? 10, 20, 100, 500, 1 ,000.
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George Whitefield preached 2 ,000 times on John 3, You Must Be Born Again. 2 ,000 sermons on that passage.
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And asked why he preached so many, his response was very good. Why do you preach so many sermons on You Must Be Born Again?
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Because you must be born again, he said. Why so many sermons on election? Well, I want to exhaust the topic.
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I want to have all your objections may be answered.
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And I want you to see in just systematic formulation that God is a wonderful choosing
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God even though He never had to. And it displays His grace like no other doctrine except the crucifixion of Christ Jesus.
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So if you have your Bibles and if you turn to Ephesians chapter 1 this morning, I don't know when we'll be back into Matthew chapter 5, but we are just stopping, pausing, thinking about the doctrine of election that God chooses for Himself people out of the fallen human race.
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He had the ability to choose everyone. He had the justice to not choose anyone. Yet He just chose some and the
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Bible teaches that and we really want to understand this this morning in part 5 of election,
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Ephesians chapter 1 verses 4, 5, and 6. God has a plan.
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He does everything with a reason and that includes salvation. Not just when we're saved, not just at Calvary, not just in glory, but also in eternity past God chooses individuals for salvation.
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Now the way we'll go about this is, as you know, 20 questions about election. And I think we're up to about 9 or 10.
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We'll probably only hit a few more today. Some are slower or faster, but I want to give you some review. 20 questions on election.
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The first 8 or 9 are review, but the way I like to do it is give you new information as we go. So don't tune out for the next 10 or 15 minutes because we'll give you new information on these questions that I've already asked and then answered.
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And just to tip my hat a little bit, I'm having these questions set up in a way so they'll answer the objections that commonly come when people hear about election.
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In other words, when people hear about election, they say, well, what about this? What about that? What about that? So I'm having those what -about questions as my outline.
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Question number one, in review, about sovereign election, a doctrine that affects almost everything we do, question number one, do you believe election is something for mature
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Christians only? Is it for just the mature? Is it kind of a family secret? Sometimes we run in these parachurch organizations or campus ministries or kind of an ecumenical thing and you would never hear or rarely hear the doctrine of election there because it's so divisive, supposedly.
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But if you look at Ephesians 1, verse 1, Paul writes this book to the saints who were at Ephesus and other places who had received the letter, and he says in verses 4 and 5, choosing and predestining, saints need to know this, all
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Christians need to know about election. God wants you to know about this doctrine.
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He wants you to know how you think, how you perceive Him being a God who sits on His throne.
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It's not just for the mature, it's for everyone. Question number two, do you think election stifles praise?
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I mean, after all, it's kind of dull and it squashes and curbs and smothers and suppresses praise, doesn't it?
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If God's choosing, then we're just kind of fatalistic robots and on the contrary, Paul, inspired by the
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Spirit of God, says in verse 4 of Ephesians 1, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
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Verse 5, He predestined us. Why? With this view, verse 6, to the what?
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To the praise of the glory of His grace. God is to be praised for election. God is to be praised because He's sovereign.
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Not God, how could you? But God, why would you? Why would you choose me? J. I.
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Packer once said, amazing grace has become boring grace for many people.
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But when you get a hold of election, oh, it just does something to your soul because you think, God could have chosen anyone, why would
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He choose me? People say, well, you know,
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I'm having a hard week. I need kind of a peppy, uppy kind of sermon that kind of gets me by and I just want to feel good and I need to be stroked a little bit.
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The best way that we can address those kind of ideas is to show you who God is and the focus becomes not on you anymore or me, but on God.
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Martin Lloyd -Jones wisely said, are you a miserable
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Christian feeling that the fight is too much for you? Are you at the point of giving up and giving in?
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You need to know the power that is working mightily in you. The same power that brought
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Christ from the dead. What we need is not an experience, but to realize what we are and who we are.
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And then he says with just great succinctness, what
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God has done in Christ and the way He blessed us. We need to realize our privileges.
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That's right, that will elicit praise. That will make you think, you know, I know I've had a rough go at it this week or this month or this year, but I need to be focused on God.
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That's what election will do. Number three, do you think that all
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Christians believe in election? After all, it's for every Christian, election is. It elicits praise.
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Number three, do you believe that all Christians believe it? What's the answer? Well, they have to.
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It's just how do you define election? Because it's right there in the text and many other places. All Christians believe in election.
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We either believe in an election conditioned on what man would do in the future or conditioned on what God did in the past.
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People say, what's God's plan of salvation? His plan of salvation starts with a plan, and that plan is election.
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Number four, still in review, when do you believe election took place? This has just warmed me in this cold, snowy week, just pondering this.
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When did election take place? November 4th? No. When I got saved?
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No. Ephesians 1 .4 is simply and directly stating this very fact, that He chose us.
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Do you see it? It's right there in your Bible. How can you get rid of it? Before the foundation of the world. Can you imagine?
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No light. No sun. No moon. No stars. No angels.
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No nothing. And God, the triune God, has a plan of salvation that starts by the
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Father saying, even though I know they are not worthy of me choosing them, I select them for me.
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I love them ahead of time. That is mind -boggling to me. God ordains this.
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The individual doesn't ordain himself before the foundation of the world. No opportunity to be good or bad even.
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Number five. Do you believe election is based on a person's faith? Do you believe election is based on a person's faith?
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And even if you see the text there in verse 4, again in review, it says that we were chosen before the foundation of the world, not because we were holy and blameless, not because we believed, not because we repented, but that we would be, with an eye towards this, that we would be holy, implying we weren't, that we would be blameless, implying that we weren't, before Him.
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God just compels us with this, as Kittel said, irresistible superiority.
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He chooses us not because of what we did, what we thought, what we believed. Faith is a gift,
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Philippians 1 .29. Repentance is a gift, Acts 11. Then to the
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Gentiles God hath granted repentance. You're not saved because of repentance. You're not saved because of faith.
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Let me just kind of ruffle it up a little bit here. If you believe you're saved because of your faith, you believe in a different gospel.
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You don't believe... You're not saved because of anything in you, on account...
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The text in Ephesians 2 is clear as well. You are saved by grace, true or false? Because of faith.
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You are saved by grace on account of faith, true or false? You are saved by grace, what?
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Through faith. And even that faith and all of salvation, it's not of yourself. We are not saved by our own faith.
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We are saved by the grace of God, and as a fruit of that salvation, we believe.
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You say, well, what about foreknowledge? And we talked in depth about God foreknows people. He doesn't foreknow what they do or think or act.
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God, ahead of time, sets His love on those people. Amazingly. You say, well, why do people go around saying that salvation is all about man choosing
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Christ? It's just easier that way.
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And in that particular case, faith is not God's gift to man, it's man's gift to God.
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Whose faith is sovereign? Well, let's keep going.
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I just have to stop because I feel like I want to just preach this sermon again, and you're saying, yes, you already preached this sermon.
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I know. Just trying to review. Number six, do you view election as unloving?
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I mean, how unloving is that if God picks some? Some kind of indiscriminate picking? No, what's the motive of election?
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Verse four, last two words. In love. Verse five, same sentence. He what? Predestined us.
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It's undeniable. It's crystal clear. This is the cause. Faith is not the cause of salvation. What is the cause of salvation?
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God's love. Number seven, is your view of election impersonal and sterile?
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I mean, come on. God is just, you know, choosing and picking. It's some kind of wrapped up in some kind of medically sealed deal.
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No way. Look at what it says. Verse five, He predestined us to what? Adoption as sons.
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Is there anything more personal than adoption? People who slander election forget about these verses.
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Number eight, is your view of election grace -based? Do you see Ephesians 1 -6?
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To the praise of the glory of what? His grace, which He freely bestowed.
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Our grace. Say, God's not fair. Election's not fair. True or false?
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Is God just? God is just in all He does. True. Genesis 18, shall not the judge of the earth deal what?
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Justly? Deuteronomy 32, the rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are just.
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He's a God of faithfulness and without injustice. Righteous and upright is
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He. We are saved by God's predetermined counsel that's all motivated out of love and grace.
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Remember John Newton? John Newton had an epitaph. And this was what was on his grave, written by his own hand.
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Can you tell me if this is grace -based or not? John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, slave trader and owner who then became a slave himself.
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John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, was by the rich mercy of our
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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith
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He had long labored to destroy. What a good testimony of grace.
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God did it all. Did you see those words? He didn't say, I accepted, I believed,
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I repented, I'm the one who had enough wit and wisdom to choose you God. By the way, on a side note, when you give a personal testimony, would you say the great things about God and use
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God as the active person in your sentence and you as the passive one? And be like A.
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Paul and B. John Newton. Here's what God did for me. That's what I call a testimony versus, you know, here's how me and God, you know,
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God's my co -pilot, He's my co -buddy, and God did this, and then I did this, and back and forth.
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Here is God, and He saved, He redeemed, He propitiated, He was raised from the dead, He ascended.
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He did it all, and my response to His great salvation was what? My contribution was sin.
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My response was, I believed. We forget that everyone deserves hell, and the question of somehow
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God being unfair should be redirected and rerouted and asked instead, why does not
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God destroy all? Number nine, do you believe an unbeliever's will is totally free?
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I mean, here we go. So far, this week and the last few weeks, I've gotten mainly positive responses to the sermon series.
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A few, I've got a question. A few may be upset, but mostly positively. And I think if you understand this section, it will help, because if God chooses, what does that do to my will?
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How can I have a will if God chooses? That's a big question and a fair question. How should we think about the will of man, the will of a woman who would not be believers?
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If you mean free will, says that a person who has a nature of an unbeliever can freely choose anything that that nature will allow.
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In other words, they can choose any kind of sin they'd like. I believe in that kind of free will, do you? Freely choosing according to your nature.
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But if you mean freely choosing without any external influence, Satan, without any internal influence, sin, and without any external influence,
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God, then I don't believe in that kind of free will. It just depends on how you define it.
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Man, unbelieving man, enslaved to sin, is not free to choose good or evil. He will always choose evil.
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When you're free, you have the ability to do something, and there's no obstacle or barrier to prevent you from doing it.
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And you are free from something and free to do something. But unbelieving man is enslaved by sin.
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His sin has made him a bond -servant to sin. And he needs to have somebody come and take the shackles off.
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And if you believe freedom is from all causation, then you are a theological libertarian.
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And you basically think you can choose anything you want, freely, without any cause.
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We have names for those kind of people, and their names are people like Pelagius, Socinius, Arminius, open theists.
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Jesus even said, didn't He, that people choose good out of the desires of their good heart, or they choose wickedly out of the desires of their what?
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Wicked heart. And you say, how can that be? How can that happen?
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Let me ask you this question. Let's just cut to the chase. This is so good. Does God need someone's permission before He can change that person's heart?
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Does God need to have the unbeliever's permission? May I please change your heart before you, you know, allow me the privilege of changing your heart, you know,
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Simon says, Mother may I, whatever it might be. He needs no permission.
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The king's heart, true or false, is in the hand of the Lord. He is sovereign over the human heart.
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God is sovereign over the will. So much so that I could prove it this way. And I will harden
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Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them as the
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Lord had said. Totally accountable, yet God hardened his heart.
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And if you think men have free will in salvation, then please be logically consistent, because men and women will have free will when it comes to losing that salvation that they supposedly freely came up with.
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And by the way, sometimes people are forced against their will. Yes? No? Well, I know on judgment day, there will be people who will not want to stand before the bar of God's judgment, because they have no
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Christ's righteousness cloaking them. And they will be forced against their will to stand before God, and they will be forced against their will to bow on their knees and confess
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Jesus as Lord. But the good thing for Christians is when
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God saves us, He doesn't grab us by the hair like some caveman would a proverbial cavewoman and drag us along.
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I remember back in the days in Los Angeles, Daryl Gates was the police commissioner, and he had this kind of crack mobile.
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It wasn't his personal crack mobile, but it was just like tank, and it would go into these crack houses in South Central LA, bust down the door, and then the policeman would jump out and take care of everyone.
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Is that how God saves people? Well, that's not how God saves people. Here's what He does. He grabs them, as it were, and gives them a new nature.
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And that new nature says, you know what? I didn't like God before, but I love Him now. I thought
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Christ was kind of a good person, but now He's my Savior. As Edwards says, He's sweet, He's kind,
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He's lovely. God doesn't force people against their will. He gives them a new nature, and that nature tied to the will goes,
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I freely believe. I freely love. Number 10.
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As all introduction, do you believe election inhibits evangelism, or is it an incentive to evangelize?
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And we started talking last week that election is not exclusive of means. In other words,
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God ordains the ends who get saved and how they get saved, by praying and by preaching.
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We may never think that because preaching and prayer are commanded that somehow
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God isn't ultimately sovereign, it's a both and, not an either or. That's why when
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William Carey, as I said last week, was told, I found the exact quote, he was told when he wanted to go be an evangelist, a missionary, sit down, young man.
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When God is pleased to convert the heathen, He'll do it without your aid or mine. Is that true?
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That guy believed election so much, he forgot about the rest of the part of the Bible, where the rest of the part of the
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Bible is, faith comes by hearing a message about Christ. You have to believe in both. I believe in election and responsibility to evangelize.
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And this encourages me, by the way, because my inadequacies as an evangelist are overridden.
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Who's the perfect evangelist around here? May I dare to say that even Thomas wasn't a perfect evangelist,
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Peter was not a perfect evangelist, D. James Kennedy is not a perfect evangelist, Roy Comfort is not a perfect evangelist.
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How do we evangelize people when we are imperfect? I love it because this overwhelming task, the salvation of people, does not depend on us.
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God has His chosen ones and He uses fragile clay pots like you and like me to allow the
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Spirit of God to work through that preaching. Does it depend on how clear and cogent we present the
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Gospel? How persuasive we are? No, because we can't give dead people life.
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We can't convince sinners of the truth. The sovereignty of God, His grace, is our only hope of salvation.
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What if you didn't believe in election? Here's what I would do. I would not know where to start when it comes to evangelism, but now
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I believe in election. It keeps my job simple. What's my job if I believe in election? God ordains those to salvation.
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He ordains the means by the preaching of the Gospel. Therefore, I must what? Preach the Gospel. It's simple.
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My job is to be an errand boy for God. Here's what the Bible says. So the
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Word. I can't lead someone to Christ. I can't talk them into it. I can't convert them.
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I can't do anything except say here. I have no formula. I have no technique. I have nothing except here's the
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Gospel of God's grace and here's the wonder of Christ. You must believe. What if you had to preach this message?
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Turn to Mark 8 for a minute. I want to let you know that if you don't believe in election, you are not going to be able to preach this sermon about salvation.
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Now if salvation is accept Jesus in your heart and live the way you want, then you could preach that. But if this is the
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Gospel demands that Jesus Himself gives, here's how Jesus preaches the Gospel.
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I wonder how it matches up with what we preach. And I'm going to tip my hat ahead of time. If you believe in election, you can preach this to your friends and family.
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If you don't, you're going to cut corners and you're going to contour this because it is too harsh, too demanding, too exclusive, too narrow.
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But it's the only message we preach. Here's how Jesus preaches the Gospel. And I call them three impossible demands for salvation.
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They're like spiritual gut checks. Here's how Jesus preaches. Mark 8, 34.
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There's nothing like it. We talk a lot about friendship evangelism.
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Here's Jesus' friendship evangelism because Jesus is a friend of sinners and He tells them the truth.
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How to lose friends evangelism. I'm not saying we have to beat people up, but I'm saying you've got to tell them the truth.
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And the elect will do what? Respond. I just keep preaching, figuring one of these days
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I'm going to run into an elect person who hasn't believed yet and God's going to use me to save that person.
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Not me that saves, but He's going to use me, shorthand, to have the Gospel go through me to Him, God, save the person.
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And by the way, I don't know about you, I probably should have more tick marks in the front of my Bible than all of you because I'm the pastor obviously and I get paid to be good and you're good for nothing.
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But on this, I have no tick marks in the front of my Bible. I have not saved one person.
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I've not led one person to the Lord by the common designation. I've preached a lot and people have responded through my frail person.
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I don't have a one. If I don't have a one, how are you going to get any? Especially with this
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Gospel. You're going to get them because God is sovereign. Matter of fact, I'm going to talk about this in a couple of Sunday nights.
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When you think about the plan of God, I think about if, then, flow chart, computer kind of language, all coming to the end result.
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God doesn't use the word plural when it comes to His mind, decrees. He uses the word singular.
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God has one decree and that one decree contains every bit of information, all human history, everything in a single decree.
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Now does that blow your mind? It does mine. God is not, well, if this happens then that and then this and roadblock, recheck, flat tire, better do this instead.
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Here's the decree. And the decree is God chooses and the decree is God commands to preach.
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And here's how Jesus preached. And if you don't believe in election, you can't preach like this because people don't respond.
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Who wants this kind of preaching? I mean, this is awesome. Mark 8, 34.
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And He summoned the multitude with His disciples and said to them, if anyone, not just you twelve, wishes to come after me, here's
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Jesus' three point sermon, three demands, three spiritual gut checks.
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Let him A, deny himself. B, take up his cross. C, follow me.
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Let's just look at those for a minute. What's the first demand? It's right from the text. How does Jesus preach discipleship?
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How does Jesus preach following Him? How does Jesus say, here's what you have to do to follow me?
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He doesn't say God will work it out. He gives them the commands. And the first one is demand number one, the person that wants to believe
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Christ must deny himself. Notice the text. No options. No exceptions. No exclusions.
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These are imperatives. This must be done. And this does not mean lent. I'm going to deny myself something.
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By the way, that's just the most stupid thing I've ever heard of in my life. I'm denying myself something for lent?
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What good does that do to the cross? It's the cross plus nothing. Plus me not eating turkey for six weeks?
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I mean, please. If you want to give up some food, do it for your health, but don't do it for the sake of the cross.
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When Jesus says deny yourself, He doesn't say deny yourself cranberry sauce and dark chocolate.
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He says deny yourself you. When it comes to you, I want to promote myself.
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I want to push myself. He's talking to unbelievers. I want to have the agenda of myself.
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Jesus says you want to follow me? I'm the eternal God. Here's your agenda. Deny who you are at your very core.
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Now try telling someone that if you don't believe God's sovereign. You don't believe God's choosing people in eternity past because no one buys that.
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No one. In the day and age of self -esteem, feeling good, self -centeredness, self -fulfillment.
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And Jesus basically says this, when it comes to you following me, say no to you.
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All your hopes, all your dreams, all your aspirations, you as a person, you as your life plans, you as your goals, everything.
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You want to be my disciple? It costs you, you. Who follows that?
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That is amazing to me. Denial of self. You have yourself as an object of your own life's goals and dreams and that needs to be ceased.
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All the idolatry of self -centeredness, done. Not denying things here, but denying self at all costs.
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Well, that hurts my self -esteem. It's supposed to. Self -esteem's sinful.
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In the last days, 2 Timothy chapter 3 says, people will be number one on the resume, lovers of self.
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Now, what I don't mean, because I might get the letters on this one, I don't mean you should go around and cut yourself.
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I don't mean that at all. I don't mean, you know, every time your kid does something good or bad, you know, you just beat him down.
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But I am saying this, when Jesus says in Mark chapter 8 verse 34, if you want to follow
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Him, He says, you have to deny yourself. That means you say, there's nothing good in me.
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I might have self -esteem compared to other people, but compared to God, God's holy, I'm sinful, and what am
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I going to do? Contribute my sinful person to Jesus? When I've got sin, and I've got original sin, and Adam is my father,
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I need to have myself done with, kaput, over, and that's when He goes into demand number two.
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Not just denying self, but here's the second demand. You want to be a gospel preacher? This is your message.
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We have no other message to give about Jesus. We tell people who He is, and then we tell people what
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He demands, and these are three of His demands. Deny self, demand number two, take up His cross.
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This is not bearing your cross, i .e.,
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your nagging spouse. That's not what this would be. I have a cross to bear. Some kind of trouble, or irritation, or kid, or relationship, or financial thing.
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That's my cross. I have to bear my cross. The problem comes is because we're not
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Jewish in our thinking. We're not 2 ,000 years ago in our thinking. We're not Eastern in our thinking. What would they think about in those days if you had to take up your cross?
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Remember, our society today, we can't even give people capital punishment. There will be a day in America where capital punishment will be out.
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Who cares about Genesis 9 -6, about shedding man's blood? They should have it done to them.
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Romans 13, they don't care about those things. In these days, though, the Bible days, the criminal, the condemned criminal was led through the streets carrying the cross.
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It was public. It was grim. And He knew at the end of that road it was going to be crucifixion.
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And He was to abandon how many hopes? What will I do next weekend? Everybody's working for the weekend.
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What about my kids? What about my grandkids? They were done. It was over. And Jesus is saying here, you want to follow me?
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Good. Then you have to be willing to go to the point of death if God seems to think that's necessary.
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One man said, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him be prepared to be led out to public execution following my example.
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Best thing that ever happened in the church in America is if there were suffering and persecution because we'd find out really who was real believers.
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We wouldn't have a seating problem anymore. Who were the real believers? Even if they did something simple.
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When you walk in, the IRS agent is standing there and he wants to know your social security number if you come in. That would take care of a lot of this.
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Jesus has these demands that are impossible to hurdle except for the grace of God.
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Did you get that? When you preach this gospel, it's impossible to do, but for God. Be willing to join
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Christ's ranks of the despised and the doomed and the executed ones.
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Take up the cross. By the way, some of his disciples you know, according to legend,
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Peter was crucified upside down. Andrew died on a cross in a Grecian colony. James, the younger brother of Christ, was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple.
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Bartholomew was skinned alive in Armenia. James, the elder son of Zebedee, beheaded in Jerusalem.
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Thomas, the doubter, was run through the body with a lance in the East Indies. Philip was hanged against a pillar at Absinia.
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Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows and Simon died on a cross in Iran. Whatever it takes, up to death, do you still want to follow me?
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The Nicene Council was a council that talked about Christian doctrine and in the 4th century
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A .D., 318 people showed up for this council. Fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their
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Christian faith. 306 had something happen to their physical body for following Christ.
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Whatever God gives, you take up to and including death.
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And thirdly, look at this one, found in the same verse. Deny self, take up the cross, and a person who wants to follow
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Jesus Christ or love Him or be a disciple will, just to let Jesus speak, follow Him.
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How do we preach that? Why isn't it just, you know, believe this in your heart and just run around and do whatever you want?
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Literally here it means to come after me. In the old days, the rabbi would be sought out by pupils.
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Here Jesus the rabbi seeks out His people. I'd be remiss if I didn't give you this quote.
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It's been said that some people preach the gospel so poorly that the non -elect don't have sense enough to reject it.
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Some people preach the gospel so low that the non -elect, people that couldn't even be a
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Christian, don't have enough sense to go, you know what, I can't do that. Now it's a hypothetical question and of course
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I didn't say that. I said someone else said that. But the idea here is, here's the gospel and it's so high that God only graces the elect to jump over it.
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And if it's me being the evangelist, I want people saved. And I tend to cut the corners a little bit because this is an offensive gospel.
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I love it that election makes me bold. When people say no to me, Paul got saved, didn't he?
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And who was a more bitter opponent of the gospel? Eventually, Paul said yes, because of God.
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And as J .I. Packer said, you are not on a fool's errand when you preach the gospel. Because you know, no one can be too hard or hopeless because if God in eternity past has chosen them, they will believe.
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I like election because when I evangelize, it keeps me biblical. It keeps me biblical.
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Now, for those of you that don't believe in election or you don't believe in my discussion about the bondage of the will, how do you pray for your unbelieving friends?
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Do you pray for your unbelieving friends? Probably yes. Unbelieving family. Now, how do you pray for these people?
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And I would just like to say that when you get down on your knees and you pray for your unbelieving family, you pray like someone who believes
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God is in charge of their will. If I was a betting man, hadn't been to Las Vegas for a long time,
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I used to have to go there every two weeks for work. All the wagering there.
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98 .6 % returns or whatever all those things are. I guess that's the human temperature of the body. But if I win my bet,
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I'll give at least 10 % of those millions to the church. When you pray for your unbelieving friends, you pray like somebody who
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A, believes in election, B, believes in the sovereignty of God, and C, believes in the unadulterated grace of God.
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I know you do. Or do you pray this way?
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God, you bow your head. I know that the sole determining factor for this person, this mother of mine to be saved, is her own free will.
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So God, I don't want you to somehow coerce her. I don't want you to do what 1 Peter 1 says about causing her to be born again.
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I really want to ask your help, but I know you really can't help because it's up to them to do what they need to do so then you can work.
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But I'm asking you if it doesn't really affect your plan of salvation leaving human autonomy alone, that if you could just maybe work out just a little bit, just a tad bit, nothing that would take away from any kind of their own free will, but you could work it out so they might just believe just a tiny little bit on their own.
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Do you pray like that? Well, of course not, because what I just said was a rambling bunch of stupidity. But my point is this.
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When you pray, you pray, God, what? Save them. God, open their eyes. God, do anything to them that it would take to have them be born again.
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Don't you? You are praying to a sovereign God to save them, and I'm saying you might not believe in election standing up, but on your knees, you affirm it.
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Charles Spurgeon said about someone who doesn't believe in election praying.
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He cannot pray about free will. There's no room for it. Fancy him praying. Lord, I thank
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Thee I'm not like those poor people who believe in election. Lord, I was born with a glorious free will.
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I was born with a power by which I can turn to Thee myself. I have improved my grace. If everyone has done the same with their grace that I have, they might have all been saved.
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Lord, I know Thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou dost give grace to everyone.
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Some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much as bought with the blood of Christ as I was.
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They had as much of the Holy Spirit given to them. They had as good a chance and were as much blessed as I am.
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It was not Thy grace that made us to differ. I know it was a great deal. Still, I turned the point.
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I made use of what was given me and others did not. That is the difference between me and them.
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That is the prayer for the devil, Spurgeon said. For nobody else would offer such a prayer as that.
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When they are preaching and talking slowly, they may be wrong in doctrine. But when they come to pray, the true thing slips out.
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They cannot help it. From his sermon, Free Will Slash a Slave.
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When you stand before God and He were to say to you, Are you here because of my will or your will?
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And you can only pick one. Which one would you pick? Now, it is kind of more complicated than that.
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But if you had to pick one, you would pick what? I am what I am by my own bootstraps.
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That is the sixth sola of the Reformation. As Pastor Steve says, sola bootstrapsa.
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I am here because I would not allow you to touch my island of righteousness called my will.
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I know everything else is affected by the fall. But I want to have some kind of onus here.
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And I am no robot. And I am no anything. But I am a personal person. We are what we are by the grace of God.
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And when God says, Is it my will or His? He will never ask the question. Because only the people who will be in heaven worshipping will be
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God's will. But God's will in eternity past willed me to be saved. He sent
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His Son to die for me. Then the Spirit of God came and gave me a new nature and then
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I freely believed in God. But I believe not because of who I was, but because of what
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God did. That is why when it comes to salvation, I have said this many times and I love to say it, if somebody ever asks you when you got saved,
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I hope you just run the gamut. When did you get saved? Well, I got saved before the moon was even created, when the triune
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God chose me. He set His affection on me.
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He pre -loved me. Then at Calvary 2 ,000 years ago,
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Jesus was the spotless, blameless Lamb. He lived a perfect life. He could have called down legions of angels.
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He could have gotten off the cross. But in love, He died for me. He bore my sins. The list of my sins that would have been above my head on judgment day were placed above Christ and He bore those willingly up to the point of blood, vicious death.
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He was raised triumphantly from the dead. Oh, you're not talking about that salvation?
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Well, 1989, I came to the end of myself. My father died. God orchestrated circumstances where I realized there was no good thing in me.
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By the grace of God, I had to say no to Mike, yes to Jesus, deny myself, follow
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Christ, pick up the cross and be willing to die for Jesus. He saved me. And by the way,
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He's not done with me yet. He is continually saving me now. That is progressive sanctification, more and more like Christ.
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And one day, I'll be ultimately saved in glory. Which part of the salvation question are you asking about? What a great way to just preach about God.
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I love election because it just makes it so simple. We preach the Gospel. We just tell people and God finds those out.
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Stonewall Jackson said, The duty is ours, but the consequences are God's. How can
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God find out Zacchaeus out of Jericho? How can God get Abraham out of Ur?
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How can Nicodemus and Paul be rescued from the college of the Pharisees? How can
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Christ's sworn enemies be rescued out of Athens? And John Aerosmith says this,
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In whosoever Dunhill's gods elect are, election will find them out and bring them home.
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And by the way, we need to preach the Gospel because on a side note, election certainly teaches that hell is real.
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Because if He chooses out some for election, what happens to the rest that are bypassed? Number 11,
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Do you realize that election does not eliminate human responsibility? Do you realize that election does not eliminate human responsibility?
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Would you turn to 2 Thessalonians 2 .10 please for a moment? I want you to know that even though God has chosen those,
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He will not let the people off the hook of their personal responsibility because these two thoughts, these two truths are both true.
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They run concurrently. People aren't in hell because they're not elect. People are in hell because they neglect so great a what?
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Salvation. And even 2 Thessalonians 2 .10 it shows where the onus is there. Election is unto eternal life.
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Predestined the scriptural language is unto eternal life. You don't see elect to damnation, predestined to damnation language.
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Now we'll talk more about that in the weeks to come or months, whatever it is. But 2
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Thessalonians 2 .10 And with all deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they were not elected by God in eternity past.
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Yea? Nay. Why are people damned? The scripture makes it clear. Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be what?
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Saved. Sovereignty doesn't destroy responsibility. Let's think of Peter. Peter, you're gonna deny me how many times?
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Did Peter deny him that many times? Before the cock crowed? How many times did the cock crow? Depends on which account you read.
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Add them together. Jesus said, Peter, you're going to deny me.
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Peter denied him. What did Peter do? Well, Jesus decreed it.
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It doesn't matter what I do because I'm not responsible. Jesus decreed it. Peter knew better. And what did Peter do?
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He was bawling with guilt and shame. The Bible teaches sovereignty and the
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Bible teaches responsibility. They're both there. We have to accept both.
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And it's like there's a big pulley up in heaven and two ropes coming down, Abraham Kuyper says. And if you grab a hold of sovereignty, down you go.
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If you grab a hold of only human responsibility, down you go. So here's the truth in the
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Bible. Here's the other truth in the Bible. God wants you to hold on to both. God is sovereign. Man is responsible.
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That's why we preach what Jesus told us to preach in Luke 24. And He said that repentance should be preached in His name among all nations.
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Why do we preach repentance if God chooses? Because we're told to.
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A, B, because God saves through preaching. Acts 17, God now commandeth all men everywhere to what?
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Repent. We believe in both. God is sovereign and there is human responsibility.
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Turn to my favorite example, Genesis 20. Genesis 20, and we'll see these two truths do not need to be reconciled because they're friends, this version would say.
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These things are not attacking each other. They're both true. Both of these doctrines are true and it's a wonderful truth.
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Man is responsible. Because we preach election to the church, it does not mean we're not responsible to evangelize, nor does election somehow make it impossible for us to tell people to repent.
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Both are true. Genesis 20. If you don't read through the Old Testament on a regular basis, may I encourage you to do that.
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My kids and I are in Judges 3. Ehud and Eglon.
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You don't know what to teach your kids? You go to Judges and those kids are like this. Judges.
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And here's what happens when God leaves people on their own and everybody does what's right in their own eyes and boy, those kids will pay attention.
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Forget Wii and Nintendo, whatever. It is Judges 3 and Eglon and Ehud.
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The best. You just can't say
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Eglon without saying, was a very fat man. That's what the text says.
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Okay. Genesis 20. Two thoughts. Sovereignty. Responsibility.
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Right there. The Bible's not trying to divide them up. The Bible's not trying to say, you know what, here's how they go together.
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They just go together. We're not infinite. God is. It shouldn't surprise us that Jesus Christ is determined to die, but woe to the one who betrays
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Him. Luke 22. And here in Genesis 20, two concurrent thoughts running side by side. God just leaves them there, doesn't explain anything.
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We're just to believe both. Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur.
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Then he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she's my sister.
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Why? Because he's a coward. That's why. So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took
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Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, Behold, you're a dead man, because the woman whom you have taken, she is married.
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Now Abimelech did not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay a nation even though blameless?
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I didn't sleep with her. But he, did he not himself say to me, she's my sister?
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She herself said, he's my brother. In the integrity of my heart, my will, and the innocence of my hands,
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I have done this. And so wonderfully, so beautifully, here's the concurrent thought.
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Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this.
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And I also kept you from sinning against Me, therefore I did not let you touch her.
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Isn't that good? Sovereignty of God, responsibility of man, and neither one is hurt.
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We believe in both. We believe in the sovereignty of God and human responsibility.
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And the last one for today, number 12. Did you know it's a sign of maturity not to force mental closure on this doctrine?
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Did you know it's a sign of maturity not to force mental closure all the time, or this doctrine, or many doctrines?
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I want to have everything neat and tidy, all boxed up. And I want you to know that as you mature, you will let things lie, like sovereignty, responsibility, and you don't have to figure it all out.
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There are questions that God knows you have, but He purposely has not given you, or me, the answers.
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I love it that we can embrace the transcendency of this doctrine, and I don't have to fully understand it.
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How could I understand God's fully sovereign, man's fully responsible? Could you get that? I can't.
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God says both, and He doesn't tell me how to tie them together. It's like two parallel lines. Meet up in heaven is the only place they meet.
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Some people grab a hold of these doctrines and they go so far, they get themselves kind of bound in this theological conundrum.
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When I'm trying to tell you that when God doesn't tell us the answers, it would be best that we don't have to search for them.
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Even John Calvin said, Of those things which is neither given nor lawful to know, ignorance is learned.
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The craving to know, a kind of madness. Those who seek to know more than God has revealed are madmen.
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Wherefore, let us delight ourselves more in wise ignorance than in an immoderate and intoxicated curiosity to know more than God permits.
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With some of these doctrines, Jesus is fully God and fully man.
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Paul wrote Romans. The Holy Spirit wrote Romans. Election and the will of man.
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God has not told us, and it is, you can come thus far to Scripture and no farther. We just have to let it go.
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We can't deny either of them or we'll be even more madmen. But we have to remember that it is by revelation that we believe things, not by reason.
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God reveals to us and then we, of course, can use our logic and rationale, but sometimes we can't go that far.
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By the way, on a side note, there would be no reason, no mystery at all in salvation if God chooses based on people's foreseen faith our works, our merit.
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There'd be no mystery because God chooses based on what they do. I like to know that there are paradoxes in Scripture.
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They're not paradoxes because they are understood by God. And if God tells me this is all my only information,
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I can't go beyond that. I have a finite mind. And you know what else
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I have? I have a fallen mind. Now, maybe when
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God fully redeems my mind in glory, I'll be able to completely understand. But maybe in heaven I still won't get it all and I'll just have to say,
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God, You know I'm finite. You're infinite. I have a glorified mind, as good as a glorified mind can get, and I still cannot figure
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You out. That should be something for praise. George Rawson, the hymn writer, said,
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I may not reach the earthly wings, the heights and depths of God. And if you turn to Romans 11, here's what
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I want to help you with for your response to these things that absolutely blow your gourd.
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Sometimes we used to say that as kids, you know, our mind's like a gourd. Here's a gourd -blowing response.
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When our little Pusillelius pea brains are blown away by the greatness of God, instead of getting mad at God, instead of even trying to force mental closure, study all the
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Scriptures, let everything lie, and then just go, God, You're great. Pusillelius, is that a real word?
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Sounds good. Is it? I think it is if you look.
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You know what I love? I love to hear, kid, listening front row to the sermon. Parents, train your kids as soon as you can to get them to sit underneath the
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Word. Chapter 9, sovereignty. Chapter 10 of Romans, responsibility.
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Chapter 11 of Romans, God, I can't figure You out, and you know what? I'm not going to do this anymore.
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Verse 33, it's a little different though. Paul knows better. Paul knows he's finite.
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Paul knows he's fallen. Paul knows that he can't figure it all out. Paul knows that he's doomed to failure to try to somehow put
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God in some kind of less than supernatural category.
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And Paul exclaims, Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
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How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways.
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For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became His counselor? Who has first given to Him that He might be paid back to Him again?
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For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
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To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Friends, it is a good thing for us not to be able to put everything in a tidy little box.
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We do it for all kinds of scriptural things. Why don't we do it for this? Election is taught in Scripture.
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Sovereign election. Responsibility is taught in Scripture. So you know what I do? I embrace both.
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They both have to be true. You say, well,
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I just don't work that way. My mind doesn't operate that way. Well, then how about this?
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How about next time you pray, say, Lord, I can't figure out all Your ways. This whole election thing is turning my life upside down.
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It's obviously in the Bible, but I don't know if I want to believe it. I don't know if I want to say uncle to it yet. I'm not sure.
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I want to believe the Bible. I want to worship You properly. God, help me.
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And what do you think He'll do? How dare you ask me that? Friends, God wants you to understand that He's not a bow -beating
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God, brow -beating, because what
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Christ has done at Calvary the throne of judgment has been turned into a different kind of throne for Christians.
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And what's that throne called? The throne of grace. And it is there to help those in time of what?
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Need. And when you say, God, I want to learn more, I'm still learning, but if it's there, help me to process it.
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Help me to figure it out. Help me to do the right thing. And when God gets those kind of requests,
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I think of James chapter 1 where He is generous to grant those kind of requests for wisdom.
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Yes, very generous. He's a generous God, and it is good for us to know that God is not just transcendent and over us, sovereignly electing, but He's close by us, and there's a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
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We have the Spirit of God in us, and we could ask Him for help and sanctification, which includes understanding these deep things of God.
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So let's just pray and ask God to help us. Lord, You are an awesome
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God. And therefore, to me, Lord, it seems proper and right that there would be awesome truths in the
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Bible, truths that are too high and too wide for me. Yet, Lord, You've told us everything in Scripture that's good for us, profitable, praiseworthy.
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We want to understand You. And Lord, we would ask that You would grant us wisdom when it comes to election, evangelism, be having a heart for the lost.
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Father, we know Jesus was the one who was involved in Your triune promises of salvation, and He was a man who was sold out, as it were, for the lost, meeting with them, preaching to them, ministering to them.
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And Lord, we'd like to be the same. Lord, protect our church from somehow believing in election to the point where we don't evangelize.
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Help us to see it's a privilege to preach the Gospel and help those who are somehow befuddled in their mind and logically can't make the connections that want to be made humanly to just submit to reason alone.
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May it never be. But Father, may they submit to Your revelation. May they submit to Your Word. And Lord, thank
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You as we reflect that You would choose us. It is amazing to think You have called us for Your purpose, that we would be holy and blameless before You.
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And on Judgment Day we won't be cringing, we won't be somehow bowing in angst. We will be standing in Your presence with great joy.
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Thank You for that. And Lord, I praise You that that joy won't even be ours alone. It will be Yours too.