Thankful For The Elect - [1 Thessalonians 1:2-4]

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All right, let's turn our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 2 and following. That will serve as our introduction to the passage.
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Tonight we get to look at this passage and think to ourselves. It is an amazing thing that God chooses some.
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God didn't have to choose anyone. God could have chosen everyone, but God in His wise counsel decided to choose some.
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And Paul is going to recognize those some in 1 Thessalonians early on. And for these people here, they're just going to know about election because Paul is very thorough as he teaches.
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And let me read chapter 1, verses 1 through 5. Our text today is going to be in verses 2 through 4, is about all we'll cover.
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But I do want you to notice, congregation, that verses 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the original language are one sentence.
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Now, your ESV Bibles or your NAS won't let you know that. You're going to think that the first sentence is found in verses 2 and 3, and then the next sentence found in verse 4 and 5.
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But I want you to know, similarly to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 14, it's all one long sentence.
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And so you say, what does this matter? It'll matter in just a minute. But let me read verse 1, which we looked at last time.
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Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians, a particular place there in northern
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Greece, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he puts both of those together certainly because God the
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Father is the first person of the Trinity, Christ is the second person of the Trinity, both preeminent grace to you and peace.
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Now, as I read verses 2, 3, 4, and 5, all one sentence in the original language,
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I'd like to ask you this question, what is the main verb? Because one verb controls everything.
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He's after one thing here in particular, and everything else modifies. I'll tell you, the first thing
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I tell men when I train them for gospel ministry is to go take an English refresher class. Because if you're like me, you went to school and you didn't learn about gerunds, you didn't learn about clauses, you didn't look up, you didn't know about conjunction functions, you know, what's your function, hooking up clauses and phrases, that's all you learned because you could watch the
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TV, that was it. But language is important and Luther, I think, was right that 2 ,000 years ago,
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God spoke through Jesus Christ, the incarnate second person of the eternal
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Trinity. But now God speaks to us in Hebrew and Greek letters.
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That is to say, the only way we know about God specifically is from the text. And so, if God speaks through Greek language, and we have an
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English translation of that Greek language, it's important for us to know language. So, there's a key verb that's early on and everything else modifies it.
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And so, let's see if you can figure out what that key verb is at the beginning of this epistle. We give thanks to God always for you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our
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God and Father your work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our
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Lord Jesus Christ, comma, literally, knowing brothers loved by God that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the
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Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for our sakes.
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And so, the key verb there that determines everything else in these verses is what?
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Key verbs aren't participles or gerunds, I -N -G words. Key verbs aren't those. Those are modifiers.
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Remember, we're to make disciples by going and baptizing and teaching. Make disciples is the key in Matthew.
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So, since not many of you are looking up because if you look up, you think I'll call on you. We give thanks.
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That's the main point. And we give thanks by mentioning, we give thanks by remembering, and we give thanks by knowing.
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Those are the three things that modify Paul's thankfulness. They would write letters back then, very much like this.
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Saved or unsaved people would write a letter, and at the very beginning, they'd say, this is who I am. You know, we say things at the very end,
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Mike Avendroth. But at the beginning, they'd say, this is who I am. And by the way, I want to thank the
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God, small g, of Saturn, our Neptune, our Diana, for this particular
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God not crushing you, for instance. And they would write that very upfront. So, here,
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Paul, a man of his day, turns this into a Christian introduction.
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And so, he says, I'm thanking God for you. And I'm thanking God for you by mentioning you in my prayers, by remembering you, and by knowing that you're chosen by God.
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So, the key here is thanking God. Paul is commending them and thanking
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God for what they are doing in light of the grace of God in their life through Christ Jesus.
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Early on, Paul realizes what's going on in their lives has nothing to do with what he did while he was there.
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This is not, well, I'm really glad you're growing because I helped you a lot.
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Timothy helped you a lot. Silvanus helped you a lot. I mean, they did help. But I think of 1
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Corinthians 1, chapter 3, what then is Apollos and what is
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Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.
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Paul said, I planted, Apollos watered, but who caused the growth? God caused the growth.
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Good. So, similarly, here in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, Paul is recognizing the fruit of their apostolic labors isn't really of themselves.
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It's what God has done through them. And Paul just, he's effervescent in his praise.
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He praises every church except the churches at Galatia. But this particular church, he just praises above and beyond what he normally praises a church about.
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Chapter 2 says, for who is our hope, our joy, our crown of exaltation? It is not, is it not even you in the presence of the
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Lord at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.
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Paul said, I'm just praising God for what He's doing in your life. I didn't save you, I didn't sanctify you,
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I didn't regenerate you, I didn't do anything like that, but God did it and I'm just going to be very, very thankful for you.
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First, by mentioning you in our prayers, then verse 3, by remembering before our
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God and Father three particular things. And let's look at those before we get into the section you came here tonight to hear regarding election.
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Paul remembers, he's thankfully remembering what God has done through three things that we call subjective genitives.
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And let's just take a look at those, these occasions for thanking God. I don't know if you have loved ones and you say,
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I thank God for you. Paul gets even more specific and says, I'm thanking God for you by remembering before our
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God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope, faith, love, and hope, that great triad, in our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Literally, the best way to translate this is, I'm thanking God for your work produced by faith.
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Your work produced by faith. True or false? Saving faith works.
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It's true. Paul says, I'm thanking God for what He did in you, because it wasn't like you just said,
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I believe and went on my merry way, but there's this work of faith. Things are going on in your life that are different.
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You're not the same kind of people you used to be. There's a work produced by faith.
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If you take a look at verse 9, you can see initially what this work of faith looked like.
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Verse 9, for they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
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God and to wait for His Son from heaven. This word work means ergon.
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It means actual work. And so, the first work of saving faith was, I'm going this way following the course of the world, following the lust of the world in my own heart.
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I'm going this way. And the first work of faith caused by God is turning around through repentance and looking to Christ Jesus.
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Faith is busy. Paul says in chapter 2, verse 9, this is the kind of toil that was going on.
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For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil, we work night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God.
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Paul says, I'm really excited. God, thank you for what you've done in the church of Thessalonica because you gave them a faith that works.
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It's not a dead faith, but it's a saving faith, and saving faith works. I have a trick question for you.
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Can you see faith? Could you see someone else's faith? Answer, no.
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No, but you can sure see the effects of faith. You can't see the wind, but you can see the effects of wind. And so if you look at someone and you say, well,
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I think that person's really a Christian, how do you know? They say they are, or they say they are, and their life by the grace of God shows that they are, and God is working through them.
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That's what Paul is saying here. You guys have a busy faith. You're not busy bodies, but you have a busy faith, not justified by works, not that you're working to make yourself pleasing to God, but since God has saved you, you work, working, sweat, toil for the gospel.
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He goes further, not just the work of faith or faith that works, but labor of love.
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This is really a neat one. Labor prompted by love. Now that word labor there means to sweat.
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You, before you were saved, you did labor prompted by probably what?
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Money, power, something you would get. Now you're working to the point of sweat because you love.
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You love the Lord and you love other people. Look at verse 9 of chapter 4.
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This is really a neat thing. Sometimes we plead ignorance on certain subject that Thessalonians could not plead ignorance on love because fascinatingly, amazingly, now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
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Back to chapter 1, this is agape love. God has taught you to love one another in a brotherly way and now also in an agape way.
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A labor of love. I see you with your manual labor, your ministerial labor, your labor towards other people.
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Thank you God that you would do that in someone's life. Unsaved people live for themselves.
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These people lived to love others. Thirdly, Paul is saying I remember God in a thankful way because of your endurance inspired by hope.
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Our steadfastness inspired by hope. The ESV says what? It says steadfastness of hope in our
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Lord Jesus Christ. There's all kinds of persecutions going on and they kept looking to God the
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Father for the Son to appear. And they were people filled with hope.
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Hopeless people need to study end times. Jesus is going to come back. Unbelievers without hope.
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And you think about this triad here, faith, love, and hope. I tried to come up with my unbelieving triad of a community.
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The church community was faith, hope, and love. These are the three I came up with. Maybe somebody could come up with better ones.
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I know Pastor Steve good. Sometimes he's used as my foil on the radio station.
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I say something that's truth but he packages it in a good biblical alliterative form.
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So Steve, this is what I came up with. Ready? Instead of faith, love, and hope that Christians have, unbelievers are having the triad of skepticism, selfishness, and despair.
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How's that, Steve? How about despair, enmity, and apathy? Here God says in 1
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Thessalonians 1, here's the big picture. He say, we're getting lost in all the details.
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Paul says right from the beginning, I'm thanking God for you. I pray for you all the time. And I pray for you and I mention you in my prayers.
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Imagine the amount of people that Paul knew that he had to pray for. Think about his prayer list. And Paul says, when
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I think of you, I think about God and I'm thankful to God. And I mention you in my prayers.
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I remember you in my prayers. And when I think of you, I think about how you had faith and hope and love and it just worked.
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You didn't just sit back and say, you know what, my best life now, I'm in a coast in the kingdom. I'm thanking
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God because he changed you and you used to love what you now hate and you used to hate what you now love.
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And God, thank you for what you're doing. No wonder Calvin called these three words a brief definition of true
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Christianity, faith, hope, and love. But it doesn't stop there.
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I don't know if this is like anyone else. But Paul says, I'm thanking
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God. I'm remembering you, mentioning you, and I'm knowing, brothers, loved by God, verse 4, that he chose you.
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I mean, just think about it for a second. When's the last time you said, God, thank you so much for these particular people over here because you chose them?
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It's just an interesting way to think about it. Knowing, brethren, beloved by God, his choice of you.
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NAS is better here. God chose you. What does the
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ESV say? That he has chosen you or elected you. We're going to look up about five verses really quickly, and I want you to see that regularly,
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Paul calls the church the elect. Let's start off with a personal one, and it's not Paul.
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It's John 2, John 1. I think we're going to start a new, something new here at the church.
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We're just going to start calling each other the elect brother or the elect sister or something.
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I don't know. We've got to run that by Steve as well. Second John, how do you encourage people when you talk? Hey, what's up?
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How are you doing? Well, maybe that's encouraging to some. I don't know.
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Chapter 1, since it's the only chapter, but I'm thinking with computer language things here, right?
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You have to say in your computer, Second John 1, 1, even though it's just Second John 1. The elder to the elect lady.
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He calls her the elect lady. That's a good way to talk to someone to encourage them, especially when they're struggling.
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Let's look up a couple more verses. Let's look at Titus 1, please. I just want you to get the flavor that this is very common in the
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Bible, very common for Paul to just talk about election. Election is everywhere in the
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Bible. I don't know how people run from it. And I don't know why people run from it to every degree.
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But we'll talk about that in a minute as well. The church is commonly called the elect. Titus chapter 1, verse 1.
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Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness in the hope of eternal life.
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Isn't that brilliant? Paul says, this is why I exist. I exist for the unregenerate to come to faith.
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I exist for the people who have been saved to be sanctified. And I exist so the sanctified people eventually get to glory through the means of an apostle or other teachers helping them in their faith.
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The elect of God. I could say it to you. I could say this. God, I thank you for Bethlehem Bible Church.
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Because there are so many people here who work super hard, inspired by faith, with a love for you,
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Lord, and a love for the people of God. They just labor and toil and sweat, stay up late and lose sleep for the sake of the kingdom.
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And they just have a hope about them, inspired by perseverance. These are elect people of God.
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God, thank you. And by the way, I commend you, Bethlehem Bible Church, not just because you're here on a Sunday night because, you know, just the elect show up on Sunday night.
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But I really want to commend Bethlehem Bible Church because so many of you have this work of faith, labor of love and hope that's pushed by perseverance.
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And when I see that in you, do you know what that makes me think? Those people are what?
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Elect. Because elect people do those very things. You don't do them in order to become elect, but elect people do those very things.
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I thank you, Paul said to God, for what you've done in their lives. Can you imagine if you were
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Paul? Can you imagine if you were an elder at Bethlehem Bible Church and you just preached and preached and preached and preached in discipleship and preached and nobody ever changed?
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You know what I would think of if I preached and nobody ever changed? First, I'd probably say, maybe the problem's me.
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Examine yourselves. Then I would think, maybe God has given me the Isaiah mandate.
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Preach to harden people. Preach in such a way that God is going to make calluses around their hearts.
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Now, if that's what God calls us to do as elders, then we have no say in it. That's what God calls us to do.
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But I'm so glad that isn't the case here. I know many of you, before you were
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Christians and now I look at you. I used to actually go get coffee from some people working when they weren't
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Christians and now look at them. It's amazing to think what
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God does in the life of people. And Paul the Apostle gets this report from Timothy. You can imagine.
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I wonder how they're doing. I'm going to probably get this letter. They're going to be like the Corinthians, biting and factions and craziness and all this rebellion and everything.
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And you can imagine when Timothy's getting close to where Paul is. How's the church of Thessalonica doing?
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And Timothy says, you know what? They're working. They're laboring. They're hoping. You can tell they're elect because they are serving the
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Lord Jesus Christ. They used to serve themselves. Now they serve the Lord. And Paul says what? I just can't stop thanking
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God for you. Because he has done this great thing. Let's look at a couple more.
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Romans chapter 8, verse 33. Right now I'm just trying to, we're just slowly dipping our toes into this huge ocean of election.
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Paul says his choice of you or his election. Romans 8 .33 is another passage where Paul does something that we must not forget.
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He doesn't just bring up election in a passage where it's a debate class.
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It is a theology class. No, it's for a practical reason. To encourage or to instill confidence or thanksgiving or gratitude.
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Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies.
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Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God.
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Who is indeed interceding for us. Paul uses election to introduce practical things.
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Holiness, witnessing, lack of selfishness. And let's go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.
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He says something here that's fascinating to me. He talks about love. So many people think predestination is about the most unloving thing that you could ever bring up.
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But here he says, but we know brothers, loved by God. How do you know you're loved by God?
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He chose you. I choose you. So here's what we're going to do with the rest of the time.
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I'm going to give a little true and false test on election. And I'll tell you the question and then you can say out loud.
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And if you're wrong, it's late at night and I'm tired. But I'll try to let you down gently. And then we'll move forward to talk a little bit about election.
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And why can Paul be thanking God for this election? True or false number 1.
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God wants you to know about election. True? Why did
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I put this here? Well, I put this here because so often election is hid over here.
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Because we don't want to cause any problems in our churches. Because if we bring up election, people's pride is going to be hurt.
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There are going to be divisions. There's going to be Calvinism, Arminianism, Reform, this, that and the other. Wesleyan and Whitefield and all these issues.
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Let's not talk about it because it's going to cause problems. But if it's in the
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Bible, what are we to do? And aren't you glad? We just go verse by verse by verse. And if it says chosen, it says chosen.
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I mean, did God make a mistake when he had Paul praise God in Ephesians chapter 1?
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly places. Every spiritual blessing is in the heavenlies.
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And he says, what's the first thing he praises God for in Ephesians chapter 1? Election. You're to know about election.
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You say, well, I can't figure it all out. Well, that's true. Since it's election night tonight and we're talking about election,
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I have to quote John Calvin on election because it just wouldn't be fair if I didn't. If anyone will seek to know more than what
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God has revealed, he shall be overwhelmed with the immeasurable brightness of inaccessible light.
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But we must bear in mind the distinction between the secret counsel of God and his will made known in the
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Scripture. For though the whole doctrine of Scripture surpasses in its height the mind of man, yet an access to it is not closed against the faithful who reverently follow the
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Spirit. But with regard to God's hidden counsel, the depth and height of it cannot be reached.
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God wants you to know about election. Is the word election in your Bible? It's in there, so we've got to get some definition sooner or later.
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Number two, which leads me into this true or false statement, all Christians believe in election.
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All Christians believe in election. True. It just depends on how you define election.
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Right? You either define it pre -destination or you define it post -destination. We'll talk about that in a second.
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All Christians do believe in election. That is to say, it's in every Christian's Bible. Clearly taught.
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Not just one place or two places. The Bible teaches election.
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You see the words in the Bible, elect, election, for ordination, chosen, for knowledge.
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Israel was elect. Angels were elect. Levitical priests were elect. Jeremiah the prophet was elect.
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Believers are elect. And by the way, when your kids play, I'm trying to think what kids play these days. For me, we played in the sandbox.
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We had these little army men about this big and some were blue and some were silver.
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Some were gray. Guess what we played? Civil War.
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And guess what we did? At least what I did. I grew up in Nebraska, so I guess
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I was a Yankee. Feel better? We actually sang Battle Hymn of the
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Republic there without having people yell at us. And I would make sure that I was on the
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Union side and I was this particular little guy. Especially the guy that had the cool bayonet and the cool rifle.
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I wasn't the guy with the trumpet. Believe me. Who wants to be the guy with the trumpet? He has no weapon.
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I was the guy with the cool weapon. You were the guy with the trumpet? I just offended Brian Casey, our trumpeter.
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My point is this. I was a little sovereign controlling all these things.
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I've said this a hundred times at this church. We are made in the likeness and image of God and God is a choosing
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God. A sovereignly picking and choosing God. And so why do we hate in God what we love in ourselves? Who's your favorite football team?
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Who's your favorite baseball team? Most people here don't have arranged marriages. A few do, but most don't.
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And you've got to pick your spouse. Everywhere you go there's elect talk in the
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Scriptures. God choosing out of a larger group.
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That's what election means. To gather out. To pick out. A good way to describe it, I guess this time of year, is if there's a bucket of apples here that you just picked down at the farm and you picked out four of those, you are selecting those out of a larger group.
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You are picking those, electing those out. And here God chooses an eternal act of God where based on His own good pleasure, not based on any foreseen goodness in the people, chooses some for Himself.
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True or false, number three. Again, just trying to think through, how could Paul say, God, thank you for electing these people?
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Number three, true or false. Without election, no one would be saved. True or false, without election, no one would be saved.
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Why is that? Without election, no one would be saved. What's the doctrine that is behind the scenes that makes election a mandatory doctrine?
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Well, sovereign grace is there, but the one I was looking for is the depravity of man. Right? Man's total inability, man's corruption makes it certain because of Adam's sin imputed to our account and then the consequent fallen nature that we all have.
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We aren't going to be picking. If God did look down the corridors of time and saw us, what would
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He see? There's going to be no foreseen faith for dead people.
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They are unable to respond. And really when you think of dead and trespasses and sins in Ephesians 2, what's
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Paul really after? Paul's after there's no response of the person to God.
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They can't appreciate God. They can't go to Mount Washington in the very top and look down upon Boston and go, that's an awesome sight, because they're dead.
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They don't appreciate who God is or anything about it. The key to understanding election, if you tonight sit here and say, you mean to tell me that God chooses some people and not others?
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That's exactly what I mean to tell you. And if you're struggling with it, A, read the Scriptures.
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B, ask yourself what you like to do. But most importantly, say this.
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I guess this is most important, because that's part of reading the Scripture. I ought to study just how bad mankind is on their own, because if I understand the depravity of man,
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I will soon understand the absolute need for God to initiate, because man doesn't initiate anything.
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I went to somebody's house this week who's having a hard time working through the doctrine of sin.
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They said, the church that I grew up with tells me to be good. That's how you get to heaven.
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My church, my parish tells me you ought to be good, do things to get to heaven. So I opened up my
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Bible and gave it to this person and asked them to read Romans chapter what?
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Three. And part of what this particular person read was, No one does good, not even one.
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We need the doctrine of election, because left to ourselves, we will never respond to God. We will never repent.
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Number four. These are all building on themselves. Question four, our true and false number four.
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The ground of election is the good pleasure of God. The ground of election is the good pleasure of God.
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Why does God choose? Because God what? Wants to.
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What a God that is. I choose because I want to. Let's go to Ephesians chapter one just for a minute, because I want you to see that.
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About it's His will and His purposes and His kind intention. It's all about God.
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God does this. God didn't have to choose anyone. Nobody deserved to be chosen.
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Then grace wouldn't be grace. It'd be merit. The ground of election is the good pleasure of God.
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Why does God do anything, let alone choose? Same answer. Ephesians chapter one verse four.
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Now let's just read from the very beginning, because it's so good. Verse four.
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Even as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world. Remember that, because that will help you on one of the next true or falses.
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That we should be holy and blameless before Him. Not that we were.
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He didn't say, oh Mike's holy, I choose him. But I'm going to choose him, so that then he would be holy and blameless before Him.
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In love He predestined us. It's a loving thing. You say, that's so unloving the doctrine of election.
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Every time somebody says that, I say to myself, Ephesians chapter one verse four. In love
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He predestined us, for the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His, what?
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Will. His purpose. Verse eleven please. Having been predestined according to the purpose of Him, who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
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I don't know how far I can push this, but I'll push it a little bit. How many people here are adopted?
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How many people here have adopted children? I know some do. Let's say you're going to adopt some children, and you go to another country.
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And you walk into a huge room full of 500 one year old children, who all in a war torn area.
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None of them have parents. The orphanage is taking care of them the best they can. You've paid for your paperwork and processing all that.
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And you go in and you get to choose one of those children. When you choose that child, and then give them your last name, pay for all their vaccinations, send them to America, fill out all the paperwork, give them food, clothing, insurance when they drive cars, and all the things that go along with it.
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What would you say that is? Hate, indifference, or love? I mean you know the answer.
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This is a loving thing. Furthermore, would you ever say to a parent who adopted one out of 500, you are the most vile, wicked, perverse person in the world, because you didn't choose the other 499?
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I don't think you'd ever say that. This is love. And I don't know how adopted people think,
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I'm not sure. Bruce, your email is twice adopted, right? Adopted the first time, adopted the second time.
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It's a pretty loving thing for a mom and dad to adopt someone. This is love. It's the same thing with God when
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He adopts us as sons. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5. It's love. I mean, I'm just stuck with my kids.
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This is just called duty. My 4 kids, duty. And here adopting, love.
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They just come out and you go, they're yours. Okay. Number 5.
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Keeping right here in Ephesians, election took place, true or false, before time began.
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Now think about this for a second. If God chooses some people, there had to be a time when
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He chose. So when did He choose? And so the answer is found in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4.
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Before the foundation of the world. Titus, excuse me, 2
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Timothy 1 .9 says, He saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.
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How about Revelation 13? And all who dwell on the earth will worship Him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the
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Lamb who has been slain. Number 7. I don't know.
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We're going to have to hurry up. This is going to turn into a five -parter. Number 7.
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True or false? By the way, if you want to email me, mike at bbcchurch .org, and you want this list with the verses that go along with it, you just email me and I'll send it to you.
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But if you email me on Monday, I won't send it to you. It has to be Tuesday. Email me on Tuesday.
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Dear Pastor Mike, I know it's Monday. What do you think the next word is?
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What? By the way, if it's an emergency, call Steve on Monday. No problem.
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Seriously, if there's an emergency, you call. But if it's not an emergency, Mike, I'd really like that list. Tuesday would be good.
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1201 a .m. Number 7. Number 7.
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True or false? Election is based on God's foreknowledge. A little trickier.
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Election is based on God's foreknowledge. Well, this is kind of tricky because when we hear the word foreknowledge, we just default to English.
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Right? When you hear the word love, sometimes you just default to the English definition of love, forgetting that there's four different Biblical definitions.
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Same thing here. Foreknowledge. Can God know things ahead of time?
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Yes. But foreknowledge has nothing to do with God knowing something ahead of time. It has to do with knowing some person ahead of time.
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Let's take a look at this. Foreknowledge has nothing to do with knowing events ahead of time.
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It's knowing people ahead of time. Let's take a look at... What passage do
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I want to look at for this? Let's look at Romans 8. I think that would probably be the best.
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Foreknowledge. It's foreknowledge of people, not events.
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God certainly knows events. But let's just take a look at this, and I want to establish two facts. One, that it's knowing people.
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Number two, what is knowing people anyway? What does to know someone mean?
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Romans 8. Let's go down to verse 28 in this great passage here.
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Romans 8 .28. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose.
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For those whom He foreknew. Is God foreknowing events, foreknowing actions?
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Well, certainly does God know ahead of time what's going to happen? Yes, He does, because He foreordained it to happen. But look at the passage right here.
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Very simple. You need to read Arthur Pink's Attributes of God book on foreknowledge, and he will drive it home into your head.
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God foreknows people. He knows them ahead of time. What does that mean? We'll talk about that in a second.
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For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined. Now, let's go back to what
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I love to say. Think like a Jew right now.
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This second, think to yourself, what does a Jew think of when
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God says in His Word that so -and -so knew so -and -so?
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The Bible teaches that God knew Israel. Didn't know the
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Canaanites? What does it mean when God knew Israel alone? He just knew about them?
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No, He knew them. There was an intimate relationship with them. When a man knows his wife, there is an intimate relationship there.
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That's the stress. So here's what Paul says with foreknowledge, that God intimately knows people ahead of time.
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That's what foreknowledge is. Because if foreknowledge is God says, you know what, there's a couple characters in Nebraska, one named
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Scott and one's named Mike, my best friend Scott growing up. And you know what? I see
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Mike, and Mike, even though he's really pretty, he's a rascal and a scoundrel, and what we like to say at home when we're talking about scoundrels and rascals, scallywag.
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He's a scallywag. 1989, he did finally come to the end of his self and say,
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I repent, I believe, and God says, I'll choose him then. Because if I look down the corridor of time and I see
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Scott, who's a double scallywag, and I think the story goes he put a gun to his wife's head, pulled the trigger, and it didn't go off.
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You know what? I think I'll pick Mike because he did something. That's not what the Bible teaches regarding foreknowledge.
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Whom he foreknew. Not what he foreknew that Mike would do. He knew me ahead of time.
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The Hebrew word is yada, before time began. God said, I know you intimately.
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I'll love you intimately. I'm going to love you ahead of time. You want to know what foreknowledge means? It means to set your love on somebody ahead of time.
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And God said, I'm going to set my love ahead of time on you, so therefore I will predestinate you and carve you out.
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Oh, yeah, if you mean foreknowledge as God knows ahead of time what you're going to do, then I guess your salvation is based on what you do, and so therefore it's no longer grace.
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It's by works, and God picked you because you picked Him. That's as foolish as saying God votes for your salvation,
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Satan votes against your salvation, and you cast the deciding ballot. Only three votes count for salvation, and who are those three votes?
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Steve, you've heard this sermon before, haven't you? Once. Foreknowledge is an idiom for to love beforehand.
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I've loved you beforehand. Now, I know it breaks down, but just think about this for a second since we're thinking about kids.
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I remember when every one of my kids weren't outside the womb, but they were in the womb, and I would just take my hand.
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I remember thinking to myself, I haven't even really met this kid.
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I felt their feet go whoo. When kids get older and the ladies,
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I was going to say stomach, but that's not true, and the lady, that's what you have to tell the kids. I'm talking like a child now.
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The baby in mommy's tummy, right? You just feel the heel come across.
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Finally, the baby's born, and you think, you know what? I loved you. I love you now, but I loved you ahead of time.
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I loved you before you were born. I knew I was going to have you through Kim, and I loved you.
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My affection was already set on you. I know it breaks down some, but that's pretty close.
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All right, I don't know. I think we've got to finish. I think we've got to be done. I have a bunch of other ones, but let's just turn to Romans 9 and finish it since we're in Romans 8.
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For those of you who are struggling with election, I'll just leave you with Romans 9. Throw the hand grenade in your closet, and then
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I've got to go home. Email Steve on Monday. Romans 9.
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Let's just pick it up here in a really easy verse, verse 13. Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
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What shall we say then? You can just hear Paul, knowing that people would say this, is there injustice on God's part?
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By no means. For he says to Moses, remember, in the cleft of the rock, God, let me see your goodness.
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And what happens? I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
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You want to know what God is? If you could boil down all of His attributes into one thing, Moses is put in the cleft of the rock, and God's sovereignty goes by him.
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At God's essence, at His very nature, He is a choosing God. And you notice it goes on to say, so then it depends not on human will.
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Why? Because the human will is bound. There's no free will. It's bound to sin, slave to Satan, influenced by the world.
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The will can only do what the nature allows it to do. An unregenerate nature won't allow a will to say,
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God, I'm going to trust in You, or exertion, but on God. It depends on God, thankfully, wonderfully, who has mercy.
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So Scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raise you up, that I might show My power in you, that My name and My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
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So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever
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He wills. Wait a second, you'll say to me then, well then why does He still find fault?
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For who can resist His will? Hey, if He hardens me, I can't believe. Verse 20.
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You know, there's only so far we can go when we look at the eternal counsels of God and we can't go any farther. And if you really have a question that's sincere and you're struggling with, you know, what about election, and is it conditional, is it unconditional?
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Pastor, can you help me understand it? I really want to help you understand it. But if you are saying,
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God, You're not doing the right thing by not picking everyone, then this next verse is for you.
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Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? The Eben Droth translation would go this way.
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Who are you, puny, little, frail creature, sin -stained?
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Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? You just better shut your mouth while you're ahead.
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What is the thing molded is going to say to its molder? Why have you made me like this?
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Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
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Show me a potter and I'll show you someone who says, I'm making some nice china with this clay, and now tomorrow
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I'm going to make a garbage can with this clay. Although that's not really the picture here.
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It's some other unmentionable thing. Not that you put garbage in, but you put waste in.
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God can do whatever He wants. He owes a sinner nothing but judgment.
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And if He sovereignly pleases to give some mercy, well, we should be rejoicing. Election harms no one.
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Election doesn't make anyone go to hell. And then you can read the rest of the chapter.
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There's no injustice with God. God's a merciful God, a compassionate God. The sovereign
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King of the universe does whatever He wills. Man can't judge what God does, even if He didn't save any.
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Sin sends men to hell. All men are sinners. Okay, I can't resist.
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What if somebody says, God, this is like making me a robot.
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This just makes me a robot. You know what I always say? It's not like a robot.
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It's like a potter and clay. This doesn't make you robotic. This is like God with the potter and the clay.
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Okay, we're going to have to stop there. We're going to pick it up next week, same time. Let's pray. Father, we know that the judge of the universe deals justly.
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And with Deuteronomy, we pray tonight that you are the great God whose work is perfect for all your ways are just.
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A God of faithfulness without injustice. Thank you for the election that you have granted to us.
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And for the saints here tonight who are believers, I, as their pastor, say to you,
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Father, on their behalf, thank you for saving us. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for adopting us out of your mercy and love and grace and goodness and benevolence and kindness.
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We deserve death and sin and hell, and we get heaven and the Spirit of God and fellowship and the word and so much more.
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Father, for those who have objections to election, I pray that you would slay their pride and let them see with eyes of faith in the
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Scripture what you teach. And Father, if there's anyone here tonight who is not a believer, doesn't know if they're elect or not,
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Father, I pray that they would settle it tonight and tonight would be the day, by your grace, that they would believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ and settle the issue once and for all.