The Sacred Stamp

that we began two weeks ago,
having taken just a brief departure last week for Easter Sunday. Given the nature of the topic,
the depth of it, the profundity of it, the difficulty of it,
I thought it best to preach just the The simple message of the
gospel last Sunday, and so I thank you for bearing with me in that. I want to take you back to the
passage itself, it’s there in the bulletin with places for
notes, if you so choose. But I want to go back to First
Peter chapter one and look at just these first two verses. Peter. An apostle of Jesus Christ
to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontius,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who are chosen according
to the foreknowledge of God, the father, by the sanctifying
work of the spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be
sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours
in fullest measure. We began looking two weeks ago
at this passage, and I suggested that there were some unmistakable
features of the church that Peter was acknowledging. Peter, who
we spent three weeks, as you will recall, just looking at
how Christ had changed his perspective, his perspective about life, his
perspective about the church, his perspective, rather, about
service to Christ and the gospel and all the elements thereof.
We saw that Peter was a transformed man. And Peter wants his people
to understand the church, the nature of the church. And we
saw in beginning our perspective three unmistakable features from
the church. The church is God’s flock as
seen from the world’s perspective as aliens, as seen from the gospel’s
perspective as scattered and as seen from God’s perspective
as chosen. I want to go back and just review
just briefly, the church was in the midst of and preparing
to experience unprecedented persecution. And in a sense, this letter is
written to all believers and not just those Jews that were
dispersed, as we saw, because in a very real sense, all Christians
are dispersed or scattered. We looked at the fact that These
New Testament saints, these early first century believers were
in the midst of already in the midst of persecution, great persecution,
which would only heat up the fans or the flames of which would
only be fanned and which would ultimately bring about some of
the worst episodes of persecution the church has ever known under
Emperor Nero. same tyrant that it is believed
put to death both Peter and Paul and began what has now identified
by historians as the first general persecution of the church. And
we looked at those graphic examples where he would literally bind
and tie and burn at the stake those that he would merely refer
to as candles or lights. This was an evil man who perpetrated
an evil persecution upon the church. And it is to these believers
that Peter is writing. They will soon be facing Nero’s
persecution. We saw from Peter’s own epistle. That Peter wrote to these who
are in the midst of manifold trials, chapter one, verse six.
He told them in chapter three, verse 14, that they very well
may have to suffer for righteousness sake. Many did. They would likely
be accused falsely in chapter three, verse 16, as evildoers. We remember that Nero, as I told
you last time, Nero accused the Christians of starting a fire
that literally destroyed the city. Peter, prophetically tells
them that they were going to experience a fiery trial. Perhaps Peter didn’t even know
how literal his words were. In chapter 4, verse 19, he tells
them that when they suffer, they are to commit themselves to God. So all the way along, you get
an image of people who don’t doubt or question whether they
are going to suffer because Peter has equipped them well for that.
They will suffer. They are going to face persecution.
And when they do so, they are to entrust themselves to a faithful
creator. Chapter 5, verse 19. He speaks
of those who are already sharing, participating, fellowshipping
in the afflictions which the Christian brotherhood throughout
the world is called upon to endure. They’re already in the midst
of it. They already feel it. And from the world’s perspective,
these Christians are aliens. We don’t fit in. We don’t belong. We are just passing through.
And that is as it should be. We don’t fit into the world’s
system. Fox, John Fox, from his famous
and absolutely required reading for a Christian from his book
on Fox called Fox’s Book of Martyrs. We looked at this last time.
He said this just looking out over the. landscape of history. He said, what force of princes,
what kings, what monarchs, governors and rulers of the world with
their subjects, both publicly and privately, with all their
strength and cunning have bent themselves against this church. And how the church, all this
notwithstanding, has yet endured and held its own. What storms
and tempests it has endured. It is wondrous to behold. It
is indeed. It is indeed. Peter, in writing
to these saints, wanted them first to know that they were,
from the world’s perspective, unwanted. They were aliens. We have different interests.
We have different priorities. We have different methods. We
have different loyalties. We have different comforts. We
have different goals. We have a different God. We don’t
belong. And to the degree that we do
fit in, to the degree that we are comfortable in this world,
in this place, there is reason to wonder how much of the world
we have imbibed and how much our eyes have been blinded to
the things of God and of Christ. We said that there were three
unmistakable features of the church in this passage, not only
the flock of God is seen from the world’s perspective that
we are aliens, but from the gospel’s perspective that we are scattered.
And we looked at this and we came to the conclusion that this
is not a bad thing. This is a good thing. What Peter was acknowledging
is that we are dispersed. And he wasn’t speaking of the
dispersion per se, the Jews, a specific class of people who
were displaced. He’s speaking of those who, just
like seeds from a plant, are scattered. They are gospel seeds
and they are wherever they are planted are to grow and to flourish
and to establish little churches such as this one and others.
Christian seeds, Christianity seeds, wherever by God’s providence
he has us. There we are to grow and to flourish. And so we saw from the standpoint
of the gospel, God has us each one of us where he wants us and
he’ll put us where he wants us and he’ll scatter us all the
more. And he will continue to do so until the gospel is preached
to the ends of the earth. And now we come to the easy one, Unmistakable features of the
church. We come to the third. God’s flock is seen from God’s
perspective. That we are chosen. Now, obviously,
I said with tongue in cheek, this is the easy one. Because
this doctrine is one of the most misunderstood and because of
that hated doctrines of all of Scripture. And I want to take some time
this morning and just lay out to you that it is a biblical
doctrine. The first point that I want to
present to you is of these first four little observations, and
I’m going to tell you up front, this is not an exegetical message. All I’ve taken here is the little
word chosen, and that’s all we’re going to focus on. You figure
if I spent three weeks on Peter, I might be able to get one week
out of this little word. chosen. First. Little element of this
doctrine that I want to look at is that the biblical reality
of this concept, this is not something that some reformer
cooked up in an ivory tower to ply upon the modern church. This
is not something that theologians have dreamt up. In order to make
their God all the more austere, as if in their own minds, this
is a biblical concept. This is a biblically derived
reality. This little word chosen is the
origin. This is the point of origin from
where the argument of the doctrine of election originates. This
is it. And if you’ve shuddered from
that doctrine or feared to look into it or consider it, this
is where you’re going to have to begin. You can’t escape it. It is, as one said, the initiative
on which our relationship with God rests. This is where it came
from. Now, I told you it is a biblical
doctrine, and all I want to do is I’m not going to go through
every place where the word election or elect or chosen occurs necessarily. I may do that, I suppose, by
the end of our time together. What I want to look at is just
this whole element of God’s sovereignty in action. Is it a biblical doctrine
or is it not? Psalm 105, 43 says that he brought
forth his people with joy, his chosen ones with a joyful shout. It merely is just alluded to
his chosen ones, those whom God selected undefined, relatively
so. Psalm 135, the Lord has chosen
Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. And as we
looked last time, this whole concept of election, which some
hold to be a New Testament doctrine, is rooted, it originates in the
Old Testament. We looked at several of these
passages last time, but I specifically point you just again in your
mind’s eye to Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six. Deuteronomy
7, 6, as you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord
your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession
out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. And
you immediately get the understanding of what election is. It is a selection out of a group
of. It is an isolation of a particular
people or thing. by God for His purpose. And you
say, well, Israel must have been something special. No. That’s not what God’s Word says.
The Lord did not set His love on you, nor choose you because
you are more in number than any of the peoples, for you are the
fewest of all the peoples. But because the Lord loved you
and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord
brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house
of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.” God was true
to His Word. And He drew them out. He chose
them for His own purpose. In fact, we looked last time.
Remember, Moses was chosen by God. The tribe of Levi was chosen
by God, the king. King David was chosen, hand selected
by God himself. The prophets were sent by God. The apostles were hand selected
by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It is always and always was God’s
sovereign exercise. We go on just to show you that
this concept does play itself out in the New Testament. What
was initiated in the Old Testament, this pattern of God’s sovereign
exercise of his will. We see in the New Testament as
well, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27, you can jot the references
down if you try and flip and keep up with me, you’ll never
make it. 1 Corinthians 1, 27, God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things
of the world to shame the things which are strong. God has his
economy, God has his program and he is exercising sovereign
dominion even in this area. Ephesians, chapter one, verse
four, which passage I hope to spend a few minutes in. He chose
us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and blameless before him in love, he predestined us to
adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the kind intention of his will was all God. It was all
God from beginning to end. It’s exactly what prompts Paul
to open that great epistle with the longest sentence in Scripture,
mind you. Paul didn’t even take a breath,
if you need to do that when you’re writing. Colossians chapter 3. So, as those who have been chosen
of God, In fact, you would have to stick your theological head
in the sand to not come away from a casual reading of the
Bible. With some idea of election. You would have to have some understanding,
even if it was undefined, even if you didn’t like what you read,
even if you didn’t comprehend it fully. You can’t even casually
read through Scripture without coming away with an idea or an
understanding, some degree of understanding of this doctrine.
It’s there. 1 Thessalonians 1.4 Paul merely acknowledges, knowing
brethren beloved by God, his choice of you. Titus 1.1 Paul
can’t even begin this little epistle without addressing the
subject. In a sense, he gives his calling card, his resume,
if you will. Paul, a bondservant of God, an
apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those chosen of God. And it wasn’t just a Pauline
doctrine, it’s Christ. Christ taught this. Christ taught
divine election, John 6, 44. No one can come to me unless
the father who sent me draws him. That’s it. We can’t come
unless it always begins with God. So it’s there, people. It is.
You know it. It’s haunted you. You’ve looked
at it. You’ve read past it. It bothers
you at times. You’ve seen it. You don’t understand
it. Sometimes, we said it last time,
many people don’t understand the significance of the doctrine
or they don’t understand the depth of it. And I did, I want
to go back again, I want to repeat what I said last time, let’s
put it in perspective. For those of you who are new
to the faith or, you know, you say, look, I’m not a theologian,
that’s fine. A thorough understanding of the
ability to thoroughly converse with the doctrine of election
is not necessary for salvation, it just isn’t. Whitfield said
it this way. Let a man go to the primary school
of repentance and faith before he attends the university of
election and predestination. I’m not recommending this, but
if because of your newness to the faith, you fall asleep in
the pew today, I’m not going to chide you. If this is over
your head, so be it. All I want you to know is it’s
here. It’s here and when you’re ready, it’s here. So as we begin this study, keep
these things in perspective, that a thorough understanding
of these things is not going to save you, nor will it make
you more saved or more spiritual. The worst thing it can do is
make you more arrogant. I love what a friend of mine
said that A proud Calvinist is a contradiction
of terms. Someone who holds to a right
understanding or a biblical understanding of the doctrines of grace and
is arrogant in that knowledge is a contradiction of terms.
If we didn’t receive our salvation by our own efforts, why would
we be proud about the doctrines that we’ve come to know and understand?
This should humble us in the dust. Let’s look at the word. I told
you it’s there, but let’s look at the word. The word for chosen
is ekkletos, used 24 times in the New Testament, and at least
17 of these speak of the elect, identifying the people of God
as opposed to the rest of the world. Now, that is a difficult
and a humbling concept to come to. Especially when you begin
to think of those loved ones, family members, friends, neighbors,
acquaintances, who you know, at least as they stand right
now, are not Christians. And if that doesn’t humble you,
that you are of the elect and that others are not, then I would
say there’s good cause to wonder whether you truly understand
the grace of God. This word refers to the act of
God in sovereignly exercising His grace in choosing out a certain
number from among mankind for Himself. It’s God’s act. You can’t make yourself elect. Let’s look at the word and its
use in the New Testament. Luke 6.13, just to show you. All I’m trying to do is show
you how the word is used. Choose, chosen, elect, predestined. It’s used to describe picking
or choosing something by an act of someone’s will. Luke 6.13,
when day came, He, that is Jesus, called His disciples to Him and
chose twelve of them. Jesus made that. Decision. Luke 10, 42, speaking of Mary,
only a few things are necessary, really only one talking about
the dinner that she was preparing for Mary has chosen the good
part. This was an act of Mary’s will
to abstain from the duties in the kitchen and to fall at Jesus
feet and to worship him. For that, she was commended. Passage we just read, First Corinthians
127, God has chosen, that’s how the word is used, that’s what
it means. Eklogai, a related word from
the root in the New Testament, is always used of divine election. Always. Romans 11, 15. In the
same way, then, there has come to be at the present time a remnant
according to God’s gracious choice. First Thessalonians 1, 4, which
passage we just read, knowing beloved brethren, beloved by
God, his choice of you. Second, Peter one ten, therefore,
brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling
and choosing you. Always a divine election. Eclektos,
which word, another related word means choice or select. Used by Paul, as I said, at least
17 times to speak of the elect as opposed to the rest of the
world. Consider it. Matthew 22, 14, many are called,
few are chosen. Romans 8, 33, who will bring
a charge against God’s elect, God’s people, the people that
God selected for himself. Colossians 3, 12, as those who
have been chosen of God, holy and beloved. And so it’s there,
folks. It’s there. That’s what the word
means. That’s what it beyond what it
implies. That is what it means to choose
or to select. What it refers to is an exercise
of God’s sovereignty. It is the pattern that he had
established in the Old Testament playing itself out clearly contended
in the New Testament, whereby he selects. Out of all humanity,
those for who He would grant salvation. And that’s a humbling
truth, people. It’s a humbling truth, but you
know what? It is a joyful truth. The fact that you sit here this
morning, the fact that you sit at God’s feet, eager and willing
to worship Him is rooted in eternity past. It had nothing to do with
you. It had nothing to do with how
good you were or what family you were raised in. It was purely
an act of God’s sovereign will. And to God be the glory. Secondly,
I want to look at the nature of election, the nature of this
doctrine. You know, the problem is that
it’s not the fact of election that causes people difficulty.
It’s the nature of election. It’s the description of it. It’s
the true nature of it that really irritates people. Every Christian,
I believe, believes in election of some kind. You can’t get by
it. We just read all those verses.
You would have to, as I said, have your theological head stuck
in the sand not to come away from Scripture with some kind
of obtuse as it may be understanding of the doctrine of election.
You can’t get away from it. Everybody believes in election.
Anybody who names the name of Christ Believes in election of
some kind, the word is a biblical word and there’s no escaping
that fact. But it’s the nature of this doctrine. The kind of election. The definition
of election that begins to separate Christians, what do you mean
by that? People will amiably discuss the
doctrine on their terms all day long. But if you introduce the
biblical argument that election is unconditional, everything
comes apart at the seams. Isn’t that true? People, election
is unconditional. Unconditional. And just to, I’m
not going to preach it. I don’t have the time anyway.
I just want to take you to Ephesians 1.4, because you can see over
and over and over and over and over and over again, Paul says
it’s unconditional. It had nothing to do with you.
Nothing to do with you. God didn’t look down from eternity
past and say, there’s a good one. Let’s take him. How proud
and arrogant is that understanding? And yet you have that presented
all the time in gospel presentations. You have that all the time in
some kind of psychological understanding of people, where you say, oh,
he’d make such a good Christian. Oh, really? How do you know? Look at Ephesians 1. Go back
to verse 3, where Paul says, blessed, happy. Oh, how very happy. It’s an overwhelming,
brilliant word. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He just says, praise God at the
very start of this epistle. He’s overflowing with worship
to Almighty God. Why? Because he says he has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And then he begins, if you’re
familiar with that chapter, this is the verse I told you about
a moment ago, the longest sentence in all of the New Testament.
Paul never even stops to take a breath. And I tell you, if
you print this thing up on your computer, the word processors
hate this one. The grammar checkers, they hate
this one. I love it. Paul goes on to enumerate
all the things that God has done, all the blessings that He’s poured
out on us. All I want to look at this morning is one. Just
as, verse 4, He chose us. And then time after time after
time, Paul says that it had nothing to do with us. He chose us, but
it wasn’t that God in us thought that He had a good deal or that
He saw some human potential in us. or that we were from some so-and-so
family. Not at all. He chose us in Him. That is in Christ. The first
point that he makes is the only reason that we have any claim
to God is because of Christ. Christ our Savior. We were chosen
in Christ. We have nothing to bring to the
table. We don’t add to that. We stand cowering behind Christ. our righteousness as we saw last
week. Secondly, He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world. If He chose you before
the foundation of the world, how on earth could He see good
works in you that would commend to Him you for salvation? He laid His eyes on you before
the foundation of the world and He selected you out from the
whole lot of mankind. Not because of anything in you. Note, He didn’t choose us because
we were holy. He chose us that we would be
holy and blameless before Him. And then, as if Paul almost needs
to take a breath, he repeats it. He predestined us. He says
the same thing, just a different way. And he did so in love. That was the motivating cause.
God didn’t look at you and say, there’s one that loves me. I’ll
pick him. No. We love Him because He first
loved us. We brought nothing to the table,
people. We weren’t good people. We weren’t commending ourselves
to God with our good deeds, our good works, with our good family
life. Not only that, He chose us, He
predestined us, not only in love, but to adoption. We were mongrels. We weren’t even family members. We didn’t belong. We still don’t
belong here. Except that God chose us. And He repeats, not only in Christ,
but through Jesus Christ to Himself. Why? According to the kind intention
of His will. That’s it. If you want to scratch
your head and do some kind of a theological, mental gymnastics
and trying to figure out why would God choose me There it
is. According to the kind intention
of His will. Because God wanted to. It’s not that God saw some potential
in you. It’s because He decided to. Not
because of anything in you. And Paul wraps it up. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. I mean, shouldn’t we be the most worshipful people
on the face of this earth? That God, not only was there
nothing good in me, but there was positive evil in me and God
chose me. Shouldn’t I be the most worshipful
person on the face of this earth? We should. That unconditionality of election
is exactly what people hate about election, because we want so
badly to bring something to the table. We want so badly to pay
God back. We want so badly to own part
of our salvation. Stephen Sharnock clarified it
all when he said it could not be any merit in the creature
that might determine God to choose him If the decree of the election
falls not under the merit of Christ’s passion as the procuring
cause, it cannot fall under the merit of any of the corrupted
mass. What could there be in any man
that could invite God to this act or be a cause of distinction
in any one branch of Adam?” He asks, almost rhetorically, What could there have been in
you or in me? Nothing. And people, that’s exactly
the point. And he concludes with this, it
could not be merit in any one piece of this abominable mass
that should stir up that resolution in God to set apart this person
for a vessel of glory. It’s not because of us. Another Puritan said it this
way, The gospel is that we are saved by faith alone without
works of any kind, not even the working up of ourselves to faith
or into a state of readiness or willingness to be saved. That
doesn’t that doesn’t commend us to God. Salvation is all of
God, and since it’s clearly a selective process, only some are saved,
it must be a sovereign act of God’s election. Man can neither
choose to be saved, nor can he initiate the process. Clay has
no say. That’s a good word. That’s the truth. There are objections. To this
doctrine. Thirdly, and I want to just briefly
enumerate those, we’re not going to answer every one of them this
morning. There are objections to this doctrine of election.
Some say that it’s unfair, that it just is patently unfair that
God would choose some as opposed to others. At the bottom line,
if you want to go purely with the argument of justice, the
only thing that doesn’t make sense is why God would choose
any, any sinners that God would set his love upon and woo them
to himself and give them a new heart and new flesh. The argument of unfairness is
this, you can throw that one right out. But it’s against free
will. It’s another argument that is
often lodged, and that just speaks completely about the misunderstanding
of human nature, and we’ll touch upon that in a moment. Thirdly,
some argue that it discourages evangelism. And I suppose that’s possible
if you wrongly said that you’re going to sit back in your room
because God has already chosen those who are his and he will
bring them to faith. He doesn’t need us. I’ve heard
the argument. We probably all thought the argument, haven’t
we? Well, The only problem with that is that God has commanded
us to go and to speak. God has commanded us to proclaim
Christ. God has commanded us to own His name and to proclaim
His name. To say that the doctrine of election
discourages evangelism is no argument at all, because if anything,
it is an argument for evangelism. Some of you folks know that I’m
doing sales, peddling hammer drills You know, the first time
I walked in, I looked at my line. I said, you know, when on earth
is anyone ever going to walk in and buy a seven hundred dollar,
forty five pound hammer drill? You know what? They’re out there.
I don’t know how many. But the other day I’m standing
there in the aisle and the guy walked up and he starts talking
through his project. And I said, you know what you
need? You need a 700 dollar, 45 pound
hammer drill. And he said, where’s the box?
People, I’m telling you, God has his people. They’re there. They’re out there. You don’t
know how many. You don’t know who. You don’t need to know. You’re commanded to go and to
tell. Let God take care of the bottom line. Let God take care
of the numbers. There’s another argument often
lodged against election that it is explained by God’s foreknowledge. In other words, we we chose God
in faith and that’s how God explains it in the eternity past. He said
his electing love on those who would choose him, which really
makes man’s salvation completely dependent on man’s choice, not
God’s. We’re going to spend some time on that one next week as
we really begin to exegete this passage. You say that those are the objections
to election. And I’m going to add a point
here. What are the benefits? You know, we said that this is
this is college level stuff. This is upper echelon level learning
for the Christian. So what’s the benefit in it?
What am I really going to gain in it? I’ll tell you one. Humility. Because this doctrine crushes
your human pride. You came to the table with nothing.
You add nothing. You bring nothing. In a sense,
we are nothing. Except by God’s grace. Contrary
to the argument prior, it promotes evangelism. The fact that we
know that there are people out there that God has set His electing
love on from eternity past to whom we are commanded to proclaim
Christ People, it should promote evangelism. Thirdly, it exemplifies
God’s grace. If we really begin to understand
the unconditional nature of election that God chose us, not because
of anything in ourselves, we immediately begin to understand
God’s grace. It is unmerited favor. Not only did we not deserve it,
we deserve the opposite. Fourthly, it gives God all the
glory. Fifthly, it produces joy. Sixthly,
it promotes holiness. It prompts us to live as we’re
called to live. As Christ. As His disciples. As I said, I’m just giving you
an overview this morning. We don’t want to rob God of glory. We don’t want to go looking for
joy in anything else. We don’t want to sit with our
Bibles locked away in a room, unwilling to open our mouths
for the sake of God’s elect. There are benefits to a right
understanding. What I want to close with is
what are the requisites to a right understanding of this doctrine
before we even begin to delve into the passage itself? All
we’re looking at is one little word. What do we need to have
in our arsenal of understanding? Before we even really can begin
to understand this big word, big, frightening word election.
The first thing in these, a biblical understanding of the sovereignty
of God. God is in absolute control of
all his creation. I love the fact that without
even any prompting or planning today, we sang about a sovereign
God. One who sits as king over all
creation, king over your life, king over mine, king over even
those who don’t acknowledge Him. He is sovereign. He’s in absolute
control. Psalm 103, 19, His sovereignty
rules over all. All people, all things, all matters,
all nations. He does what He pleases, when
He pleases, for His own purpose and pleasure. That beautiful
little phrase that repeats so often in the opening of Ephesians
1, to the praise of the glory of his grace. That’s his motivating
cause. God is sovereign both in will
and power, which means that he is not only maintains self-determination,
but also the power to execute his will. He can do it. God can
do whatever God pleases. God is sovereign in providence.
God is sovereign in our circumstance. God is sovereign in our salvation.
He is sovereign over all the nations and He’s sovereign over
all creation. And, you know, the frightening
thing about this is that not all believers that I talk to
take this as a comfort. They almost take God as being
this big cosmic meanie that does mean things to them and controls
their life and makes bad things happen to good people. The fact that God is sovereign
ought to be an overwhelming comfort to you. No matter what your station
in life is, to know that your purposes and your providence
has been sifted through the loving hands of God Himself. What comfort
that is to a Christian. One who really trusts God. E.W. Pink years ago said this,
About God’s sovereignty, said the sovereignty of the God of
Scripture is absolute, irresistible and infinite. When we say that
God is sovereign, we affirm his right to govern the universe.
Which he has made for his own glory, we affirm that we affirm
his right is the right of the potter over the clay. We affirm
that he is under no rule or law outside of his own will and nature,
that God is a law unto himself and that he is under no obligation
to give an account of his matters to any. He is sovereign in the
exercise of his power and his power is exercised as he will.
God’s sovereign, God is sovereign rather in the delegation of his
power to others, in the exercise of his mercy, in the exercise
of his love, in the exercise of his grace. God is overwhelmingly
sovereign. He is the King of kings and the
Lord of lords. Before we really gain an understanding
of the doctrine of election, you must have a healthy understanding
of the sovereignty of God. But you have to have something
else as well. You have to have a right understanding of the
fallen nature of humanity. Until you really know where we
are You can’t know where your election came from. I love if I can find it in my notes.
I love the way J.C. Ryle said it. He said there are very few errors
and false doctrines of which the beginning may not be traced
up to unsound views about the corrupt corruption of human nature.
Wrong views of a disease will always bring with them wrong
views of a remedy. Wrong views of the corruption
of human nature will always carry with them wrong views of the
grand antidote and cure of that salvation. You know what Ryle
says? That unless we really understand
what theology calls anthropology, the nature of man, what sin did
to us, we’ll never understand the doctrine of election. You know, the Scriptures. The
opening pages of the Bible itself, Genesis chapter one. Days one
and two, the days, the heavens, the seas, the dry land, God said
it was good. Day three, vegetation was good. Day four, the sun and the moon
and the stars, God looked out and He declared that they were
good. Day five, the birds and the fish and they were good.
Animals were good. Everything was good. And then man was created. And
God gave him a law. And He gave him a commandment.
And He created humanity free of sin and free of a sin nature.
Whose purpose was to exercise dominion over God’s creation
and glorify God Himself in a sweet and enduring relation. One Puritan described this Garden
of Eden experience. Oh, see what a glorious condition
man was in when God entered into relations with him. He was placed
in the garden of God, which for the pleasure of it was called
paradise. He had choice of all the trees, only one accepted.
He had all kinds of precious stones, pure metals, rich cedars.
He was a king upon the throne and all the creation did obeisance
to him. Man, in innocence, had all kinds
of pleasure that might ravish his senses with delight. How
he was full of holiness. Paradise was not more adorned
with fruit than Adam’s soul was with grace. He was the coin on
which God had stamped His lively image. Light sparkled in his
understanding so that he was like an earthly angel and his
will and affections were full of order, tuning harmoniously
to the will of God. Adam was a perfect pattern of
sanctity. Adam had intimacy of communion
with God and conversed with him as a favorite does with his prince.
He knew God’s mind. He had his heart. He not only
enjoyed the light of the sun in paradise, but the light of
God’s countenance. But it didn’t continue that way.
Adam and Eve didn’t stay in that condition, not for long. They
sinned. God had commanded the man, saying,
from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For
in the day you eat from it, you shall surely die.” And you know
they ate. And by their eating, humanity
fell into sin. Genesis chapter 3. And people,
I’ll tell you, it’s a real story. It’s not fiction. It’s not a
fable. It’s a real story with real people,
a real garden and a real disaster. Because of that, all humanity
was cursed. And the New Testament corroborates
that curse. Romans chapter 3. None who understands. There’s none who seeks after
God. There is none who is righteous. All have turned aside. Together
they become useless. That’s where our sin nature came
from. Adam was our representative there
in the garden. His fall was our fall. His sin
was our sin. His guilt was our guilt. And
his sentence was our sentence. And this is what it was. There
were four deadly effects of the fall that day in the garden.
From there, we are found to be inherently sinful. And until you really have an
understanding of how sinful sin is, don’t go to the university and
study election. Until you really know what sin
is and what its effect was to God, we look in vain to understand
deeper doctrines. One pastor characterized it in
these terms. He said, natural men are apostates from the womb.
And as soon as they are born, they go astray, speaking lies.
They are shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. And lest you
think his words are harsh, those are words taken directly from
Scripture. Not only are we inherently sinful, we are temporally vexed.
We are cursed. We have weeds. We have pain in
childbirth. All those things are a result
of the fall. Thirdly, we are physically dying.
It always makes me shiver when I read in the obituaries that
so-and-so died of natural causes because death isn’t natural.
It’s part of the curse. It’s part of the fall. It’s inevitable
now, but it’s not natural. It’s not how God designed it. But there’s a fourth, and we’re
going to close with this. Not only are we inherently sinful,
temporally vexed, physically dying, we’re spiritually dead.
Because God told Adam, the day that you eat from it, you shall
surely die. And Adam lived some 900 plus years. The answer can
only be understood. In the totality of Scripture.
When Ephesians 2 5 says you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
the only thing that that can refer to. The spiritual death. A dead person doesn’t have the
ability to save himself. He needs the love of a sovereign
God who picks him up out of his deadness and brings him to life.
And that’s what God did. Charles Spurgeon said it this
way, before salvation came into the world, election marched in
the very forefront. It had for its work the lodging
of salvation. Election went through the world
and marked the houses to which salvation should come and the
hearts in which the treasure should be deposited. Election
looked through all the race of man from Adam down to the last
and marked with a sacred stamp. Those for whom salvation was
designed. It’s God. It’s all God and to
God be the glory. I’ve asked my brother and fellow
pastor Lynn Howell, Jeremy’s dad, if he would come and close
us in prayer. Shall we stand in prayer? Our Father, this morning, our
hearts have been touched again by Your greatness and Your goodness
and the fact that You first loved us. And as the psalmist said,
what is mad that Thou art mindful of him? And Lord, we thank You
for John 3.16 this morning, for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. For by grace you are saved
through faith, Paul says, and that not of yourselves. It’s
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Lord,
we thank you for the privilege that we’ve had to think on thoughts
that are larger than any of our minds can possibly comprehend
this morning. And yet, we want to thank you
for your love, your grace, your mercy, and the fact that when
we know Christ, it’s a life-changing experience. We pass from death
to life, from darkness to light. And so, Lord, this week, as we
go out, I pray that you would help us to be light and life. to those we come in contact with.
Lord, help us to share the hope of the precious gospel of Jesus
Christ. And Lord, we do believe that
Your Spirit will touch hearts, open eyes, change lives, and
they too can have hope and they too can have joy that we have
found in Jesus Christ. O Lord, we thank You for a living
hope and a living God, and the privilege this morning to worship
You. We pray that You would be glorified
in Your Church today. In Christ’s name, Amen. It’s a cute little guy. A lot of ground is covered here.
Man, fell into a deep today. You’re welcome.