Foundation and Time of Election

Introduction and Review: The Setting and Fact of Election

0:02 I encourage you to turn with me again to the letter of Paul to the church at Ephesus as we continue our studies in this great letter which brings together some of the most profound strands of biblical thought to be found anywhere in all of the Holy Scriptures.

0:27 I trust by now you are aware of the fact that the first three chapters are basically an exposition, an explanation of the great salvation of God which comes in keeping with His eternal purpose which is brought particularly to focus upon His church and the formation of that church and then bringing glory to Himself through the church and that the first paragraph dealing with that great theme of explaining and expounding this so great salvation being the salvation of God is bounded by verses 3 and 14 this paragraph that we could rightly call Paul's eulogy to the triune God for His great salvation. Our attention this morning will again be focused upon verse 4 but since it's bound inseparably to some of the thought patterns of verse 3 I shall read those two verses spend a few minutes reviewing what we considered in our study last week and then proceed to grapple with one or two more phrases found in the fourth verse.

1:40 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 chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish before Him. And then as we shall see in our study next week Lord willing, the in love can be tacked on to the first part of verse 5 so that the thought pattern is in love having predestinated or foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.

2:32 There are basically four distinct units of thought in this study. In this fourth verse we looked at just the first last week. We have in verse 4, first of all a statement as to the fact of election. He hath chosen us.

2:52 And there is a statement as to the foundation of election 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. And without blemish before Him.

3:09 In our study last week we simply considered the phrase even as He chose us even as He chose us. And I tried to set before you first of all something concerning the setting of this statement of the fact of election. It's a setting of praise. We're not looking into the theologian lost in his belief.

3:37 We're not looking into his books whose mind is filled with great circles of debate. We're looking into the prayer closet of a humble servant of Christ who when contemplating his salvation in Christ breaks out into this hymn of praise and says Blessed be this God the God who hath chosen us. And so the setting of this statement of the fact of election is a setting of praise. A setting of worship which on the one hand should be a word of warning to those who think that such doctrines as election have no relationship to devotion and are in fact the very death of devotion. Not so in the thinking of the Apostle Paul and all who think that way are terribly embarrassed by the content of this great hymn of praise. For it's a hymn of praise to God that is suffused with tremendous doctrinal concepts. And so if your praise is to be scriptural it must not be simply the running out of your heart in some kind of woozy, ethereal devotion to some God out there much like the heart of a Catholic runs out to the Virgin Mary.

4:59 It must be a running out of your affections to God in terms of the God who is and he is a God whose grace comes to focus in this great fact of election. And on the other hand those who feel that the doctrine of election is a call to arms we saw last week are embarrassed by the context of this statement of the fact of election. This is not a polemicist that is the man who is out to argue and to defend this is the statement of a servant of Christ who sees this doctrine as triggering praise. Now I should say by way of addition this is not review that if you believe it on your knees in such a way as to cause you to say blessed be the God who hath chosen us you'll believe it enough to stand and defend it if necessary. The Paul of Ephesians 1 is the Paul of Romans 9 but the Paul of Romans 9 is the Paul of Ephesians 1 and don't you get one without the other. In Romans 9 we find in the great polemicist the great debater anticipating the objections of those who would deny the doctrine he says but nay O man who art thou shall the thing formed say to the thing that formed it why hast thou made me thus wilt thou then say there is

6:28 unrighteousness with God God forbid here's the man with a clear head debating arguing defending if necessary letting out blood for the truth. Now don't you tell me well I believe this in my closet but then I just leave it in the closet when I shut my door and leave my praying. Oh no you don't. If you believe it in your closet to the extent that it makes you cry out blessed be the God and Father who hath chosen us you'll believe it enough to confess it on your feet and shed some blood for it if necessary.

7:00 But God help you if all you do is go around letting out blood for the doctrine and never know the delight of shutting yourself in the closet then I question why you're letting out blood for the doctrine. Your devotion may be to a system instead of to this great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm constrained to say here this is why everybody ought to get his theology in an exegetical framework that is his theology ought to come out of a thorough study of the scriptures themselves for the scriptures have their own built in system of checks and balances from extremes. Whereas if you get your theology dogmatically that is someone says here are ten propositions believe them and then they tack on a verse or two you can have all kinds of grotesque concepts of God and all kinds of warped attitudes in your heart. If you get your theology merely from a philosophical standpoint something that satisfies the mind there's something lacking in it. Our theology should come to us as we find it here in Ephesians. The great fact of election couched in a context of burning devotion to God and of worship of his person.

The Foundation of Election: 'In Him'

8:20 And then having considered the setting of this statement we then looked at what it says concerning the author of election God the Father the essence of election the word he uses connotes or denotes a gracious sovereign selection. The word translated literally is he picked us out for himself that's the essence of election the objects of election he hath chosen us all those who are saints and believers in Christ Jesus all those attached to him in living faith or whoever will be they are the objects of election. Now moving then from this statement on the fact of election let us consider the foundation of election and I think we'll have time to consider the time of election and then God willing next week the goal of election. This is one of those verses as I was talking with someone this week who asked me a little something about how I prepare sermons and how we go about it and I mentioned to him this is one of those verses that every word marks out a whole new unit of thought. Now that's not true everywhere but in this passage every word almost marks out a whole new unit of thought and so having stated the fact he hath chosen us we encounter this little phrase in him and this marks out a whole new category

9:48 of the doctrine of election and it's what I am calling the foundation of election in him. Once more we encounter this little phrase which on previous studies or in previous studies I indicated was pivotal to the whole understanding of the book of Ephesians and of the scriptures themselves. One very careful exegete Bible student and commentator has said the little phrase in Christ is perhaps the most important phrase in all of the New Testament with relationship to salvation. It literally means in union with or in connection with Christ. Now notice in verse 3 Paul has given the general statement that God is to be blessed the God who hath blessed us or conferred upon us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Now there's his general statement that every blessing with which the people of God are blessed they are thus blessed in Christ. General statement.

11:04 Wherever there is no union with Christ there is no blessing. Where there is union with Christ there is every blessing. So it's just understandable that when he now begins to specify distinct blessings that are in Christ he will make reference to those blessings as being in Christ in their specific aspects as well as in the general. So then having traced from the general he hath blessed us with every blessing to this specific blessing of election he states that even election the fountain of all blessings is election in Christ. Now what does that little phrase mean in this context? Well I don't want to weary you with what some attempt to make it mean but I do think in the interest of understanding it will be helpful to say two wrong answers to that question are these. Some say well he chose us to be in Christ. That is God elected us with a purpose of one day bringing us into vital union with Christ.

12:14 Now that's a true statement. That he has chosen some in order that in time they may be actually joined to Jesus Christ in a living union that is sealed by faith or cemented by faith. But that's not what the text says. It doesn't say blessed be God even as he chose us to be in him. It says he chose us in him. In other words the act of choosing when he chose had distinct reference to Christ then. Not only a reference to Christ sometime in the future. Others say well he chose us because he saw we would be in Christ by faith. How does a person get in

13:05 Christ? By faith. Therefore God saw who would make good use of the general grace that would come in the preaching of the word and those that he saw would believe and therefore be in Christ he chose them to be holy. Now you see that's just a clever attempt to get around the very meaning of the word he chose us.

13:29 In attempting to describe what it means in Christ they bleed the word he selected us of all the concept of selectivity and they turn the word selection into ratification. He saw that we would choose to be in Christ therefore he ratified our choice and therefore chose us to be holy. Well you see this is forcing words to mean something that they do not naturally mean in their native environment and setting. Now may I offer a humble attempt to give a right answer to this question.

14:03 What does it mean that he chose us in Christ? And I claim no infallibility for my exposition but I do trust there is honesty in the handling of words and in the treatment of grammar. Now if we're to answer that question what does it mean to be chosen in Christ? We've got to keep in mind several basic facts about the two people involved in this choice.

14:36 Who is involved in the act of election? God and sinful men. Now if you keep before you the facts about God and about sinful men then I believe you're on your way to understanding in what sense this God elects sinful men in Christ Jesus. Now remember election conceives of man in his state of sin.

15:08 Since it is election unto holiness and blemishlessness the clear implication is that apart from that election they would be unholy and full of blemishes. Man is conceived of in terms of what he will become in the fall. Dead in trespasses and sins described in chapter 2 as walking according to the course of this world under the power of the devil by nature a child of wrath without hope and without God. Now that's the kind of creature who conceived of in the mind of God is to be the object of election. Now think a few things about the character of the God who chooses. He is holy and in his choice he purposes to bring a people to what? Look at our text he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish before him. The next verse says

16:15 having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons. So then the purposes of this holy God are to take this sinful creature dead in his sins a child of wrath undone hopeless deserving of eternal damnation and to bring him to a state of holiness to a state of sonship and eventually to a state of glory. Now this poses a problem how does a holy God a God who is just a God who is of pure eyes than to look upon iniquity how can he conceive such glorious purposes for creatures who deserve his wrath? Who deserve to remain as sons of the devil and never become the sons of God? Whatever he does in his purposes of election must be consistent with the harmonious exercise of all of his attributes his love can't cancel his holiness his sovereignty cannot cancel out his justice therefore election unto such privileges of salvation must find a way of salvation fully consistent with all his glorious attributes and so scripture tells us that the appointment of Jesus Christ to the office

17:42 of a mediator predates the world predates creation predates the fall so Christ is called God's chosen and God's elect Isaiah 42 and 1 Peter 2 Jesus is said to be the lamb slain from where? The foundation of the world Revelation 13 8 and in 1 Peter 1 20 Peter says that he is the one whose blood would be shed to redeem his people the very one whose person and whose sacrifice was foreknown before the foundation of the world now follow closely and I know I'm making you think and I don't know any other simpler way to do it if he is slain in the mind and purpose of God from before the foundation of the world then there must have been a people conceived of in the mind of God for whom he would be slain therefore in election there is this inseparability of Christ and his people they are never conceived of as elect apart from him in whom their salvation will be wrought and this to me is the

19:11 mystery of it he is never conceived of as a mediator apart from those on whose behalf he will be surety for their salvation so that Goodwin in his quaint and vivid Puritan fashion uses this analogy he says picture God's electing purposes as a womb and in that womb is a body with a head and all its members and he says as the womb of election is exercised Christ the head is first born and all the members follow so that in God's electing purposes Christ is the elect one appointed to the place of a mediator and a redeemer but a redeemer of whom all the members of his body so that election is never conceived of as separate from Christ it isn't as though God says well there is some people who will depart from me and become objects of my wrath and I could let them all go on in that course to destruction and I will choose them and now let me see what shall I do if I am to save those people consistent with my justice oh yes I must appoint no no no no Paul says he chose us in him that there was no separation of us

20:40 from Christ in that choice and the reverse is true he did not say since men will depart from me and the race will plunge itself into a state of sin and misery and potential damnation the whole lot of them I will appoint a mediator and so he chooses Christ and then turns and says now since he is a mediator I better find some people for whom he should no no no no we must never think of Christ in his appointment to the office of a mediator apart from those that were selected to come under the benefits of his mediation we must never think of those who are selected to come under the benefits of the mediation apart from the appointment of that mediator without which there would be no salvation and the main thought of Ephesians 1 4 is this thought that election is election in Christ he is the foundation of our salvation not only in time when the scripture says other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Christ that speaks not only of Christ as the foundation of our salvation in that he alone died and rose again and intercedes but he is the foundation of that salvation as far back as God unfolds that salvation and in this passage he says

22:08 before the foundation of the world Christ was that foundation in other words we have in this phrase chosen in him the biblical basis for what the theologians call the covenant of redemption that arrangement in which the father appointed Christ as the covenant head and surety and then gives to him all of the chosen so uniting them in that covenant of redemption that all that Jesus Christ does in life and death and resurrection and ascension is said to be in scripture that which his people did in death in life and in ascension that's the mystery of it so where do you get that from the Bible oh lots of places are you ignorant Paul says many of us were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death we are buried with him raised with him Ephesians 2 you have he what you have he quickened made alive raised us up together with him made us to sit with him everything that happened to him happened to us in him as the great covenant head and surety of his people the best commentary I know from scripture on Ephesians

23:36 1 4 is 2 Timothy 1 9 where the apostle Paul says he hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us and what are the next three words in Christ Jesus before the world began the purpose and grace that have focused upon us was given us not apart from Christ but in Christ when when we repented and believed no Paul says before the world began and I offer then this as my own humble attempt to expound that phrase in him the foundation of election is not an exercise of pure sovereignty by the father distinct from the mediation of his son but it's the exercise of his sovereign purpose as we read at the end of verse 5 according to the good pleasure of his will but in keeping with the mediation of his own dear son our Lord Jesus Christ now this has some very practical things to say to us and I know I've made you think hard and that's the simplest I know how to make it but now it says worlds to us in a practical way two things I would suggest

Practical Implications of Election 'In Him'

25:04 this morning the first one is an exhortation to you who are joined to Christ in a living faith and it is this learn to give to Christ the honor do his name in connection with your salvation though the Father elects and we should say with Paul blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath chosen us he does not elect apart from Christ he is the foundation of our salvation not only in its procurement through the cross and the resurrection but in the councils of eternity when we come to passages like John 6 37 to 39 it should cause us to be prostrate in worship before our Lord he concludes that or begins the verse by saying all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him becometh unto me I will in no wise cast out why for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but to do the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day listen to the words of top lady to thee O Lord alone is due all good glory and renown ought to ourselves

26:33 we dare not take or rob thee of thy crown thou wast thyself our surety in God's redemption plan in thee his grace was given us long ere the world began O child of God learn to give to Christ the honor due his name in connection with salvation and then there is a second word of application I would bring and I trust some of you who are strangers to God's grace will listen to me this morning learn to judge the professed reality of your Christianity by this test what place does Christ have in it to Paul he cannot bless God even for so profound an act of his sovereignty as election without seeing Christ central my friend listen learn to assess the reality of your professed Christianity by this test what place does Christ have in it is he peripheral or is he central what is central to your professed Christianity is coming to meetings in the

28:00 present central having made a decision in the past is that central rules duties dogmas ideas is that what is central or are these things as it were simply the peripheral the outward expression of a heart in which Christ is enshrined as God and as the object of worship and devotion let me ask the question another way is he dispensable or is he indispensable let me ask let me tell you what I mean by that let me break that down suppose this very morning your tongue were ripped from your mouth so you could never utter another word you could never again say the name of Jesus you could never again open a hymn book and sing all hail the power of Jesus name you could never say that again suppose your eyes were gouged out and you were plunged into absolute darkness you could never again look upon a hymn book upon which the name of Jesus was written never look into a bible again in which the name of Jesus was written suppose your legs were cut off and you were unable to be mobile and come to this place and gather with his people if all this were to happen to you would Christ still be left

29:29 on top because he is enshrined in the citadel of your being as God whom you love and you worship all of you here this morning have had Christ upon your lips there is a sense in which his feet have brought you to his dwelling place his people your eyes have seen his name in a book called the bible and in a hymn book and your lips have mentioned his name but those who are true believers listen carefully could have the tongue wrenched out in the eyes gouged out and the legs cut off and their relationship to Christ would not be altered one bit because to them Christ is central enshrined in the heart oh granted it would be difficult to get adjusted to that new condition to feed upon him having been cut off from some of the means of grace I'm not talking about that I'm fully aware of that but I'm trying to give you a test by which to evaluate your own professed Christianity what place does Jesus Christ have it's a good test it's a good test for if you've been savingly joined to him he occupies that place that goes beyond the mere

The Time of Election: 'Before the Foundation of the World'

30:57 mouthing of words the threading of words through the eyes the carrying of the body to the right place to be seated at the right time to say the right things Christ is there enshrined and there is worshipped and praised the foundation of election Christ himself he hath chosen us in him now just a few words about the time of election notice what the text says before the foundation of the world now in attempting to expound the meaning of this phrase let me again remind you that you must be prepared for difficulties when little creatures of time seek to think in terms of non time that is eternity they're liable to get baffled when we who are finite attempt to grapple with the infinite when we who cannot speak with any authority about what will happen in the next half hour and who speak with very poor recollection of what happened even yesterday when we try to contemplate one before whose eye all eternity is focused as upon a pinpoint and is known perfectly we're liable to just stagger a little bit before

32:24 such contemplation and so in seeking to understand the phrase before the foundation of the word world we must on the one hand be prepared for difficulties and be prepared for some holy wonderment and for some sanctified bafflement for there is such a thing and then we must resist the temptation on the other hand to leap into philosophical speculation the scripture says the secret things belong unto the Lord our God but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children and it's God who's revealed the phrase before the foundation of the world listen to me Christian if you're not willing to think about eternity you're despising a phrase of holy scripture it's God who has said through his servant Paul that the time of election is this before the foundation of the world now what does the phrase mean well we can be helped by the fact that it's used exactly as we find it here at least two other times in scripture the first is in the 17th chapter of the gospel of John here the phrase is used by our Lord in what is commonly called his high priestly prayer

33:46 John 17 and verse 24 Father I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world now here the meaning is clear our Lord is acknowledging that in the inter-trinitarian relationship spoken of in John 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God that there was a love of the Father to him that predates all that comes to pass in time so then the phrase before the foundation of the world is a synonym for eternity thou lovest me in eternity thou lovest me before the initiation of time with the making of things as we now know them and then the phrase is found in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 20 I referred to this passage earlier let's look at it now in this connection 1 Peter 1 and verse 20

35:16 speaking of Christ the last word of verse 19 Christ the who refers back to him in verse 20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world but was manifested at the end of the times for your sakes he's saying that what Christ did in time as a man was purposed long before there was any men or any man long before there was a world here the meaning again is obvious he was foreknown that is he was regarded with distinguishing love and purpose in eternity is a good synonym for the phrase now a similar phrase from the foundation of the world is used several places in scriptures in the scriptures and sometimes has the force of this phrase before the foundation of the world though in one or two instances it's obvious it means from the beginning of time rather than before the beginning of time when you read in Matthew 25 34 that the king shall say to those on his right hand come ye blessed enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world the indication is it was a kingdom prepared even before things as we now know them began to be revelation 13 8

36:43 Christ is called the lamb slain from the foundation of the world Paul uses a little different phrase in 2 Thessalonians 2 13 God be thanked that he hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation so much then for these uses what can we say in summary about the meaning of the phrase relating to the time of election when Paul says he chose us in him before the foundation of the world he would have us to understand that election of people unto life and salvation in Christ predates everything that occurs in time now why does he do this does he delight in having believers there at Ephesus scratch their heads in the middle of a service saying time eternity is too much for me no no no no his concern was this his concern was to underscore and to emphasize both the sovereignty of election and the certainty of the issue of election if he chose us before the foundation of the world that is before we had any being before we could only be known in terms of the mind and purpose and omniscience of God therefore whatever he purposed he purposes

The Sovereignty and Certainty of Eternal Election

38:12 based upon pure sovereignty he underscores this principle in Romans chapter 9 dealing with the expression of divine sovereignty with Jacob and Esau he says before the two were born before they had done good or evil that the purpose of God according to what according to election might stand it was said the elder shall serve the younger in other words destroy election of its sovereignty and you no longer have election and so Paul says before the foundation of the world to underscore on the one hand the sovereignty of that electing grace and then on the other hand the certainty for what God purposes in eternity past must of necessity come to pass for he has said I will work and who can hinder it my counsel shall stand I will do all my purpose this is the word of God through the prophet Isaiah and so by application may I again give a word of exhortation to you who are the children of God encouraging you to stand back amazed and blinded with the light of this glorious fact that the salvation which comes to you in time is not the result of a sudden

39:41 impulse to a newly discovered need no no it was the purpose benefit of God before the foundation of the world let me illustrate you're sitting at your meal today and your wife or your friend whoever's provided the meal for you has planned for four six eight people whatever it is and so you're sitting there and you're just well dug into the meal and you're having a great time eating it and all of a sudden the doorbell rings or there's a knock at the door and you go out and hear some poor vagrant somebody who has no place he can call his home and he's come to your door and he says look I'm hungry I haven't had a decent meal for two weeks you got something you could feed me so at the spur of the moment you've got to make a decision you say well we've had lots of good meals in the past two weeks and we've got plenty on the table now you know a little smaller portion of meat or something else but so what and so on the spur of the moment in the sight of this need to which you've just been exposed you respond with genuine Christian compassion and you extend not just a cup of cold water in the name of Christ but a full course meal to this man now he ought to show gratitude for that if he doesn't he's something less than a man he ought to show gratitude and say thank you that you responded to this sudden exposure of his need with genuine compassion now picture this same man for he's a young man

41:09 in fact he's just turned 21 and when he stops his wandering ways and goes back home his father tells him he says son I want you to come down with me to the lawyer's office there's something that you ought to know and he goes down to the lawyer's office and there the lawyer pulls out papers which show that a great great grandfather whom he never met many years before he was even born had so made out his will that to all of the first sons of his posterity a certain amount of his estate would be legally deeded over to them and so all the papers are there and it's all officially done and from this great great grandfather whom he has never seen he receives a legacy that sets him in good stead for the rest of his life now he ought to feel gratitude at this but now let me ask you a question is there any difference in the kind of gratitude he feels to you the family that responded on an impulse to a newly discovered need and the gratitude he feels to that great great grandfather should there be any difference in the kind of gratitude he feels there ought to be both were expressions of love but ah here's the difference one was an expression of love triggered at the moment by a sudden

42:37 exposure to need the other was an expression of love purpose and calculated long before this fellow had any being now let's add another dimension suppose the father had been a prophet and it had been revealed to him that this great great grandson was going to be a miserable wretch and lived for years despising the family name bringing the family name into reproach and disgrace and yet he still purposed to confer upon him that estate he'd say my that's amazing calculated love to a creature unworthy who deserved just the opposite if anyone should be stricken out from the legacy it be that wretch now every human illustration walks on half a leg I realize that but you see something of what's involved here child of God why are you a Christian this morning is it because one day you knocked at the door and said oh God I have nothing I am nothing I can do nothing to blot out my own sins to change my own heart oh God is there bread at your table and God said come and welcome and set us down to the feast of

44:06 gospel good things no blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world this is no afterthought no no he foresaw your rebellion he foresaw your indifference to his glory into his claims he saw you as part of that whole mass of rebel sinners the mass of Adamic humanity heading plunging breakneck speed into the pit yet for reasons locked up in his own heart he selected this one and that one and said I will give them to my son and my son to them and this according to the statement of the spirit through Paul was done before the foundation of the world and so as the people of God we ought to have great confidence of the certainty of God's purposes of grace if they have come to us in their beginning because of the purposes of God in eternity then certainly the work

45:34 which his goodness began the arm of his strength will complete that's why Paul says who's slaving to the charge of God's elect am I talking to some who say well I hope I'm going to make it I hope I can hold out now I'm not belittling the biblical doctrine of perseverance no no you must endure to the end but when you see this truth you will say with top lady yea I to the end shall endure as sure as the promise is given more happy but not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven that's what causes Paul to break out as he does in Romans 8 34 who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect it's what he understood as expressed in verse 30 that buttressed the exclamation of verse 34 he said whom he did foreknow he did predetermine to be conformed to the image of his son whom he did predestinate he called whom he called he justified whom he justified he glorified what shall we say to these things and so if you have grounds biblical grounds to believe yourself in a state of grace now you have biblical grounds to rejoice as Paul says in hope of the glory of God you don't have that now

Humility and the Way to Know One's Election

47:03 you got little glimpses of it and there are little reflections of it in you but the scripture says there will be the full manifestation when we are in his presence and so a recognition of this truth of the sovereignty and certainty bound up in the phrase before the foundation of the world should on the one hand create confidence because of the certainty and it ought to bring us to a place of humility because of the absolute sovereignty of the choice before I had any being he set his love upon me I was included in that circle of the great multitude whom no man could number Lord why me why me and you come to the end of verse 5 and it says according to the good pleasure of his will and you say but Lord why was it the good pleasure of your will to set your love upon me and the heavens are silent and the scriptures are silent you and I should be prostrate in worship and isn't it interesting that these two strands of Christian grace blend and meet most vividly in the life of the apostle Paul more than any of the other biblical writers great boldness and confidence deep deep humility I would like to suggest

48:32 it's what he talked about here in Ephesians 1 4 that fed the streams both of confidence and of humility it was his consciousness that he was a chosen vessel in Christ before the foundation of the world ah but someone sits here this morning and says yes but I'm not a Christian how can I know if I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world well the answer is the only way you can know is the way everybody else had to find out there's some people here this morning who are confident they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and you know how they came to that confidence same way you've got to come to it they didn't come to it by special revelation you tell me God gave you a special revelation told you you were chosen in him and I'll tell you you're a liar God never did God never discloses the secrets of his electing grace to anyone other than to those who are in Christ now by a living faith and being in him by a living faith now they can say I am in him now because I was chosen in him then so that one can only know his election from the perspective of being a believer you've heard the old illustration

50:00 and I think it's one of the few that you find floating around in antiquity that's worth repeating it's the one about the great archway there's the way into life and salvation and there's the archway the narrow road that leads and over that archway is the promise whosoever will let him come upon that archway are stamped the words of Jesus come unto me all ye that labor and I will give you rest and all who pass through that archway in a living faith in Jesus Christ turning their backs upon the world in sin in true repentance look back and over that same archway on this side of it not the side facing the world in sin but facing those who are within are stamped the words chosen in him before the foundation of the world and then your own name inscribed upon that archway oh you say but if I could just sort of sneak around a wall and look at that side and see if my name was no you can't you can't God won't let you do it God won't let you do it there's no sneaking around because you see the way God saves men is not by convincing them of their election by convincing them first of all of their sin and then the sufficiency of Christ and then as they cast themselves upon him they're saved

51:27 well you say I don't like well I'm sorry my friend that's the only way God will save you and the fact that you don't want to get saved that way is an evidence that your problem is not election it's the rebellion of your heart you won't even tell God how he should go about it well he ought to tell me first he ought to do what he wants to do and he could have damned you and me and the whole bunch of us so there never would even be a building set apart to the worship of Christ don't you go telling God what he should have done you better be content with what he has done and what he has done is to send his son from heaven and to say of his son this is my beloved hear him and what does the son say he says come all ye that labor and are heavy laden this is a faithful saying son of God is come to seek and to save that which is lost to save sinners the worst of them I am come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and oh my friend if you're here without Christ do you know anything at all about the doctrine of election you come to that elect one Jesus Christ whose words are true and who commands you to repent and commands you to believe and if you do not come this morning you're guilty not only of the sin that you've been guilty of up to this moment but the worst sin of all the sin of unbelief that condemns you

52:55 the sin of loving your sin in spite of gospel light and so if I speak to any this morning who are quibbling with the doctrine of election as unsaved fellows or girls and say well I just get that makes a bunch of puppets my friend stop all that talk Luther said of someone who asked him a silly question relative to God and eternity and election and some of these profound things and it was a silly question because it didn't show a sensitive heart now there's a right place for legitimate questions but this was silly questions he said God's got a place called hell for people who ask questions like that my friend listen to me if you're here impenitent and not joined to Christ in a living faith and you sit here quibbling about election God's got a place called hell for people who do that don't you quibble about election you repent of your sin and flee to Christ and you've got every reason to believe he'll receive you because he himself said it and then sealed his own words with his precious blood and he says come there's a welcome come and you'll be received come come there is life in coming and so this God commands you to come he promises mercy if you do come he condemns you for your love of sin and unbelief if you don't come dear child of God

54:23 can you say this morning perhaps with a new degree of understanding blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according as he hath chosen us the fact of election in him the foundation of election before the foundation of the world the time of election God willing next week the immediate goal of election that we should be holy and without blemish before him I'm convinced if a humble Christian carefully studying Ephesians 1 4 and by the illumination of the spirit understanding those words can have as profound a grasp upon the doctrine of election as any theologian could ever desire it's all right there one concept overlaid upon another may God help us to so understand that we should be led to worship and led to praise let us pray our Father we do confess that thoughts of eternity baffle