Unconditional Election, Part 1

Introduction: The 'Here We Stand' Series and Confessional Stance

0:00 Our study in the Word of God this morning is the ninth in a series of studies entitled Here We Stand. And in looking over the congregation, I note that we have a number of visitors, and particularly for your sakes, I will take just about three or four minutes to give a very, very distilled essence of what we have covered in the previous studies. The intention of this series is that of presenting a broad overview of our confessional stance as a body of God's people. In other words, it is an effort to set forth what we believe the scriptures teach concerning the great and pivotal issues of time and eternity.

0:49 and my purpose in giving this series of studies is to confirm the old-timers among us, to initiate the newcomers, and to inform the onlookers. Thus far we've covered two of five areas under which our confession is to be ranged. First of all, the book we believe and obey. Fundamental to everything we think about God and his salvation and his church Is our view of the scriptures And we stand confessing without embarrassment Without equivocation, without tongue in cheek That we believe the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments

1:35 To be in the language of the Apostle Paul Inspired, breathed out by God In their entirety and therefore profitable in all parts for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. Or in the language of Peter, we believe the Scriptures have come to us because holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, everything that Scripture says, God says. And because God says it, it is inerrant, it is fully authoritative in every area to which it speaks.

2:12 And then we considered the second major category, the God, whom we worship and confess. The great theme of Scripture is not man, but God. In the beginning, God. And the theme is announced in the opening words.

2:27 And as we read through the Scriptures, we find this God to be the one true and living God. The God of absolute perfection, unrivaled sovereignty, infinite goodness, and mysterious tri-personality. this one God, His Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is one. Now we are presently engaged in a study of the third major area, having considered the book we believe and obey, the God whom we worship and confess, we are now considering the salvation we receive and proclaim.

3:05 For the great work of this great God who is the central theme of Scripture is a work of rescue and deliverance, a work of salvation. Under that third major heading we are presently concerned with the first major subdivision, who or what is the object of that salvation. And I have suggested that the Scriptures teach that there is a primary and a secondary object. The primary object is man.

3:36 Man created in the image of God. Man fallen in Adam. Man ruined in sin. And then there is a secondary object, the earth.

3:47 The earth created by God. The earth cursed because of man's sin. The earth presently groans and travails, awaiting the redemption of the sons of God. Well, I did it in four minutes.

The Necessity of Unconditional Election

4:00 Now the word of God that teaches us these truths makes it abundantly clear that not all men are the recipients of this salvation. Though all are created in the image of God, though all men without exception have fallen in Adam, the one exception of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. Though all men are ruined by sin Only some men are recreated in the image of God Only some men are redeemed by the last Adam And only some men are rescued by grace All created in the image of God

4:47 But only some recreated All fallen in Adam But only some redeemed in Christ All ruined by sin, but only some restored by grace. And when we seek to answer the question, why are only some recreated, some redeemed, and some restored, we must ultimately be driven back to find our answer in that doctrine which is commonly called, in theological language, unconditional election. or in more distinct biblical language, the election according to grace. And so this morning we shall consider together the teaching of the Scriptures relative to this great doctrine.

5:38 Why? Because here we stand, confessing without shame and equivocation the great truth of which we have sung, that every benefit that comes to us in Christ comes to us with its fountainhead in God's eternal purpose to save a people for himself. As time permits, our study will follow four lines. First of all, a simple statement of the doctrine of election.

A Simple Statement of the Doctrine of Election

6:07 Here we stand, confessing our belief in this great and glorious truth. What do we mean when we say we believe in the election of grace? Having considered a simple statement of the doctrine, we shall in the second place consider the biblical basis for the doctrine of election, and then if time permits, thirdly, the most common objections to the doctrine of election, and fourthly, the practical influence of the doctrine of election. Now, first of all, a simple statement of the doctrine of election.

6:40 When we confess our belief in this doctrine, what precisely are we confessing? And as is so often the case, the Westminster Shorter Catechism gives us perhaps the most helpful definition in simple, succinct terms of this particular doctrine. The confession is traced out the doctrine of creation and the doctrine of the fall, and in question 20 we read, Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? Having asserted the biblical teaching that all men fell in Adam and are ruined in sin, the Catechism then asked the question, Did God leave all mankind to perish in that state?

7:28 And the answer of question 20 is this, God having out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity elected some to everlasting life did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. Now the substance of this answer is basically this. There is a major assertion and then some qualifying statements. What is the major assertion?

8:02 It is this. God having elected some to everlasting life did enter a covenant of grace to deliver them out of that estate and to bring them into an estate of salvation. More simply stated, the major assertion of this question or its answer is God has chosen some of fallen mankind to be the recipients of salvation. issuing an eternal life.

8:35 Now note what the issues are. It is God who does the choosing. God having elected. It is God, secondly, choosing ill-deserving sinners.

8:49 He has chosen those described in the answer to question 19 who are in a state of sin and misery. And thirdly, God chooses unto salvation. And fourthly, God chooses with a choice that secures its end. He chooses to bring them into an estate of salvation.

9:13 So the major assertion is that out of the mass of fallen, never forget this, the word election should never be divorced from the word fallen. Election has to do with men who though created in the image of God have fallen in Adam and are ruined by sin. Election has to do with this condition contemplated in the mind of God. And so the major assertion is that out of that mass of lost and ill-deserving humanity, God has exercised a prerogative in selecting some of these sinners to be the recipients of salvation, and this salvation will issue in their ultimately being brought into the full enjoyment of eternal life.

10:08 Now that's the major assertion. Now the qualifying and explanatory statements are these. Why did God choose them? God having out of his mere good pleasure.

10:21 He chose them not because he was obligated, not because he was capricious, not because he foresaw any virtue in them. He chose out of his mere good pleasure. Having answered the question, why did God choose any? The catechism goes on to address itself to the question, when was the choice made?

10:42 God having out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity. The choice was made in eternity. Not when men choose, but God made the choice long before we had any being. And what means did he select to accomplish this choice?

11:00 The catechism answers it. to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery by a Redeemer. Within the framework of the covenant of grace, God purposed that this work of salvation should be accomplished not apart from Christ, but by means of the Redeemer. Well, simply stated, yet comprehensively, this is the biblical doctrine of election as we understand it.

The Biblical Basis: Explicit Testimony from Key Words

11:31 Now, having given a simple statement of the doctrine using the Westminster Shorter Catechism as a guide, what is the biblical basis for the doctrine of election? Where did the framers of the confession get these notions? Well, some would say they got them out of their own heads. There is a current evangelist who would say they paid a visit to hell and they learned it from the devil.

11:54 Some would say they read the works of a well-known reformer who lived in Geneva too much and they just parroted his thoughts.

12:03 Where did they get such notions?

12:07 Perhaps we could broaden the question, where have the people of God through the centuries received such notions? For no one can deny that the great masses of the believers who received new light and life at the period of the Protestant Reformation gladly confessed this doctrine as their understanding of the Word of God. all of the leading lights, Ruther, Zwingli, Calvin, and the great reformers in England, Latimer and Ridley, Knox, and then the subsequent flaming evangelists such as Whitefield and Spurgeon, and in our own country Edwards and the Tenants and Nettleton, without equivocation to a man. They acknowledged their understanding of God's gracious work of salvation

12:53 as having its fountainhead in this work of sovereign selection. Now where did they find such notions in the Scriptures? Well, what I propose to do this morning is to give a very cursory acquaintance with two major bolts of biblical testimony, the explicit testimony to this doctrine, and then the implicit. The explicit, that which is patent, it lies on the surface, and than that which is implied.

13:24 It's there strongly, though not perhaps directly stated. The doctrine of election, as defined in the Shorter Catechism, that is, a sovereign selection on the part of God with reference to specific sinners, on the basis of nothing in them but out of His mere good pleasure, a selection that determines that they shall be saved and then accomplishes that intention, I say that teaching has its explicit testimony in the following portions of the Word of God. Number one, the plain meaning of key biblical words. The plain meaning of key biblical words.

14:09 The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.13 that the things that cannot be known by the natural man have been revealed by God and are expressed, and now I quote, which things we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in words which the Holy Spirit teacheth. In other words, the Holy Ghost has guided the selection of the words by which the concepts that God wants to be conveyed are indeed conveyed. Now the word elect is a biblical word It was around long before Calvin was ever conceived let alone come to maturity and had been converted The word elect in its various usages eklegomai the verb to choose eklektos and eklogai the words translated chosen elect election these words in their

15:06 various forms are found no fewer than 50 plus times in the New Testament. Now the word is used basically in what we would call a non-theological or secular sense, and then in a theological or spiritual sense. Let's look at its usage in common everyday language. First of all, in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. Remember what we're attempting to do now. We're attempting to establish the biblical basis for the doctrine of election. The explicit testimony is first of all, the testimony of the plain meaning of key words in the Bible. Luke chapter 6 and verse 13.

15:51 We go back up to verse 12. And it came to pass in those days that he, Jesus, went up into the mountain to pray. And he continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called his disciples, that is the multitude of those who were following him and attending to his word.

16:09 And he, here's the word, he elected, he chose from them twelve, whom he also named apostles. Out of the mass of the disciples, he elected, it's exactly the same verb that is translated elsewhere, elected. He chose, he selected some to be apostles. Turn over to chapter 10 and verse 42.

16:35 Chapter 10 and verse 42. You remember the incident? Mary and Martha entertaining the Lord. Martha busy about many things. Mary sitting at his feet. But one thing is needed, for Mary hath chosen, hath elected the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

16:57 Here were two options, to join Martha in her over-busyness or to sit at the feet of Jesus. And between the two options, Mary made a selection. She elected, she chose the better part. Chapter 14 and verse 7 of the Gospel of Luke.

17:16 And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden when he marked how they, here's the verb, they chose out, they elected the chief seats, saying unto them. Get the picture. Some of these religious leaders come into a home where they've been invited for a meal. There are many seats upon which they may recline, but of the many seats they elect, they choose, they select certain ones, namely the ones in greater prominence.

17:45 And in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this is the word that is used to describe what David did when he went down to that little brook prior to the slaying of Goliath. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17. We read in 1 Samuel chapter 17 and verse 40. And he, David, took his staff in his hand, here it is, and elected him, chose him, selected him five smooth stones out of the brook.

18:21 There in the bed of that brook were a multitude of stones. And among the many, David exercised an activity of selection. He chose, he elected five. Now, in all of these secondary usages, what are the common denominators of thought?

18:38 Well, the common denominators of thought are these. The choice is always with reference to more than one person or thing. Secondly, it's always a two-sided selection. Something is chosen and something is not chosen.

18:56 Something is selected and something is non-selected. And thirdly, the choice is always initiated by the selector, not the selected. David did not stand by the brook and wait until five stones wriggled up out of the brook and stood erect upon the bank and said, David, we would like to be involved in this great conquest of the Philistine giant. No, no, all of the stones lay in the same condition on the brook's bed until David stretched out his hand and laid hold of five of it.

19:33 The chief seats did not get up from their place in the banquet hall and walk to these Pharisees and say, We would like to have you recline upon us. All the seats were in a passive state and they chose the chief seats. the meaning of this word is obvious in its secular usage. And there is not a shred of evidence that its basic linguistic significance is changed one iota when it is used with reference to God's act of selecting out of the mass of lost humanity a certain number of sinners to be the recipients of His saving mercy.

20:17 And when people say, all right, elections in the Bible, I'm forced to believe it, it's a Bible word. But by election, all the Bible means is God saw who would improve and use the grace given to all and those who would make the first motions to God, either in faith or repentance or some kind of positive response. God, foreseeing that motion of faith and repentance, decided to choose them. My friends, that is a twisting of the word elect to mean ratify.

20:49 From select merely to approve. And there's a classic example of the difference between those two things in the sixth chapter of Acts.

21:00 In the sixth chapter of Acts, you remember the situation. The apostles are getting so involved in caring for these widows that their true ministry is suffering. And the Spirit of God gives them wisdom to make a proposition. Verse 3.

21:16 Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you, seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. We will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the Word. And the same pleased the whole multitude. Now notice.

21:33 And they chose. That's the word elect. It's the verb used in Ephesians 1, 4, and in the other usages. translated election or elect, and they, the multitude, chose.

21:47 They made the selection of Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, and they named the other ones who were chosen. Now notice verse 6. Whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them. What did the apostles do?

22:05 They ratified the choice of the multitude. It was the multitude who elected them. Selected them. The apostles ratified the selection.

22:17 But the Spirit of God does not say, and when they had prayed, they elected them. No, no. Ratification is an entirely different thing from selection. When you ratify something, the selection has been made by another, you simply approve it.

22:33 And any attempt to say that election in the Bible is nothing more than God rubber stamping the choice of the sinner is to prostitute the words of Holy Scripture.

22:46 An utter prostitution of the words of Holy Scripture. And therefore this doctrine is rooted in its explicit testimony in the simple meaning of this key biblical word. And now we see it used in such passages as John 10, 16 in this theological sense. Jesus said in John 10, 16.

23:18 I'm sorry, 15, 16.

23:22 Ye did not elect me. Ye did not choose me. That's the verb. But I chose.

23:31 I elected. I selected you. not just your office not just your particular sphere of usefulness I chose you the choice terminates upon persons and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit but we must not mix the selection with the appointment to service they are two distinct things and it's the word used in that wonderful text in Ephesians 1 and verse 4, when the apostle would bless God for the great salvation conferred in Christ, he traces that salvation back to its fountainhead. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

24:19 who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Even as He selected, He elected, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. And then in its noun form we find it many times in the Gospels, in the Epistles. I give you but a sampling.

24:43 Mark 13 and verse 20. Mark 13 and verse 20. Our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking and He says, And except the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should have been saved. but for the elect's sake whom he chose.

25:04 How can Scripture be more clear? The elect's sake whom he chose, he shortened the days. Verse 27, we have the same thing. And he shall send forth the angels and gather together his elect, his chosen.

25:22 That's the mark of his people. They are his people because he set his love upon them. In Luke 18 and verse 7, a very familiar passage in which our Lord is encouraging us to perseverance in prayer. And His promise is, shall He not avenge His elect, His chosen ones, who cry unto Him day and night?

25:45 And then in the epistles the apostle delights to use the term the elect as one of those peculiar terms describing the people of God. Colossians 3.12 is an example of this. Colossians 3 and verse 12 Put on therefore as God's elect Holy and beloved a heart of compassion Kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering And Paul not only uses it as a term in general of the people of God He even zeroes in upon a specific individual in Romans 16 and verse 13 Romans 16 and verse 13 He says Salute Rufus, the chosen in the Lord.

26:29 Salute Rufus. Well, what's so special about him? He is the chosen in the Lord. He is one of God's elect.

26:38 The apostle uses it in Titus 1.1 where he speaks of the faith of God's elect. And so throughout the epistles and the gospels this key word, elect, chosen, election is an inescapable witness to the doctrine of divine selectivity with reference to why salvation comes to some and does not come to others. And then the second key word is the word foreknow.

The Biblical Basis: Explicit Testimony from 'Foreknow' and 'Predestinate'

27:08 Foreknow. It is the word used in Romans 8.29. Whom he did foreknow.

27:16 Then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. And then in 1 Peter 1, 2, the people of God are described as elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Ah, but someone says, there it is, Pastor Martin, foreknowledge. That means God foresaw.

27:36 Wait a minute, my friend. Is that what the word foreknow means? Well, you say, of course it does. How do you know it does?

27:42 Well, it just must. Yes, it must. If you're going to try to avoid the inescapable imprecations of the word elect in all of its forms. But there is no disagreement in the mind of the Spirit and the God who has filled His word with references to elect and to election.

28:02 The predominant word, remember, is the God who has given us a couple of usages in the New Testament of the word foreknow. But He has not left us in the dark as to what that word means. For both Paul and Peter wrote out of a rich Old Testament background. And they knew that one of the peculiar things of the nation of Israel was that it was known of God.

28:25 And the word know means something far more than mere science, mere knowledge, mere acquaintance with. Listen to the testimony found in Amos 3 and verse 2. when God would seek to load the consciences of his people with a sense of shame because of their rebellion against him. He lays before them their wonderful privileges.

28:48 And this is what he says in Amos chapter 3 and verse 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. What did God mean? Did God say he was ignorant of Egypt?

29:04 ignorant of all the other great heathen nations? Of course not. The scriptures tell us that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. He fills heaven and earth.

29:17 The 139th Psalm makes it obvious that no creature is out of the sight of God. What does he mean when he says to Israel, You only have I known of all the peoples of the earth. What he's saying is, You only have I regarded with distinguishing love and affection. A love and affection which conceived peculiar purposes and designs of mercy.

29:42 You only have I known. When the scripture says in Psalm 1 The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous Well doesn he know the way of the wicked as well Well if we mean by know to be acquainted with to be cognizant of surely he knows the way of the wicked as well as the way of the righteous. But when the Scripture says that he knows the way of the righteous, it means he regards with distinguishing and peculiar love and affection and interest. We find a similar usage in the book of Hosea.

30:16 Notice in the book of Hosea chapter 13 and verse 5, speaking again to his people, back up to verse 4, Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me. That is, you shall regard nothing that is called God with what? Love and devotion and affection. To know God in that sense, you see, is obvious as to its meaning.

30:43 And besides me there is no Savior. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. What does he mean he knew them? He regarded them with distinguishing love and affection.

30:56 That's why he sent the manna. He opened up the rock so that it gushed forth water. He gave them the revelation of his mind and his will. And so throughout the Old Testament, to know means to regard with distinguishing love and affection.

31:10 To foreknow is to regard with that love and affection beforehand, that is, from eternity. And therefore, when we read in Romans 8, 29, Whom He did foreknow, it does not say what God foreknew, namely, that some would believe, but whom He foreknew, that is, all upon whom He set His distinguishing love and affection, them He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, and the same group of people foreknown and predestined to be conformed to Christ, are described in verse 33 in this way,

31:57 who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? To be elect is to be foreknown. To be foreknown is to be elect. Likewise with Peter's reference, sojourners scattered, he says, I address you.

32:13 those whose salvation is pervasively and decidedly a Trinitarian salvation. You've been elect according to the foreknowledge of the Father. He set His love upon you. You've been redeemed and sprinkled in the blood of the Son, and you've been quickened by the Holy Spirit.

32:34 The word foreknow does not mean simply to know beforehand certain facts. That's a glorious truth that known unto God are all His works from the beginning of time. But to be foreknown is to be loved beforehand with distinguishing, discriminating love. And that love is set upon His chosen.

32:58 And then the third key word that gives explicit testimony to this doctrine is the word predestinate. I'll not go into it. Time will not permit it. I want to deal with the second strand of explicit testimony, the obvious meaning of some key passages.

The Biblical Basis: Explicit Testimony from Key Passages

33:14 This doctrine is rooted in the obvious and plain meaning of certain key words, elect, chosen, foreknown, predestinate. But this doctrine is also rooted in the obvious meaning of some key passages. Consider several with me briefly. Turn to the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

33:34 Matthew chapter 11 and verse 25 our Lord has just completed a preaching mission in which he has seen the frightening power of unbelief in the face of tremendous miracles performed by the Son of God himself men yet remain impenitent and may I just pause to say all of this furor over we need a return to apostolic miracles and the church will take off like a rocket. Listen, when the Son of God was here, the one to whom the Spirit was not given by measure, verse 20 of Matthew 11 says, He began to upbraid these cities wherein most of His mighty works were done

34:22 because they repented not. Physical miracles have no inherent power to open men's blinded eyes. So our Lord on the heels of this tragic This sad, this astounding manifestation Of the hardness of the human heart Leading to these sober pronouncements of judgment Verse 22 I say unto you more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon In the day of judgment for you And thou Capernaum shalt thou be exalted unto heaven Thou shalt go down to hell Our Lord is speaking as a prophet of judgment He has performed mighty works. The overtures of mercy have gone forth.

35:05 The Son of God, who is the head of His own kingdom, has pronounced the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's there in the person of the King. But men have turned away in impenitence and hardness of heart. And yet the Scripture says in verse 25, At that season, a season in which hardness of heart and unbelief and impenitence have been in the spotlight, so much in the focus that some of the most solemn denunciations Christ ever uttered have leaped from His lips at that season.

35:41 Jesus answered him, He said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise in understanding and didst reveal them unto babes. Yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. And here the Lord Jesus finds joy in the face of obdurate impenitence and unbelief. Joy in what?

36:16 That the Father's sovereign designs to reveal to some and hide from others. Those designs have not been frustrated. We find the same Lord speaking in the sixth chapter in the Gospel of John. Remember what we are doing now, the obvious meaning of some key passages upon which this doctrine rests and out of which it inevitably grows.

36:42 Our Lord has manifested Himself in the breaking of the bread, His great miracle, and then He has asserted that He is the true bread, And again he faces unbelief, he faces impenitence. And in the midst of that he says in verse 37, All that which the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And there's a piling up of no fewer than five negatives.

37:14 I will under no circumstances, under no conditions ever, ever cast them out. for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing but raise it up at the last day. Now what's the obvious meaning of those words? I'll tell you what the obvious meaning is.

37:39 It came home so strongly to me a few years ago. It was a young man who'd heard some strange things about us as a church and I had occasion to visit him and when I met him, his eye was full of fire. And I could tell he was loaded for bear. And what do you people believe?

37:57 I said, just simmer down a minute now. You're using terms. Have you ever heard me use those terms? He started spouting some theological terms.

38:03 He said, no. I said, well, don't ask me to defend what I haven't used. I said, you believe the Bible? Well, of course I believe the Bible.

38:09 I said, well, you just kindly open to John chapter 6. He opened it up. I said, now will you read verse 37? He started to read.

38:15 All that. Well, I know what you're trying to prove. I know you're trying. I said, sir, look, I'm not trying to prove anything.

38:21 All I've done is ask you to read John 6.37. All that which...

38:25 Yeah, but you're trying... I said, look, I'm not saying a thing.

38:28 I'm just asking you to read John 6.37. Well, you know, he wouldn't read the verse.

38:34 He would not read the verse and tell me what it meant. He immediately began to jump to other passages and say, yeah, but what does the Bible mean when it says, whosoever...

38:41 I said, sir, that's not the issue. You asked me a question. I'm trying to answer your question, and in so doing I'm requesting that you read verse 37. What's it seem to say?

38:51 Well, it's obvious what it says. That there is a people who were given by the Father to Christ. And the people thus given will come to Christ and coming will never be cast out. And this is so because the will of Christ in saving purpose cannot be frustrated.

39:11 it. Now if you can get any other meaning out of those words, my friend, you're as clever as the daughters of Sarah who can use 1 Timothy 2 to prove that women ought to preach and teach. They take the words, I suffer not a woman to teach, and when they're done, they prove that women should teach. Now, if you can do that with John 6 and get anything other than that there is a people given to Christ, and therefore if some are given, others are not given. And if the will of Christ is to save all who have been given, it is not the will of Christ to save those who have not been given. You say, I don't like that, my friend, your controversies with the Word. I'm a Bible believer. I'm just a simple Christian.

39:55 I don't know about this. My friend, Jesus Christ spoke these words. They weren't sneaked in by Calvin. They weren't sneaked in by the framers of the Westminster Confession. And that's why their confessions include a testimony to this doctrine, because it leaps out of the pages of the book. That's why standing here today saying, here we stand. I don't care how unpopular it is. I don't care how many people feel this should be no part of evangelical testimony. I could care less. It is the testimony of the Word. We are not

40:42 judges of the Word. We are its servants and its disciples. The obvious meaning of the passage can only be opened up in the light of the doctrine of election expounded. Turn to John 17.

41:00 Our Lord Jesus Christ, just a few hours before He will go into formal trial and judgment to die upon a Roman gibbet,

41:11 is found praying to His Father. These things spake Jesus in lifting up His eyes to heaven. He said, Father, the hour has come Glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee Even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh That Why did the Father give him authority over all flesh? That to all whom thou hast given him He should offer eternal life No He should give eternal life Oh how can words be more plain He does not say thou hast given him authority over all flesh that for all men He might provide a potential eternal life.

41:55 What fills our Lord with a sense of strength and fortitude as He faces the awful baptism of Golgotha? That which nerves Him upon the eve of this terrible trial, the Father's hidden face, the Father's wrath, the Father's anger, that which fills him with joy and expectation is this. He has been endowed with authority over all flesh so that he will actually secure the redemption of his people. That to all whom thou hast given him, he should actually give, confer eternal life.

42:39 I say the obvious meaning of that passage demands a confession in the doctrine of election the obvious meaning of a text which stands as a bulwark against all pretensions to a salvation initiated by man when Luke is writing history he writes it theologically and therefore when he is going to write the record of an evangelistic endeavor in which some were filled with impenitence and some believed. He does it in this language, Acts 13, 48. And as the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

43:28 There's the limiting phrase, as many. Not all believed. Well, who believed? those that were ordained to eternal life.

43:41 You have the obvious testimony of the apostle when writing to infant believers. Others object and say, well, Pastor Martin, I can't fight that. That's in the Bible. But that's a profound mystery, and that's only for the theologians and the men who stroke their straggling beards while pondering over Greek verbs and over Hebrew verbs and nouns.

44:02 No, no, my friends. Paul writes to the infant church at Thessalonica. And what does he do? He fills his letters with references to election.

44:12 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, the first epistle Paul ever wrote to an infant church, the earliest of his epistles. And notice what he does in verse 2. We give thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father, knowing brethren beloved of God your election He says I rejoice when I think of all the holy fruits that are coming from you Your labor of love your hope your faith all of these graces But he does not praise them.

44:58 He says, this is a patent evidence of your election. And he traces all the holy fruits back to their source in the electing love of God. He does the same thing in the second epistle to Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren beloved of the Lord.

45:22 Remember to be loved of God is a peculiar thing of the people of God. God has a general indiscriminate love to all men. But redemptive love is peculiar to his own. Therefore beloved, beloved of God is a distinguishing title of the people of God.

45:41 We give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And when the Thessalonians stand back and see the amazing evidences that the Spirit has set them loose from bondage to sin, put them in the way of holiness, when they stand back amazed that they perceive the truth of the gospel, to what are they to attribute all of this? The apostle makes it evident. He says, we give thanks to God that he chose you to salvation.

46:18 And the God who chose you brought you to faith and brought you into the orbit of the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. And then, of course, there is the undeniable testimony of Romans 9 that forms, as it were, the immovable, the impregnable bastion of this doctrine. One of the most hated chapters in all of the Bible. because the obvious meaning is that God has exercised prerogatives in the selection of sinners to life and salvation.

46:51 Verse 11, For the children not being yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, even as it is written, Jacob have I loved. But Esau, I hated. Verses 15 and 16, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

47:22 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. Oh, dear people, we stand to confess this doctrine because of the explicit testimony of the Word of God. Key words that can be understood in no other way if we're honest with Scripture. Key passages that yield no other obvious meaning than that God has exercised sovereign prerogatives in setting His love upon a people.

The Biblical Basis: Implicit Testimony from God's Dealings with Israel

47:54 But then there is, and I touch on it very briefly, and it's obvious the last two points will have to wait for next week, there is an implicit or an indirect testimony to this doctrine. If it were possible to dispose of all the evidence thus given, somehow to come up with a legitimate understanding of the key words other than that which I've given. I said, if it were possible.

48:17 The word elect, the word predestinate, the word foreknow. If it were possible to come up with an interpretation of these key passages and construe them in some other way. I say, if it were possible. Your job would not be done if you're out to reject this doctrine while claiming to believe the Bible.

48:35 for you not only have the explicit testimony to this doctrine in the key words and key passages, you have the implicit or indirect testimony that follows the following lines. The pattern of God's dealings with Israel. God's dealings with Israel as a nation set the pattern and the perspective, the ethos, the mood of His dealings with the true Israel, the true people of God, the church. What was the pattern of God's dealings with ancient Israel?

49:08 God tells them in Joshua 24, verses 2 and 3, that it was a pattern framed by election and by election alone. In Joshua 24, verses 2 and 3, we read, Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the river Edentera, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor. and they served other gods. They were nothing but heathen idolaters.

49:38 How did all that change?

49:41 I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave unto Esau. You see what God is saying?

49:58 He's saying you are what you are because I took your father Abraham. I did not wait until by the improvement of common grace, Abraham became a willing candidate to be the father of the nation. I took him. The Lord God appeared unto Abraham in a sovereign manifestation of His grace.

50:23 And so when God speaks in Deuteronomy chapter 7, He underscores this very principle. Notice the language. So plain. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 6.

50:37 For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. Well, how did they become this? How was this nation separated unto God? The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, not because you were a people, but to be a people for his own possession of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

50:58 The Lord did not set His love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loveth you. That's why. He chose you because He loved you and He loved you because He would to love you. And there we must stop because God stops.

The Biblical Basis: Implicit Testimony from the Doctrine of Sin and God's Sovereignty

51:19 So the pattern of God's dealings with Israel is an eloquent testimony to the sovereign grace of God in election. then there is the inescapable deduction from the Bible doctrine of sin we studied a few weeks ago the condition of man fallen in Adam and ruined in sin what's the condition? he is spiritually dead he is indisposed to God Romans 8, 7 the carnal mind is at enmity we read that man in this native state cannot perceive the saving truth of God it's sheer nonsense to talk about God chooses when man repents and believes The biblical doctrine of sin says that man in his native state has neither capacity nor will to repent or believe. And repentance and faith are called the gifts of God as well as the duties of men.

52:07 And so you cannot dispose of this doctrine even if you could pervert the meaning of the key words, the meaning of the key text. You've got to dispose of the whole pattern of God's dealings with Israel. You've got to dispose of the whole biblical doctrine of sin. And thirdly, you've got to change the whole doctrine of God in Holy Scripture.

52:29 For the God of the Bible is the God who sits upon a throne of unrivaled sovereignty. Now follow me. The problem with those who say, Yes, I want God on the throne controlling Brezhnev and Mount Satan and all of his crowd. And I want God on the throne controlling all of the problems of my life so when things get hot I can claim Romans 8, 28.

52:52 All things are working together for good, but I don't want God on the throne when it comes to the question, who will be saved?

52:59 But God does not vacate His throne when He would exercise mercy.

53:05 That's why Paul quotes from the Old Testament, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. You cannot dethrone God simply because He would be merciful. God is God in the exercise of the attribute of power. God is God in the exercise of the attribute of justice.

53:30 God is God in the exercise of the attribute of holiness. And God is God in the exercise of the attribute of mercy. well I say here is the testimony of the word of God we'll have to wait next week to deal with the objections some of which may be leaping to your minds even now with some of the holy fruits of this doctrine but I submit now and this is my final word of exhortation that if you claim to believe and love the Bible my friend getting upset and saying I'll never go back to that place again doesn't change what's in that book.

Pastoral Exhortation: Bow to the Word of God

54:14 There's only one reason why I stand this morning and say, here we stand, confessing that the objects of salvation are not just men created in the image of God, fallen in Adam, ruined in sin, men in general, but men in particular, a great multitude whom no man can number out of every kindred tribe and tongue and nation. some of us can mark a struggle of eight to ten years of God's gracious dealings before our hearts and minds lovingly embraced this truth. Some of you perhaps a struggle of longer years, but my plea with you this morning is this. If you are a disciple of Christ,

55:00 then the mark of every disciple is true of you. My sheep hear my voice. I have given unto them thy words, and they have received them. Oh, that if you're having problems with this doctrine, you'll manifest the spirit of the Bereans, who received the word with readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

55:23 Oh, but you say, I have all kinds of pride. That's so. What about the whosoever will passages? And if that's so, why should we evangelize?

55:29 And if I believe that, then... My friend, look, take all those objections, and ask God for grace to put them on a shelf, in a cupboard with a lock on it and just ask yourself this question, is the doctrine taught in the Bible?

55:42 Don't be more fastidious than God. God's fully aware of the problems connected with the doctrine. He revealed it. And He set wonderful cautions around that doctrine.

55:52 But the issue is this, does the Bible teach it? Yes, but I...

55:56 No, no, no, no, no. No, the issue is, does the Bible teach it? Does the word elect mean? Elect.

56:02 Chosen. Divine selectivity. Does the word foreknow mean to regard with distinguishing love and affection from beforehand?

56:12 Is the meaning of these passages, the obvious meaning that I've said, is rendered by them? Then, my dear friend, the issue is whether or not you'll bow to the Word of God. And I plead with you to do so. And if you're here as an impenitent sinner and you say, Oh, well, then that's great. It's all up to God. I can do nothing, my friend.

Warning to Impenitent Sinners and Concluding Prayer

56:30 that's the devil's logic and the devil's logic leads to the devil's lodging which is the lake of fire.

56:39 Don't you impose the devil's logic on this truth because the same God who's revealed this truth is said he commands you to repent. He commands you to seek the Lord while he may be found and he honestly and earnestly bids you to flee to his own dear son. Here we stand this morning gladly, unequivocally without embarrassment confessing our faith in the God who has for the objects of salvation a people upon whom He has set His love. Let us pray.

57:18 Our Father, we confess that we shall never penetrate the mystery of this high and holy truth, but we would stand before that bright veil with which it is cloaked and say from our hearts, not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be praise and glory and honor. We thank you, O Lord, that you would ever love even one of the fallen sons of Adam but to think that you've set your love upon an innumerable company that there is a seed as vast as the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore. Oh, how we praise you this morning. We thank you that many of us have been able to read our election

58:07 in that work that you've done in calling us away from sin and into union with Christ. And we pray, oh God, that you will be merciful to any who may be having true and valid struggles with this doctrine, bring their minds and spirits sweetly to embrace what is revealed. And for those who hate a God enthroned, O Lord, show them that before that throne they must stand someday. May they now bend in repentance and faith before they are broken with that rod of iron.

58:45 Seal to our hearts your word and continue to bless us this day with your presence as we part one from another, sanctify our times about our tables, the hours of the afternoon. May there be much holy discussion and contemplation of yourself and of your ways. And may it please you to bring us together again this evening full of joy and of the Holy Spirit, full of expectation. And may we again be brought into your very presence by the ministry of the Spirit.

59:19 Hear then our prayers and dismiss us with your blessing through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

59:46 Thank you.