Let's go back to the book of
Romans chapter 9. I asked the Lord if he would
enable me to be a teacher tonight. I don't think that any of you
have any difficulty with the wonderful doctrine of God's purpose
according to election. But there may be some who have
questions, and there may be some folks who are watching by way
of the internet, and we welcome those who are watching. It may
be that some of you have difficulty with this. And I'm not up here
to argue a particular position. I'm up here to set before you
the word of God. All that matters is what God
has to say. And I take from my text, verse
11 of Romans 9, where it says, for the children being not yet
born, talking about Jacob and Esau, the children that would
be born to Isaac and Rebekah, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. So my subject is God's purpose
according to election. I talked about the blessedness
of being chosen by the Lord last week from Psalm 65. And I want
to continue that theme this evening and then also again the Lord
willing next Sunday night because next Sunday night I want to deal
from the scriptures with objections, people's objections to the doctrine
of election. I don't guess that there's another
doctrine that there's more dispute about in the Bible than
that of God's absolute sovereignty, especially in his grace. I attended a Bible college where
those who believed in God's election of some people under salvation
were looked down upon and very much opposed by the, we'll call
it the hierarchy of that college. And several of us felt the air,
the opposition, I'll say, and not a friendly opposition, but
some opposition from the president of the school and the dean of
education and the dean of men against this doctrine of God's
purpose according to election. I'm not here tonight to just
present what my view is of this subject. All that matters, as
I've said, is what God has to say. And that's what we want
to discover this evening. And I'll start, here's the first
thing I've got to start with. Those words, the purpose of God. For you see behind everything
that God does is his purpose. He has in all things his own
intent and design. as to what every single thing
means and how it's gonna work with everything else to bring
about all that he is determined. God never acts without his determination
to do what he designs to do. We believe according to the scriptures
that our God is a God of purpose. Absolute purpose. unchangeable
purpose. Before the world began, God purposed
all things that shall ever come to pass. Therefore, nothing,
nothing in this world is left to chance or luck or really to
the desires of man. All things are of God. Now that's a mouthful to say. It's rather easy to say the words,
but that's a doctrine, that's a truth of God that is way beyond
our ability to comprehend. But it nevertheless is true.
All things are of God. And all things are moving toward
the predetermined end that God's eternal purpose has designed. Now I'm going to give you five
references, five passages of the scripture, which speak to
us about this, and I don't have long to spend on any one of them.
But after all, when we're considering any subject that has to do with
spiritual matters and eternal matters, All that we need to
be concerned about is what does God say about this? I'm not interested
in what the Baptists say. I'm not interested in what do
the Presbyterians say. I'm not interested in what the
other denominations say. I'm only interested in what our
Lord has to say. And we're first of all considering
these words, the purpose of God. You see, he who acts without
purpose is a fool. God is no fool. Now here are
the verses I'm gonna give you. Number one, Romans 8, 28. Romans 8, 28, here's a verse
we often quote, a verse that we can, many of us, maybe most
of us can recite. Romans 8, 28. And we know, there's some things
we know. And a lot of things we don't
know. But we do know this, and here's what the apostle has to
say. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. His purpose. Now how can it be
said that all things work together for good for them that love God
to them who are the called according to his purpose unless God sovereignly
purposed and brings to pass all things. Is there anything God doesn't
have control over? Is there any action of any man
or woman or boy or girl since the beginning of time till now
under the end of time, is there any action by anybody over which
God Almighty did not have absolute control? If he has absolute control over
all things, then he has the wisdom and he has the power to make
all things work together. Together. For the good of those
who are called, called to believe. And it's called to faith in Christ. called by effectual grace to
embrace the Savior. They work together for our good
according to God's purpose. That's what God has purposed.
That's what God has designed. That's what God has decreed.
For you who love God, you love God as He's set forth in the
Word. You love God as He's revealed. You love God's darling Son, the
only Savior of sinners. You love Him. You love His person. You love His work. You love the
ministry of the Spirit of God. For you, all things are working
together for your good, all things, no exceptions. For you have been
loved by God from eternity. You are brought to love Him.
And you are, you have been and you are being called according
to his purpose. Here's another reference. Look
in Ephesians chapter one. So what I'm trying to nail down
here is the purpose of God. Ephesians chapter one and verse
11. And of course this chapter, this
first chapter, Most of us, most of us when we get to Ephesians
chapter one, the page of our Bible is well worn. And maybe
your binding is broken right here because you've looked at
this so many times. But it will always bear looking
at again and again and again. Ephesians chapter one verse 11. I'll start here. In whom? In Christ. All things are in
Christ. Election is in Christ. I'm going
to be talking about election, but those who are chosen unto
salvation were chosen in Christ. In fact, Christ was the first
elect of God. God chose him to be the Savior. God said, Behold, my servant,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighted. You want to know who God delights
in? He delights in his elect son,
the one he chose to be the savior of sinners by sacrifice upon
the cross. So in whom? In Christ, in him. Also, we have obtained an inheritance. We've already obtained it. How
have we obtained it? We've obtained it in Christ. While we were joined to Him in
old eternity and God gave to Him an inheritance and in giving
to Him the inheritance, we obtained it in Him. Every blessing of
the covenant of grace is given to us in Christ Jesus freely
and graciously and totally by His grace. Watch it. Being predestinated, don't be
afraid of that word. Being predestinated, that's a
Bible word. According to the purpose. The
purpose of him who worketh, who is the energy behind everything. You look up that word worketh
and the root word is indeed energy. We would literally translate
it into the English as energy. Understand this, all energy comes
from God. He's the one who's continually
working. You remember in John chapter
5, the Savior said to those Jews who took issue with Him, healing
the lame man on the Sabbath day. They hated the fact that the
man was healed on the Sabbath day. They saw this man walking
around that had been lame. and laid beside the pool, and
he'd been in that condition for 38 years, and the Pharisee saw
him walking around with his bed rolled up, his little pad rolled
up, carrying it on his shoulder, just kind of whistling and enjoying
himself. He said, what in the world are
you doing working on the Sabbath day? He said, well, that man
healed me. Who is he? Jesus. He healed me. Our Lord Jesus found him a little
later in the temple, revealed himself to him. The Jews came
full force after the Savior. Why'd you violate the Sabbath? And he said, my father worketh,
and hitherto I work. My father worketh hitherto and
I work. You talk about, I've heard people
say all energy comes from the sun. All energy comes from God. He's the energy behind everything.
And His energy, listen, cannot be measured. It cannot be stopped. It cannot be hindered in any
way. And so he says here, according
to the purpose of him who worketh, he's the energy behind what?
All things. All things, no exceptions. And get this, that's all things
good and all things evil. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. There's the purpose of God. Don't
tell me God's not the God of purpose. He's purposed all things. And then look over a page or
so, chapter three of Ephesians, verse 11. You know, in this passage,
Paul, he has declared, and he has set forth the gospel of grace,
the good news of a crucified, buried, risen, exalted Savior,
and he preached this Redeemer to the Gentiles, to the Gentiles. And he didn't hold anything back
from the Gentiles. And this was all, look at verse
11, chapter three, according to the eternal purpose. That
gives us some indication that this purpose of God wasn't made
in time. So God is not reacting. God doesn't react to what men
do. Men react to what God has purposed. according to the eternal purpose,
which he purposed," watch this, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. When God purposed all things,
he purposed them in his son. Now, the fourth passage I want
you to look at is in 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1. Verse nine. 2 Timothy chapter one, verse nine. The last word of verse eight
is God. God who hath called us, or who
hath saved us, and called us. And somebody says, now, Brother
Paul, you got that backwards. He got that backwards. He calls
us, then he saves us. He doesn't have it backwards,
because he got it right from the Holy Spirit. Who hath saved, how long have
the people of God, the elect of God been saved? Forever. As long as we've had a savior,
that's how long we've been saved. Now, granted, we didn't know
anything about it, and we didn't know anything about it until
the Lord called us by His grace. But we have learned and we're
continually learning that this salvation that is ours in Christ
Jesus by the revelation of the Holy Spirit is an eternal state
of being before God. We're saved. We were saved in
Christ. who has saved us, and as a result
of being saved, we were called. Called according to His purpose.
He called us with unholy calling. Watch this. Not according to
our works. You notice how many times Paul
brings that up? He mentions Not of works, lest
any man should boast. Not according to our works. He
says, Entitle us not by works of righteousness which we have
done. He keeps on saying that. You
know why he keeps on saying that? Because people always want to
put works in. Do the people of God perform
good works? Yes, because we're ordained to
do that. Ephesians 2.10. But works, our
works, our deeds have nothing to do with our condition, our
state before a holy God. It's all of grace. That's what
we need to understand. Not according to our works. Don't go running to your works.
This morning I talked about the stronghold. We turn to the stronghold. Turn to the stronghold. And when
it comes time to think about meeting God, you're not going
to turn to your works, are you? A fool does that. Well, I'm reviewing
my life and you know I've lived a pretty good life. You're crazy.
You've lived a bad life. Because there's none good, no
not one. Our only hope, our only hope
is God's purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus. There's our hope. I tell you
what, David in 2 Samuel, he found his hope in the covenant of grace. He said, that's all my salvation
right there. It's sure. If you've got to go
run into something you've done, something you've thought, some
work you've performed to give you some kind of peace in your
heart, you're running in the wrong direction. Run to the Christ of Calvary. Like Zechariah said, turn ye
to the stronghold, the refuge of sinners. You're not going
to get any peace looking at your works, not if you're halfway
honest. Because you'll say, my best works,
my so-called good works, are foul works. Have you ever done
anything perfect? I tell you what, the only thing
we've been perfect in is being perfectly wrong most of the time,
and perfectly sinful. That's the extent of our perfection. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace. Purpose and grace. Which was given us in Christ
Jesus. I wonder when it was that God
in his purpose gave us salvation in Christ. It says before the
world began. Now we tend to date our salvation
back to our experience of grace. Goes back a whole lot further
than that. And I wouldn't put too much stock
in that date business if I were you. You could have been wrong
about that. Say, Jim, when did you come to
realization salvation is by grace and all in Christ Jesus? I've
still come to realization of that. And I'm not gonna go back
today. If you got to go back today,
to get some kind of assurance of your salvation. Well, I remember
years ago when I was in a little old white country church and
I walked the aisle and I gave my heart to Jesus and all that
kind of mess. You're going back way yonder,
too far. Right now is Christ Jesus your
all now. And if he's your all right now,
it's because God gave you to Christ before the world began. And then, now go back to the
text Matt read to us there in Romans chapter nine. Here's the
fifth passage, Romans 9-11. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, 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. In our text, here the apostle
writes that God chose Jacob in everlasting covenant love. And
God rejected Esau. Look at verse 13. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now I'll get more
into that in a minute, but suffice to say this, put all of these
verses together, and here are five vital facts you'll learn
about the purpose of God. Number one, the purpose of God
is everlasting. It's everlasting. And his providence
is bringing his purpose to pass. Secondly, God's purpose includes
all things and excludes nothing. That's important to remember.
God's purpose includes all things with nothing left out. That includes
all things which we would call good, and all things which God calls
evil. You see, the good, stay with
me, the good are those things that God does, because there's
none good but one, that's God. The good are those things that
God does, the evil are those things that demons do, and the
devil does, and we do. All the good's on God's side.
All the evil's on the creature's side. So then we need to ask this question,
are the actions of men, both good and evil, are they according
to the purpose of God, the good and the evil? They have to be for this reason. We've read that all things are
purposed by God. That's good and evil. Let me ask you, the fall of Lucifer, did that happen outside the purpose
of God? Was that something God didn't
know about that kind of startled him and unforeseen by God? Or did that happen according
to the divine purpose of God? The fall of Adam. Was that God's sovereign purpose
at work, or did Adam act contrary to that which God had purposed? You see, if there had never been
this thing of sin, if there had never been any sin, then God's
greatest glory would have never been revealed because God's greatest
glory is in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness
by the righteous obedience and humiliating death of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't tell me that that sin wasn't
in the purpose of God. It had to be in the purpose of
God. There's no way around that. And
I know preachers won't deal with that. They're afraid they're
going to upset somebody and going to offend somebody. But truth
won't offend God's people. God sovereignly rules over all
things. You take the captivity of Israel
in Egypt. We've been studying that on Wednesday
nights. The cruelty of Pharaoh. The hardening
of his heart. Who purposed all of that? And I'm not saying that Lucifer
wasn't responsible for what he did. I'm not saying that Adam
bore no responsibility for what he did. I'm not saying that that
cruel Pharaoh wasn't responsible for what he did. But the fact
of the matter is God is the first cause of all things. I know that's
the truth. That's the God to worship. What about the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Are you talking about some evil
powers at work there? The devil entered into the heart
of Judas. There's the self-righteous Sanhedrin
all turning thumbs down on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the Sanhedrin and Judas
working together. Do you think that's outside the
purpose of God? And there's Herod. There's Pontius
Pilate. There are the Roman soldiers
who nailed the Savior to the cross. who whipped Him and beat
Him. They crowned Him with thorns
and all the mockery and the humiliation of Calvary. Do you think that
all happened outside the purpose of God? If that's what you think,
you're altogether wrong. He died according to the purpose
of God to save the people that God chose unto salvation before
the world began. God determined that that happened. I know men bore responsibility
for what they do, but in a manner that we can't comprehend, that
we can't figure it out. Don't bother to try to figure
it out behind their cruel, evil, malicious actions. There's always
a purpose of God, and it's always fulfilled. You see, Christ had
to die. He had to die, because he's the
lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So did the vile actions of Lucifer
and Adam and Pharaoh and the Sanhedrin and Judas and Pilate
and Herod and the Roman soldiers, did they accomplish the purpose
of God? Of course they did. And let me say this in the third
place. God's purpose, God's purpose, always has the good and the welfare
of his people for its design. We just read Romans 8, 28. You know that verse. I just spoke about the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the vile mistreatment of the Savior,
the beatings and the humiliation the whippings and the betrayal
and the crown of thorns and the nails and the crucifixion, the
agonies of his death. They were all for the good of
his people. You see, without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. Christ had to die. God
ordained it. God purposed it. You read in
Acts chapter 4, all the enemies of our Lord gathered together
to do what God purposed to be done. They did what they wanted
to do. And God purposed for them to
do what they wanted to do. and in them doing what they wanted
to do and them fulfilling the purpose of God, Christ redeemed
and saved and cleansed and forgave and established righteousness
for his people. That's just the truth. And when he died, he died for
us, as for our good. That was to seal our pardon with
His blood. That's where our sins were washed
away. That's where righteousness was
brought in. A bloodless offering to God would
not avail to the forgiveness of sins or the establishment
of righteousness. Because the law of God says the
wages of sin is death. So Christ came down here according
to the purpose of God to die. To die the death that God appointed
for him. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. They gonna hang him on a tree.
Who says they gonna hang him on a tree? God said so. That's
what God purposed. And that way his law was satisfied. Justice said this is finished. He put an end to sin. And Christ
said it's finished. Tell you something else about
the purpose of God, number four, it's unchangeable and sure. Isaiah 46, 10, the Lord said,
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. I love those words. I will do
all my pleasure. You may not like what he has
done and is doing and shall do. And the world may not like what
he has done, is doing, and shall do. And the devil may not like
what he has done, is doing, and shall do. But God said, I'm gonna
do my pleasure. And he always does. Psalm 135, verse six says, whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that's what he did. And I don't care whether
you're talking about heaven above or on the earth or under the
earth. All deep places, the Lord does his pleasure. And the fifth thing is God's
purpose. What is God's purpose? The glory
of his name. The glory of his name. The exaltation
of the son, the God man. And the salvation of his people. That's God's purpose. So I said
I wanted to deal with the purpose of God and then here's the second
thing quickly, the purpose of God according to election. In
the context, what Matt read to us, it's about Jacob and Esau. God chose the one and rejected
the other. God loved the one and he hated
the other. God was for the one and against
the other. And this passage makes it very
clear that the choice of Jacob and the rejection of Esau was
made without any consideration by God as to what the sons of
Isaac and Rebekah would do in the future. It had nothing to
do with it. This idea, and it's what I was
taught when I was just a boy, that God looked down through
the eons of time, whatever eons are, the era of time, that God
looked down through the halls of time and he saw Who would
believe and who wouldn't believe, and on the basis of what God
foresaw and foreknew would happen, he chose those people unto salvation. Well, if people's already gonna
believe, the choice was unnecessary. Fact of the matter is, God doesn't
say, the Bible doesn't say what he foreknew, it's who he foreknew. God foreknows a people. Isn't
that right, Alan? He foreknows a people. I know
he foreknows everything. That's because from the beginning
he ordained the end. But he ordained in love of people
unto salvation because he loved them. You see, both of these men, could
I put it this way, Jacob and Esau, they were on equal footing. Let me put it that way. on equal
footing, in the same condition. I mean, neither had performed
a good work or an evil work. You see, Jacob wasn't loved for
his good works, and Esau wasn't hated for his evil works. That's the key to understanding
this. Notice what it says. having done neither having done
any good or evil." See, a lot of people will say, well, the
Lord foresaw that Jacob would do good and Esau would do evil,
and so therefore on that basis. No, not on that basis. The Scripture
just knocks that idea out. You see, what this does, this
absolutely confirms the truth of this doctrine that the objects
of God's election, the objects, let me rephrase it, the objects
of God's predestination to either life or death are in the same
situation and condition. Whether they're considered in
the corrupt mass as fallen, they're all equal. So that there's no reason in
anybody why God would choose some and then others God would
reject those. The choice was God's choice without
any consideration whatsoever as to what people would become
or what they would do, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. You say, Jim, it's a deep doctrine,
isn't it? Well, it's way over my head. But we don't stay away from it.
because some people say, well, it's too deep for me. You preachers
can talk about this, but this is over our heads. All scripture's
given to us for our profitability, to teach us. You see, the Lord told his disciples,
the Lord Jesus got his disciples together, he said, you didn't
choose me, I chose you. You didn't seek me. I used Matthew
as an illustration this morning. Was Matthew seeking the Lord?
Man alive, he's collecting taxes. He's collecting tribute. He wasn't
a seeker. The Lord was the seeker. The Lord said, I'm found of them
that sought me not. I believe that's what it says,
isn't it? Tell you, had the Lord not sought
us, we'd have never sought him. If he hadn't chosen us, we'd
have never chosen him. If he hadn't loved us, we would
have never loved him. And then make sure you understand
this. No matter what anybody thinks
of the doctrine of God's purpose according to election, watch
these words, might stand. It stands whether you like it
or not. It's settled. You can deny this. You can refuse
to believe it. You can say you'll never believe
it. I've had some people say that to me. I remember when I
went to, I took my dad's church in Rocky Mountain, Virginia.
My dad died of pancreatic cancer. I preached his funeral. My brother
gave the eulogy and I preached his funeral. Church called me
as pastor. I talked to my dad shortly before
he passed away, and my dad was a freewill altar call preacher. And my dad said, I believe the
Lord would have you pastor the church. I said, Dad, we've had
so many disagreements. We disagree on how the God of
the Bible saves sinners. He said, not anymore. God has taught me that salvation's
of the Lord. And he said, I think God would
have you preach this gospel of sovereign grace to the church,
which I was called. I got some other stories I could
throw in, but I wound up there eventually. And I started preaching
the truth of God's word. After I preached one, I believe
it was a Wednesday night, A Sunday school teacher came up to me.
She was a little short lady, and her husband was there beside
her, but she did all the talking. I had preached on God's election,
election unto salvation, and she walked up to me and had her
Bible. She said, I don't believe that
election business, and I'll never teach it in my Sunday school And I thought to myself, no you
won't, because you ain't going to have school class after this
conversation's over with. But she turned to John 3, 16,
and she starts spouting off. And I said, listen. And I just
quoted scripture. I think Nancy was there, and
she'll testify to this. I just quoted her scripture.
She got so frustrated. She and her husband left, never
came back to the church. See, this doctrine that's beloved
by God's people is hated. Oh, it's hated by a lot of people.
Hated by that college that I went to. But even if people hate it,
get this, it'll stand. You fight and lose in battle
when you fight against God. Now, you know, I believe when
somebody is confronted with this truth in a loving way, trying
to honor God, and if you're a believer, you'll hear it. You'll hear it. I'm not jumping on you. I'm not,
you can't argue people into believing the truth. When I was in Bible
college, we used to meet in the student center and a bunch Bunch
of young preachers, we'd argue theology over a ping pong table. We'd play ping pong and argue
theology. Some of them promoting free will
and some of us promoting free grace. I don't do that anymore. Don't play ping pong for one
thing. Hadn't done that for a long time. But I won't argue with
anybody. No. Whether you believe or not,
that's up to God. And you may deny it, and you
may fuss about it. It'll stand. That's right, isn't
it, Alan? It'll stand. You can deal with
it, or not. And you can take issue with it,
or you can bow to the truth. Next Sunday night, I'm gonna
try to answer objections that are certainly set forth in this
passage Matt read to us, but also some objections that people
register against the purpose of God according to election
today. I got a lot of objections. I
don't have any objection to you. I say, Lord, I believe your word
and whatever you do is right. He's right when he saved Jacob.
He's right when he damned Esau. He's right if he saves somebody
and their brother or sister, if he damns them, he's right
in doing that. That's just the way I have to
look at it that way, because that's the only way to look at
it. That's what Abraham said, said, surely the God of the earth
will do what's right. He always does. Well, I hope
that'll help you a little bit. Get that black folder out again,
page 12, Salvation by Grace.