Unconditional Election, Part 2
The second message on unconditional election answers the four most common objections to the doctrine and traces its practical influence. The objections — it is not just, it is not fair, it kills personal concern and effort for salvation, and it makes evangelistic passion unnecessary — are answered primarily from Romans 9, with appeals to the life and labors of Christ, Paul, Whitefield, and Spurgeon. Pastor Martin concludes by showing that rightly received, the doctrine impels gratitude, engenders stability, constrains confidence, motivates faithfulness, humbles in the face of usefulness, and drives us to self-examination.
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A full transcript is available on the tab. 111 paragraphs, roughly 54 minutes.
Review and Transition to Objections
Our study in the Word of God this morning is the tenth in a series entitled, Here We Stand. I'll take just a moment to say a word about the intention of this series, the major areas already covered, and then we shall move to the fresh area of consideration from the scriptures for the remainder of our time. The intention of this series is basically that of presenting a broad overview of what we as a people of God believe the word of God to teach on the great issues concerning life and salvation. It is not enough to say as a church we simply believe the Bible.
Everything from the wildest fanatic sect to the most mature, stable expression of historic Christianity claims to believe the Bible. But the issue is, what do you understand the Bible to teach? And so, taking our clue from the language of Luther, who pointing to man-made books which he believed were an expression of the teaching of the Word of God, would not recant their contents, but said, Here I stand, so help me God. Thus far we've covered two major areas in this confession of our faith as a people of God.
First of all, the book we believe and obey, fundamental to everything else, is our view of the Scriptures, their origin, their authority, their perspicuity, that is, their clarity. and we've considered then what we believe the scriptures to be. Secondly, we've considered the God whom we worship and confess. What does this book tell us about its great and central theme, namely God himself?
And now thirdly, we're in the midst of considering what we understand the scriptures to teach concerning the salvation we receive and proclaim. As God is the great central object of the Scriptures, salvation is its great and central theme. And our concern now is with the first major division of that third broad category, the salvation we receive and proclaim. Who or what is the object of that salvation?
And we have seen from the Scriptures that man is the primary object. Man created in the image of God, man fallen in Adam, man ruined in sin. The creation itself is the secondary object. But as we saw last week, it is not all men without discrimination or differentiation who are the objects of this salvation.
Not all men created in the image of God, fallen in Adam and ruined by sin, are the recipients of salvation. Rather, the scriptures teach that only some of the mass of lost humanity are the recipients of salvation. And furthermore, the scriptures teach that they have become the recipients of that salvation not by accident or because of anything in them, but because of the divine intention to save them. And the biblical doctrine of election is simply a setting forth of that reality that of the great mass of lost humanity, those who are the recipients of life and salvation are so by divine intention and by divine discrimination.
And so last week we began a two-message series on the subject of election. We looked at a simple statement of the doctrine in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, perhaps the finest, simple, succinct statement of the doctrine. Did God leave all mankind to perish in sin and misery? And the answer to question 20, God having out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity elected son to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer.
And in that simple statement you have every leading line of biblical truth concerning the doctrine of election. Fallen man is the object. Out of the great mass of mankind, God is the great agent in election. God has out of his mere good pleasure.
That is, there is no reason outside of God himself for the selection. He has chosen some to be the heirs of life and salvation. He has chosen actually to redeem them by a Redeemer. And then we concluded our study by looking at the biblical basis for this doctrine, both the explicit and the implicit testimony.
The explicit testimony rests upon the meaning of key biblical words, elect, predestinate, chosen.
These are the key biblical words to be foreknown. and then the doctrine rests upon the explicit testimony of individual passages and we looked at a number of them in the Old and the New Testaments and then the biblical basis for the doctrine is not only the explicit testimony key biblical words and key biblical text but it rests upon this indirect testimony the pattern of God's dealings with Israel the inescapable deduction from the doctrine of sin and the inevitable conclusion from the biblical doctrine of God. Well, so much for what we've covered thus far. Now we move this morning to consider together two other areas of concern with reference to this great doctrine.
First of all, the common objections to the doctrine, and finally, the practical influence of this doctrine. having looked at a simple statement of the doctrine what do we mean when we say here we stand confessing with the great body of God's people through the centuries with all the great confessions and with the great preachers and theologians in historic Christianity here we stand confessing our confidence that the objects of salvation are certain men and women divinely selected to be the objects of that salvation We've looked at the biblical basis, but alas, there have always been, and there are to the present day, great objections to this doctrine.
What are the most common objections to the doctrine, and what is the biblical answer to those objections? Well, by way of preface, let me say that there is no major doctrine of the Word of God that has not had serious objectors since the revelation of that doctrine. In other words, the doctrine of election is not in a peculiarly objectionable class distinct from any other doctrine of the Word of God. You remember that before the apostles even died, there were people who objected to the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
They said, well, such a teaching that you're saved solely on the basis of the work of another, well, that'll lead into sin. And Paul answers that objection in Romans chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 15 reveals there were people who objected to the doctrine of the physical resurrection of the body of believers. They said this is absurd.
Anyone knows that in a few short years the body that is laid in the grave disintegrates? How in the world can it be raised again? There were serious objections, and so Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15 to answer those objections. So you see, the doctrine of election is not some peculiar doctrine in that it alone abraises objections from weak faith believers and from the unregenerate heart of man.
No, every key doctrine of the Christian faith has always been the object of sometimes very vociferous objections, both from within and without the professing church. However, there is, in a peculiar way, something about this doctrine that raises perhaps the fiercest objections. And I believe it is true because this doctrine focuses upon the Godhead of God in that most sensitive area of man's need, namely salvation. What then are some of these objections and their biblical answer?
Objection 1: It Is Not Just
I address myself to these things because there is a pattern of this kind of teaching in the Word of God, where the biblical authors anticipate objections and clear the ground in order to shut the mouths of the objectors, Titus chapter 1, in order to strengthen the faith of weak believers, and in order to fortify the faith of humble students of the Word of God. And that is my objective this morning. If you sit here this morning and inwardly your fists are clenched and you say, whatever the Bible teaches, it cannot teach that horrible doctrine. I will not accept it. I let you know what I'm out to do. I'm out to shut your mouth with the word of God this morning. I do that in love. I don't do that to hate you or as an expression of hate or a bitterness or out of a pugilistic spirit, but because the scripture says the mouths
of gainsayers must be stopped so that if you reject the doctrine and you bring up specious arguments against it, you will see the folly of those arguments and hold your objections to yourself. And I also trust to strengthen the faith of weak believers. Some of you believe this doctrine, but you're not holding to it with great tenacity. You're just sort of pinching it with two fingers. Well, I hope when this morning is done, you'll be found grasping it with all ten fingers of your heart. And then I hope to fortify the faith of those of you who believe the doctrine and love it, to buttress your commitment to it. All right, objection number one, and I've reduced the objections under four major headings. And I've consulted with others. I've just said to Mr.
Olliot last week, I said, right off the top of your head, Stuart, tell me, what do you think are the most common objections that you've faced? And he rattled them off, and sure enough, they were the same that I share with you this morning. The first objection is, it is not just. The objection goes something like this. If all mankind fell in Adam, all are equally guilty. It is not just for God to select some to life and to bypass others. You see, the focus of this objection, it is not just, has to do with the fact that some are selected to be the recipients of salvation and others are bypass, but the focus is on the fact that some are selected, the positive side of election.
Now, what is the answer to this objection? Well, since the objection is voiced very clearly in Romans 9, the apostle himself gives us the inspired answer. Will you turn, please, to Romans chapter 9. In the first 13 verses of Romans 9, Paul has established the fact that God's promise concerning the salvation of his people has not been frustrated by the unbelief of Israel.
and the reason has not been frustrated is because not all who are part of ethnic Israel are part of the true Israel. But within the elect nation there is an elect and believing remnant. And that remnant is a believing remnant on the principle of divine selectivity. And that divine selectivity was illustrated in the case of Jacob and Esau both conceived in the same womb at the same time. Their subsequent history has not unfolded. God makes a discrimination and Paul is teaching them that the basis upon which this remnant is gathered from ethnic Israel as a whole, the elect nation, is that there is an election within the election.
He has been teaching the principle of election unto grace and salvation. Now then, there is an objector who speaks in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?
Is then there some injustice on the part of God that he should choose to set his love upon Jacob and bypass Esau That he should select a remnant within the nation of Israel and bypass the remainder That the objection Now the answer reduces itself to two fundamental principles Number one anything pertaining to salvation operates in a different realm from justice. Look at the answer. Verse 15, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that hath mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh for this very purpose did I raise thee up that I might show in thee my power and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. So then he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth. Do you see what the apostle is saying?
When someone objects, it is not just. Paul says, in essence, look, when you're talking about forgiveness and salvation coming to guilty sinners, you never use the word justice. It's the wrong word in the wrong ballpark at the wrong time.
Justice can only result in damnation. As in Adam all sinned, so in Adam all died, and if all you have is human sin, here's the equation, human sin plus justice, on the other side of the equal sign is damnation. Human sin plus justice plus nothing else equals damnation. if all sin and all are dealt with justly all shall be damned now that's exactly what happened to the fallen angels in the case of the fallen angels there was nothing but the operation of divine justice
upon the sinning creatures Jude chapter 6 angels that kept not their own principality but left their proper habitation He hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. When the angels sinned, God added to the mass of sinning angels nothing but justice, and on the other side of the equation there is nothing but damnation. There is not one fallen angel who will ever attain to salvation. Now, what was true of the angels would have been true of mankind if nothing but justice was in operation.
All mankind's sins add to that sin nothing but justice there would be nothing but damnation. Therefore, if one sinning creature ever attains to life and salvation another principle other than justice has entered the equation. And that principle the apostle says is mercy and compassion. So the very objection is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We are talking about election out of the mass of guilty, hell-deserving sinners unto life and salvation, and therefore a principle other than that of justice has entered and taken the field. It is the principle of mercy, of compassion, and of grace. If I were to stand upon the Verrazano Bridge today, that big span over the lower part of Jersey and into Staten Island, and take a hundred quarters, twenty-five cent pieces, and I were to drop them from the highest span, they are now committed to the law of gravity. and unless another law enters on behalf of one of them, two of them, three or all hundred
every single one of them is going to go splashing into the straits below. Once they are committed to the law of gravity that law having entered and taken over will see to it that all one hundred reach the bottom of the ocean at that point. However, if another law enters in another physical law should there be a hand reach out and arrest one of them another principle other than the law of gravity has entered. So it is with humanity.
Once humanity sins and falls, the whole mass of humanity must land in hell unless another principle enters. And if it enters for one, it is not a principle of justice. If it enters for two, if it enters for ten billion, it is a principle other than justice. It is the principle of mercy.
Now that's how Paul answers that objection. It's not just. Paul says if you talk about salvation, my friend, just is the wrong word. And the second thing he does in this objection is this.
To show that mercy and compassion are sovereignly exercised in the scheme of salvation. Verse 15. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
So it is not of him that willeth, that is, it is not rooted in the choice of the human will, nor of him that runneth human performance, but of God that hath mercy. And then verse 18, So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. having introduced the concept in answer to this objection it is not just he says now listen justice is the wrong word it's mercy that enters to provide salvation then he says mercy like all of God's attributes is exercised sovereignly and God is free to be God when he would show mercy to go back to my illustration
when God determines to put out his hand in the midst of the falling coins No one can take God by the wrist and say, spread your hand and stop all 100. No one can say to God, pull in two fingers and stop 60 of the coins. Pull in all but one and just catch one. Who is going to put his hand upon God when he would reach into the mass of fallen humanity and rescue some?
Objection 2: It Is Not Fair
God says, I retain that right to myself. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion and none will dictate to me who shall be the objects of my love so then if you object to this doctrine it is not just the answer of this passage is anything pertaining to salvation operates on a plane other than justice and this plane of mercy and compassion is seen to be sovereignly disposed by the living God. Well, then the second great objection is, it's not fair. It's not fair.
And the focus of this objection is not so much on the positive aspect of election, God has selected some, but that he bypasses others and hardens them in their course of unbelief and impenitence. And that objection is set forth very clearly in verse 19 of the same chapter. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? Because what has he said?
He has just asserted that not only does he exercise his mercy sovereignly, but when he chooses to allow a man to go in that course which his own sin leads him, so that in judgment upon that course, God hardens him for his sin and in his sin, someone stands back and says, well, that's not fair. If I'm simply a pawn on the chessboard of God's dealings, how can God hold me accountable for unbelief and my love of sin when I can do nothing about it and unless He puts forth His hand, there's nothing I can do to rescue myself. Look, God's got His cake and He eats it too. It's not fair.
Now that's the objection of verse 19. Thou wilt then say unto me, Why does he still find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Isn't that the objection?
How can God find fault? If everything traces back ultimately to the will of God, how can God will that I should be continued in, I should continue in the course of sin, and then judge me for it? It's not fair. Isn't that the objection?
It's the objection Paul anticipates. Now what's the answer? Again, two things. The first part of the answer is given to us in verse 20.
Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? You see what Paul's first answer to this objection is? He says, remember who you are.
Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God. In other words, if God has revealed that he operates his universe on the basis of his own sovereign will, and at the same time holds man accountable for all his deeds and all his actions, who are you to tell God you don't like that kind of an arrangement? You want an arrangement in which man's accountability can only be predicated upon his total freedom from the control of God. In other words, you want an arrangement in which man will have his rights, even if God has got to be driven clean out of his universe.
And if you deny God the right to control every part of his universe, you deny God the right to be God. And the answer of the apostle is simply this Remember who you are Nay, but oh man Who art thou to reply against God You see, Paul is jealous Not to parade the rights of men That's why some of us are rather low-key In our bicentennial celebrations We have problems with the idea That man has as unalienable right anything. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That isn't true.
Some are born blind. Some are born demented. Some are born in affluence. Some are born in squalor.
That they've been endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You try to prove that from the Bible. You see, you're unpatriotic. That's not the issue. The issue is, am I biblical? That's the issue. And so the whole focus of our bicentennial celebration is the rights of free Americans. What about the rights of the free God of the universe? He's free to do according to his will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. My friend, if you object to this doctrine on the basis, you say it's not fair. Remember who you are. You're a creature. Did you take God into
school and teach him fairness? Did God enroll in school and say, I'd like to be taught what is fair, what is right, what is just? That's the argument of the apostle in chapter 11. Who hath been God's counselor who sat God on his knee and told him the concepts of fairness and justice. And then the second thing he does with this objection is, he says, remember who you are, verse 20. Then he says, remember God's rights, verse 21 and following. Hath not the potter a right? You're talking about your rights. He says, what about the rights of the potter? Remember God's rights. Hath not the Potter, a right.
A right to do what? Over the clay from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. What if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, whom he aforeprepared unto glory. Paul says in answer to the objection, it's not fair.
Objection 3: It Kills Personal Concern and Effort
Remember who you are. Don't you dictate to God the terms of fairness. You're a creature and a sinful creature. And remember God's rights. Does he have a right to leave impenitent sinners to feel the full brunt of their impenitence God has that right even as the potter has the right to do what he will with the clay in his hand Well there is a third objection a very common objection to the doctrine of election as we tried to expound it from the Scriptures and it is this.
That doctrine kills personal concern and effort for salvation. The objection goes like this. Well, if everything's in God's hands and God has chosen a people to life and salvation and Jesus Christ has died for that people and sent the Spirit infallibly to secure their salvation. Why, if that's so, if I believe that, there'd be no concern to seek salvation.
I'll be saved, do what I will, I'll be damned, do what I can.
Now, what's the answer? The answer is, my friend, that's the devil's logic, not divine revelation. For you see, the same God who has revealed the doctrine of election has done several things with reference to all men. Number one, He has laid down commands upon all men to seek Him and His salvation.
Isaiah 55 tells us, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is near. That's a command from God. The same God who has revealed, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, commands men in the gospel to seek the Lord while he may be found.
In Luke chapter 13, our Lord Jesus Christ said, Strive to enter in at the narrow gate. Again, that command in a similar form is repeated in Matthew 7, 13 and 14. Preaching upon Mars Hill, the very one who wrote this epistle, who answered these objections, the Apostle Paul said in Acts 17, 30, the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. A command comes to every sinner to repent of his sins and to flee to Christ.
Not only does God lay upon you commands, He sets wonderful promises before every sinner in the gospel. Listen to some of them, Matthew 11, 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. That's a gospel invitation, but it comes in the form of a command.
Come unto me. Come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. John 6, 37.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Isaiah 55, 1. whole. Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend your money for that which satisfieth not? Come and delight your soul in fatness. Oh, what rich gospel invitations are given by this same God, this same God. And you see, the invitations do not cancel out the revelation of election and the revelation of election does not cancel out the invitations. It's man's wicked desire to have everything tied
up neatly to satisfy his own creaturely pension for logic that says, if I hold one, I'm going to throw out the other. If I hold the other, I'm going to throw out its counterpart. No, no. Here we stand today, confessing with mind subject to the scripture, the glorious truth of sovereign, And free electing grace.
But the glorious truth. Of gospel commands. Repent and believe. Gospel promises.
Him that comes. I will in no wise cast out. And gospel threatenings. Gospel threatenings.
He that believeth not. Shall be damned. He that believeth not. The Son of God.
The wrath of God. Abideth upon him. John 3.36.
Proverbs chapter 1 Because I have called and ye have refused Because I have stretched out my hands and ye did not regard Behold, I will laugh when your calamity cometh When your calamity come as a whirlwind Then shall ye call upon me and I will not hear Then shall ye seek me earnestly and I will not regard The answer to the objection Well, if I believe the doctrine of election that would kill all personal concern and effort regarding my own salvation. No, no, my friend. God has said not you'll be saved no matter what you do. God has said you'll be saved only if you repent and believe.
Many times that objection is like a man who's sitting at home in his living room and he's got a few extra minutes and he's doodling. And he's figuring out the perfect design for a life preserver. He has a little knowledge of engineering and math and buoyancy and all the rest and displacement and all the rest. And so he's sitting there with his little pocket calculator designing the perfect life preserver.
And he has a lot of theories about the inadequacies of present life preserver construction and design and everything else. And he's come up with theories that absolutely make it absolutely certain that no life preserver has ever been designed that's worthy of its name. Well, he puts down all his calculations, all his theorizing. But a week later, he's out in a boat with his friend.
And a squall comes up. And the boat capsizes. And the man has been trying to swim against the buffeting of the seas. And he's about to go down for the last time.
When someone comes by in a coast card cutter and says, Ahoy! And throws out a preserver. He doesn't reach for his calculator to see if it's properly designed. he doesn't start doing mathematical calculations in his head to see if the displacement is equal to the no no what does he do in his moment of desperation all of his theorizing goes by the board and the thing that has been sent to him is the instrument of deliverance he lays hold upon it with all of his strength now listen you can sit and theorize and say oh well if that doctrine of election is true and it seems to be in the bible I'll be saved do what I can I'll be damned do what I may My friend, you're like the person theorizing with your pocket calculator about the proper design of a life preserver.
You begin to get a sight and sense of the magnitude of your sin and the billows of divine wrath that already are gathering about your ears. And in a moment could sink you beneath the waves of eternal retribution. Then when someone says, repent and believe the gospel, you won't sit there saying, well, I can't repent because God doesn't. No, my friend, you begin to get desperate about your sin.
And the wonderful news that God receives sinners will be as the news coming from the deck of that costard cutter, Ahoy, man! Take hold of the means of deliverance.
Objection 4: It Kills Evangelistic Passion, Prayers, Activity
And there is a fourth major objection to the doctrine of election, and it is this. it makes evangelistic passion prayers and activity unnecessary it goes something like this well if God has selected a certain number of sinners out of the mass of humanity to be saved by Jesus Christ and that purpose of God cannot be frustrated well then how can there be any real evangelistic passion how can there be any real faith in your prayers I mean aren't you just playing games and certainly how can there be any real bonafide evangelistic endeavor if we don't believe that ultimately the issue rests with our faithfulness and with the sinner's good sense to respond.
If we believe ultimately that all rests with God, why certainly that will kill evangelistic passion, prayers and activity. Now what's the answer to that? Well the most obvious answer is this, that in those who have believed it most firmly, it has not had that negative effect.
No one believed this doctrine more fervently than our Lord Jesus Christ and his great and eminent servant, the Apostle Paul.
Would you say that our Lord manifested no evangelistic passion, prayers, and activity? He believed this doctrine. Listen to him on the eve of his crucifixion. Pray.
He says, O God my Father, I thank you that you gave me authority over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many as you gave me. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Ye cannot believe because ye are not of my sheep, and yet behold our blessed Lord, pleading, yearning, entreating, weeping.
Behold this great apostle in the very chapters where he opens up this great doctrine. Listen to his evangelistic passion in Romans 9.1. I say the truth in Christ I lie not.
My conscience bearing witness in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. I could wish I were accursed from Christ for my brethren. there's the passion of a man who believes this doctrine look at chapter 1, 10 and verse 1 here are his prayers brethren, my heart's desire and supplication to God is for them that they may be saved so there's passion there's prayers and what about his activity?
well, he makes all of us look like sluggards in our most zealous moments this is the man who could say in 2 Timothy chapter 1. Look at his own language. 2 Timothy, I'm sorry, chapter 2 and verse 10. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. What did he endure in his evangelistic activity?
mockery, pillory, beatings, his name dragged into disgrace. For anyone to say the belief of this doctrine makes evangelistic passion, prayers, and activity unnecessary or unnatural has to reckon with our Lord and with the Apostle Paul and with a great host of lesser lights. Who would say that George Whitefield had no evangelistic passion, prayers, or activity. It is said that after preaching four or five times in the day, he would come home and pray half the night with tears for the salvation of sinners.
Someone asked a woman who had heard him preach several times in one day, said to her, What do you think is the secret of the success of Whitfield? She said, Sir, I have stood next to the man of God as he preached two, three times today, whatever the number was. And she said, on every occasion, I have been made wet with the tears that have splashed from his cheeks as he has pleaded with sinners.
Who would say that Charles Spurgeon was a part or devoid of passion, prayers, and evangelistic activity? And I trust, though, to mention one's own name in so illustrious a list. but simply believing the same gospel they believed and seeking to articulate it to this poor, hitty generation.
You've been witness to the tears that have been shed in this place for your salvation.
You've been witness to fervent, hearty, earnest entreaties for your salvation. The most obvious answer to this objection is It is contradicted by the facts. But the second answer is, it confuses what God has differentiated. Election is not salvation, but is unto salvation.
Election is the divine purpose to save, but the purpose must find expression in the divine method to save. The purpose is not the method. Your wife may purpose to provide you with a wonderful meal. That doesn't put the meal on the table.
That purpose must find a method. Getting the meat, getting the vegetables, preparing them, setting them up. Election is the divine purpose. The divine method is what?
To call sinners by the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 2.13 brings all that together. Look at it.
Wonderful text of Holy Scripture. Wonderful text. 2 Thessalonians 2 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren beloved of the Lord for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation. That's election. Now what's the method? In sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. You see, the method to bring them to the salvation purposed was that of getting them within the orbit of the sanctifying influence of the Spirit, which is always attached to the truth of God. And then he goes on to develop,
where unto he called you through our gospel. So that election unto salvation is the purpose of God, the method of God is calling sinners by the preaching of the gospel. That's why this same apostle moves very naturally from Romans 9 and this definitive articulation of the doctrine of election into that great missionary chapter, chapter 10. How shall they call upon him whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent?
And then he speaks of the blessedness of the feet of those who proclaim the message. No, the objection it makes evangelistic passion, prayers, and activity unnecessary reflects an ignorance of the facts and an ignorance of the distinction between the purpose of God and the method of God to accomplish that purpose. God has commanded us to take the gospel to all. The love of Christ constrains us so to do, and the apostolic example directs us in that path.
Practical Influence: Gratitude and Praise
So you see, these objections are not formidable. These objections are met head-on by the scriptures, and I trust that they will. The objections in their answer will be such as to buttress your own faith. Now, very briefly, as we conclude this morning, what should be the practical influence of this great doctrine upon our hearts? And I'll just give you the headings with a verse or two under each. When the Spirit of God has brought us to understand this great doctrine that God has of his mere good pleasure, that is, his good pleasure plus nothing else, chosen a great multitude out of the mass of humanity to be the recipients of salvation through a Redeemer, what effect should
that have upon us? Well, first of all, it ought to impel us to gratitude and praise to God. Ephesians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him. The Apostle's heart is inflamed to gratitude and praise at the contemplation that he should have been the object of sovereign electing love for nothing in himself. Someone says, but God then is a respecter of persons. No, just the opposite is true. All are equally lost, equally undone, equally deserving of wrath, and out of his mere good pleasure, taking no regard of anything in them for reasons locked up in his own heart. He sovereignly chooses, wonder of wonders,
that I should be the object of that grace. In the language of that hymn we so often sing in this congregation, why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room, when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come. It was the same love, it was the same love that spread the feast that sweetly drew me in, else I had still refused to come and perished in my sin. Secondly, it ought to engender stability.
Practical Influence: Stability
Romans 8.33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? If God be for us, who can be against us? And then the apostle literally goes into orbit.
Literally goes into orbit. And all of this burning holy eloquence pours through his white-hot soul coming to that climactic statement, I am persuaded neither death nor life things present, things to come height, depth, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus why? because he set his love upon me in eternity and he purposed that I should come to life and salvation and the work which his goodness began the arm of his strength will complete some of you are doubting saints you go limping
Practical Influence: Confidence in Prayer and Labor
you have weak ankles you don't run you know what one of your problems is you are all the time looking at your weak graces all the time looking at your limitations oh my dear friend fix your eye upon the electing purpose of God he chose you in Christ to do what? to land you safe in his presence made like Christ Feed your soul upon this glorious truth It will not only impel to gratitude It will engender stability Thirdly, it ought to constrain us to confidence Both in our prayers and in our labors When I pray that God will save sinners It ought to engender confidence to know That those upon whom He set His love Shall be brought
And my prayers will not be frustrated it ought to constrain the confidence in our labors. Jesus said, All the sheep I have that are not of this fold, them also I must bring. You ask our brother Don Ritter, what enables him in those days when you look back and you see you have absolutely nothing to show for your labors. When you've had a vision of what you believe God's called you to do and you've labored for years and see so little has it come to pass.
What keeps a man going? It's the confidence he has sheep that he will yet call to himself.
Practical Influence: Faithfulness and Humility
It will not only impel to gratitude, engender stability, constrain to confidence, but it ought to motivate to faithfulness. Faithfulness. That's sticking at it when there's no reason to do so, except God's command. Paul says, I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may obtain salvation, faithfulness.
Why? Because I know my labors are not in vain in the Lord because the ultimate issue doesn't rest with me but with my God. And if I didn't believe that, I'd bail out a long time ago and go into something that has a much higher rate of return than the work of the ministry. it engenders confidence motivates the faithfulness and then it ought to humble us in the face of usefulness see a lot of people can take the disciplines of unfruitful labors who cannot take a season of fruit bearing it turns their head but 1 Corinthians 3 says neither is he that planteth anything neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase.
And if there's fruitfulness, true fruitfulness, what is that? It's not an expression of my cleverness, my abilities. No, no. It's an expression of what God purposed in eternity.
That's why Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says, God be thanked that you were called to salvation. He didn't say thank me because I was the preacher and I prayed and I wrestled and I reasoned and I was fervent and I was earnest No, no, no, he said, God be thanked. God be thanked. The reason there are believers at Thessalonica ultimately rests not upon the cleverness and the zeal of Paul, but upon the divine selectivity of God.
Practical Influence: Self-Examination
And then last of all, it ought to drive us to self-examination. Peter says in 2 Peter 1.10, Give diligence to make your calling and your election sure. However, if only the elect of God are to be saved, and if all of the elect are saved in a way of sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, then I better ask this question, do I have reason to believe I am the elect of God?
Not because I can go up into heaven and peek into the Lamb's book of life, but because I look into my heart and examine myself to see if the fruit of election is in me. repentance, faith, love for holiness love for God's word love for God's people love for his kingdom zeal for his honor election can be known by the sinner only in terms of its fruits of holiness my friend you better settle it no one is going to be in heaven except those who are elect and no one is elect who does not believe the gospel and repent of sin and set himself in the path of holiness by the grace and power of God. And so I close upon that note of Peter's.
Give diligence to make your calling and your election sure.
How can I know if I am elect? Believe the gospel. Repent of sin. Enter the narrow way.
Begin to live the life of a disciple. And as you manifest the calling unto holiness, You have no doubts concerning your election.
Closing Confession and Prayer
My friend, you can trouble your mind about election until you land in the pit. I plead with you, make your calling and election sure. Here we stand as a body of God's people. One little segment of the great Church of Christ in its continuum through the ages.
And we stand to say to our man-centered, gimmick-oriented, fleshly-dominated expression of the Christian faith that we will not stain the glory of God with any credit to man. Here we stand, believing the objects of salvation to be not just man in general, created, fallen and ruined, but a certain number known only to God, saved by the mere good pleasure of God through a Redeemer, we stand to confess humbly but boldly that this is the truth of the Word of God. Oh, I trust that the Holy Spirit has made this truth precious to you
and that its holy fruits are being born in you. And that if you are not certain of your relationship to Jesus Christ, this very truth may become the prod to cause you to seek the Lord while he may be found. Let us pray.
Our Father, great God of absolute power and unrivaled sovereignty, we thank you for the revelation of this grand mystery of your sovereign design to save an innumerable company of sinners out of every kindred tribe and tongue and nation and oh father we pray that you would even this day cause some to seek an interest in that salvation we pray that the holy fruits of this doctrine will be born in us individually as families and as a corporate body of Christ
as we even anticipate gathering to the Lord's table this afternoon oh what joy it gives us to know that we remember our dying Lord not because we took a notion to embrace him but because you purposed in eternity to give us to the Lamb O God, fill our hearts with true worship and true humility and then inflame us with holy zeal to pray, to preach, to witness, to bear everything for the elect's sake that they may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus. Hear our prayers and dismiss us with the benediction of your presence resting upon us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Paul's own answer to 'it is not just' and 'it is not fair'
Shows the purpose (election) joined to the method (sanctification, belief, gospel call)
Call to make calling and election sure by holy fruits