Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Ephesians 1.4 says, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
Men often go to great lengths and contrive explanations as
to why the doctrine of unconditional election cannot be true. They
will twist and turn its meaning into a form which is more palatable
to the fleshly mind by misusing scriptural terminology, in essence
denying that such a doctrine is true except in a very limited
sense. The most common explanation of
election by those who despise the thought of a sovereign electing
God is to cast it at the feet of God's foreknowledge. The two
chief verses which are generally used in this so-called explanation
are found in 1 Peter 1 to elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father and Romans 8, 29. For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son. No one can deny that election is according to the foreknowledge
of God, for the Scripture plainly says as much. The Scripture says
known unto God are all of His works from the beginning of the
world. We know that He is omniscient and omnipresent, so it is a rather
elementary truth that He knows the things that will occur before
they transpire. Those who wish to explain away
God's sovereign choice of an elect people set forth his foreknowledge
as a simple act of the omniscience of God, looking down through
time to find out what would occur, as if the world was wound up
like a big toy and then let loose to run whatever course it may
take. Their concept denies the very truth of the fact that God
is an absolute sovereign. God does not look through time
to see future events so that he might be aware of what's going
to occur. Rather, the Lord plainly says, remember the former things
of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. God is not a reactionary. He
is the sovereign predestinator of all events. I am the Lord
and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness.
I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
He knows the end from the beginning because He declares what will
take place and leaves nothing to blind chance or fate. Even
the minutest of details are in the hands of this sovereign.
whether it be the results of a game of dice, the lot is cast
into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord, or the
number of hairs on a man's head. God's choice of an elect people
is truly based on His foreknowledge, because He decreed all things
to come to pass exactly as He desired them. The determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God are inseparable truths. Where
you find one, you will always find the other. God knows beforehand
what will occur, because He marks out what will occur, and no one
can overturn it. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world for a specific purpose, which was to save His people
from their sins. In order for him to save his
people, he had to have a people. He died a substitutionary death
for them. In order for him to die a sinner's
death, it was necessary for him to be taken by wicked men and
slain, according to the purpose of God, as he revealed in the
prophets that it would be done. On the day of Pentecost, Peter
preached the glorious truth of the predestination of every event,
which brought Jesus Christ to die in our stead and take upon
himself our sin. God is never bound to use any
sort of means in anything that he undertakes to do. But he has
revealed very plainly in this matter that he used the wickedness
of these Jewish zealots to deliver up his only begotten son to be
slain. He directed and used the wickedness
of Judas to betray him into the hands of those who would drive
the nails in his feet and hands. Every hammer blow and every lash
of the whip, along with the hands that would hold these instruments
of torture, were determined before the foundation of the world by
him who loved his people with an everlasting love. For as much
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in the last
times for you. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.