Election

Introduction to Ephesians 1: A Doxology of Salvation

0:03 I would encourage you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the letter of Paul to the church at Ephesus, we commonly call the book of Ephesians, chapter 1.

0:30 Following the introduction of this letter, which is bounded by verses 1 and 2, in which there is a very brief word concerning the author of the letter, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, a brief word concerning the recipients to the saints that are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, or better translated, to the saints and believers that are in Ephesus in Christ Jesus. And there is that word of formal greeting, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Then beginning with verse 3 and down through verse 14, we have this section that can only be called, a great doxology, a great eulogy, an ascription of praise and honor and blessing unto the triune God, particularly for that great salvation which he himself proffers to sinners in the person and work of his own Son, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Begins with those words that we considered for two weeks, found in verse 3, Blessed be the God of Israel, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

1:55 As one attempts to somehow lay out the structure of this great hymn of praise, I'm thought, I'm brought back to think again and again of Ezekiel's visions of the wheels within the wheels. There was this great movement that he had in this apocalyptic vision, and there was symmetry and order, and yet it was complex, for there were wheels spinning within wheels. That's the way I feel when I try to diagram this great sentence, for it's really only one sentence. It's as though Paul was so conscious of the interrelatedness of God's salvation, the place of the Father in electing, the place of the Son in redeeming, the place of the Spirit in sealing, that he would not even have a separate, these strands of thought by periods. Rather, it's all hung together in one great complex sentence, which has truth upon truth, overlaid one upon another, until if we catch something of the spirit of it, and enter into something of the content of the mind of the apostle, we with him will cry out, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We considered verse 3 with its statement, concerning what it means to bless God, which is basically to speak well of Him,

3:24 with a heart that delights in Him, in appreciation for the mercies that have come from Him. That's what it means to bless Him. We notice that the apostle blesses God, particularly as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot think of God apart from that intimate relationship, with His Son, Jesus Christ, indicating that all true worship of God is Trinitarian worship.

3:53 It acknowledges Him to be the God revealed in Christ, and then he blesses Him in particular, for the fact that He has blessed us. He has conferred upon us the blessings, those heavenly blessings that are in Christ. Now in a very real sense, verse 3 is the summary statement of all, all that will follow. He is blessing God in general, for every blessing that He has blessed us with in Christ, and then beginning in verse 4, he begins to enumerate, and to specifically pinpoint some of the blessings bound up in the word, every spiritual blessing.

The Fact of Election: Context of Praise, Not Polemics

4:37 He states the general, then he breaks it down into the particulars. And this is indicated by the fact that, verse 4 begins with a little phrase, even as, which could well be translated, according as, or sometimes it even has the strength of the word, because. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with every spiritual blessing, according as, or even as, He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him. In other words, the apostle blesses God for every spiritual blessing, because of the specific blessings of verses 4 and following. And as he traces those specific blessings out, he begins with this great blessing of God's sovereign, free, and eternal election of His people. And so we will think our way through the text. It will take us a couple of weeks.

5:49 But first of all, we will consider the fact of election, as stated in verse 4. He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish. The fact of election, He hath chosen us in Him. The time of election, before the foundation of the world, the goal of election, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him.

6:19 First of all then, the fact of election, even as He hath chosen us in Him. Now as we come to grips with the meaning of Paul's words, let me remind you in the first place of the occasion of this statement of the fact of election. Paul is not setting out to defend a debated point of Christianity. This is Christian theology here in Ephesians 1.

6:47 Now he is not below doing that. You take up the book of Galatians, and Paul comes out with his cudgels and his swords and his machine guns and his cudgels are going and his machine guns are blazing. And he says, right at the outset, he bypasses even formal greetings. And he says, if we, an angel, anybody comes brings another gospel.

7:10 He calls down the curse of God upon him. And then he takes, as it were, the stand and he begins to argue and debate and marshals all these reasons why the gospel has been mutilated by these Judaizers. And the climate of the book of Galatians is not devotional. It's polemical.

7:32 It's argumentative. Not Ephesians 1. Remember this. The fact of election is brought before us here in Ephesians 1, not as a debated point of theology, rather, the Apostle is caught up in a rapturous burst of praise to God.

7:51 The God whose saving mercies in Christ have so filled his heart and his mind that he has just broken out in this eulogy. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the focus of his mind and his heart in Ephesians 1 is not men, but God. In Galatians 1, it says, the focus of his mind is men.

8:17 Men out there that are tampering with the gospel and Paul's going after them. Tooth and nail. But not Ephesians 1. The focus of this statement of election is the context of a man caught up in praise to God.

Avoiding Extremes: Doctrine and Devotion

8:33 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But, since he cannot think of God's saving mercies without tracing them back to the gospel, we find this tremendous theological statement concerning the fact of election couched in a context of a great burst of praise and adoration unto God. Now, a remembrance of this simple fact, of the occasion of this statement, will go far to keep us from several of the extremes, which constantly attach themselves to any consideration of this lofty biblical theme of God's free and sovereign election of his people. On the one hand, there is the extreme of the mentality which regards all doctrine in general, and this particular doctrine in particular, as something absolutely unrelated to the matter of heart religion.

9:47 This attitude expresses itself in these words, oh my, here we go again, more doctrine. Maybe some of you thought that when I read the text. Even as yet, oh, more of that thing again. Now, if you've got that mentality, you listen to me.

10:05 You're sub-Christian in your thinking. No, I'm not, I love the Lord, and I want to praise the Lord, but I don't want to get all involved in these doctrinal thoughts that baffle me and go beyond me. You want to love him like Paul did? You want to so think of him?

10:21 That you find yourself forgetting where you are sometimes and in the middle of a subway in New York, or in the middle of a bus going into Newark, bursting out, blessed be God! How are you going to come to that place? By thinking hard and long on the great doctrine of election. That's how Paul came to that place.

10:41 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why bless him even as he chose us in him? So there's that one exception. That's the extreme.

10:53 And a remembrance of the context of this statement, the climate of it, will keep us from thinking there is any kind of warfare between a burning devotional heart and a mind that thinks hard and long and clearly about great Christian doctrines. Then there is, on the other hand, the mentality which always regards the very mention of the word election as a call to arms. To some people, to say the word election is tantamount to saying, pick up your cudgel, get out your machine guns, and then get your bludgeon all spattered with the skull bones of Arminians and wet with the blood of those who deny this precious truth. Now if such people are here this morning, the minute I mention what the text was and said the word election, you sat there and your fangs began to drip. Boy, I hope he skins those Arminians. Ah, my friend, you've got the wrong spirit.

11:53 You've got a problem. You've got a spirit that is far into the spirit of the Apostle Paul. For remember, he is not treating this doctrine as a call to arms. No, no.

12:07 He treats this doctrine as God himself has led him to a place of prostration before him in worship. Now remember the context of this. Because if you understand the doctrine as Paul did, you'll never throw it off as a thing unrelated to life, and to practical issues. You'll see it as an integral part of true worship.

12:35 And you will also understand it in such a way that you can think of it without hearing a call to arms, and can maintain a spirit of worship and praise to God. So let me say in summary that all those who would attempt to hold devotional attitudes as enemies of high doctrine are embarrassed by the content of this text. They're embarrassed by the content. For the content is a clear, unmistakable statement about the doctrine of election.

13:08 On the other hand, all who would make doctrinal correctness a substitute for a burning heart are embarrassed by the content of the, the context of the statement. The context is, blessed be God. Now let me ask you, are you embarrassed by the content? What's your emotional reaction to the words, even as he, chose us in him?

13:33 Do you react against the content? Well, there's something unchristian in your spirit. Or do you react against the context? The context is, blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Author of Election: God the Father

13:48 So that simple principle of remembering the situation that occasions this statement of election, I trust will go far under God's blessing to lead us into a proper understanding of and response to this glorious truth of Holy Scripture. All right, having said a word then about the occasion under the general heading of the fact of election, now notice how he sets out this fact of election. First of all, he says a word about the author of election, God the Father. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as he, God the Father, hath chosen us in him. The author then of election is distinctly declared to be God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And though as we saw in our adult class this morning, there is perfect concurrence and agreement in all the activities of the Godhead, certain acts are attributed more to God than to the Father. And though as we saw in our adult class this morning, there is perfect concurrence and agreement in all the activities of the Godhead, certain acts are attributed more to the Father than to the Son, and more particularly to the several members of the triune Godhead.

15:10 Now, election is distinctly set out as the work of the Father in this text, and in almost any text which deals with the subject. And our Lord Himself was very conscious of this. For you remember, in His own ministry, He said words such as these, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.

15:33 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. John 6.37 He was conscious that there were certain ones chosen of the Father that were given to Him as a trust.

15:42 And God willing, we'll get into that more thoroughly next week when we consider the phrase, chosen in Him, which is the pivotal concept of the whole matter of election. You remember again the words of our Lord in John chapter 17, in what is commonly called His high priestly prayer. I read now John 17 verse 1. Father, the hour is come.

16:05 Glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom Thou hast given Him He should give eternal life. The Lord Jesus was conscious that there was a people given to Him by the Father. They were His trust. They were the Father's choice.

16:29 And so election then is distinctive. Simply set before us as to its author with peculiar reference to God the Father. Now it's necessary to remember this. For if God the Father is the peculiar author of election, He is so as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

16:56 So then we ought to be immediately disposed to embrace the doctrine. For all of the works of this God who is the author of election are consistent with everything He's revealed of Himself as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is He revealed as? Or under what form is He revealed to us as the God and Father of Christ?

17:28 Why He's revealed as the God of infinite love? The God of graciousness? The God of gracious condescension? The God of unquestionable wisdom?

17:37 As well as God of absolute sovereignty, inflexible justice, and of burning holiness?

17:46 Could it not be that one of the great stumbling blocks in our acceptance of the doctrine of election is that we fail to remind ourselves this is not the act of a God who is pure sovereignty.

18:05 He's the God who is, I suppose, say it reverently, the sum total of all that we call His attributes.

18:13 Inflexible justice, yes, but condescending pity and mercy.

18:24 Burning holiness, yes,

18:28 but infinite love. And you see, since God's works can never contradict His person, and He never does what is a contradiction of what He is, then you see the doctrine of election should immediately be a thing to which our hearts run out. Who did the choosing? Who did the electing?

18:50 Why, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What do I read of Him as the God of Christ? The God who sent Him. The God who ordered all the events of His life so that in Jesus Christ His love and His pity and His mercy are read.

19:08 What do I read of the heart of God in Christ? Well, that's the same heart. The chosen.

The Essence of Election: Gracious, Sovereign Selectivity

19:17 So instead of being a foreboding doctrine, we ought to see that doctrine suffused with all the grandeur and the glory of the perfections of the character of our great God. So then, the apostle in stating the fact of election, first of all, underscores the author of election, God the Father. Secondly, the essence of election, and now I'm going to use some terms that are new to you, they're new to me. And I'm not making new terms for the sake of uniqueness or novelty, but for the sake of accuracy of expression.

19:58 Now, what's the essence of election in terms of this text? Even as He, there's the author, chose us. The essence of election is what I'm calling a graciously sovereign selectivity. A graciously sovereign selection or selectivity.

20:26 Now, this word elect can rightly be translated to pick out, to choose, to select. In fact, the form of the verb in which we have it here, literally translated would be to pick out for Himself. Blessed be God, even as He picks out for Himself, in Christ Jesus, before the world began. Now, the word used here is found close to 50 times in the New Testament.

21:02 And some of you have heard this series on the sovereignty of God that I brought about five years ago, six years ago. Remember the extensive word study on the word elect, chosen in all of its various forms. And some of you who were at the conference down in Media a few weeks ago got an amplification of that. And I don't know if you've heard of it, but I've heard of it.

21:20 And I don't know if you've heard of it, but I've heard of it. And I don't know if you've heard of it, but I've heard of it. And I don't know if you've heard of it, but I've heard of it. I don't want to go over all that ground again.

21:23 But I do want, for the sake of those who've not been exposed to that, to just take a moment to try to pinpoint the precise meaning of the word that the Apostle Paul uses here and is used throughout the New Testament and its Hebrew counterpart in the Old Testament for this concept of election. And what I want to demonstrate is that the essence of election is bound up in the very word elect, which speaks of a graciously, very sovereign selection. Now, when the word is used for secular things, it obviously has this meaning. Let's look at a couple of places in the Gospel according to Luke.

22:04 What does the word elect mean? Well, you'll notice in these several references there is a common denominator of meaning, Luke 6.13, And when it was day, he called his disciples, many, many disciples, and he chose, he elected, he selected from them twelve whom he named apostles. Get the picture?

22:35 A great mass of disciples, out of them, twelve are selected to become apostles. Keep that basic framework in your thinking. Turn over to chapter 14 of Luke and verse 7.

22:50 And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden when he marked how they elected, same word, they chose, out for themselves the cheap seats, saying unto them, and then he goes on to deal with the parable. But here's the picture. These men come into a banqueting hall. There are many seats, and they select certain of the seats that are in the place of highest position and of recognition.

23:15 The same word is used in Acts 15.7, where Peter, speaking as an apostle, primarily in the midst of a group of apostles at this point, says,

23:28 And, there had been much questioning, Peter stood up and said, Brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made an election. God made a choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Here were many apostles at Jerusalem. God made an election, a selection, and says, Peter, you're to be the one to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

23:54 And you remember how he did it in the giving of the vision and giving a vision to Cornelius, etc. Now, what is the common denominator of the meaning of the word in this context? Whether it's a mass of disciples and the Lord choosing twelve to be apostles, whether it's a mass of seats and these people choosing the chief ones, or whether it's a group of apostles and the Lord choosing one. Well, in each case, and follow closely, in each case, all the things were in the same state or condition until the choice was made.

24:30 And it was the choice which determined the difference. All the disciples, one mass of disciples, until the Lord made a choice and then you had twelve apostles. All the seats were seats until a choice was made and then this was the seat that they chose to sit in. You have the same thing with the apostles.

24:51 They were all apostles until God made a choice and now one of them is the mouthpiece to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Same word used in the instance with David selecting the five stones out of the brook. In 1 Samuel 17, he selected, he elected five stones. A brook bed full of stones, all in the same condition, but when a selection is made, now the difference in that which is selected is determined by the will and purpose of the selector.

25:22 Second factor is, out of the many, some are selected, others are left to the same condition they were in before the selection took place. Those disciples out of which the apostles were taken remain disciples as long as they attach themselves to Christ. The selection of some did not alter the condition of the others. When David chose five stones out of the brook, he didn't alter the condition of all the others.

25:48 They were still stones in the brook. When they chose certain seats, it didn't alter the condition of the other seats. When the Lord chose Peter to be the mouthpiece to the Gentiles, it didn't alter the position of the others. They were still apostles to the Jews.

26:01 You see, the choice terminates upon some, but it basically says nothing to the others. It bypasses them and leaves them in the condition they were in before the selection was made. And the third common denominator is, the selection is always initiated by the selector. Jesus chose twelve.

26:26 They didn't conduct a little caucus there and appoint themselves. He chose them. Peter says, God made a choice amongst you. He chose me to be a mouthpiece to the Gentiles.

26:38 So from the summary of these things, we conclude that the word Paul used when he said, Blessed be God who hath chosen us is a word which can mean nothing less than a sovereign selection. But when we begin to consider who God is selecting, then we've got to put the word graciously. Sovereign. God's not dealing with stones or seats.

Four Kinds of Sovereign Selection

27:07 He's dealing with rebel sinners. And so the concept then, of the freedom of God's choice, that He initiates the choice, that He initiates it in terms of the purposes of grace consistent with the exercise of His sovereignty, is stamped on the face of Scripture. And everywhere you turn, you find the concept of election brought before us. Now as you do, and I'll only give the headings if you're concerned, to go into this in depth.

27:35 I can have Mr. Rogers track down the tape for you and you can study it on your own. There are four kinds of sovereign selection that God exercises in grace. There is, very clearly taught in Scripture, a national election.

27:50 Israel is called an elect nation. You who like technical terms, call that theocratic election. God elects a nation in whose midst He will dwell. Deuteronomy 4.37 I chose you, God said, to be a nation. And that election is unto privilege and service, but it never guarantees salvation. There's a second kind of election. It's what we might call vocational election.

28:20 Election to task, to privilege or position. Deuteronomy 18.5 God says the Levites are chosen to be the priestly order. 1 Samuel 10.24 The king is chosen to be the priestly order. To his office. Luke 6.13 Christ chose certain ones to be apostles.

28:38 Now that's a true election. God graciously and sovereignly chooses people to occupy a certain privileged position and to accomplish a special task. That does not guarantee that there will be any saving grace.

28:54 Judas was a chosen apostle,

28:59 but he was never a child of God. Jesus knew from the beginning who it was that should betray Him. But this is a form of election where there is a choice. There is a choice.

29:07 There is a choice. There is a gracious choice of God. A sovereign choice of God. Then there is, of course, the election of Christ Himself to His place as Messiah.

29:16 He is called in Isaiah 42, verses 1 and 2, My chosen, My elect. 1 Peter 2, 4 and 6. He is called the elect one. That stone which others rejected, but which is God's elect.

29:31 And, of course, that's a unique kind of election where God foreordains His Son to be the chosen one. To be the mediator between Himself and sinners. But now there's a fourth kind of election and that's what we have here in Ephesians 1, 4. It is election of individuals to the blessings of salvation and we may call that soteric election.

29:56 For you, again, who like the technical words, you have theocratic election, election of a nation. You have vocational election, election through privilege or position. You have theocratic election, you have messianic election, election of Christ to the place of mediator. And then there is soteric election, the election of individuals to the blessings of grace and of salvation.

30:19 And it's one of the unique characteristics of the people of God that they are an elect people. So Peter describes them in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 in these terms. But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Is holiness one of the marks of God's people?

30:50 Yes, a holy nation. Is this matter of priesthood, this direct access to God through Christ one of the marks of the people of God? Yes. Just as certainly Peter says they are marked by this peculiar, distinguishing character, characteristic, they are all part of an elect race.

The Graciousness of Election and the Apostle's Response

31:12 Just as surely as they are a royal priesthood and a holy nation, they are that because they are part of an elect race. And it's this election of individuals to the blessings of grace and of salvation which is the essence of the election that Paul touches upon here in Ephesians chapter 1. Now, think with me. For a moment,

31:41 this concept bound up in the very word that Paul uses emphasizes in particular the sovereignty of that election, but the graciousness of that election is only understood when we contemplate out of what does God do the choosing. Look at the text. Blessed be God who hath blessed us even as He chose us in Him. Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy.

32:15 You see what's inferred? That apart from that choice, there would be no holiness and blemishlessness, which is the proper rendering of that other word. The choice terminates upon people who are conceived of by nature as unholy and defiled. Notice again.

32:39 They are chosen in Christ. In other words, God's choice has an inseparable reference to the Lord Jesus. God is blessed as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. The inference clearly being that the state and condition of the men whom God chooses is such that nothing less than binding them to Christ in the virtue of His person and work will suffice to make them acceptable before God.

33:12 They must be pretty bad, but they must be a pretty undone people. And this is where the concept of the graciousness of this fact of election comes in. For as we'll get into the second chapter and particularly the first few verses and then down into verses 11 and 12, we'll see the condition that all these Ephesians were in by nature and all of us are in by nature. Then we understand a little bit why the Apostle stands back.

33:43 He stands back and says, Blessed be the God who hath chosen us. For just as certainly as God is the author of it, the essence of this election is a graciously sovereign selection. So then as Paul contemplates this selection permeated not only with the exercise of sovereignty, but with the effusion of God's grace, he doesn't ask why. Why?

34:14 He doesn't ask how God should so elect. He simply says, Blessed be God who did. So the climate of his statement of the fact of election is one of adoration, not explanation. It's the climate of exclamation, not rationalization.

34:34 And I'm convinced that the reason why the Apostle states it in this context is because he carried with him this constant, constant sense of his own sinfulness and unworthiness. And such a heart is a heart into which the doctrine of election finds quick root and flourishes. Here's the man who said this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

35:09 And he carried about that sense of his corruption and his undone-ness by nature, here's the man who said, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. He was not demeaning the fact that he was a creature made in the image of God who still bore some of that image. He deals with that elsewhere. But he says, as I think of what I am in my native corruption, what we read this morning from Mark chapter 7, that out of me proceeds all this sin.

35:44 Oh, that God, should ever cause to terminate upon me purposes of grace and of mercy. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us even as He chose us. You see, there was that sense in the Apostle's heart and mind that God owed him nothing so he could get the word election out of his mouth without stumbling halfway through with a bunch of questions like some of you. You can't say, blessed be, God, who asked...

36:19 You get choked up. Why? You begin to ask questions. Well, it isn't fair and God made us little...

36:24 Listen, my friend. You know what you need? You need a sight of your heart that will get you down on your face in brokenness before God.

36:36 Saying, God, if you do anything but damn the likes of me, it will have to be all mercy and grace and you'll have to make the first move, Lord. But there's nothing in me to make the first move to you. I'm convinced that the greatest hindrance to a...

36:50 welcome reception of the doctrine of election is not all the so-called intellectual problems connected with it. And there are. I'm no fool to say there aren't. But the greatest hindrance is a heart that doesn't have a biblical sense of its wretchedness and its undone-ness.

37:12 And a mind that has not embraced the righteousness of the sentence of God's holy wrath upon it. It's interesting that whenever the church has been revived and the Holy Spirit and the ghost has been poured out in power and with that has come clearer views of truth about who God is and what man is, you've got a soil in which this great doctrine once again takes root and bears its sanctifying fruits in the hearts of God. Isn't that strange?

37:42 I don't think it's strange. I think there's a principle.

37:46 And so he sets before us this tremendous fact of the doctrine of election. God the author. Secondly, the essence ace. This graciously sovereign selectivity.

The Objects of Election: All True Believers

37:59 And then thirdly, and with this we'll close this morning, he states who the objects of this election are. Notice,

38:07 blessed be this God who hath chosen us in him. Now, who are the us? Well, our understanding of the us must be limited by the context. And the simplest way to answer the question who are the us of verse 4 is to read back into the first three verses and see who he's talking about and read on to the rest of the paragraph and see who he's talking about.

38:33 And when you do, you come up to the conclusion that the us's are those described as saints and believers in Christ Jesus. Those described in verse 3 as having been blessed with every spiritual blessing in union with Christ. Those described in verse 7 as who have received redemption through his blood. Those described in verse 13 who've heard the word of truth.

39:04 Those who've described in verse 13 at the end as who believed, who have received the Holy Spirit. Who are the objects of this election? The answer of the passage is very simple. All true believers.

39:20 Those present when Paul wrote and all those who would become such until the end of time when the Lord Jesus will come to take his own to himself. It is not as members of the human race that we are the objects of election, but as those who are in Christ Jesus described under these various headings of saints and believers redeemed, sealed with the Holy Spirit.

39:51 You see, the objects of election are those who can read their election in their effectual call by the gospel. There's only one set of glasses through which you can read your election. Only one. Without it, you'll never read your election.

40:09 You'll be as blind as a bat.

40:13 That set of glasses is the effectual call of the gospel and the fruit of it.

40:18 You say, what are you driving at? Well, let me give you a text. If I've confused you, maybe the text will straighten you out. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14.

40:30 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning. Same word. He made a graciously sovereign selection of you, you specific people there at Thessalonica. And He chose you not unto privilege, that would be vocational election, not unto being part of a nation that would have special opportunity, that would be theocratic election, but He chose you unto salvation, that's soteric election.

41:08 In sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you through our gospel. How does Paul read their election? He read their election as through the preaching of the gospel they were effectually called into faith and repentance and the fruits of it flowed out in the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. And so you have bound together in this text those strands of thought, God's eternal election coming to light in the effectual call of the gospel evidencing itself in faith and the fruits of faith, namely a holy and a sanctified life.

41:54 And so, who's sitting here this morning has biblical grounds to say with Paul, Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, even as He chose me in Him before the Father, the foundation of the world. Who has biblical grounds to bless God for His great grace of eternal election? Every one of you who has been effectually called by the gospel. And you say, how do I know I've been effectually called?

42:26 If you sit here as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ evidencing the fruit of vital union with Him. In your effectual call and the fruits, you have the right, listen carefully, you are obligated to read your election. You dishonor God if you've been effectually called and do not bless Him for that which is the eternal root of your call. He says, we give thanks for you brethren.

42:58 Not because, he says, you were smarter than others and you exercised common grace. He said, we give thanks that you were elected. He feels he would dishonor God as he thought of a group of Christians and didn't thank God who saw to it that they'd be Christians.

43:16 He said, I thank God He chose you. You see, Paul would not dishonor God by in any way thinking that men began to be Christians in time.

43:27 He says, they began to be in eternity in the purpose of God. And then that purpose came to light in time. And so I would say that in terms of the objects of election in this text, it's on the one hand very inclusive. The most weak, humble, unassuming, ignorant, and at times stumbling saint who sits here this morning believing in the Lord Jesus as your only ground of acceptance before God.

44:00 You can sing with the songwriter from the heart, hangs my helpless soul on thee, thou, O Christ, are all I want, more than all in thee is found. If you can say that from the heart this morning, my friend, God wants you to leave this place rejoicing, blessing Him that you were an object of His own eternal electing purposes.

44:25 And He excludes none of His own. But just as the objects are inclusive, so they are rigidly exclusive. Only those who are joined to Christ in a living faith have grounds to believe that they were chosen in Him unto life and salvation. Ah, but, someone says, I don't even profess to be a Christian.

Election is Not a Roadblock to Sinners

44:49 That's some gospel to preach to me. Here I come in here this morning, all kind of mixed up and fouled up, and I know I've got problems, and I know that the answer's not in me, and I've heard something about God and Christ and the gospel. What kind of gospel is it that you tell me this morning that God has chosen some to life? What kind of hope is that for me, my friend?

45:10 Listen. The doctrine of election never once barred the way of a sinner to Jesus Christ. Never once did any sinner conscious of his need and that his answer was in Christ set out to lay hold of Christ and find God put a roadblock in front of him and in it big bold letters, ELECTION! No trespassing.

45:33 God never did. Now some preachers may, but God never did.

45:38 God never did. The doctrine of election never stood as a roadblock to any sinner getting to Christ. Blessed be God, it's paved the road that a great multitude will get to Him. That otherwise never would have.

45:55 It paved the road!

46:00 No sinner would have paved it. God said, I'll pave it and I'll see that some people get on it and they'll come unto my Son and will be eternal monuments of my sovereign mercy. Oh, if you're here this morning a stranger to grace and to Christ, you say, what gospel is there in that? For me, my friend, it's the most glorious gospel.

46:24 Oh, but you say, can you produce a page from the leaf of God's record of the election? Can you collect and show me with my name on it? No, I can't. But thank God, I can't produce a page that says your name isn't.

46:37 And what I can hold out to you is lots of pages that say, if you come, there's a welcome. I think that's a lot better, don't you?

46:47 See, I might forge it if I could somehow pull a page out. Or I might somehow be able to blot out a name that was there. But oh, this is the word which though heaven and earth pass away, shall never pass away. And this word says, come unto me.

47:01 I'll receive you. I'll receive him that comes. I'll in no wise cast out. Oh, you young men preparing for the gospel, don't you ever feel that this glorious doctrine puts a straitjacket on the freeness of the offers of the gospel?

47:15 It doesn't do it. It doesn't do it. If you're here without Christ and you leave in that condition, don't you go out and say, what else could I do? They preach the doctrine of election.

47:26 My friend, you go out because you love your sins. You want to cling to your sins. And you don't want to repent of your sin. Because Christ is God.

47:33 Christ is God. He's set before you this morning freely, fully. He's a willing and an able Savior. Come to Him just as you are and He says He'll receive you.

Freedom from Sin's Slavery

47:45 And if you go out this morning and say, oh, I don't believe that doctrine. I don't believe that doctrine. It'll make me a little puppet. My friend, when you come to the discovery that that's precisely what you are by nature, my Bible says that sinners are taken captive by the devil unto His will.

48:05 2 Timothy 2.26 Whosoever committed sin is a slave of sin. You are already a puppet. A puppet manipulated by the strings of your own lust and by the power of the devil.

48:20 But whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Oh, dear child of God, do you have any reservations about ascribing to God the praise for your salvation? Praise rooted in an intelligent grasp and an adored and adoring wonder before the doctrine of election. The problem's not in your head.

48:43 The problem's in your heart. And I trust you'll cry to God until He works out the kinks in your heart. And you can say with Paul, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, even as He chose us in Him. Well, all we got this morning was the author, God the Father, the essence, a graciously sovereign selection, the object He chose us, God willing, next week, we want to look at the foundation of election in Christ, the time of election, before the foundation of the world, the goal of election, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him.

Conclusion and Future Topics

49:25 Then we move on into the parallel of election, having predestinated us unto adoption of sons by Jesus Christ unto Himself, the ultimate end of election that we should be to the praise of the Lord. The glory of His grace. You see how Paul just piles the thoughts on? You see, I'm a little bit prepared ahead this morning, so I could go on for another couple of hours, but that clock is looking at me.

49:47 And we better stop. Let us pray.