Unconditional Election

The point: Be careful as we discuss the doctrine of unconditional election, because we are entering divine territory, because we're facing a profound mystery.

Discussing election is like entering divine territory or standing on holy ground, as God has opened a curtain to give us a glimpse into His mind, requiring careful reverence.

We must broach the subject of unconditional election very carefully for two reasons. First of all, we are entering divine territory, standing on holy ground. As one commentator has suggested, we are face to face here with something from the heart and mind of God. It's as though God had opened the curtain of crack and has given us a glimpse of what he is thinking, deep within.

0:36 - 1:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Be careful as we discuss the doctrine of unconditional election, because we are entering divine territory, because we're facing a profound mystery.

Paul's response to election in Ephesians 1 is like singing a song of praise despite not fully understanding, demonstrating that it's a mystery to be adored rather than fully explained.

Our second reason for exercising caution is that we are confronting a profound mystery, and although we are able to make some observations and offer some comments on this mystery, in the end we will never be able to fully understand it. It is worthwhile noting that Paul, in Ephesians 1, places the teaching of unconditional election in a doxological or praise setting. He puts it in the midst of a doxology. He writes, Paul does not attempt to explain this doctrine, nor does he pretend to resolve some of the difficulties, that people have with it. It's just too mysterious for that. A study sings ...

1:17 - 2:19 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon reiterates the doctrine of total depravity, explaining that humanity is spiritually dead and unable to seek God, thus making God's unconditional election the only means…

Thompson's poem illustrates humanity's natural state of running from God, contrasting with the idea that the unregenerate person seeks God.

A more accurate description of who we by nature are is powerfully expressed in Francis Thompson's poem, The Hound of Heaven, where we find ourselves running from God. Writes Francis Thompson, I fled him down the nights and down the days. I fled him down the nights and down the days. I fled him down the arches of the years.

7:34 - 7:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon reiterates the doctrine of total depravity, explaining that humanity is spiritually dead and unable to seek God, thus making God's unconditional election the only means…

The hymn lyric 'Jesus sought me when a stranger' illustrates that God initiates the search for lost humanity, not the other way around.

The unregenerate person doesn't go searching for God. God goes searching for him. As we sing, Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.

8:06 - 8:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Those God foreknew means those God foreloved. Those whom God loved from eternity, long before the world was created, he predestined.

The biblical phrase 'Adam knew Eve' is used to explain that 'know' in biblical context often means to love, clarifying the meaning of 'foreknew' in Romans 8.

This has nothing to do with God's intellectual knowledge. In Bible times, the word know means to love. The Bible tells us that Adam knew Eve. This does not mean that Adam knew how tall Eve was, how much she weighed, or what her temperament was like.

11:24 - 11:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Those God foreknew means those God foreloved. Those whom God loved from eternity, long before the world was created, he predestined.

God's statement in Amos, 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth,' is used to further illustrate that 'know' signifies a special, loving relationship, not just intellectual awareness.

It means that Adam loved Eve. To know is to love. In the book of Amos, God says to the people of Israel, You only have I known of all the families of the earth. This doesn't mean that God doesn't intellectually know the names of all those other nations.

11:43 - 12:00 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first common difficulty, God's perceived injustice in choosing some and not others, is addressed by arguing that since all deserve eternal death, God's grace in saving any is…

A story of a wealthy man adopting one orphan from many is used to illustrate that God's choice of some for salvation, when all deserve nothing, is an act of grace, not injustice.

Take the example of a wealthy man who visits an orphanage filled with neglected and sad-faced children. Some are there because they have been left parentless and others because they have been abandoned. The man is filled with sympathy and decides to adopt one of these hopeless orphans. He cares for the child, loves him, carefully guides him.

15:32 - 15:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Thankful for his grace in choosing us. We want to live holy and blameless lives.

A personal anecdote from high school where a classmate mistakenly thought election meant he could 'do whatever you want' illustrates the antinomian misunderstanding of the doctrine.

In my senior year at a public high school I attended, we somehow got on the subject of predestination in an English class. When I indicated that I believed in this particular teaching, that I was convinced the Bible clearly taught it, it created a most interesting debate. After class, one of my fellow classmen said to me, as we were walking down the hall together, How neat! Huh!

18:55 - 19:18 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Evangelism is the essential means that God uses to bring his elect into the fold. It is through the work of evangelism that God brings to completion the number of the elect.

The historical anecdote of William Carey being told by a bishop that God would convert the heathen without human help illustrates the fallacious reasoning that election makes evangelism obsolete.

A fourth difficulty people have with this teaching is, doesn't it make evangelism obsolete? Well, when William Carey, the great missionary to India, was a young man in England in the 1770s, he felt the unbelievers in other lands, should also be a part of the church. He felt that the unbelievers in other lands should also be a part of the church. He felt that the unbelievers in other lands should also hear the good news about Jesus.

20:38 - 20:55 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Evangelism is the essential means that God uses to bring his elect into the fold. It is through the work of evangelism that God brings to completion the number of the elect.

The analogy of a farmer cultivating and harvesting crops, despite God making them grow, illustrates that God uses human means (evangelism) to accomplish His sovereign purposes (gathering the elect).

He did not regard the gospel as a religion. He did not regard evangelism as being unnecessary. He did not view evangelism and unconditional election as working against each other. We all believe that God makes the crops to grow and bear fruit.

21:22 - 21:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't let this doctrine frighten you in the least.

The metaphor of a doorway with 'Come unto me' on one side and 'Chosen, before the creation of the world' on the other illustrates how personal faith confirms one's eternal election.

Don't let this doctrine frighten you in the least. Jesus said, Whoever comes to me, I will never drive him away. John 6, 37 When you come to Jesus, you will discover that you are one of God's children chosen from eternity. Picture it as walking through a doorway, which has written on one side, Come unto me, I will never drive you away.

22:36 - 23:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Let us not worry about whether we are elect, but do I love the Lord?

Beecher's quote, 'The elect are whosoever will, the non-elect are whosoever won't,' is used to simplify the question of election to one of personal desire for the Lord.

Henry Ward Beecher used to say, The elect are whosoever will, the non-elect are whosoever won't. Let us not worry about whether we are elect, but do I love the Lord? Our answer to that last question resolves for us whether or not we are elect. If we say, I love the Lord, we were already chosen long ago.

23:25 - 23:49 Read in full sermon

The point: May that be your comfort today.

A quote from Toplady's hymn is used to express the unwavering assurance that nothing can separate the elect from God's love, reinforcing the comfort of election.

That's the fear and anxiety which resides within those who feel that their salvation depends upon them. It's because we know that before God created the earth, He loved us and called us and made us His children, all because of grace. So we can say, I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We join Augustus Toplady in saying in his great hymn, Things future nor things that are n...

26:26 - 27:30 Read in full sermon