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 thou alone.

Divine Grace, New Birth, and the Doctrine of Election

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. And 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 of weeks ago, and it was a jam-packed Southwest flight.

I got in early and got my aisle seat, and I prayed a prayer like, you know, God, I'd love to have this seat open because I need a little extra room at 6 -1 -2 -20, and 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. 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, and she's probably 30-ish, and I just go... I'm reading John MacArthur's Truth Wars book. I said, all right. So she sat down.

I said, hi, how are you? Looks like you're coming from a party or going to a party. Oh, yes, I am, and whenever I am next to a lady, I always think I'm gonna talk about my wife and kids, and 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 gonna fly home and see my wife and kids. It's gonna be great. I've been out of town for a week, and 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 10 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 10 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, 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, and Paul does, Peter does, Lewis 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 of 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, where 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 a 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 hear 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. Then 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 4, 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 in your mind. 1 Samuel, 2 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 do 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? 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'd 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, 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? 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, you know, 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 knitting, sewing thing was only for ladies. I said, well, I wish I could sew too. My grandma used to say darn socks. And 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, audiovisual technology, banners, and dance.

I mean, 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, 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 loving kindness.

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 gonna go, are you a Christian? Yeah, okay, here you go. 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?

John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9, and 1 Timothy 2 in Context

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're complimentary 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.