Ministry's Only Hope: Election (part 8)

Did you catch those lyrics? Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands.

Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone, thou must save and bow.

Let us pray please. Father, thank you for this morning where we can extol your virtues, where we can speak well of your

Son, where we can come and say we are recipients of divine grace, of eternal favor.

And help us this morning, Father, to focus upon your word. We'd love to be able to think about you properly, biblically, according to your revelation.

And we are so thankful that you did something for us and to us that we could never do on our own.

That you gave us new birth, that you gave us faith, that you gave us salvation full and free. And today,

Father, in this sermon on election, I pray that the congregation might increase in their joy, that they might have a special thankfulness today, knowing that salvation was not determined upon them, but it was decided by you.

And you do what you desire and that you would be so pleased to save us. It is a wonder.

And Father, may today's sermon proclaim that you must save and you alone.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I was thinking this morning as we were sitting there, I have the best job in the world.

I get to stand up every week, twice a Sunday, and say that Jesus Christ is great.

That God is a great Savior. That no matter what the sin, God can save to the uttermost and to proclaim to all those that would listen that God forgives sinners and He is great.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. And today we'll talk about that in this topic of election.

We're winding up the series, but we're dealing with this doctrine of election. And I found a simple 78 -word definition for you that is a few hundred years old that summarizes it.

We don't write with 78 -word definitions these days. The canons of Dort described election like this, election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby before the foundation of the world,

He hath, out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom

He from eternity appointed the mediator and head of the elect, the foundation of salvation.

Simply put, God saves sinners and He does not just do that in time.

He started that before time began. I like to think of election as proclaiming the godness of God, that God is really who

He says He is, Lord and monarch and king. Everything God does,

He does for a reason. We've been looking at 20 questions to ask and answer about this biblical doctrine of election, sovereign election, our selection, and we've been through 15 of those and I hope to finish not today, but next time we gather, next time

I preach when we gather. Next Sunday we'll have a special message by Dr. Fuller from Southern Seminary, Hebrew scholar, he'll be preaching here next

Sunday, a special treat. But then after Resurrection Sunday, we'll get back to this final part nine of this doctrine of election.

But so far, we've looked at things like this, that all Christians believe in election, that election has to be all of grace, that election isn't unloving, it's loving.

Election isn't sterile and fatalistic or stoic, it is personal. God adopts us as children, that election helps us to evangelize because it gives us confidence.

We've talked about things like election does not negate human responsibility or better said human accountability.

Even last Sunday we looked for a long time and asked this question, does election promote sin, spiritual laziness?

No, it spurs us on. And today we're going to ask three questions and then hopefully answer them biblically so we can understand this doctrine a little bit better.

If you'd like a review of chapter of election number one through 15, we'll have a nine -part tape series that you can get.

So no more review. Question number 16, I have to say if you're visiting, it's a little odd for me to do this.

We're usually in the book of Matthew, verse by verse by verse in the Sermon on the Mount and I am basically drooling to get back to that passage in Matthew 5 .43

about loving your enemies. But I thought it was right and proper to speak about this doctrine that really extols the greatness of God like no other doctrine and shows that he is in control, it is his counsel, his purpose and his will that will determine someone's eternal destiny.

Question number 16, for those of you taking notes, do you believe that election is the gospel?

Do you believe election is the gospel? I mean, some people when they learn about this doctrine, they get really fired up.

They've never understood the doctrine of election before and they learn it and they grasp it and they finally, may

I say, submit to this high doctrine and then they go overboard.

It is a doctrine almost like spiritual nitroglycerin that you have to handle carefully because you can take election and make that the gospel.

And when you go to an unbeliever, that's all you talk about is election. And we do not believe at this church that election is the gospel.

I know that if you've been in church for 5, 10, 15, 20 years and have never heard of this doctrine and then hear it laid out over several weeks,

I hope it grips you. I hope it makes you so zealous that you can't get over it. It really is the

Protestant second blessing. I can't believe Jesus died for me, should be the first blessing of salvation.

And then that God would choose me with all my skeletons, with all my thoughts, with all my deeds of sin, and God still loved me.

He chose me before time began. That should make us sit and think.

But sometimes people overdo it. I hope from this series you think election is great, that it's wonderful, that it's glorious, that you want to read about it.

But I don't want you to somehow think that election is the gospel. We may become over -infatuated with the doctrine so we meet an unbeliever and that's all we talk about.

Somehow the doctrines of grace, including election, is the gospel. Listen to this statement carefully, please.

Election is not salvation, but election is unto salvation.

Election is not salvation, but it is unto salvation. That is to say that when you think of the doctrine of salvation, sadly lots of people think, well, it's the day that I believe the gospel.

And we sometimes repel against that because it's so much more. It is God in eternity past choosing us.

It is Christ 2 ,000 years ago dying a substitutionary death in our place, confirmed by the resurrection.

And it is also the day that we were saved, we were made born again by God. It's more than just one, but it's not only that one.

When we preach the gospel, we need to preach the gospel, and that does not include election.

Election is not salvation, but unto salvation. Think of it this way, in 2008, when we have a presidential, we vote when?

2008? Yeah, that's what I thought. The president -elect will not be the president until the inauguration.

People are elect before eternity past, but they are not Christians until the day where God saves them.

When we preach the gospel, if someone says, do you believe in election? Well, I'm not afraid to tell them about the

Lord Jesus Christ. But I don't start off preaching total depravity, unconditional election.

I start off preaching the gospel. We've summarized the gospel with 12 words. Remember just short six months ago?

Talking about God and how He's holy and He's righteous. He's a creator, He's a judge,

He's a savior, etc. We've talked about man's plight. He's a rebel, He's fallen,

He's foolish. We've talked about the greatness of the gospel, where Jesus is a savior.

He redeems, He reconciles, He was resurrected. We've been taught from the scriptures that we tell people to believe, to repent, to follow.

I was flying from Burbank up to San Jose a couple weeks ago.

It was a jam -packed Southwest flight. I got in early and got my aisle seat.

I prayed a prayer like, God, I'd love to have this seat open because I need a little extra room at 6 -1 -2 -20.

I'd like extra room, but if you have to send someone next to me that I preach the gospel to, I'm willing. It was a little more sanctified than that.

Overbooked. Not one seat left in the entire plane that was empty except right next to me.

A lady walks by, she can't find a seat. She walks back up and she's got these kind of weird things.

It's California. Weird things coming out of her head with springs and stuff and hearts. She's probably 30 -ish and I just go...

I'm reading John MacArthur's Truth Wars book. I said, alright. So she sat down and said, hi, how are you?

Looks like you're coming from a party or going to a party. Oh, yes, I am. Whenever I am next to a lady,

I always think I'm going to talk about my wife and kids. I don't want her to think I'm trying to pick her up or something like that.

I said, I'm about ready to have a party in two days. I'm going to fly home and see my wife and kids. It's going to be great. I've been out of town for a week.

Come to find out, she is a preschool teacher at a Christian school that has never read the

Bible and doesn't know a thing about who Jesus was. So I sat down and I said, well, I've been going through a 29 -week series on election.

Let me tell you about unconditional election. Do you think

I did that? I began to think about what should

I talk to this girl about? And I followed my own advice. When Paul would meet someone who didn't know the

Bible, Gentiles and Greeks, he began to talk about the Creator. And then he worked from Creator to this

Creator was a judge. And then this judge, amazingly, is a

Savior too. And I began to preach Jesus Christ. How great He was. How He can forgive sins.

Every sin ever committed. By thought, by word, by deed, by omission, by commission, etc., etc.

And I said, I get to fly around all the world and tell people, Jesus forgives sins. Now, if she would have said, do you believe in unconditional election?

You're one of those, you know, God's sovereign guys. I would have said, of course I do, because God is

God. Not just by name, but by action and deed. But I'd have to get there, because I was talking about who

Jesus was. And we have to be careful at our church, that when we grab a hold of the doctrine that God, our sovereign, reigns over people's souls.

Not just the weather, but over souls. We don't want to go too far. That's why it would be good if you'd like some homework, read

R .C. Sproul's book, Chosen by God. It will so help you to understand that God ordains the ends, salvation and the means.

He tells us what to guard our minds from, so somehow we don't become seesawed over too far and believe weird things about election.

And tells us that we must pray and we must evangelize. A great book.

If you've not read that seminal book, you need to. When I got here ten years ago, I grabbed a guy who loved to read and said, you need to have a book table right over here,

Steve Nelson. And I want you to read these ten books. And one of those books was Chosen by God. And I knew it was going to be a dynamite book.

Not because it's a good book, but it was going to cause an explosion in this church. Life changing.

Chosen by God. I almost got fired three years later for many reasons, but that being the main one.

The sovereignty of God over souls. And R .C. is so helpful. By the way, on a side note,

I would gladly do it all over again and get fired for proclaiming to people that God is in charge and reigns over the souls of all men.

Peter would do it. James would do it. Paul would do it. Jesus would do it. To me, God's glory is non -negotiable.

And I will sacrifice my reputation, my family's reputation, my employment, my health insurance, all on this proclamation.

The Lord our God alone saves. If you want to go down the street and start a church with a low view of God, then go right ahead.

It is a non -negotiable. But we can't run to just preaching election. We have to preach the whole counsel of God.

Turn with me, if you would, to Romans 10. And I want to show you that in this chapter,

Romans 10, that follows sovereignty of God in salvation, chapter 9, here is human responsibility.

And you will see that when Paul is proclaiming this truth, yes, he calls him

Lord, but when we preach and understand election, we still need to proclaim the doctrine of Christ Jesus.

Our job as evangelists is proclaiming Jesus Christ and Him crucified, not necessarily the doctrine of election.

Again, I won't say no if someone asks me if I believe that. But when we're preaching the gospel, the gospel is focused on the person and the work of the

Savior, yes? And so if you look at Romans 10, a very familiar passage, verses 9 and following, look in your own

Bibles and see the focus on the person and work of Christ being promoted, heralded, spoken about.

And you can't really separate the person and the work of God, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised

Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness.

With the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. The focus is on Christ. Look at verse 14.

How then will they call on unconditional election in whom they have not believed? How will they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in a doctrine whom they have not heard? See, it's focused on the person of Christ.

We preach Christ, unbelievers. And how will they hear about Christ, literally, without a preacher?

Verse 15, how will they preach unless they're sent? Just as it is written and stands written.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things. Jesus Christ saves sinners.

That's what we proclaim. And even in verse 17, if you skip a verse, so faith comes from hearing.

And hearing by the word are a message about Christ. Preach the forgiving

Messiah. Preach Christ Jesus who was a perfectly obedient follower of God.

He loved God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. And he loved his neighbor as himself. He then died on a cross.

Even though he was not sinful, he died and received a sinner's death. And then

God raised him from the dead. We want to preach about Christ Jesus. And we don't want to somehow fail by teaching people election all the time.

I think we should proclaim things like this. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Yes? That's what we need to preach. Election is not salvation. But election is unto salvation.

They're one big component. We think of salvation as our conversion experience, what we've received.

And, in fact, that's true. But it's not all the truth there is. Before time begins, at Calvary, the day we are saved, the day we are being sanctified slash saved, and the day we'll ultimately be saved, glory.

And that is salvation. Number 17. What do

I do if I attend a church that never preaches election? Well, for almost everyone here today, you can rule that out, right?

We've been preaching election very often. So this applies more to the website, people.

We have many listeners from all over the world. And, of course, this church does preach election.

Paul does, Peter does, Louis does, Dave does, Steve does. But before I answer the question, let me just flip it around a little bit.

What should you do if you attended a church that does preach election? I saw a couple smiles.

I think you should rejoice. I think you should do a dance. Not in church, but at home.

You should dance. I think you should be so happy that you don't have to come and hear a sermon every week about how horrible life is and all your trials and financial things and health things and neighbor things and all these things.

I just love to study and then to proclaim God. Here's God. Look to Him.

See how great He is. He's in charge. Of course, there's lots in Scripture about what we should do and how we should respond to God's grace.

Forget some kind of zap. I love to preach election.

What do you do if you're at a church that doesn't preach election? I'll give you the short answer first. If you're not at a church that preaches election and you're there often and they never preach election, then it's a quick and simple answer.

You should leave that church. If you're at church, the long answer is, you've been there a while, guy's preaching verse by verse, but he's in James and it's a bunch of imperatives.

Well, that's another story. But God is sovereign and He shows

His sovereignty everywhere in Scripture. And if you never hear that, then what's going on with the preacher?

What's going on with the elders? Oh, we never heard about election. I've been there 25 years. Friends, let me just show you something that I just am struck by.

Turn to Judges 14, if you will, please. One of the best things you could do for your people is to just teach them the

Bible, all the Bible, and you'll see how God is sovereign everywhere in election and in salvation and other ways too.

And people say, well, I struggle with the doctrine of election. I have real simple advice for you. Read your

Old Testament. Just read the Old Testament. You will be flabbergasted at the amount of times where God uses

Cyrus as a servant, where God sends an evil spirit to delude someone.

And sooner or later you will be going like this. I can't believe that God does things that show that He's a king and a monarch and He answers to no one.

And He takes things that are bad and turns them for good. And you'll quickly realize that God is sovereign.

I've been teaching the kids Judges before we go to bed. I don't know how you teach the kids your

Bible, but I just go, call it a weird concept, verse by verse. What are you going to do?

Prepare something every night? I guess you could. So we do Judges 1, we talk about it, we review things, and then the next night we do

Judges 2. And if you forget a night or you're too tired, then the kids are all going to be going, Daddy, it's

Judges 3 tonight, right? Judges 14 we came up to, and you know the story of Samson.

And it's this kind of passage that should fortify in your mind that God is sovereign over everything and He must be sovereign over election as well.

Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.

So he came back and told his father and mother, I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the

Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me as a wife. Now that's how people talk to their parents these days.

It's wrong today and it was especially wrong back then. And his father and mother said to him,

Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all our people that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised

Philistines? But Samson said to his father, Get her for me for she looks good to me.

And you know what I think when I read that? What a complete loser. He should be stoned under Mosaic law.

Go get her for me. This is a biblical way to find a wife, by the way, but everything in the

Bible necessarily is not to be followed or replicated. And you think, how can this go on?

This is Samson, by the way, if you read Hebrews 11, he's in heaven today worshiping Christ Jesus.

How does he act this way? What is going on? And whether it's a doctrine of a sovereignty of God over souls or sovereignty of God over judges and sin and evil, you'll see everywhere in the

Bible in full color in the Old Testament that God's sovereign. Verse four.

However, his father and mother did not know that it, the sinful, horrible attitude and talk to his parents, for which he should have been stoned by Mosaic law, that it was of the personal covenant keeping name of God, Yahweh.

For God was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now, at that time, the

Philistines were ruling over Israel. Isn't that amazing?

That is an absolute amazing passage, and you'll see it everywhere in the Bible. And friends, if you have trouble with the election of souls, read your

Old Testament, because you cannot read very far without that stuff jumping into your mind. First Samuel, Second Samuel.

There's no talk about, oh, God makes us robots, or what about free will, or what about all this stuff?

The hero of the Old Testament, and the hero for you, and the hero for me should be the triune

God. He gets all the credit, we contribute sin, and he still saves. That is an amazing passage to me.

If you don't hear election at church, there's trouble in that church. And let me give you several comments about that.

Number one. Preaching about election, or not preaching about it, reveals deeper problems in pastoral ministry.

If people don't preach about election, it reveals a problem in pastoral ministry. James Boyce said, nevertheless, election is an important measuring rod for someone's theology.

Since an acceptance or rejection of this doctrine reveals at once whether a person is biblically correct on such other doctrines as the nature and extent of sin, the bondage of the will, the full grace of God and salvation, and even the presentation of the gospel.

Friends, people have reasons theologically for what they do or don't do. And I'd like to know if men will not preach election from the pulpit, do they somehow think they're wiser than God?

God somehow made an error in putting in this doctrine, and if you preach it, you'll split a church, and you'll send some people to write hate mail, and all these other things?

Absolutely not. We are not to muzzle God as a pastor, putting duct tape over God's mouth.

I better not do that. D .A. Carson calls it the gagging of God.

It's in the Bible, and it is true or false profitable. Absolutely, it's profitable because it's there.

1 Corinthians 4, how does this ring with you? Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and servants of the mysteries of God.

In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found faithful or trustworthy.

That's what pastors should do. That's what preachers should do. I'm not the servant of the text, nor am

I a lord of the text. I'm underneath. I'm a low person way under it, and as God says, here's the text,

Mike, you preach it all to them. And if you've been in church for 20 years and never heard election, I think there's a major problem.

Picking and choosing what is preached. Oh, that's too controversial. I know people don't like it, and people push against it, but we have to be careful as pastors.

What do you think of this comment? Limit your preaching to roughly 20 minutes because boomers don't have much time to spare, and don't forget to keep your messages light and informal, liberally sprinkling them with humor and personal anecdotes.

You like that? Or you think that's right? Of course we don't.

But to me, just as sad as picking and choosing what should be preached. What will the people like?

What will the people not like? What are they going to have trouble with? I know there's some of you dear people that have trouble with election.

Not after you in a mad way, but you need to wrestle with it. Secondly, ignoring election from the pulpit goes against Paul's model of faithfully preaching the whole counsel of God.

Turn to Acts 20, will you, please? I usually don't like to jump all around, but again, today's a little different. Acts 20, and let me show you that Paul, by his example, should help congregations and pastors to preach everything.

Everything in this book should be preached. And if I live long enough, I'm going to preach it all. I was convicted of that last summer, never preached

Song of Solomon, so what do we have? Four part series of Song of Solomon. Willing to teach it all, every verse.

If you are a waitress or a waiter, and someone orders a steak rare, like all steaks should be delivered and served,

I have to tell the people out back if I ever go there, you know, if you overcook this, I'm sending it back. So it would be better to undercook it first, than somehow hurt this beautiful piece of beef that I want to eat.

And then I went to India and I had to eat some water buffalo steak, and Chris Williams told me, you know what, you better not get that rare, you need to get that well done to cook all the bugs out.

And I just thought, ministry. Look at Paul's example when it comes to teaching a church.

Elections everywhere in the Bible, why will not people preach it? Acts 20, 17. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church.

This must have been a sweet time of fellowship. When they had come to him, he said to them, you yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how

I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility, and with tears, and with trials, which came upon me through the plots of the

Jews. Verse 20 and verse 27 are important. How I did not shrink.

Hupostello, I didn't draw back, I didn't withhold, I didn't back down. From declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house.

Solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks, of repentance towards God, and faith in our

Lord Jesus Christ. Lots of afflictions. Verse 25. And now behold,

I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. Therefore I testify to you this day, that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

What would make you innocent, Paul? For, verse 27, I did not shrink,

I did not draw back, I did not withhold, I did not back down from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

And there are people that don't act that way. Verse 28. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the

Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Friends, pastors need to preach the whole counsel of God.

Preach everything and follow Paul's model. We should be able to preach verse by verse, expositionally.

And it sure helps when you know some of the people won't like it.

I love to be loved. I like to be liked. Don't you? Who wants to go around getting people not liking you?

It took me to be 40 years old to realize some people in this world don't like me. And Proverbs is true in Proverbs 29, the fear of man brings a snare.

So if you've got a church that preaches verse by verse, you just unfold these doctrines where they are and everybody will accept them because they're right there in the text.

Expository preaching helps so much. That's why when it comes to a pastor, you should say,

I only want one thing. It'd be nice if he was a good fisherman, it'd be nice if he was in the quilting club, it'd be nice, all these kind of things.

Don't laugh. There's some of you that said, you know, there was one person here that is very masculine and a manly man.

He said, I was offended, Mike, when you said something. I thought, oh no, here's another election offense story. And he said, you said the ladies sewing thing was only for ladies.

I said, well, I wish I could sew too. My grandma used to say, darn socks. At first I thought that was a slogan.

Then I realized it was a verb. I hope when you describe me,

I hope you say, he's our preacher. He preaches. Forget relevant, thematic, innovative, he's a change agent, he's a team leader, he's a builder, he's a pastor coach.

These are all things that were in an article for church want ads seeking a pastor. Directly taken from them.

A servant leader. Here's a good one. Thematic, preaching, incorporating, creative use of drama and contemporary worship.

Can you imagine me up here doing drama? I think I'm going to mime John 4 today. I mean, it is so below a preacher.

Jeremiah would do that. Isaiah would do that. John the Baptist would do that. Sorry, is there anything more dramatic than the suspenseful, wonderful, spine tingling story of redemption?

Organizational leader. Someone who can relate well to fast track commuters. Approachable, dynamic, catalytic, a close walk with the

Lord. Here's one. Able to lead worship through drama, audio, visual, technology, banners, and dance.

Can you imagine me dancing? Frightful. Degrees in music are business required.

A degree in theology, preferred. Preach the whole text.

Preach all of it. And if you're at a church where the guy is too spineless to preach it all, then kindly and in love.

This is a whole other sermon. How do you leave a church? But just nicely say, you know what? I'm gone. Ignoring election from the pulpit yields babies in the pews.

Ignorant church, immature church. And I know that when you hear about election, it kind of hurts a little sometimes, and you think, oh, that's hard.

But to me, that's just experiencing not just milk, but meat. And sometimes growing hurts.

When I was a kid, I'd run around the neighborhood and I'd have growing pains behind my knees. Remember that? I think it was maybe just a lack of potassium or something or some

Nebraska diet. But you grow. For this reason, we also constantly thank

God that when you receive the Word of God, all of it, which you heard from us, you accepted it as the

Word of men, but not for what it really is, but for what it really is rather, the Word of God.

I love to preach where people's souls are revived. I think of Psalm 119. Revive me,

O Lord, according to Thy ordinances. Revive me according to Thy Word. Revive me according to Thy ordinances again.

And revive me according to Thy lovingkindness. And may I say to you just bluntly with effect, free will never revived one soul.

Oh, I've got free will. How much revival does that take? One of the things you should do if your church doesn't preach it is ask them if it's in the doctrinal statement.

Because if it's in the doctrinal statement, then why won't they preach it? Don't you think they'd preach what was in the doctrinal statement? And if the church says, we don't have a doctrinal statement, well, then you've got bigger troubles.

They don't even know what they believe. And it's not just important in a church, just to give you a little side note here, I have three daughters and I can't wait for the day where potential suitors come to my door and I can crush them like a little bug.

And although I was 6 '2", 240, I'm shrinking in height and in weight and I'm about 6 '1", 220.

Okay, 225, it's winter time. I like to lift weights.

I like to run on a bike. And so some kid comes to the door and like to kind of spend some time with your daughter.

If you think that I'm going to go, are you a Christian? Yeah, okay, here you go.

Well, you've got another thing coming. I am responsible for my daughter. I'm responsible for my daughter's purity.

I'm responsible for lots of things. And I'm also responsible, hopefully, with wisdom, not to just say, well, you're a

Christian. That'll do. That'll do. If you'd like to date my daughter sometime, fast forward 10 to 50 years from now, young man, you better believe that God is sovereign over salvation or you won't get a date.

Because when they get married, and that first baby dies, mom gets cancer, portfolio goes upside down, and a thousand other tragedies, just like Thomas Watson used to say, there are as many ways to have a trial as there are pores in your skin.

That husband better believe that God is sovereign. Because my daughter's gonna have to follow that man, and there is no oar for the raft without the sovereignty of God, and that means over people's souls too.

It's not just important for a church. It's important for dating and marriage. Number 18.

Did you know election raises many questions? This is my catch -all. Did you know election raises many questions?

Yes, I did know election raises many questions. Let's bow in prayer, please. What about free will?

What about robots? Does God take pleasure in the destination of the wicked and sending them to hell?

All kinds of questions. Does God force people to believe against their will? Many of those have been answered in the last several weeks.

But let's just look at four sets of verses, as time allows, and look at each one of these that seem, if we pull them out of context, to nullify unconditional election.

Some have used these verses to say election can't be true when I'm going to try to show you that in context they are complementary and they just fit right in together.

We have, after all, one divine author of Scripture, and so everything should just fit nicely together.

And let's look at an easy one first. John 3 .16. Turn there, if you will. And again, we're jumping around a lot today.

I don't like to do that, but three or four times a year we'll do that.

John 3 .16. You know the passage. You know it well. And people like to go to John 3 .16

and you can do an eight -part series on election and then they just say, well, John 3 .16. As if somehow that verse does not go along with the doctrine and that verse somehow supersedes and therefore crushes all the doctrine of God's sovereign hand.

Well, let's just take a look at the passage. And by the way, this just gives me a good excuse to just preach this wonderful passage.

It is awesome. John writes to us that Jesus is God and here we have the story of Jesus and Nicodemus and John 3 .16,

as you know, says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

I believe that verse. Do you? First of all, the verse reads in the original, For God loved the world this way that He gave

His only begotten Son that all those believing in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Thankfully for us, verse 17 says, For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him.

He who believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has already been judged because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten

Son of God. Now, most people will take this and talk about the magnificence of God's love and I like that.

I like it when we can shine a spotlight on the love of God. And you'll hear preaching like this,

For God so loved the world, the intensity of His love, the magnification of His love and I think that's good.

But nine times the way this Greek phrase goes in the text, it's always translated this way.

It's not so as in magnification of His love but it's pointing to something.

For instance, here's how it should best be translated. For the other nine times in the New Testament is always translated this way.

For in this way God loved the world. He gave His one and only Son that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

For in this way, here's how God loves. He sends His Son.

That is a magnification of His love. But it's the manner or the mode that it is described here.

And so when you want to talk about how does God love people? Well, He sends His Son on a rescue mission and He kills

His Son instead of killing the sinners. That is a great way to proclaim the truth. But this does not somehow say that if God has chosen people in eternity past that if God loves the world somehow then that means

He's elected everyone or we have all these kind of cockamamie ideas about what's going on. Here's what

John's saying. God loves humans. He's not talking about Jews and Gentiles and Jews and Greeks and He loves the elect and the non -elect.

He's just saying, let me show you the magnification of God's love. The incarnation. Philippians 2.

You want to know if God loves? He sent His Son into this cesspool. That's what

He did. The focus shines on the incarnation. Does God love sinners? Well, we could go to Romans 5.

God demonstrated His own love towards us that while we were yet sinners, what?

Christ died for us. The focus is on the cross. But here, the writer

John is focusing on the sending action is the love. This verse does not negate election.

This is just a continuation of the divine program. Elect before the foundation of the world and in time sending

Jesus. In love, He predestined us. Yes, Ephesians 1, 4 and 5. And in love,

He sends His Son on a rescue mission. So if you tell me, you know, John 3 .16

negates it, it just helps election. Here's what the Father does and now this is what the Son does.

And how the Father sends the Son. So in no way does this negate election.

God doesn't leave mankind to Himself. He chooses and now He sends the Son. Number two.

Let's turn to 2 Peter 3 .9. This is a big one. The first one isn't used that much. It's just used as kind of a throw out.

But I wanted to talk about the love of God in the incarnation and how that is commensurate with the

Father choosing. But now 2 Peter 3 .9. I've heard this verse. I'd like to have a dollar every time

I've heard it just thrown out of context. It's one of the things we want to try to teach you here is what does the text say in context?

2 Peter 3 .9. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Does God desire every person who is ever born to go to heaven? Is that what that passage teaches?

Now whether He desires it or not, does that passage teach that? Does God desire Judas to go to heaven?

Does God desire the Antichrist to go to heaven? Well, you say that's approaching it theologically.

Agreed. Let's approach it textually. What's going on here in 2 Peter 3? What's happening?

In verse 8, He talks about don't let this one fact escape your notice. What? Beloved. He's talking to Christians.

No one uses the word beloved to talk about unbelievers. By the way, this book is written to, if you look back at 2

Peter 1 .1, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours.

The immediate context is in chapter 3 where people are running around, false teachers saying, you know what? Jesus is never coming back.

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. He's never coming back and you're living a life of, it's a pipe dream. Verse 4 of chapter 3, where's the promise of His coming?

Since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.

Maybe God just kind of blew it off coming back. Maybe He's sleeping. Maybe He forgot.

Maybe He has no longer the ability to perform His promises. You know, people stand up, people, and so maybe

God does too. Peter's saying, His delay? It's gracious. It's good.

It's right that He's being delayed. This has nothing to do with God's inability, with God's indifference.

This has to do with His graciousness. Why? If you look at the passage again in verse 9, He's not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, these false teachers, but is patient toward you.

Verse 8, beloved, chapter 1, verse 1, who received faith, He's patient towards you.

He's patient towards other people as well. Not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Not wishing for any. Let me tell you what this says and then we'll look at it. We'll work our way up.

Before the foundation of the world, did God choose by exact number those that He would call to Himself and have

His Son die for? Will Jesus return before some of the elect believe?

That is to say, will God wait and make sure all the elect believe before He sends His Son in judgment?

Yes. What's God doing here? Jesus, come back! False teachers, they're burning people,

Nero's putting animal skins over some of our friends and feeding them to the lions.

Jesus, come back! And Peter says, in the midst of false teachers, in the midst of people saying

Jesus is never coming back, God's kindness and God's goodness is still allowing, making happen those

He's chosen and He's still bringing them into the kingdom. So wait. It's His goodness.

It's His graciousness. He's waiting for people to believe. And He's waiting for His beloved to believe.

No, they already have. He's waiting for those that He's chosen but haven't believed. Do you see the passage? As some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all, the text is not everyone, but for all to come to repentance.

How can you somehow say He's waiting for this particular group, this particular group, and then say, no, He's waiting for everyone?

By the way, if He is waiting, He's going to wait a very, very long time. Because He's not going to save everyone.

We all here deny universalism. He wants the mockers and the false teachers to perish, yes, lest they too repent.

Robert Raymond said, the Lord is patient with you, referring to Christians He's addressing, offering as His ground for this reassuring promise to these

Christians the axiomatic truth, because He does not want any of you to perish, but all of you to come to repentance.

Clearly the referent of His any is the Christian elect to whom He has been speaking, and His all refers to the elect of God in their entirety.

And His point is God's concern for the church. The Lord, He says, is delaying His coming in order that He might bring the whole elect of God to repentance.

The delay of Christ's second coming, one man said, is not the failure of God's plan, but rather the condition of its success.

Second Peter is not anti -election, but it's the explanation of its delay. All right,

I don't know if we're going to be able to finish, but let's go to this last one. 1st Timothy, please. 1st Timothy chapter 2, and we'll see that this is a wonderful exhortation to pray for the lost, and we'll end here.

1st Timothy chapter 2, another passage that people run to all the time and somehow say that God wants everybody to go to heaven when in fact that would deny election, and that would deny

God's power to get done what He wants to do, and it would deny God's free will actually.

1st Timothy 2 .4, you ever bandied this verse about? Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth?

What's that passage teach? Does that passage in fact teach that God desires each and every person who is ever born to come to faith, but because they said no to God, and God, because that they have free will, will not impose regeneration upon them until they let

God. Is that what that passage teaches? I hope not, and I don't think you'll see it. Let's see the context.

It always helps in this pastoral epistle. 1st Timothy 2 .1, here's something

I don't do enough. I've been convicted by. What's the passage all about? And the easiest way to find this out is just to walk through the passage.

You can't jump into verse 4 and prove a point. Let's see the whole passage. This is marvelous.

First of all, I urge that entreaties Paul said to Timothy, the pastor, and prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men.

When you come for public worship, he just gets done talking about Hymenaeus and Alexander and false teachers, and now let me tell you what to do in public worship.

Prayer. It's primary. So I'm going to come alongside of you, Timothy, and I want you to pray for what?

On behalf of all men. Okay. Who are the all men?

Are they all kinds of men? Everybody? Living? Dead? Jew? Gentile?

Greek? Who do I pray for? Well, the amazing thing is, he tells us in the very next verse.

He says there's four kinds of prayers. The first is kind of a supplication or request. Another one's more general.

Another one's intercession. Another one's thanksgiving. But these are the kind of men you pray for.

Verse two. Here it is. The explanation. All kinds. All kinds of leaders.

For kings and for all who are in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Who was the Roman emperor at the time? Nero. And I want you to pray for this kind of person so you live a quiet and tranquil life.

I'll tell you what Christians want to do today. We are going to march until we remove those scoundrels who don't match up with our moral majority mindset, an evangelical

Bible mindset. And if you're a leader and you don't do what we say, we've got the power and the numbers to cost you the presidential election.

How stupid is that? Friends, we are not in a political, ideological battle.

You can be a Republican and go straight to hell. Did you know that? Straight to hell. We are on a redemptive mission.

And so what's the redemptive mission? There are kings and those who are in authority. Pray that they might get saved.

He didn't say pray for the elect. He said pray for all these kinds of people. Pray that they'd get saved and also pray that they'd make just and wise decisions because if a king or a leader does, it makes life a lot easier.

Anarchy is not good. You want to have a king make good decisions? Make you lead a quiet life.

And it's not that kings are more important than other people, but kings affect more people than others.

And so Paul says, Timothy, pray for those leaders.

Those are the all kinds of people that you're to pray for. Verse 3. How good is this?

This kind of prayer for unbelievers and those in authority is good.

It's beautiful is the word. Excellent. Acceptable. Intrinsically good and acceptable in the sight of God, our

Savior. Look at what he calls him. God, our Savior. He's a saving kind of God.

There's a saving kind of God who says, pray for these kind of people, Timothy. It's acceptable.

God says, I welcome that behavior. Come into my presence with that kind of behavior, in other words. Sadly, we pray too often.

God, give me this. God, bail me out of this. God, if you do this, then I'll do that. Pray for the leader's salvation.

Verse 4. Now we finally see it in context. Who desires all men?

Who are those all men? Who desires all those kinds of men? That word all in Greek can be all, all kinds of, all manner of, all sorts of, all inclusive, all relative.

Did you get that? There'll be a test. It can mean a certain group or it can mean everybody. Pray for these kinds of people because you know what?

God didn't just die for Jews. He died for all kinds of people. Isn't that amazing?

He desires all men. You can translate it, all kinds of men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

Knowledge of the truth is talking about salvation knowledge. How about this?

It even gets better. Verse 5. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the

Jew Christ Jesus. Is that what the passage says? No, but that's what they'd want it to say.

Jesus came for the house of Israel. He came to save His people from their sins. And here's Peter, excuse me, here's

Timothy out there ministering. And there's one thing you want to know if you're a minister out in the middle of nowhere's land having people killed for their faith is you want to know

God is a what? Savior. And He saves Gentiles too. For there is one

God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

There's one who intervenes between people, between sinners and God, the Holy God. There's not one

God for this nation and another God for this nation. One for the slaves, one for the free, one for the Jews, one for the

Gentiles. There's a middle person. This was so popular it almost was a confession that they would say on a regular basis.

And then verse 6. Who gave himself, this is the mediator, as a ransom for all.

The exact same word in verse 4, the exact same word in verse 1, all kinds. You pray for all kinds.

He desires all kinds to be saved. And this same Christ, the

God man, is a ransom for all kinds. The testimony given at the proper time. Pray for all kinds.

He died for all kinds. There's a ransom for all kinds. Friends, you can't go to this verse and say

Jesus and God wants every person to be in heaven. Friends, if Jesus died for somebody, they're going to heaven.

If God elects them, they're going to heaven. What we can't get over in our lives is this.

That God in His wisdom determined that not everyone is going to go to heaven and it was

His choice and they are responsible for that. That is what we can't get through our minds. It seems too big for us.

And we need to flip that around a little bit and say, you know, that God would choose anybody. The angels sin and was there a rescue plan?

Is God unloving because of that? We sin and there's a rescue plan, but God, for whatever reason, just decides to save some.

Who are we to say anything differently? He saves all kinds, therefore pray for all kinds, and He's a ransom for all kinds.

And if we don't understand the Jew and Gentile mentality in 1 Timothy, we'll never understand the verse. And I can prove it.

Verse 7. For this I was appointed a preacher. Remember Paul was appointed a preacher in Ephesians 3 to be a preacher to the

Gentiles and an apostle as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith. By the way, I was appointed to be a preacher of the

Gentiles. And we just go, yeah, yeah, yeah, fine. What does Paul say parenthetically? Just to show you that this is true, just to show you that Jesus is a ransom, or not just of Jews, but the

Gentiles. He says in Holy writ, verse 7, I am telling the truth, I am not lying.

He's writing to Timothy and those that would read it to say God just doesn't save Jews, He saves

Gentiles too. So much so that the apostle says I'm not even lying. To throw this verse out and somehow say conditional election must be true is to echo a man who

I dearly love but could never agree with the statement because he puts theology before this text. Indeed God would save all people if He could.

God will achieve the greatest number He possibly can. God will save the greatest number actually achievable without violating their free choice.

Friends, that's not true. We need a God who will come and take people who are bound in their sin to rescue us, to redeem us.

Thou must save and thou alone. It's going to take an act of the Almighty God to save us from our selves.

And this whole idea of God doesn't choose anymore has swept into the local churches, in evangelical churches.

And you know who teaches that? It's not Protestants that teach this. This is Roman Catholic doctrine.

God could save all people if He would, if He could. Jesus said no one can come to me unless the

Father who sent me draws Him. And after Jesus said those words,

His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. Many of them did that.

Jesus said to the twelve, you do not want to go away also, do you? Simon Peter answered

Him, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

They didn't like this doctrine either, but they weren't going to go anywhere because they were having to worship the

God with whom they had to do. This is the only God available. He's the only Savior. And for Him to pick and choose and to save at His own discretion, at His own free will, for His own pleasure, with His own kind intentions.

And we say no, we don't want to worship that God. We have to be careful.

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You may not love it, but you have to accept election.

You may not comprehend it, but as Detzler said, I cannot comprehend how a brown cow eats green grass and yields white milk which turns into yellow butter.

Nevertheless, I enjoy its products. Is your salvation ultimately based on something that God does or what you did?

Can God save sinners without their consent? Can God save people without consulting them?

And when God saves those people, He regenerates them and simultaneously they respond with a blessed saving faith.

And I love to preach this, God. And I would go so far to say that I would wager in the last 60 minutes you have not thought about your leg, your eyes, your ears, your finances, your relationships, your work.

You have thought about this great God. And you've said, a God like that, that I would be, that I get to worship?

It is the most humbling doctrine in all of Scripture that God chooses without our consent.

And when He does, you will surely be saved and you will respond with, Thank you,

God. I love you. I can't understand it all. I can't grasp it all. But I will worship you forever for being a

God that chose me. I've told this story many times. When I asked Kim to marry me in 1989,

May 6th on Kiowa Avenue, she said yes and I had to ask her again just to make sure it was true.

Where two or three witnesses are gathered. And 30 days later, we were married.

For lots of reasons. But one reason being, who wants to wait to marry the girl of your dreams when eventually she's going to figure out what a sinful loser you are.

But then, until death do you part, what are you going to do? When you go on a date, you don't tell somebody about your entire life and what a train wreck it's been.

And all these things. Here are all my skeletons. Here's the first date. People tend to brag about themselves.

Oh, I'm this and I'm that. You know, here's my best side. God knew our every sin.

And He knew it was against His triune holy nature.

And then He sent His Son by His own decision to die in our place and to receive our wounds so that He would heal us.

And He did it unconditionally. And for that, I hope to preach till I die.

Let's pray. Father, You are to be exalted and extolled.

Even many writers of Scripture and many writers of theologies will recognize that the secret things belong to the

Lord. And that we can never wrap our arms around this. But we can wrap our arms around a

God who chooses Israel. A God who chooses certain angels. A God who chooses to not choose other nations.

A God who chooses the twelve disciples. A God who chooses the twelve tribes of Israel. A God who chooses the replacement for the disciples.

And a God who chooses even us. That You would worship us. Oh, may it never be that we could worship

You. You are not the waiter or responder, Father. You are the initiator of our salvation.

And I pray for our dear congregation, even those who struggle with this doctrine, that You would help them to see biblically.

That, Father, the Spirit might come along them patiently and carefully like only You can do.

And to free them to see that their salvation was not based on their faith. It was not based on their goodness.

It was not based on their faith at all. It was based on Your grace. Father, do that for our church.

May we learn and grow and help us to have an evangelistic heart this week to tell others about Jesus Christ.