We came together last evening to consider what has commonly been called the first principle
of the system of doctrine, commonly called Calvinism.
We focused our attention upon what scripture teaches concerning the effects of sin upon
all mankind.
And I trust, after our study together, you who were present were convinced that mankind
is totally depraved, and that you put on those words their biblical significance.
In that man is guilty before God, as we read in Romans 3.19, what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and
all the world may become guilty before God, but that not only does man have the problem
of guilt, but he has this personal problem described in Romans 5 and verse 8, for when
we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
The problem of the court of heaven, and the problem in the corruption of our own hearts.
And in this state, we are justly liable to the wrath of God and to the pains of hell
forever.
And yet the same Bible that teaches this doctrine also teaches us that there will be in that
eternal state a great multitude who no man can number, some out of every tribe and kindred
and tongue and nation who will be found confirmed in a state of perfect holiness in the presence
of their Redeemer God, singing his praises and doing his will through all eternity.
And when we ask the question, how can it be, the Bible which teaches me that man is guilty,
liable to wrath, polluted and unable to do anything for his state, that out of that mass
of humanity there will be some perfectly redeemed in the presence of a holy God with
no guilt hanging over them and all pollution taken from them, we ask how?
And someone answers and says, well the Bible says that God sent forth a message of salvation
based upon the work of his Son, and some believed that message and came in to all the promised
benefits.
But then we ask, why did they believe?
And someone says, well, because the word came to them, and that word was applied with power
and they were called in all the richness of the meaning of that word in its biblical setting.
Called is a precious word.
It's a special word for the people of God, for they are described in Revelation 17, 14
as those who are called and chosen and faithful, so that to be called means something more
than to be merely summoned.
It means to be seized upon by God and brought into an actual participation in his salvation.
Ah, but then someone says, how is it then that they are called?
They're there because they believed and they believed because they were called in time,
but why were they called in time?
And the scripture tells us because they were chosen in eternity.
And so when we turn to a text like Revelation 17, 14, you have that beautiful symmetrical
description of the people of God, those that are with him are called, and why are they called?
Next word tells us, and chosen, and because they were chosen, they will therefore persevere,
they are faithful.
I've had an itch for a long time to preach on that text, and I'm not going to scratch
that itch tonight.
Simply set it before you as food for further meditation.
Here is a beautiful description of why they are there in the presence of the Lamb, why
they are overcomers with him.
It's because they've been called and called because they were chosen and because they
were called according to a choice rooted in eternity.
There is an immutability in the purpose of God that secures not only their calling, but
their perseverance in that calling, and hence they are described as the faithful.
So you see, you cannot consider the doctrine of salvation and redemption without sooner
or later stumbling over the issue of election, for it is the fountainhead out of which all
the redemptive blessings of God come to men who are guilty before the ball of God and
helpless in their sinful state.
Now, as I've been wrestling for some days with how to approach so massive a subject
in such a way as to confirm those who believe it, to convince those who doubt it, to destroy
the errors that surround it, I say, O Lord, who is sufficient for these things?
And I've gone through mental trauma in trying to discover some way that I might present
in one hour something of at least a broad overview of this great theme.
If it was simply to confirm those of you who believe it, the course would be easy.
And if it were simply to convince those who doubt it, I think the course would again be
rather easy.
If it was to destroy errors that surround it, that wouldn't be too difficult.
But to do all of those things at once, I feel very conscious of inadequacy.
But I am at least going to make an attempt, and I want to do so in such a way that will
be in a marked contrast to the way we approached last night's subject.
Last night's subject I tried to give a comprehensive overview.
I quoted a lot of scripture.
I didn't even take time to have you pause and look at it with me.
But tonight we're going to have a good old-fashioned Bible study, and we're going to try to come
to grips with the glorious doctrine of sovereign electing grace by doing two things.
Number one, we are going to look at this doctrine as embodied in two key biblical words, the
word elect and its derivatives, election, chosen, chosen, chose, and another very key
word, for know and for knowledge.
Now, the word elect, election, chosen, chose, choose is a word that hits us again and again,
particularly in the New Testament.
Everyone who believes the Bible believes in election of one form or another.
I've never met anyone who was a Bible believer who said, look, don't talk to me about election.
There is no such thing.
I've never yet had anyone say that to me.
Have you had anyone say that to you?
I've had them say, don't talk to me about unconditional election.
Don't talk to me about election based upon divine sovereignty and the free choice of God.
They say, no, election is based upon foreseen faith or foreseen something else.
But I've never met yet a serious Bible believing Christian who said he didn't believe in election.
Have any of you here met such a person who said they didn't believe in any kind of election?
No, you see, that's impossible for the word itself and its different derivatives is used
close to 50 times in the New Testament.
And most of the times it has reference to some kind of a selectivity on the part of
God with respect to sinners.
Well, if you stumble over a concept 50 times in the New Testament and you claim to believe
the Bible, you have to say, well, certainly I believe in election of one sort or another.
And then the Old Testament is full of this concept in God's dealings with Israel where
election more particularly focuses upon his dealings with that people as a whole than
upon individuals.
But nonetheless, it is there.
Well, if the word elect, choose, chosen is in the Bible and we claim to believe the Bible,
then at least we've got a groundwork to start upon.
Everybody here believes in election, if you believe the Bible.
But now the question is, what does the word mean?
You see, a word is nothing but a verbal symbol.
A word has no meaning in and of itself.
If I stand up here tonight and I say, get the ungrat, you say, what's that?
And I tell you, well, ungrat is a word that we use down in New Jersey for your overcoat.
So if I say it enough and you get the idea, I can say it.
You get the ungrat and that becomes overcoat.
That becomes that piece of material that goes on your back.
You see, a word has no meaning of itself.
The meaning is in the mind of the author.
And whenever there is communication verbally,
it is the responsibility of the one who hears the word
to ascertain what was in the mind of the one who spoke the word.
And it's dishonest for the one who hears to say, well, there comes that word, ungrat.
What shall I make it mean? Fish, caviar, vacation in the mountains.
What shall I make it mean? Well, you have no right to put your own meaning on it.
I have something in my mind when I use it and you are responsible,
if you really are serious about knowing what I mean by the word,
to use every means possible to discover it.
In the same way, when we come to Holy Scripture,
God has been pleased to communicate to us in verbal form.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to seek to discover what did God mean by the use of that word
and believing that the Scriptures are perspicuous, that is clear,
and that Scripture is its best and only infallible interpreter,
we want to find out what does the Bible mean when it uses the word elect or chosen.
So we're going to do a little word study tonight,
and I hope this will not only be profitable to us,
but also will sustain some measure of interest
and set a pattern as to how we should approach any key word in the Bible.
Now, the word itself literally means to pick out from among others,
people or things, the act of picking or choosing.
Let's look at it when it's used in a non-theological sense.
Turn, please, to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 6.
And every passage we look up is the same word used in the theological sense
when it speaks of elect or election.
Now, all we're trying to ascertain is what does this word mean.
In the sixth chapter of Luke, in verse 13, we read,
And when it was day, he, the Lord Jesus, called unto him his disciples,
that is, the multitude of those who were following him,
and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles.
Spread before our Lord were the multitude of his disciples,
and out of that mass of disciples he exercised a prerogative of sovereign selectivity.
He didn't say, Now you fellas, have a little caucus
and put forth the names of twenty candidates and let's have a vote.
No, our Lord, having spent a night in prayer prior to this,
having become convinced by observation and other factors of the purpose of the Father,
called out from that group twelve, and the scripture uses this word
to describe that act of selectivity, he chose twelve.
All right, over to Luke, chapter 14, if you will, please.
Luke 14 and verse 7,
And he put forth a parable to those who were bidden,
when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms,
or as the ASV translates it, the chief seats, saying unto them, etc.
Now the word elect is used here.
He put forth a parable to those who were bidden,
when he marked how they elected, they chose out the chief seats.
As they came into the place where the feast was to be held,
they noticed there were many seats.
Some were higher in order.
People of greater importance would usually be found seated there.
So what these people did is they bypassed certain seats
and exercised a prerogative of selectivity and they chose the chief seats.
It has nothing to do with election unto life.
We're just trying to find what is the meaning,
what is the concept of the word that the Holy Ghost uses
to convey the doctrine of election.
Turn now, please, to the book of Acts.
The book of Acts, chapter 6.
There's that problem of the Grecian widows
feeling that there is some pro-Semitism
and the favoritism is being shown to the Hebrew widows
and there is this rumble and so they want to solve the problem
and the suggestion is made.
Verse 3, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you,
of the great disciples, look out among you,
seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost in wisdom,
whom we may appoint over this business.
We will give ourselves to prayer.
And the saying pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen.
They elected Stephen.
Out of all the thousands of the men,
and there were at least 5,000 at this point,
they made a choice.
There was the exercise of a prerogative of selectivity
and in choosing Stephen and these others,
they bypassed many others.
The whole concept again.
Whether it's the Lord Jesus in the midst of disciples
taking out 12 to be apostles,
whether it's these people coming in in the midst of many seats,
choosing certain seats,
whether it's many men and selecting some to be
what we feel are the first deacons,
the concept is the same.
You find it later on in Acts 15 and in verse 7.
And this will be the last reference that we'll look at in a historical sense
or in just a general narrative.
Verse 7 of Acts 15.
And when there had been much disputing,
this is the Council of Jerusalem,
Peter rose up and said unto them,
Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago
God made an election.
He made a choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth
should hear the word of the Gospel and believe.
Now in no way did the Lord foresee that Peter was chomping at the bit
to go preach to some Gentiles and said,
Peter, now that I foresee that you have decided
that the Gospel ought to go to the Gentiles,
I will ratify your decision and choose you.
Nothing of the sort.
His heart was so full of prejudice,
God had to let him go into a trance,
give him a dream and a vision
to knock all this prejudice out of his heart.
And that's how God made the selection.
God wanted to get the Gospel to the household of Cornelius
and so he made a selection and chose Peter
among the possibilities of those who could have been mouthpieces
to the household of Cornelius, bypassing others.
There was the exercise of a prerogative of selection.
Now it's interesting that in the Old Testament,
this is the very word used in the Septuagint,
the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek
by 70 scholars.
In 1 Samuel 17, 40, you can look at it in our King James Bibles
and you'll get again the same force of this word.
1 Samuel 17 and verse 40.
Speaking of David, as he goes out to meet Goliath
and he took his staff in his hand
and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook
and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had.
Now what did he do?
Of all the smooth stones in that riverbed,
David exercised a prerogative of selectivity.
He chose the stones.
He didn't come down and sit by the riverbank and hold his hands
and say, now all you sweet little stones who've been washed
by the pressures of this river through the centuries,
since you've all been exposed to the same elements
and are all in the same lonely condition
and all could potentially be part of this great conquest of the giant,
it would be the height of prejudice and arbitrariness on my part
to dare to reach in and take five of you.
So I will sit here on the shore and fold my hands
and wait until five of you wriggle up out of the riverbed
and when you have done so and are here at my feet,
I will put you in my pouch and henceforth go to meet Goliath.
You see, to put on the word here the idea that selection
with the word elect is ratifying the choice of another
makes absolute nonsense.
The word can't possibly mean the ratification of the choice of another.
In all of these instances, and we could find others,
the whole idea of this word is that there's an act of picking or choosing
and that the chooser is active and the chosen is passive.
Whether it's the Lord Jesus selecting twelve of the multitudes
or proud Pharisees selecting seats of importance
and bypassing seats of lesser station,
whether it's the multitude picking out a Stephen or David
picking out stones, the concept wrought into this word is
selectivity in which the power of selection is in the selector
and not be selected.
You got it?
Now that's the significance, the use of the word in common everyday parlance.
Now when we come to see its use theologically,
when we come to see how God uses this word with reference to people,
what do we find?
Let me suggest that there are four kinds of divine selectivity,
four kinds of divine election.
There is God's election of the nation of Israel,
what we might call theocratic election.
It's dealt with in Deuteronomy 4 and in verse 37,
and I read now from that passage Deuteronomy 4 and verse 37.
And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them
and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt.
There was this divine selectivity with regard to the nation of Israel.
Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 7 verses 6 to 8.
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God.
The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, elected thee to be a special people unto himself
above all people upon the face of the earth.
And the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you.
Notice, set his love is equated with this divine selectivity.
The prerogative and initiative was God's.
He did not do this because of what you were, because you were more in number,
for ye were the fewest, but because he loved you
and because he would keep the oath that he had sworn unto your fathers.
And so when we come to the New Testament, we find this same concept expressed in Acts 13, 17,
where we have recorded in one of the apostolic sermons that God chose our fathers.
Now, so much for this election, which is a theocratic election,
the election of the nation of Israel.
Now listen closely.
That election did not assure salvation to anyone who came within its compass.
For scripture says they are not all true Israel who are of Israel.
It was an election unto peculiar covenantal privileges.
It was an election unto marvelous opportunity and unusual responsibility.
But it did not in any way secure the salvation of those who came under its compass.
However, because God's whole dealing in the old economy is a prefiguring of the new,
what was true of the nation as a whole becomes true of that spiritual nation.
God's selectivity of Israel as a nation is a picture of the kind of selectivity
that he will exercise in calling out that peculiar nation of his own elect.
And so Peter, borrowing terminology from the Old Testament, says in 1 Peter 2, 9,
Ye, who are the ye? Those who are sanctified, those who are sprinkled by the blood
as he addresses them in chapter 1, ye are an elect nation, a royal priesthood.
So much for theocratic or national election.
Then there is election to task, to privilege or position,
what I am calling a vocational election.
In Deuteronomy 18, 5, the priests were to be of the tribe of Levites,
the Levites were selected to be priests, and so we read in Deuteronomy 18 and verse 5 the following,
For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord,
him and his sons after him.
God made a selection of the twelve tribes. He said, This tribe shall stand before me to minister.
That was an election. The word elect, to choose, is used.
But it's obviously an election to task or privilege or position.
The same word is used regarding the choice of a king.
1 Samuel 10, 24, that the Lord hath chosen Saul to be king.
And then in Acts 1, 24, it's used of Matthias, show whom thou hast chosen.
It's used of Peter in the context we looked at earlier in Acts 15.
The Lord made choice among us that by my mouth the Gentiles might hear.
Now listen closely. This choice may not bring with it saving grace.
Jesus said, I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil.
There may be an exercise of divine selectivity for service or position without the pledge of grace.
That's a second time of election. Theocratic national election, vocational election,
and then there is the third election, what we might call messianic election, Christ as God's chosen one,
the servant of Jehovah to be the mediator of his people.
Isaiah 42, verses 1 and 2, brings into sharp focus this concept of messianic election, Christ as the elected one.
Isaiah 42, behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, my chosen one, in whom my soul delighteth.
I have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Peter captures this concept in 1 Peter 2, verses 4 and 6, when speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He uses very similar terminology, and I read now from 1 Peter 2, 4,
to whom coming, that is Christ, unto a living stone, disallowed in deed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
And then down in verse 6, wherefore it's contained in the scriptures,
behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect and precious.
Three kinds of election we've seen thus far. Have you got them? And a reference or two? I hope you do.
So that when someone asks you, what do you believe about election? You sit down and take them through.
Take them through a few verses that show what the meaning of the word is in its general usage.
Then show them that theocratic election, the nation, not necessarily involving salvation.
Vocational election, again not necessarily involving election. Then the peculiar messianic election of Christ.
But now we come to the fourth kind of election taught in scripture,
and it's what we might call theologically soteriological election, that is, election unto life and salvation.
Election unto life and salvation. And if you'd simply take a concordance and sit down some night
and look up every verse that has in it the word elect, election, choose, chosen,
you will find that the overwhelming bulk of its use in scripture in the New Testament
deals with this kind of election in which God has made a selection of men unto the privileges of life and salvation.
Now let's try to break down what is involved in that selection. And there are eight different aspects, at least eight.
Now you may find more. I may only be suggestive tonight and by no means exhaustive, but I hope these will be helpful.
First of all, it is obvious that it's God who does the electing. In Mark 13 and verse 20,
we have words that a second grade schoolboy ought to be able to understand without any confusion.
In Mark 13 and in verse 20 we read,
And except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen.
Now can words be more clear than this? I should think it'd be enough just to say for the elect's sake,
for the whole concept of election is that there has been a selection by the will of the selector.
But to put it beyond all doubt, the scripture says for the elect's sake whom he, God, hath chosen.
He has been the author of this divine selection.
And that concept, of course, is set forth so clearly in Ephesians 1 for according as he, God the Father, hath chosen us in him.
What is the peculiar aspect of this fourth kind of election?
So, teriological election, election unto life and salvation, the first thing is God does the choosing.
Secondly, God chooses individual people.
There is a theory that, yes, God does the choosing, but he chooses the church in some kind of a nebulous, generic, indefinite sense.
There's just a verb out there called the church. It has nothing to do with individual people.
No, the scripture will not allow this concept, for we turn to a verse like Romans 16, 13,
and we find the apostle's concept of election is very particular, for here he's not just calling a church elect, but notice.
Romans 16, 13, salute Rufus chosen, elected in the Lord.
Now, that's pretty personal election, isn't it, when you can call them by name?
Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord.
Now, this also tells us something else, that apparently in the life and ministry of the early church,
the people had a simplicity of faith that didn't dabble at the doctrine of election.
For one of the most powerful persuasives to the fact that this is a biblical doctrine,
and not the imposition of the logic of theologians blurring the purity and clarity of scripture,
is the off-handed way in which the New Testament writers use it.
Greet Rufus, and then Paul says, well, how shall I identify him?
Happy in the Lord, peaceful in the Lord? You see, it's just an off-hand... Greet Rufus chosen in the Lord.
I doubt he was deliberately trying to cause a church split in his greetings.
If he's going to cause a church split, he'd cause it over some weighty issue.
Greet Rufus chosen in the Lord. Can you imagine the elder who's reading this epistle,
standing up and saying, coming down through this part, Greet Rufus.
Paul used a nasty word here, and you'll forgive me if I don't read it.
Salute Rufus. Now, next verse, salute. Why, how ridiculous.
Apparently there was no embarrassment when the elder stood that morning in the assembly and said,
we have a letter from the beloved apostle Paul, and he begins to read it to all that be it,
Ray of Rome, called to be saints. And he comes to this part, salute Rufus chosen in the Lord.
He's reminding them that God's exercise of divine selectivity is of individual people.
In writing to the Thessalonians, he says in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 3,
he's remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love and patience and hope before our God and Father.
Then he says, knowing brethren beloved of God, your election.
2 Thessalonians 2, 13, the God behind that he hath chosen you from the beginning unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
So the second thing we learn about this fourth kind of election is God does the choosing, God chooses individual people.
Thirdly, God chooses unto salvation.
The verse I just quoted from 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, the one that forms the framework for Charles Spurgeon's,
as far as I'm concerned, one of his greatest sermons from the standpoint of theological symmetry and clarity.
The one you can get free from John R. on election.
He bases his whole message on the structure of 2 Thessalonians 2, 13.
For in this verse the apostle says, God be thanked.
He doesn't say, you people be thanked.
You see, if election is God's ratifying man's choice, he'd say, I thank you people.
He says, know God be thanked that he hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation.
Election is not salvation.
Election is unto salvation.
If we just get that clear in our minds, it'll save us from a lot of confusion.
Election never saved anybody.
Nobody was ever saved without election.
Men are saved on the basis of the redemptive work of Christ
and by virtue of the application of that work with power to their hearts by the Holy Ghost.
But those two things are rooted in God's purpose of election.
If a man's drowning out there in Lake Erie,
my standing on the shore saying, I purpose to get him out of the lake, doesn't get him out.
I've got to stick a pole out or jump in after him or throw out a life preserve.
But if I see him there and say, I'll let him perish, he'll perish.
Election is God looking into the mass of humanity and saying, I will rescue some.
But that doesn't rescue.
Now there'd be no rescue unless he purposed to say, I will reach in.
But then he reaches in by the redemptive work of his Son objectively
and by the powerful work of the Spirit subjectively and personally.
So election then is unto salvation.
Fourth thing we learn about it, God does the choosing.
He chooses individual people.
He chooses them unto salvation.
God chooses in eternity.
Ephesians 1 and verse 4,
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
There is that great reference twice in the book of the Revelation
whose names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the word.
I always cringe when I hear people sing,
there's a new name written down in glory and it's mine.
The idea that when somebody repents God picks up his pen real quick like him puts none on.
Whose names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the word.
God chose in eternity.
2 Timothy 1, 9,
Who hath saved us and called us not according to our works
but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
So we learn that God chooses.
He chooses individuals.
He chooses unto salvation.
He chooses in eternity.
The fifth thing we learn about this personal election is
God chose with reference to his dear Son.
Ephesians 1 in verse 4,
He chose us in him, in union with him before the foundation of the world.
What's that mean?
I don't know all that that means but I know this much.
Since election is the beginning of the whole process of salvation,
when you trace back God's saving work as far as scripture will let you trace it,
you come to election and beyond that you can go no further.
And the wonderful truth of scripture is that when you press salvation back into the recesses of eternity,
you confront a salvation which has inseparably identified with it the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
Yes, he is called the land slain from the foundation of the world.
The only way I say it reverently that God could be favorably disposed to any of the fallen sons of Adam,
even to thinking of selecting some of them unto life was with reference to his dear Son.
What a precious truth.
The cross took on new meaning to this poor sinner.
When I began to recognize that when the Lord Jesus went to that cross,
he didn't just take me into his heart then.
He had had me on his heart from all eternity.
Election is with reference to Christ chosen in him.
And then the sixth thing we learn, and listen carefully,
God chose us on no other revealed basis, and I'm using my words carefully,
no other revealed basis but the exercise of his sovereign will.
What was the basis upon which he selected?
David might have selected on the basis that the stones were the right size,
not too big, not too small, but right in the middle.
Those Pharisees chose on the basis of what would give them greater prestige.
The multitudes chose Stephen and the others because of certain qualifications.
They were men full of the Holy Ghost in a good report.
Well, then what was the basis of God's selectivity of individuals amongst the masses of humanity,
those whom he chose unto salvation and purposed to give them life?
What does Scripture answer?
Scripture answers unequivocally that there is no revealed basis but the exercise of his own sovereign will.
And I want you to turn to Ephesians 1,
where in three instances in this one chapter the apostle is careful to emphasize this principle.
Ephesians chapter 1 verses 4 and 5,
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blemish before him, and the break should come there,
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to what? The good pleasure of his will.
Verse 9, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself.
Verse 11, In whom we've obtained an inheritance being predestinated, according to foreseen faith,
according to foreseen repentance? No.
According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
When the Lord Jesus was expressing his gratitude to the Father for the revelation of his truth
to some of his own humble followers, it is said of him in Matthew 11 and verse 25,
In that hour he rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
For even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight.
The whole part, the whole central part of the ninth chapter of Romans demonstrates
that there is no revealed basis for God's selectivity but the exercise of his sovereign will.
The children, having neither done good or evil experimentally in time,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said, the elder shall serve the younger.
But their election is parallel with sovereign will and the exercise of sovereign choice.
So I suggest to you that this is what we read in scripture and learn concerning God's election.
And then scripture teaches that God's choice is unto his own glory.
And that same theme breaks forth in Ephesians chapter 1.
What is the end that God has in view? It's that he might bring glory to himself.
Verse 12 of Ephesians, one that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace.
Verse 14, which is the earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory. You see, glory is the outshining of the perfection of God.
When Moses said, Lord, show me thy glory, what he was praying for,
that there would be some discernible outbreak of the manifestation of the wonder and character of God.
It's the outshining of his character.
And so scripture says God chooses sovereignly unto his glory.
In other words, there is a peculiar glory when God is God exercising his free sovereign choice,
not only in bringing a world into being, not only in ordering the world after his own wisdom,
but in his greatest work of redemption, of making an independent selection with no reference to man,
but only with reference to his own gracious design.
God is glorified when his sovereignty is preserved, even in salvation.
And then this selection of God is immutable.
And that's the last thing I want us to consider about election.
And every word, every verse we're quoting has some reference to it.
It is immutable. It cannot fail at its purpose. Romans 9 and verse 11,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand.
Matthew 24 and verse 22, speaking of the terrible times that shall come upon men
prior to the second advent of our Lord.
Matthew 24 and verse 22, and except those days should be shortened,
there should be no flesh saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
God is going to order even all those great cataclysmic upheavals of the end time
with reference to the preservation of his elect,
for his purpose to save them unto eternity cannot be frustrated.
So what have we learned then about this fourth kind of election?
Election unto life and salvation.
We have learned that God is the one who elects.
God does the choosing. God chooses individuals.
He chooses unto salvation. He chooses in eternity.
He chooses with reference to Christ.
He chooses on no other revealed basis but the exercise of his own sovereign will.
He chooses unto his glory and his choice is immutable.
Now, but someone says to me, but Mr. Martin, I know two verses in the Bible that say,
whom he foreknew and elect according to the foreknowledge of God.
What do we do with those two verses?
Well, very briefly, let's do another foreknowledge,
what we've done with the much more used word elect.
This should be much quicker, easier,
because the word is only used a few times in the New Testament.
What do you do with the word foreknowledge?
Well, you know what most people do?
They see the word foreknowledge and they say,
oh, everybody knows what foreknowledge is.
That means to know the forehand.
That's obvious.
Oh, but wait a minute. Is it so obvious?
Is that what God meant when he said in Romans 8,
whom he foreknew he did predestinate?
Is that what Peter meant when he said to the brethren scattered abroad,
to elect according to the foreknowledge of God?
Don't assume that's what he meant.
Let's see if Scripture warrants that use of the word.
In the Old Testament, the word which begins to gather around it,
the meaning which Peter and Paul had in mind is the word to know.
Sometimes it simply means mere cognition, recognition of fact,
but other times it means something more than that.
And now I shall just quote the verses quickly.
Genesis 18, 17, speaking of Abraham, it says,
I have known him to the end that he will,
and then it speaks of what Abraham will do.
Did it mean that Abraham's the only man in all the then-known world that God knew?
Try to put that synonym.
I have foreseen Abraham.
Well, that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
No, the only synonym that works is,
I have regarded him with distinguishing love and purpose.
That fits.
Psalm 37, 18, it speaks of the Lord who knows the days of the perfect.
That is, he regards them with peculiar concern.
Amos 3, 2, God says of Israel,
You only have I known of all the peoples of the earth.
Was God ignorant to the other nations?
Of course not.
In Hosea 13, 5, he refers again to his special knowing of his people.
In each instance, there is a concept that takes into it regard with special love and affection.
It becomes synonymous with Deuteronomy 7, 6 and 7 that we read earlier,
where God says, I loved you and I chose you.
Why? Because I set my love upon you. Circular reasoning.
He says, I loved you and I chose you. Why?
Not because you were this, not because you were this, but because I chose to love you.
Now God says of that people, you only have I known.
You only have I loved with that peculiar distinguishing love of all the nations of the earth.
And that rich Old Testament meaning carries over into the New Testament
so that this word is used in two instances of mere knowledge of facts beforehand.
2 Peter 3, 17, Peter says, Knowing these things beforehand, it's the word for knowledge.
And another reference in Acts 26.
But in all of its other usages, it has a meaning which will not bear any idea of mere knowledge beforehand.
It's the word used in Acts 2, 33, speaking of Christ delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
It's a synonym for determinate counsel.
1 Peter 1, 20, Christ was a lamb foreknown.
Some of the Bibles actually translate it foreordained.
And then when it's used in a passage like Romans 11, 2, Have God cast off his people whom he foreknew?
What did it mean there?
Was Abraham sitting on a log in Ur of Apologies one day and got up and said,
Hey, I've got a bright idea. God ought to have a nation.
And I think I'd just like to be the father of that nation.
Perhaps his hand says, Jehovah, I'd like your attention, please.
Coming forward, presenting myself, I would like to be the father of a nation.
Is that what Scripture tells us?
That Abraham made a choice to be the father of a nation and God ratified his choice?
No, no, not at all.
God appeared to Abraham in Ur of Apologies and laid his hand upon him.
Now Romans 11, 2 says that people who came from the loins of Abraham, God foreknew them.
What does it mean?
That he saw that they would choose to become a special nation and ratified their decision?
Absolute travesty on the words.
Shall God cast off his people whom he had regarded with peculiar love and defection?
That fits.
Now apply that word to Romans 8, 29 and 1 Peter 1, 2.
Let's look at the passages. See what it says.
And the word foreknowledge then becomes synonymous with God's electing love and grace.
For notice, foreknowledge is a peculiar title or something attributed peculiarly to the people of God.
If it merely is that he foresaw faith, then he foresaw unbelief as much and all men would be foreknown.
But scripture uses this as a peculiar attribute or peculiar delineation of the people of God.
Verse 28, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose.
We're in the context of calling, rooted in divine purpose.
For, now notice, not what he foreknew, but whom he foreknew.
He did predestinate.
It doesn't say that he knew anything about them. It says he knew them.
And the only synonym that fits is this.
For whom he did regard with peculiar love and defection,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, he called whom he called, he justified.
Keep your finger there in Romans 8 and look at the parallel with Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5.
If foreknowledge is close to being a synonym for electing love, foreknowledge leads to predestination in Romans 8, 29.
Predestination has as its object conformity to the image of Christ.
Will you notice the close parallel with Ephesians 1?
Verse 4 shows in us in him that we should be holy and without blemish,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.
In Romans, its foreknowledge leading to predestination to be conformed to Christ.
In Ephesians, its election leading to predestination unto adoption and likeness to him.
We see that they are used almost synonymously in the writing of the Apostle Paul.
And then when we turn to 1 Peter 1, we find that same rich concept set before us,
where the Apostle addressing these scattered sojourners says in verse 2 of 1 Peter,
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, that is, chosen according to his peculiar love and purpose,
through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
To the Hebrew mind of both Peter and Paul, foreknowledge had that connotation
of special distinguishing regard and favor.
So we are foreknown not because we believe and God ratifies our choice,
but being dead in trespasses and sins and having no inclination to choose a Savior who is a holy Savior,
an embrace of God who is a holy God.
He looked down upon us in love and in pity and sovereignly set his affection upon us
and brought us under the sanctifying influence of the Spirit in time,
brought us to a place of subjugation to his rule and authority,
sprinkled us and continues to do so in the blood of his dear Son.
The doctrine of election, and I say it not to be smart, is so woven into the fabric of Scripture
there's only one way to rid yourself of it, tear out pages of Scripture
or pervert the meaning of the words on which the pages are found.
There's no other alternative.
And God never gave this doctrine to be a theological battlefield.
He gave it to be for his children a great cordial of consolation.
If God's dealings with me stretch back into eternity,
they're never going to peter out in time, but they will issue in eternity.
If God's love for me reaches back into eternity,
that love is toward me and upon me and will secure its object in eternity.
I'd hope to spend some time on the implications of the doctrine, but I don't want to...
Go ahead.
Go ahead? Well, quickly anyway, all right.
This is a great... I told Ross when he called me, I said,
I want to make you pay $75 to fly me up here,
and I don't want to go home with a bad conscience that I didn't earn my flame train.
What are the implications of the doctrine?
Let me just give you what I would have said at length
if it weren't for that little two-handed preacher called the clock.
This has great implications, of course, theologically.
For election in Scripture is localized as the fountainhead
of all the blessings that flow down to us as guilty sinners.
It would be a terrible thing if every day you came out
and found on your table warm breakfast or cold breakfast, whatever you like,
a nice lunch suited to your liking, supper,
and you never, never, never took three minutes' time to find out who put them there.
You just ate them, enjoyed them day after day.
Wouldn't that be a terrible act of ingratitude to enjoy all those privileges set before you
and never ask, what hand put it here?
I say the child of God who has no time to search out the doctrine of election is guilty of that.
All the blessings of redemption are set before him and the table is spread,
and he enjoys those blessings, but he doesn't ask,
what's the hand that brings them to me?
And when he begins to ask it and search the Scripture,
he sees that the hand that brings it to him is the hand that he left in grace.
And he falls prostrated before his God, saying, why was I made to enter in?
Why was I made? Why was I made?
While others make a wretched choice and perish in their sin.
Robert Murray McShane, in that wonderful hymn of his, said,
Chose him not for good in me, election, wakened up from wrath to flee.
The probing of the law, hidden in the Savior's side, effectual calling, by the Spirit sanctified.
Help me here on earth to show by my love how much I owe.
The implications, theologically, it'll trace us back to see the fountainhead of all blessings.
We will then begin to understand, perhaps in a new way,
the particular design of the redemption of Christ where he came forth from the Father,
not willy-nilly to do something for nobody in particular and everybody in general.
He himself said in John 17, for their sakes I sanctify myself.
That is, those whom you have given to me, he came forth to die
in order to accomplish the purposes of electing love.
And now the Spirit is present to do what?
To try to save everybody but not secure the salvation of anybody? No.
The Lord Jesus has accomplished his redemptive work of oblation.
And now he's at the right hand of the Father, having been exalted and received the promise of the Spirit.
And the Spirit is sent forth to accomplish in power what was purchased with blood
in keeping with the purpose of the Father.
And so you have a Trinitarian salvation, the Father purposing the Son, purchasing the Spirit applying.
Oh, beloved, that's a salvation to get excited about, to preach with boldness and with confidence.
Work out some of the implications theologically, great implications personally.
Some of you sitting here tonight, strangers to God's grace and to the quickening work of the Spirit,
you say, what's this say to me?
Oh, it says, dear friend, that you can't bring forth one proof that you don't fall within the compass of that purpose of God
except your impenitence and your unbelief.
And what are you to do as you sit here tonight?
Try to pry back the counsels of God and see if you're written in the role of his elect?
No, God will slap your hand to get your hand off the book of my counsels.
And look to the cross of my Son. I set him before you as a willing, able, mighty Savior.
Cast yourself upon him and all who come to him he'll receive.
Professing Christian, the implications are very clear. Election is unto salvation.
And salvation comes to light in effectual calling, and effectual calling is demonstrated in holy living.
If you're not pursuing holiness, don't you talk about your election. You better set upon repentance. Quick!
For we are elect from the beginning unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit.
You read your election from the evidences of grace, and then there are great implications ministerially,
and I close with this word of encouragement to my brethren.
I have found that this doctrine has done something for me as a pastor
without which I don't know if I'd still be in the same place seven years.
There are people I've faced week after week, and under God as I've prayed for them and preached to them,
I've tried to make them tremble before the terrors of law.
I've tried to woo them with the overtures of the Gospel.
I've sought to entreat, I've sought to threaten, I've sought to warn,
and as far as I can see, they've been no more moved than the benches upon which they sit.
But each Sunday I can go to the pulpit and look into those same faces with the hope,
and I hope maybe today will be the day because my Lord has said,
All that the Father giveth me shall come.
Shall come! Shall come!
All the sheep I have which are not of this whole devil, so I must bring!
And if this should be the day of his power, he'll bring them!
And, oh, the hardness and the callousness must melt before the arm of an omnipotent Savior.
That'll keep you from the itch to say your work is done.
I can't understand these preachers that come and say,
Well, you know, Brother Martin, been here for a year, think my work is done.
I feel like saying, Well, Brother, what you mean is you're done.
Either you've got to go deeper with God or you've had it in this place.
Now, I'm not saying if you left after three years you're out of the will of God.
I wouldn't dare be judged, but I am saying this,
this pattern of three- and four-year pastorates I have serious doubts about.
If you can face all those problems that emerge when the honeymoon's over
and people know you and you know them,
in the confidence that God's electing purposes will go on,
it'll do for you what it did for Paul.
And let's look at that passage as our last passage tonight,
I Corinthians, I mean I Acts, Acts 18.
I'm thinking of the Corinthian church that was being founded at this time.
And things were getting hot for Paul, as they usually were.
I often think of the contrast between modern evangelists,
when they come into a town and they get the key to the city,
the only keys Paul oversaw were the keys to the jail,
and they were usually in a jailer's pocket, not his.
He was on the other side of the bars.
And same thing happened when he came to Corinth.
This fellow was true to his reputation, troublemaker.
So he's preaching.
Things are getting kind of hot for him, some of the young Christians,
so the Lord's going to encourage him.
And we read in verse 9 of Acts 18,
And spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision.
Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.
For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee.
For you're such a diplomatic preacher that you'll smooth everything out.
Oh no, they didn't comfort him with anything he was.
He said, listen, you open your mouth and speak,
assured of two or three things.
Number one, I'm with you, Paul.
I'm with you.
I, the mighty sovereign God.
I, the God who took you, oh Paul, remember what you were?
Breathing out threatenings and slaughters until I took you in hand.
I did a good job on you, didn't I?
I'm with you.
From the moment I struck you blind on that Damascus road,
and subdued your proud Pharisee's heart,
and brought you humbled and broken to the feet of my dear son.
I remember, Paul, I did that, and I've been with you ever since.
Preacher, when things get hot, start thinking about that.
What did God do to bring himself into that saving relationship with you?
You had a pretty hard heart, didn't you?
Well, Lord, if you did it for me, you can do it for that one out there that's getting under my skin.
First area of comfort, I'm with you.
Second, no man shall set on thee to hurt thee.
You're invincible within the circle of my will.
Oh, what great release.
Preacher, if you're out trying to protect your reputation, quit it.
It isn't worth protecting.
Any protecting it needs, God will protect it.
If you're out to protect your hide or your pocketbook, forget it.
The glorious release that comes when I know that nothing can touch me personally,
but what passes through the wall of his presence.
I am with thee, no man shall hurt thee.
Now the third area of comfort, I have much people in this city.
Paul, I've got them out there.
They're already mine by divine decree.
They're mine in my eternal purpose.
I have much people in this city.
And when that confidence grips a man, then it says, and he continued there.
See, preacher, that's what some of you need, to continue there.
In that place where there's nothing but discouragement,
the doctrine of sovereign electing grace becomes the fuel that makes you stay by your post through thick or thin.
He continued there a year and six months doing what?
All kinds of tricks and gimmicks?
No, sir.
Teaching the word of God.
I've got them.
They're mine.
And I'll call them through the preaching of my word.
So he just went right on preaching.
Brethren, the confidence that comes that will liberate you as a preacher
from the doctrine of divine sovereign election.
I don't know who his elect are, but I know he has them.
And he said, I can preach on, pray on.
I don't need to get sour.
You see, you'll get sour.
You'll get hard-hearted people week after week.
You'll get sour.
When they sense that the sweetness and fragrance of Christ
and the dew of intimate communion with him and holy confidence in his purposes
causes you to come with the gentleness of Christ week after week,
this in itself will be an instrument God will use to plow and break their hearts.
Well, there are a lot of things about the doctrine we haven't touched.
And I hope I took the right course in having a word study on these two words
considering with you a few implications.
And I say to those of you who may be wrestling with the doctrine,
and I know it's wrestling.
I wrestled for eight years.
But my Bible drove me to it.
And if a study of these words won't do it, you get on your knees
and read through Romans 9, Ephesians 1, and John 17,
and that will for sure push you over the hill.