The Doctrine of Election, Part 3

The Doctrine of Election, Part 3

Selected Scriptures

Code: 90-275

We have over the last couple of Sunday-evening messages been talking about the issue of divine election. Who chose whom? And I understand that this is not a small controversy when you talk about the doctrine of election. There are many people who feel, as I noted in our original message, that this is a dangerous doctrine, that this turns God into a monster, that this is an almost blasphemous, that this is a kind of heresy. And yet no matter how much human reason, human preference might rage against this doctrine, it is inescapably taught in Scripture. And we need to bow our knees to this great truth of divine election, and once we do it may become to us the most precious of all doctrines.

I understand what the Bible says about these matters of salvation. And I understand that the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:4 that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I also know that the Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. And I know that the Bible says we are commanded to preach the gospel to every creature. And I know that the Bible commands all men everywhere to repent and that God demands that all consider His Son in whom He is well pleased and hear Him. And that the gospel is essentially a command. We talk about it as a gift, we talk about it as an offer, but it is essentially a command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I also understand that the Bible teaches human choice and human volition. That the Bible says choose this day whom you will serve. I know that Jesus said, "Come unto Me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." I know that He said, "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." And Jesus posed the question, "Why will you die? You will not come to Me," He said, "that you might have life." And I know that Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem and said, "Though I would have often gathered you as a hen gathers her brood, you would not." I know that God wept over a recalcitrant, rebellious and unbelieving Israel and He wept through the eyes of Jeremiah, as recorded in Jeremiah chapter 13. I also know that the Bible indicts all people as sinners and all sinners as personally guilty of violating God's holy Law and deserving of divine wrath and eternal punishment. And I know that the Bible indicates that all sinners have enough revelation to be responsible for their sin. Through creation in Romans 1 and through conscience in Romans 2, the sinner is given light if which followed leads to the truth. If they fail to follow it, they will perish under God's wrath.

Now I understand all of that and so do you, and that is all in the Scripture. But at the very same time without any contradiction, only in apparent difficulty in our minds, there is a mystery unfolded for us in Scripture that tells us that no sinner is capable of understanding the truth. "The natural man understandeth not the things of God, they are incomprehensible to him, the preaching of the cross is foolishness to him". No sinner on his own is capable of repenting. In fact, as Acts 11:18 says, the only way a sinner could ever repent is if God grants him repentance. And even believing is beyond the capability of human beings. John 1 says, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God." Believing does not come by the will of man, or the will of the flesh. The Bible then says people are incapable of understanding the truth, the gospel truth, they are incapable of repenting. They are incapable of believing. So that the only way any sinner can be redeemed is by the work of God. God has to grant understanding, grant repentance, grant faith. God has to overpower spiritual death and give life, overpower spiritual blindness and give sight, overpower spiritual ignorance and give truth, overpower the pervasive love of sin and replace it with a desire for righteousness.

If anyone is ever saved, it is because God overrules all the normal natural inabilities. That's why we say salvation is all of God. It's not just all of grace, it's all of God. Now that is never apart from human will, it is never in violation of human will. The profound unsearchable reality is that no one would ever choose Christ if God had not first chosen him. We are saved and we have life because God freely chose to give it to us. Let's start in John 6:64. Over these first two messages I gave you a lot of Scripture to consider, here's another one to add to your list. Verse 64, Jesus says, "Now there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, as well as who it was who would betray Him, namely Judas." Verse 65, "And He was saying. 'For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.'"

I don't know how much more clearly that could be said. You can't come, you won't come unless God grants you the understanding, the repentance and the faith. Now that is what we said in the first two messages, that salvation is a work of God. And that leaves us with a very, very important question to answer tonight and it is this question: why did God do this? Why did He make this choice? Why did God choose to rescue sinners from His just judgment?

And the answer really is staggering. To understand why God did this, I want to help you work through some very, very powerful texts of Scripture. Let's start in Titus chapter 1, Titus chapter 1. And I want you to get the really big picture of this glorious doctrine of election. In the beginning of Titus, Paul introduces himself and he introduces himself in ways which are essential to his calling. He is a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. In the large sense he serves God, in the most specific sense he serves God as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Now in discharging his service to God and his apostleship in behalf of Jesus Christ, there are a number of elements in his ministry. First of all, he says, "For the faith of those chosen by God," or as some translations put it, "For the faith of the elect of God." So the first thing that Paul says is God has called me into His service. And by the way, Paul's conversion and call is a picture of the conversion of every sinner, he is on the way to Damascus, his heart is filled with hated for Christ, he's headed to persecute more believers. He stopped in his tracks and sovereignly saved by God. He then becomes a servant of God and apostle of Christ and his first task is for the faith of the elect, that is to say it is to bring the gospel to the elect so that they can hear it and believe. Now since Paul doesn't know who the elect are, since there is no way to identify them, since the decree of God and His sovereign election is secret and hidden, Paul then preaches the gospel everywhere he goes knowing that the Lord will use him to bring the gospel to the elect who will believe. This is what evangelism is and this was the first aspect of Paul's ministry. It's the ministry of evangelism. You bring the gospel so the elect can hear it and believe.

And then there's a second aspect to his ministry. It starts out with evangelism and moves toward edification. He says, "Not only is he called by God to represent Jesus Christ in bringing the truth to the elect so they can hear it and believe, but to those who believe he brings the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness." That's the second aspect. Once people have believed they need to be taught the truth so they can grow in Christ's likeness. So you could say the first aspect of his ministry was salvation, the second is sanctification. He says I preach the gospel so that elect can hear it and believe, and then I teach the Word of God so that those who believe can learn the truth which produces godliness.

There's a third aspect of ministry, and it's true for him and all of us, verse 2, "In the hope of eternal life." The third aspect is that element of encouragement and consolation and hope that looks at future glory. So summing it up, he says first of all I preach the gospel so the elect can hear it and believe. Then I teach the Word so that those who believe can grow in the knowledge of the truth into godliness. And then I tell them about the eternal life to come so that they can live in hope and hope becomes their great comfort.

So there is in his ministry an aspect of salvation, an aspect of sanctification, an aspect of glorification. And we all have that responsibility. I mean, that's what we all do, we bring the gospel and then those who believe we instruct that they may grow. And then we fill their minds with the hope of what is to come in the glorious inheritance that awaits us in the future. But verse 2 is where I want you to focus, Titus 1:2.

"All of this...he says...all of this from justification through sanctification to glorification, all of this comes from God who cannot lie and who promised it," and the NAS says, "in long ages ago." The Greek says, "Before time began...before time began." Before time began God promised that He would save and sanctify and glorify believers. Now the question is, before time began to whom did He make this promise? He certainly didn't promise it to any human being because there weren't any. Before time began is before day one of creation. He certainly didn't promise this to angels because there are no saved angels, there are holy angels who never fall, who never fell and there are fallen angels who are never redeemed, but are headed for a lake of fire prepared for them. There's never been the salvation of any angels, so He didn't make any promise about salvation and sanctification and glorification to angels, and He didn't make it to people because there weren't any people. In fact, it's very likely that when this promise was made there weren't any angels either because the angels seemed to be created at around the time everything else was created.

Then who in the world is He making a promise to? Well it has to be an inter-trinitarian promise. It has to be God making a promise within the Trinity. And to whom then is He making the promise? Look with me at Paul's second letter to Timothy and let's follow the path of this. Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, verse 8 ends with a reference to God, and then verse 9 says, referring to God, "Who saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus," and here's the exact same Greek phrase as in Titus 1:2, "before time began." I don't know why the translators in Titus 1:2 translated it "long ages ago," and here the very same phrase they translate "from all eternity." What it means is "before time began, before there was time God promised to save sinners and sanctify them and glorify them." The question is, to whom did He make the promise? He didn't make it to the sinners, they weren't there. To whom did He make it?

Well verse 9 says, "It was granted in Christ Jesus," and I will tell you, right there is the key. The Father made a promise to the Son. The whole of salvation comes from God and is all about His own purpose and it is granted on behalf of Christ. So what you have then to understand this great doctrine of election is this, the Father at some point in eternity past says to the Son, "I am going to redeem sinners and I'm going to do it for You. I'm going to do it for You." Why would God do that? Because He loves the Son and the seventeenth chapter of John, as we'll see later, the Son celebrates the mutual love that He has with the Father and love gives and the Father determines in His eternal love within the Trinity that He will express His love for the Son by giving the Son a gift, and that gift essentially is going to be a redeemed humanity. If you will, He gives His Son a bride.

In the ancient world, fathers chose the brides for their sons. That's the way it was done. Nobody chose for themselves, that was the father's responsibility. And here you have the divine pattern as God determines that He will choose a bride for His Son. It's a way that the Father could express His love to His Son. It's a way He determined to do it, that He would give to His Son a redeemed humanity. Follow that thought to the sixth chapter of John, a section of Scripture that we refer to often in our studies in the Word of God because it's so foundational. In John chapter 6 verse 37, this is critical, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." This is where it has to be understood. Every saved person is a gift from the Father to the Son. The Father determined in eternity past that He would give to the Son a bride, that He would give to the Son a redeemed humanity. The Bible tells us that He actually wrote their names down in the Lamb's Book of Life knowing that even before the foundation of the world the Lamb would have to be slain to pay the price for that redemption. There was always a price paid for a bride, paid to the father by the one who took the bride. In this case, the Father had to give up His own Son, the Son had to give up His own life to pay the price to purchase His bride. Every saved individual is a part of that bride. Even the Old Testament saints are engulfed into the bride and take up residence in the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband, becomes the capital city of eternity, the bridal city. The whole of redemptive history is about the Father pursuing a bride for His Son and the Father determined before the foundation of the world who the bride would be and He wrote down the names so that every person who comes to Christ is given to Christ by the Father. It's just a staggering and glorious truth.

In fact, look at verse 44. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." You can't come, you can't understand, you can't repent, you can't believe, it's just what we read in the same chapter, verses 64 and 65. I've said to you, no one can come to Me unless it's been granted him from the Father. This is a divine grant. So how is it that people are saved? They are chosen, their names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Everyone of them is a personal gift from the Father to the Son. And then, back to verse 37, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me ." If you're given, you will come. This is what theologians through the centuries have called irresistible grace. If you are chosen, if you are a gift from the Father to the Son, you will come. You will be given life and understanding and repentance and faith. And verse 37 says, "The one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out." Why? Because there's something inherently valuable in the sinner? No, this is one of the evangelical illusions today, that we're so wonderful God can't resist us. He just loves us to pieces because of what we are. It isn't that at all. The value is not in the gift, the value is in the giver of the gift. It's because the Son so perfectly loves the Father that whatever the Father gives the Son takes on infinite value because of the giver, not the gift. I mean, I think we understand that in the natural sense. Gifts given to us by people we love take on a value far beyond their inherent value sitting on a shelf. It isn't that there's anything particularly glorious or wonderful about us, it is that because we have been given to the Son by the Father we become precious to the Son. And He would never reject a gift from His Father.

And then verse 39, "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me, I lose none...I lose none, but raise it up on the last day." Verse 40, "This is the will of My Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him because the Father allows him to do that, empowers him to do that, everyone who does that will have eternal life and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." Now are you beginning to understand? The Father chooses a bride, writes the name down. In time as history unfolds, those whom the Father has chosen are given to the Son. As they repent and believe, the Son receives them, the Son does not reject them. The Son never loses any of them but raises them up on the last day. And it is not based upon value that's inherent in us. We become precious because the Son cherishes the gifts of His Father.

This same language comes to us again in the seventeenth chapter of John. You might want to turn to it. Some have called this chapter the Holy of Holies of Scripture. Here you get deep into the communion within the Trinity between the Father and the Son. In John 17, Jesus is talking to the Father about us, talking to the Father about His bride, those that the Father has given. Verse 9, "I ask on their behalf," He says, "I do not ask on behalf of the world." I'm not talking about the world, "But of those whom Thou hast given Me for they are Thine." And in that sense the elect have been God's since they were chosen. They've always belonged to Him. And He gives them as gifts of love to the Son. And the Son says I'm asking about them, I'm praying for them. I'm not praying on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me.

Verse 11, He anticipates leaving, getting near the cross. And He says, "I'm no more in the world, the time is coming when I'll be gone, yet they are in the world and I come to Thee, holy Father...now listen to this...keep them in Thine name, the name which Thou hast given Me that they may be one even as we are." Now this is really a very deep moment in this prayer of Jesus. I'm about to leave, He says, and they're going to be here and I'm coming to You and I'm asking You, Father, to keep them. I've kept them up to now. Things are going to change. And I want You to keep them. Verse 12 He says, "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name," here it is again, "which Thou hast given Me and I guarded them and not one of them perished," except Judas, of course, who never was for real.

You see, Jesus says I kept them, Father, I kept them because You gave them to Me. I think Jesus is feeling the separation that's going to come. And He's saying, "Father, there's going to be a time here when I'm not going to be able to keep them. Father, could You keep them for that time that I can't keep them and when I come back to You, would You keep them then, too?" And in that moment when Jesus was separated from His Father, God stepped in and kept His own and since Christ ascended to glory, He sent the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee, the down payment, the one who keeps us, who seals us.

Why all of this? Because we are precious. Why are we precious? Not because we're inherently any better than anybody else but because we've been given to the Son as gifts of love from the Father. Again, in verse 2 4, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am." I want them to see My glory. Father, I want to have them come to the great wedding and I want You to keep them. He will lose none. The Father will lose none. The Spirit seals us unto eternal redemption.

What is the purpose of all of this? Well the Father has chosen to give to the Son a bride. For what reason? To love the Son forever, to serve the Son forever, to praise the Son forever, to glorify the Son forever. I mean, just think about it, I mean, from a very earthy analogy standpoint, it would be like saying to your wife, men, "I just love you so much, I just don't know...I don't know how to express that love and so what I've done is I've collected a huge group of people and they're going to spend all their time and all their energy following you wherever you go, serving you, praising you. They're going to be your own private hallelujah chorus. Just extolling your virtues, doing everything you desire them to do. And not only that, that they're going to reflect your glory, they're going to...they're going to be as much like you as possible, they're going to be a whole hallelujah chorus of clones. We're just going to radiate everything that's beautiful about you.

You say, "That is wacky." Sure, because we can't conceive of any human being deserving that kind of praise. But Christ does and in the mind of the Father, He is worthy of a redeemed humanity who will fill eternal heavens with praise and honor given to the Son. They will be, as Revelation 4 and 5 pictures them, gathered around the throne of God crying out forever and ever, "Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb." And they will serve Christ and more than that, they will even be made like Him for they shall see Him as He is. They will have a body like unto His resurrection body, Philippians 3:20 and 21 says. As much as glorified humanity can be like deity incarnate, we'll be like Christ. This is the way that one must understand election. This is what Paul calls in Philippians 3 the prize of the upward call, the prize of being called up is to be made like Christ. Being made like Christ so that we can reflect His glory, so that He's the prototokos, the premier one among many brethren, that is many who are made like Him. We're going to bear His image.

Redemptive history ends when the last name is redeemed. It's over. And in the final ending, the Father will have gathered the bride in total and presented the bride to His Son. And it will be at that great final glorious location, the New Jerusalem, that is adorned as a bride for her husband. It will eternally be the city of the bride. And all the saints of all the ages will make up that redeemed humanity and all we'll ever do forever and ever and ever and ever is honor the Lord Jesus Christ. And that will satisfy the Father who has perfect love for the Son.

Let me show you another remarkable feature of this. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15. In...there's a lot about consummation here, the end of everything, but verse 25 talks about how Christ is going to reign and finally put all His enemies under His feet, this is looking at the last ending of everything. And verse 26, the abolishing of death which comes at the very end of this universe, as we know it. And in the final ending, verse 27 says, "Everything is in subjection under His feet." That's where the Father takes the bride and gives the bride to the Son. Everything is there. Everything is subject to Him, which means all redeemed humanity. We'll all be there. The story of redemption will be complete, this earth and universe as we know it will be dissolved like elements melting in fervent heat, Peter says. It will be all over, human history. And the bride will be complete and given to the Son, everything put in subjection to Him.

And then look at verse 28, really amazing, "When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him that God may be all in all." Boy, that is a staggering look into the glory of our future. What is it saying? It's saying this, that when the Father gives the Son the bride, when everything is done and all redemption is over, and all the redeemed are gathered and the Father has given the Son the bride, the Son in an act of reciprocal love gives the bride and Himself back to the Father so that God is all in all. If you have some superficial shallow comprehension of salvation, this has taken you places your mind has never gone. We are being saved, beloved, because we are caught up in a glorious divine expression of love between the Father and the Son. It is way beyond us. We are, in a sense, saved not as ends in ourselves but as a means to an end. We don't deserve to be saved. Hell is not unjust. Hell is just. Eternal punishment is just. But God is merciful to us, not because of some value which we possess, but because He so values His Son as to give to His Son a redeemed humanity who will adore Him forever for saving them, adding a dimension of adoration and praise that angels can't give and the Son having received His bride will give Himself and His bride back to the Father in a reciprocal act of love.

This is where it all finally ends and this is what Paul must have had in mind when he wrote to the Galatians and said, "I...I have pain until Christ is fully formed in you." I want to present you, he said to the Corinthians, as a chaste virgin to Christ. He understood this. This doctrine of election is not some philosophical thing. It's not some abstraction. It is the heart and soul of all redemption. And you're a Christian because the Father chose you, the Father wrote your name down, the Father drew you, you therefore came, the Son received you and the Son will not lose you and the Son will raise you and the Father will glorify you because that's what He determined to do at the beginning. You are precious because of what it is that you have been chosen to do throughout all eternity.

The price, the Father said to the Son, "There is a price for Your bride," and it was a profound price. He bore in His own body our sins on the cross. We were redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold but with the precious blood, the blood of Christ like a lamb spotless and unblemished. He who was rich, the Son, rich in heavenly riches became poor that we through His poverty might become rich.

You know, when you think about the doctrine of election from that viewpoint, it is just so staggering. The Father makes the Son sin to pay the price for an unworthy bride. We're very little different than Hosea's wife who was a prostitute and Hosea went into the marketplace and paid the price to buy her back from her prostitution. And then he set his love on her as if she were a virgin, it says. We are a precious bride, bought with the impoverishing of the Son and through His own death. We are precious now because we have been chosen by the Father for the Son.

Let me tell you in closing how you ought to think about the doctrine of election. Election is pride crushing. That's the first thing I want you to think about. It just..it just produces nothing but humility. It is not that you believe because you were smarter than anyone else, or better than anybody else, or wiser than anybody else. It is that you were chosen. Spurgeon called this doctrine the most stripping doctrine in all the world. He said, "I know nothing, nothing again that is more humbling than this doctrine of election." He said, "I have sometimes fallen prostrate before it when endeavoring to understand it, but when I came near it and the one thought possessed me, God has chosen me from the beginning unto salvation, I was staggered by that mighty thought and from the dizzy elevation down came my soul, prostrate and broken saying, Lord I am nothing, I am less than nothing, why me, why me?"

That, my dear friend, that crushing of all pride is at the very heart of worship, isn't it? On the other hand, this doctrine is God-exalting. It gives all the glory to God. This doctrine declares that understanding of the truth, belief in the truth, repentance from sin and the power for l obedience to the gospel all comes from God, not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but to Thine name give glory.

And I think thirdly, this doctrine is not only pride crushing and God exalting, it is joy producing. In fact, it plants in your heart a sort of overwhelming joy. It is the mystery of it that contributes to the joy. It is the hopelessness of our own abilities that strengthens that joy. I mean, I just continue to be floored with joy. Psalm 65:4 says, "Blessed is the man whom You choose and cause to approach You." If the Lord hadn't chosen us, we'd be like Sodom, destroyed. Rather than sit around and question the rational sentiments that sometimes get attached to this doctrine, celebrate it. You have been loved by God with an everlasting love.

Fourthly, it is a privilege-granting truth. It grants to us unspeakable benefits and benefits that we could never earn. "We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ."

Not only that, fifthly, it is a holiness producing doctrine. I don't know about you but I can't think of anything more motivating to live a godly life than gratitude for this holy calling. I really believe to understand the doctrine of election is to produce the most significant motivation for holy living. Spurgeon said again, "Nothing...nothing under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit can make a Christian more holy than the thought that he's chosen." Shall I sin after God has chosen me? Shall I transgress against such love? Shall I go astray against such mercy? Shall I spurn such eternal kindness? My, God, since You have chosen me, I will love You, I will live for you, I will give myself to You forever.

And number six, it is strength giving. Frankly it makes me at peace with every situation. I'm chosen. And Philippians 1:6 says, "Who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ." And if the Father draws you, and you come, and you believe, and the Son receives you, and He never loses you, but raises you at the last day, therein is great encouragement, great strength no matter what the circumstances of life.

There is a certain boldness, a certain confidence, a certain firmness, a strength, a fearlessness, if you will, that belongs to those who understand they are chosen. And that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. This is the blessedness of this doctrine. It is pride crushing, God exalting, joy producing, privilege granting, holiness promoting and strength giving. And dare we ignore such a doctrine? If we ignore it or deny it, or reject it, we steal the glory from God. We must glorify God as our Redeemer. We must glorify God as the giver of life and understanding and repentance and faith of which we are incapable. If we deny this doctrine then we are left with a misunderstanding of our own weakness and we lose the entire sense of the scheme of all redemptive history.

And somebody at this point is going to say, "Well, how do you know if you're elect?" Do you believe the gospel? Have you repented of sin? Do you desire to obey the Lord? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the proof because that's not possible apart from the mighty sovereign work of God.

We could say a lot more about the doctrine of election, but we're working our way through some very important things. We started with perseverance, that our salvation is eternal. And I told you that it has to be eternal because it's based on election. So then we backed in to the doctrine of election. Now we're going to back into another doctrine, the doctrine of human depravity, the reason that you couldn't be saved unless God chose to save you is because you're incapable of believing. And that introduces us to the doctrine of depravity.

People who don't understand preservation, perseverance, or eternal security, don't understand it because they don't understand the doctrine of election. People who reject the doctrine of election and believe the sinner chooses to believe on his own don't understand the doctrine of depravity. If you're going to believe that sinners can be saved on their own, then it's not just a work of God, it's something sinners do, then you don't understand the nature of sin. So next Sunday night we're going to continue in our backwards trip through doctrine to the doctrine of depravity. Let's pray.

Father, we thank You for this stirring and overwhelming glorious truth. The whole thing is beyond us. It just leaves us limp on the one hand, and overwhelmed with joy on the other. We thank You for redeeming us. We don't know why You chose us. We don't know why You awakened us or why even tonight here in this church You will awaken from the dead others and You will cause them to be able to understand what they never understood as we heard in the testimonies of baptism tonight. How Your shattering power comes in and brings life where there's death and light where there's darkness and truth where there's deception, and repentance where there's love of iniquity. But, O God, how we thank You You have chosen us and we ask that You'll continue to cause us to be filled with praise. May we become very well versed in this life in doing what we'll do forever, praising and glorifying Your name for our redemption. And we pray tonight, Lord, that You would save other sinners, adding them to Your church, to Your bride and use us as instruments like You did Paul to bring the truth so that the elect can hear it and believe and so that those who believe can have the knowledge that produces godliness and learn to live in the hope of our eternal glory. We know this is what You planned before the world began and You'll bring it to pass. We praise You and thank You and are overwhelmed with joy that You have chosen us. We respond as only we can respond, in obedience and faithfulness to You, to express our love, we love You because You first loved us. We again offer ourselves to You in Your Son's name. Amen.

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The Doctrine of Election, Part 2

The Doctrine of Election, Part 2

Selected Scriptures

Code: 90-274

We're going to return now to the, I trust, refreshment of the Word of God.  We're talking about the doctrine of election, chosen by God, who chose whom?  And this is not without controversy, as you well know.  The doctrine of sovereign election, the truth of predestination is much discussed and most discussions can degenerate into something very heated.  In fact, to say that there are people who hate the idea of predestination is not an overstatement.  There are people who hate the thought of divine election, sovereign choice.  In fact, there are some people who say that the doctrine is demonic, that the doctrine itself is satanic.  It is such an affront to their sense of fairness and sense of what they think is right that there are people who call themselves Christians who would see this as truth that comes from the enemy of God and not God Himself.

For many people, rationally it seems unfair that God chooses who will be saved.  For other people it is emotionally hard to accept and endure that God would decide who He would save.  To other people and maybe to the same people as the first two, it seems like some kind of assault on free will, human choice which many people are convinced is some kind of human right.  And I understand those feelings.  It is a hard doctrine to accept.  All of us who have come to understand what the Bible teaches about the doctrine of election have had to deal with the rational arguments that say this doesn't seem fair, this doesn't seem just, this doesn't seem equitable, this can't be the way it is.  We've all had to deal with the emotional issues of, "it's tragic, it's sad that God passes by some sinners."  We've all had to deal with the fact that while we have volition and we have choice, ultimately it is not independent of God.

So, I understand how you feel.  I understand how you think.  I understand all of those things because no one comes to a biblical understanding of the doctrine of sovereign election without working through those issues.  But then again, what satisfies my reason and what satisfies my emotion, and what satisfies my sense of freedom is not the determiner of truth.  And so we have to come back to that point, I'm not God.  And while things may not make sense to my reason, my reason is fallen.  And while things may not make sense to my emotion, my emotion is fallen.  And while things might not seem to square up with my sense of freedom, my freedom is fallen too.  And one thing I will not do and none of us really would openly want to do, we will not create God in our image.  We will not design God to fit our reason, our emotion and our freedom.  We cannot design God to be what we think He should be.  We cannot design God to act how we think He should act.  Still there are some who appear to be bold enough to make the attempt.  They seem to be undisturbed by the fact that in rejecting the doctrine of divine election, predestination, they have created a God who is not the God of the Bible.  The God of their creation may be more reasonable to them, He may be more comfortable to them.  He may fit their instincts better.  But the fact of the matter is, that God which they have made is not the true God.  A misrepresentation of God, any corruption of God, any diminishing of God is to then create a God in your own mind that is not the true and living God and such misrepresentations inevitably corrupt our worship, they corrupt our service to Him and they can be blasphemous as well as ignorant.

An illustration of that from another area that deals with the nature of God would be creation.  If you believe in evolution, if you reject the idea that God created the universe in six days, if you will not accept that as fact but you believe that there's an evolutionary process going on, you have just stolen some of God's glory, right?  Because He is to be glorified as the Creator.  And the fact that time is broken inexplicably really apart from creation into seven-day periods is a constant reminder that God created everything in six days.  There's no other reason to break things down into seven-day periods.  But human life itself is a constant reminder in the cycles of time that God is the Creator and God is to be honored as the Creator.  And to hold a view that there is somehow other forces, or there are somehow other forces operating in creation beyond what Scripture attributes to God is to then to diminish His glory.  Any corruption of the nature of God then takes you to a level below the reality of God and therefore corrupts worship because it corrupts your understanding of who He is.  We do have reason, reason according to Romans 1 allows us to conclude there is a God.  We do have emotion, emotion gives us the faculty to relate to each other something animals and plants don't have.  And emotion also gives us the privilege of relating to God.  And we do have will.  We do act in some ways with a measure of freedom.  But our reason fell when Adam fell and our emotion fell when Adam fell, and our freedom fell when Adam fell.  And so all our faculties while they are residual, there are still some residual elements of those faculties given to Adam before the Fall, all of our faculties are to one degree or another corrupted.  Our reason is corrupted by the flesh.  Our emotion is corrupted by the flesh.  And our will, our freedom is certainly corrupted by the flesh.

Therefore in order for reason and emotion and will to function as God wants them to function, they cannot be left to themselves because they're fallen.  They must be brought under the authority of...what?...Scripture.  What is truly reasonable is not what seems reasonable to us.  What is truly satisfying may not be what is satisfying to us.  What is truly an expression of our will may not be what our fallen will most longs for.  The only way we'll ever get an uncorrupted view of God is to go to an uncorrupted source.  And what is that?  It's the Word of God.  And so in every issue that relates to God, we go to Scripture.  And I do understand that the idea that God chooses people for salvation is a hard thing to accept, I do understand that it's hard reasonably because we're so concerned with what is fair by our understanding, and I do understand that it's a difficult thing emotionally, and certainly with regard to the freedom of the human will.  But denying the doctrine of election or denying the doctrine of predestination doesn't change anything because if I say that you're able to go to heaven based on your choice, not God's, that you're the determine of your destiny, your eternal destiny, this is up to you to do, God leaves it completely to you, the next question would be, "Does God know what you'll do?"  And the answer to that question has to be yes, He does know what you're going to do because He knows everything.  And because He already has a book from eternity in which the names of all the people who will believe are already written down, so God already knows, so the question is if He knew you weren't going to believe, then why did He go and create you anyway?  I mean, you really never escape the dilemma.  And somebody might come along and say, like the openness theologian people, and say, "Well He doesn't know."  Well if He doesn't know then for mercy's sake why didn't He just throw this thing to the wind like a bunch of dandelions and let it fall wherever it would?  He certainly must have known how it would turn out terribly.  He certainly knew He had thrown Satan out of heaven.  He certainly knew that a third of the angels went with him.  He certainly knew that they were doing what they were doing in the Garden of Eden.  He certainly knew all that.  Why would He do this?  Why would He create the race if there was even the possibility of hell?  You never really do escape the issue. 

In the end, one thing is clear.  God never ever planned to save everyone.  You say, "How do you know that?"  Because not everyone is saved, therefore God couldn't have planned to save everyone, or everyone would be saved, right?  Because God can do whatever He purposes to do.  Is that not true?  So the question is then, why does God pass over some and choose others?  And the other is, for His own glory, Romans 9 again tells us that God is glorified in His wrath as He is in His mercy.  Now this is a huge issue, but denying the doctrine of predestination or the doctrine of election doesn't solve the problem.  One thing is clear.  God did not determine to save everyone.  That is clear.  Jesus said that when He said, "Many are on the broad road that leads to destruction."  And so the question then is, if God in His perfectly just and holy, sovereign purpose determined to save some, by what means did He determine to do that?  Did He determine to do it simply willy-nilly on the part of the people making the choice, or did He Himself make the choice?  First, He determined we know not to save all or there wouldn't be an eternal hell and there wouldn't be "few" that find the way to life everlasting.  So the only question remaining is who chose whom?  Do people choose God or does God choose people?  And the answer is found...where?...in the Bible.  In the Bible.

Last time I gave you a long list of Scripture texts because it's so very important to help you understand this doctrine, it's not isolated.  Let me give you a few more, okay?  Deuteronomy 10:14 and 15...Deuteronomy 10:14 and 15, I want to show you that wherever you go in the Bible you run into this same truth.  This is what it says.  Speaking of Israel, God said, "Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it." Now there is a statement as to the supreme authority of God.  He controls the whole universe.   Yet, "On your fathers did the Lord set His affection to love them and He chose their descendants after them, even you over all people."

Now, what Moses is writing there in Deuteronomy chapter 10 is the Lord owns everything.  Everything in heaven and the highest heaven, everything in earth, all that there is belongs to God.  And out of it all God chose you, the seed of Abraham, and your descendants and set His affection to love you above all people.  He made a choice.  And He passed by all the other nations.  This is not something extraordinary for God to do in the New Testament era, this is how He's always operated.  He even chose Abraham.  In the New Testament in Matthew chapter 11 verse 27, Jesus says, "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father," and then this important line, "And no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son...listen...and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  The only way you'll ever know God the Father is if the Son wills to reveal Him to you.  All the prerogatives belong to the Trinity.  All the prerogatives belong to God.  No one knows the Father except the Son and whoever the Son wills to know Him.

In Matthew chapter 22 and verse 14 we read, "Many are called but few are...what?...are chosen."  I don't know how much more clear that could be...Many are called...there is a wide, broad gospel call, few are chosen.  In Mark chapter 13 and it's important that we cover these because they're critical in spreading this teaching across the whole of Scripture, Mark 13:20, Jesus is speaking about the future time of the Tribulation, He says, "Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect...but for the sake of the chosen whom He chose." There it is, who chose whom?  He chose us.  He shortened the days.  In the time of the Tribulation there will be horrific things going on, judgments all over the world, and the time is condensed, it's short, it's very short or the elect couldn't even survive, for the sake of not everybody, not the whole world, but for the sake of the chosen whom He chose.

In the eleventh chapter of Romans, and I'm not giving you all the Scriptures that I've written down, but these are important ones, in the eleventh chapter of Romans and verse 4, what is the divine response to Him, talking about Elijah and the prophets of Baal, "I've kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."  What does God say?  You know, Elijah in his life goes out and he confronts the prophets of Baal and then he...he begins to feel like he's the only one left and there's nobody faithful to the Lord, verse 3, "I alone am left and they're seeking my life."  You remember, the people started chasing him, Jezebel and he's running out of town and running out into the desert and asking God to take his life because somebody is going to kill him.  And he thinks he's the only one left and the divine response in verse 4 is, "I have kept for Myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.  I chose them.  I kept them."

Verse 5 explains that, "In the same way then there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice."  There were seven thousand people who were true to God, who were believing in the time of Elijah that God had chosen and kept, and there is in the present time when Paul writes this, and in every time, and today, a remnant according to God's gracious choice.  It's a choice.  Verse 7, "What then, that which Israel is seeking for and has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it and the rest were hardened."  Those who were chosen obtained it.  Those who weren't chosen were hardened.  God actually gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not, ears to hear not, down to this very day.  Strong language about sovereign choice.

Second Timothy 2:10...2 Timothy 2:10, Paul says in understanding this doctrine, believing it with all his heart, Paul said, "I endure," he wrote that Roman epistle, he says in 2 Timothy 2:10, "For this reason, I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus."  Why do you go through what you go through, Paul?  My, life was so hard for him.  Talks about suffering hardship like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he competes in verse 5 like an athlete, strenuously.  He works in verse 6 like a hard-working farmer.  I mean, it's all sacrificial.  In verse 9 he talks about suffering hardship, even to imprisonment as a criminal.  Why do you do that?  Why do you do it?  "For this reason I endure all things, for the sake of those who are chosen."  It's unmistakable.  God has His chosen and their choosing has to be confirmed by the hearing of the gospel. 

In James 1:18, James 1:18, well let's look at verse 17, this is a good verse, you know it well.  James 1:17, "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from...where?, now what's the best gift that could come down from heaven?...salvation, every good thing, the best thing would be salvation, the perfect gift, the gift of spiritual perfection is from above, everything, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." Everything that's good, and salvation would be at the top of the list, is from God.  And so in verse 18 it says, "In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth that we might be, as it were, the firstfruits among His creatures."  He did it.  It came down from heaven as an exercise of His will, He brought us forth and He did it by the Word of Truth, that is through the gospel.  James chapter 2 verse 5...James chapter 2 verse 5, "Listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?"  Why are most of the people who are believers poor?  Because...what?...God chose the poor.  That's what it says, "God chose the poor." Did not God choose the poor of this world?  And then in Revelation 13:8-17, 8 it says, "Their names were written down in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world by a decision that God Himself made." 

Look at 2 Timothy 2:19, and this is just introduction, 2 Timothy 2:19, here is the firm foundation of your salvation, but backing up, there are in verse 18 people who have gone astray from the truth, upset the faith of some, "Nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands."  God has made a foundation that will not move.  And what is on that foundation?  Here's what's on...it's like a great foundation for the church, what is on that foundation?  These words, "The Lord knows those who are His."  The Lord knows those who are His.  He knows who belongs to Him. 

Back in John chapter 3, which is very familiar ground for any student of the gospel and the Bible, we read this, Jesus in verse 3, John 3, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he can't see the Kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said, "Then how can a man be born when he's old?  He can't enter a second time in his mother's womb and be born, can he?"  He's following the metaphor, he understands Jesus is talking spiritually, he knows that.  He's just saying how can it happen?  And here's the answer, amazing answer, Jesus doesn't say, "Well, you've got to pray this prayer and do this and that."  He said, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he can't enter the Kingdom of God."  So it's not going to happen apart from the Holy Spirit.  "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again." Whatever...whenever this happens, wherever it happens, to whomever it happens, it happens by the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is a birth from above.  And verse 8 He says, "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, you don't know where it comes from, you don't know where it's going, so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Isn't that amazing?  The wind goes where the wind wants to go.  You don't tell the wind where to go.  We've been watching all those little lines, haven't we, down there in the Gulf, all those hurricanes, nobody's telling that thing where to go.  It goes wherever it wants to go.  And so it is with the Spirit, He goes wherever He wants to go.  He blows wherever He wants to blow.  He sovereignly does whatever He wants to do in whatever life He wants to do it in.  And in the end, He gets all the glory.  I mean, He gets all the glory. 

Let me have you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and I can illustrate this for you.  I think if you're dealing with someone who doesn't like the doctrine of election, if you're dealing with someone who doesn't like the doctrine of predestination, if you're dealing with someone who is, what is known as Pelagian or Arminian from Arminius who denied this doctrine, if you're dealing with those people, here's a passage that really stops them cold in their tracks.

Verse 26, 1 Corinthians 1, "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise, according to the flesh; not many mighty, not many noble."  Just take a look at the congregation.  All right, you're sitting there in the church at Corinth, look around...look around.  See the ones who have been called effectually into salvation, how many of the world's wise are there?  How many of the world's mighty are there?  How many of the nobles are there?  How much royal blood is there in your church?  Verse 27, "But God has chosen the foolish of the world to shame the wise, God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised.  God has chosen the things are not that He might nullify the things that are in order that no man should...what?...boast before God."

I'm telling you what, folks, Arminians are up a creek without a paddle in this passage.  This says God wanted to be glorified.  God wanted to receive all the glory.  No person who is saved could ever boast about his own salvation and it served God's glory best for Him to choose the foolish and the weak and the base and the despised and the nothings and the nobodies.  Now listen, if the weak and the foolish chose God, this passage doesn't make any sense.  If the weak and the foolish chose God, then who gets the credit?  The weak and the foolish.  So how does this end human boasting?  It turns the whole passage into nonsense.  And verse 30 he says, "But by His doing...His being God...you are in Christ Jesus."  You're in Christ Jesus because God did it so that verse 31 says, "If you're going to boast, boast...where?...boast in the Lord."  I mean, it's all over the Bible.  This passage isn't about man's choice, this hasn't anything to do with man's choice.  This is about God's choice.  And if it's about man's choice, then how does it end human boasting?  It turns the whole passage into utter nonsense.

Well while I'm on the subject, go back to Romans 9.  Romans 9, now this is just obvious stuff.  In the verses...verse, well 8 through 13 talks about Jacob and Esau and down in verse 13 it says, "Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.  Jacob I loved, Esau I hated."  Back in verse 11 it says, "Though the twins were not yet born, Jacob and Esau, hadn't done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, God chose Jacob not because of anything they had done, not because of any merit, not because of any good work, purely because of His own purpose."  It doesn't say anything about Jacob choosing God.  And verse 14 seals it.  Look at verse 14 , "What shall we say then?  There is no injustice with God, is there?  May it never be."  Do you understand the importance of that issue?  If Jacob was choosing and if people were choosing, and if anybody could choose, and if it was up to us, why then would you have to defend the justice of God?  Right?  Why would you ever have to say, "Well there's no injustice with God."  I mean, if it's us choosing Him, why is Paul worried that we might think that God is unjust if it's just our choice?  If Paul is saying God just chooses those who choose Him, well that's not unjust, nobody needs to defend God's justice.  I mean, nobody would accuse God of being unjust if He just chooses whoever chooses Him.  But Paul knows that people will accuse God of injustice because it goes against the grain of our fallen reason when we hear that God makes the choice according to His own purpose. 

And then down in verse 20, he says, "Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?"  Why would anybody talk back to God?  They wouldn't be talking back to God if God just chose whoever chose Him.  It's that there are people who are so offended by the fact that God chooses that they answer back to God.  And he says you're like a thing molded saying to the molder, "Why did you make me like this?"  Which makes the point?  If God hadn't been the one who made you what you are, then you wouldn't be answering back to Him about that.  The whole argument here would be utter nonsense if it weren't crystal clear that this is a divine choice.  And it does raise the question of God's justice, and it does raise the question of the rights of the pot in the hands of the potter.  If it is a human choice, there's no need to object.  If it's a human choice and God just chooses whoever chooses Him, there's no need to defend divine justice.  There's no need to defend God's sovereign authority to do whatever He wants with whomever.  You see, if you deny sovereign choice, if you deny the doctrine of election, you turn all these texts either into nonsense or outright deception. 

Now in Romans 11 there is a doxology that puts it where it should be.  Verse 33, great doxology and this is where you just have to rest, folks.  "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God."  Do you understand that you can't plumb the depths of God's knowledge and wisdom?  Do you understand that?  Don't overestimate yourself.  What might not seem reasonable to you, might not seem emotionally satisfactory to you, might not seem fair to human will and freedom, you just understand that you can't even begin to challenge with your mind the depths of wisdom and knowledge that belongs to God.  And do you not know how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways?  Don't ever put yourself in a position to be questioning God.  Verse 34, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?"  I mean, that is outrageous.  You're going to tell God what He can or cannot do?  And what to you seems reasonable, emotionally satisfying and fair to the human will?  Have you forgotten verse 36 that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things?  To Him be the glory forever, amen.

Now even some of you who are even a little bit...you're a little bit squeamish about this doctrine still, I understand that, I really do.  I mean, it takes time to work this through and when we get done, you'll...you'll see it differently.  But, you know, even you that are having a little tough time with this, do you ever congratulate yourself on your salvation?  Have you ever done that?  Have you ever just looked up to heaven and said, "God, You must be really proud of me, the choices I made, the way I decided to turn from sin and believe the gospel?"  I mean, had that thought ever entered your mind?  Have you ever thought, "You know, look at all these stupid people around me who reject the gospel, I'm smart enough to see it for what it is.  I buy the whole thing?"  Have you ever thought, "Look at all the riff-raff.  I tell you, I found some holy longings and I pursued the gospel?"  You don't think like that.  And what do you say to someone you love that's outside of Christ, do you say, "Come on, man, get smart, come on, reach down deep, man, use your faculties?"  You don't talk like that.  What do you do when you want to see somebody saved?  What do you do?  You pray.  Why?  Oh you're hoping God will choose them if they choose Him?  And when anybody is saved, who do you thank?  See, you're all closet Calvinists.  You understand you were drowning and He saved you.  You were dead and He gave you life.  You were blind and He gave you sight.  You were deaf and He gave you hearing.  You understand that.  That's why Titus 3:5 says, "He saved us."  It was by His power, by His will, according to His purpose.  We came because He drew us.  It isn't apart from our will, He moved our will. 

And, you know, when you heard these testimonies tonight, you heard about guilt, didn't you?  You heard them talk about guilt, conviction, sensing their sin, wanting to be clean, wanting to be forgiven, wanting salvation, sure.  You heard about humbling your heart.  You heard about a willingness to give up your life, a desire to love Christ with all your heart.  He chose you.  He saved you.  But not apart from the Holy Spirit activating all those true spiritual responses, penitence, humility, love, hunger for righteousness.  No, you chose Him because He chose you.  Well to put it in the words of John, we love Him because He first loved us.  It is inescapable in the Word of God, absolutely inescapable.  It doesn't violate your personal freedom, it activates your freedom.  And when we want somebody to come to the Lord, we pray, we pray, we pray, we pray that the Holy Spirit would turn their hearts to Christ, that the hurricane of the Holy Spirit would come through their soul.  We pray that the Spirit would make them willing to repent and willing to believe.  Never when we pray that do we think we're violating their will.  You wouldn't pray like this, "Lord, it's got to be their deal, it's got to be their deal, so don't You be messing around with them.  It's got to be their deal, they've got to do it from their own hearts."  That's absolutely absurd.  You know that no sinner is going to do that unless the Spirit moves.

So the fact that God chose us is all over the Bible.  It isn't that He chose us because He knew we'd choose Him because if He hadn't chosen us, we'd never have chosen Him.  I told you when we talked about the doctrine of perseverance, or preservation or eternal security, if I could lose my salvation, I'd lose it.  Well I'll tell you this, if I could lose my salvation, I'd lose it ten times a day, every day.  I can't save myself or keep myself saved.  God chose me, he awakened my heart and my will, he activated them all that I might embrace Him.

Now I want to go back to this one idea and I'm...I'll...two weeks from now I'll have more to say, the good part because there's an answer for this that's rising on the horizon.  I...I mentioned that I want to talk about openness theology.  Some say God can't choose because He doesn't know.  Okay?  Really important doctrine floating around out there.  God can't choose, God doesn't know.  The reason God doesn't know is there's nothing to know because nothing's happened.  You can't know what hasn't happened, they say.  It's their opinion.  They have therefore created other than the true and living God.  But anyway, for the sake of argument, He can't know what hasn't happened since what hasn't happened hasn't happened, it doesn't exist so how could you know it?  That's their little argument.  It's called Open Theism, God is open like everybody else.  He needs to read the morning paper just like everybody else to find out what's going on.  So they say.  God...their way out of this emotional trauma that the doctrine of election produces in them is to say He can't choose anybody because He doesn't know what they're going to do until they do it.  Really.  So God doesn't know the future.  That's how they get God off the hook.  How is it that Isaiah 46:10 says, "He knows the end from the beginning," what does that mean?  Well how is it that Isaiah 41:21 and 22, Isaiah 44:7 and 8 say His knowledge of the future is what distinguishes Him from false gods?  Or how is it that through the Bible He foretells events centuries before they ever happen?  How is it, for example, in Isaiah 44:28 that He names Cyrus as the ruler who will build up Jerusalem yet the name of Cyrus and even his existence as a human being depended on an unimaginably long and complex series of human decisions separating the prophecy from its fulfillment?  How did God know that?

In 1 Kings 13:2 God predicts the birth of Josiah three hundred years before the event.  How did He know that?  And 2 Kings 19:25 He states explicitly that He had ordained and planned the military victories of the Assyrians long before they ever took place.  God foretells the Egyptians voluntary oppression of Israel in Genesis 15:13.  He foretells Pharaoh's hardening of his heart against Moses in Exodus 3:19.  He foretells the rejection of Isaiah's message by the Israelites in Isaiah 6:9.  He foretells the rebellion of the Israelites after Moses' death, Deuteronomy 31:16.  He foretells Judas' voluntary betrayal of Christ, John 6:70 and 71 and so on and so on and so on. 

Now these Open theists say, "You know, God's really sharp.  He's really good at analyzing trends.  And He's good at sort of predicting with accuracy what might happen because He kind of gets the flow."  It's absurd.  This doesn't work.  You're talking about prophetic events that are the end of millions of human choices.  Ridiculous.  But I'll tell you what makes the whole thing most ridiculous.  If God doesn't know the future, are you ready for this?, if God doesn't know the future, He doesn't know Jesus is going to die.  That's a problem.  This is where the whole openness thing goes down the proverbial drain.  Acts 2:23 says, "Jesus was handed over to His enemies according to the definite plan, determined plan and foreknowledge of God."  Did God plan Jesus' arrest?  Did God plan Jesus' crucifixion?  Did God plan that in detail?  They did to Him, according to Acts 4:28, what God's hand and plan had predestined to take place, that's what it says in Acts 4:28. 

Come on, you don't believe that God was just reacting to what was happening to Jesus as it happened.  I think He was a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, don't you?  That's what the Bible says.  Now if God does not...listen to me...if God does not exercise power control over human beings and their actions and if God does not control those actions or work those actions into the fulfillment of His plan, and if God doesn't even have a plan because He doesn't know what's going to happen, then how did He know Jesus would end up on a cross?  If He doesn't know the future, how did He know the Jews would cooperate?  How did He know the Pharisees would cooperate?  How did He know Pilate would cooperate?  How did He know Judas would cooperate?  How did He know Judas wouldn't bail out two years into the deal and split?  How did He know Judas would hang around long enough to betray Him?  How did He know Judas would throw the money on the floor?  How did He know that?  How did He know any of that?  How did He know that Jesus would be raised up like a serpent in the wilderness?  How did He know any of that if He didn't know the future?  He not only knows the future, He ordains the future.  And if He ordains the future, He makes the future happen.  If He didn't know the future, He didn't know the Roman soldiers would even crucify Jesus.  How did He know Pilate wouldn't say, "Ah, I don't want to deal with this just man, let Him go?  Give Him a Roman escort, take Him out of town, let Him shuffle off to Greece, get lost in a crowd."

If God doesn't know the future, then God doesn't know that His Son is going to die for your sins, that's ridiculous.  He not only knows the future, He ordains the future.  And the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, one writer puts it this way, "The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the hinge pin of history and the indispensable condition of our salvation was most certainly not left up to the vagaries of human decision.  It was ordained from the foundation of the earth and it is impossible that it might not have occurred.  The Bible nowhere suggests or even permits the interpretation that Judas, Caiaphas, Pilate and the soldiers were unwilling pawns forced by God into the commission of a horrible crime.  They acted freely and in accordance with their own motives and purposes, yet they did exactly what God's hand and plan had predestined would happen."  Great statement. 

God ordains it all.  He knows the future because He's written it.  All the choices are His.  Certainly the choice of salvation for lost, dead, blind sinners.  And again I say what John said, "We love Him because...say it...He first loved us."  Okay, that's the introduction.  Two weeks from now, we're not to the message yet, but we're getting closer.  Pray with me.  I've got to write down where I ended because two weeks from now I may not remember.

Father, what a joy it is to celebrate the glories of this immense doctrine.  It's not just about You sovereignly determining our salvation, its about You being sovereign and determining everything.  This is just one component but how rich it is to understand this.  You do what You do for Your glory.  We don't question You, we would never ever have a thought that You might be unjust or unloving, but You are God and we cannot plumb Your knowledge, we can't go as deep as Your wisdom, Your ways are past finding out, they are unsearchable and we're content to leave Your decisions with You for Your own glory.  But we do know that even with this wondrous doctrine of sovereign election, You also have said, "Whosoever will may come, and him that comes to Me I will not turn away."  We don't understand the secret decree, we don't understand history until it unfolds.  We don't have that ability.  But we do know that the gospel has come to us and that we have been told to believe.  And for some of us the Spirit of God is moving in our hearts and we need to be obedient and respond in faith knowing that You will hear and You will save all who come to You.  We thank You for that promise.  We don't need to worry about the things we can't understand, we just need to respond to the gospel.  And if we don't, as mysterious as it is, Your Word says it's our fault, it's our responsibility, it's our guilt, it's our rejection, it's our unbelief that will doom us.  How that fits with Your sovereign will and glory is for us perhaps in eternity to understand, but for now to cry out to You for mercy and salvation while we can.  We thank You, Lord, for the grace that has come to us in Christ and shall come to others until all the church is redeemed and we enter Your presence forever.  We look forward to that with joy in Christ's name.  Amen.