Romans chapter nine and verse
15. For he saith to Moses, that is
the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Rome, and he says
concerning God speaking to Moses, for he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Amen. May the Lord bless this reading
to us. Our thoughts today are going
to be on the subject of election, and the title of these thoughts,
this little sermon, is Election, Is That Fair? Our opening hymn
spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ as our great salvation. And it behoves us as the Lord's
people not to neglect so great salvation as the Lord, but rather
to take every opportunity to consider Him who for our sakes
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Redeemer and our Substitute and He has become our Saviour. It is a privilege then to look
constantly unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And
this we shall endeavour to do once again today. Our subject
is the Bible doctrine of election, election to salvation. And this refers to God's choice
of a precise and fixed number of individuals from Adam's fallen
race to be brought to salvation and glory in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. I hope you had an opportunity
to read the little introduction that I sent out yesterday and
we're going to be building on some of those thoughts today.
Election is a decree of God. It is a revelation of the settled
purpose of God in his everlasting counsel, what we sometimes call
the covenant of grace or the covenant of peace. Election is
part of that covenant counsel. whereby God's settled purpose
is revealed for mankind. And in that council, the Lord
God, in love, chose and identified and separated to himself a people
and predestinated them to be joined to his son, Jesus Christ,
and fitted out in Christ for the presence of God. And that
is what we call our glory, or what we look forward to in heaven. And the Apostle Paul describes
election like this. He says in Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 4 and 5, he says this, he hath chosen, that is
God the Father, hath chosen us in him, that is in the Lord Jesus
Christ, hath chosen us before him, before the foundation of
the world. So let me just begin that again. Let me read that again. He hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world to this end, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. And from that little passage
which speaks about election and predestination and the purpose
of God and that it is founded in love and that it works through
the Lord Jesus Christ, from that little passage we learn that
God's eternal purpose of election and predestination serves His
good will and His good pleasure. It is God's will that is at work
and it is God's pleasure that is at work in this covenant of
grace and peace. It is his will and pleasure to
gather and to glorify the people whom he loves with an everlasting
love. And we also learn from this passage
of the means and the end of that covenant purpose. Our redemption
and our salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. And we learn that
it is certain and it is sure. So today, what I want to do is
to take a few minutes to set out the Bible's teaching on this
subject of election and why it is so precious and comforting
to the Lord's saints. I'm going to take four headings
and move through them quite quickly, if I may. I want to think about
election's source, which is God's good will and good pleasure,
as we've been reading together in Ephesians here, and particularly
that it isn't based on man's will. It is God's will and not
man's will that is the ground of our election. Secondly, I
want to take the point of election's purpose and show us that it is
the salvation that comes from the Lord. It is to the end of
our salvation and the glory of Christ. And that no flesh shall
glory because of election. I want us to think thirdly about
election's comfort. particularly that everything
needed for our salvation will be supplied. And then fourthly,
just briefly, I want to think about elections detractors and
the challenge that we sometimes hear that election isn't fair. So those are our points, we'll
move through them, and here is the first one then. Thinking
about elections source, and this one's probably the bigger of
the points, so don't worry when I go on to number two. So here
is elections source, and we're thinking here that it is God's
will and God's good pleasure that it is at work in our election. As we mentioned, election simply
means choosing. And it ought to be clear that
choosing, and especially choosing to be holy, is the prerogative
of God. After all, it was God who chose
to create. Everything that is, everything
that exists in this created world, in this created universe is here
because God chose to create it. He chose to create the heavens
and the earth. He chose to create angels and
men and animals and to bestow their respective attributes upon
them. He chose to create the sea and
the mountains. He chose the chemical complexities
that make up the structures of the world around about us. From
the greatest astronomical distances to the smallest atoms, the very
fabric of our material existence. all things animate and inanimate
were created by God and he chose to create man as a spiritual
being so that this is God's creation and God reserves the right to
do with his creation as he will, according to his own good pleasure. And that's what that little phrase
The pleasure of God or God's good pleasure means that God
is doing what he wishes to do, what pleases him and what is
in accordance with his will. Now, we know that the Lord God
is holy. He has revealed himself to be
holy. We know that he is good. We know
that he is just. We know many of the attributes
of God. And we see that one of those
attributes is his attribute of choice. And he makes that choice
according to his own good pleasure. That choice of God extends to
the matter of justice and to the matter of granting mercy. Now there's no doubt that scripture
teaches that election to salvation is based on the will of God,
this good pleasure that we were speaking about, and not the will
of man. I say that because there are
many who contend against the doctrine of election. They can't
deny that election is in the Bible. They cannot deny that
the language of election and the picture of election is throughout
the scriptures. We see it almost everywhere in
God's dealings with men that God is an authority and God acts
sovereignly. And so they cannot deny that
this fact, this teaching exists. I say that there are those who
contend against the doctrine of election. They do so by saying
that there are people who, or people teach that God looked
into the future and he based election, he made election contingent
on what individuals would do when they heard the gospel. And that God then elected those
who would trust in the Lord Jesus Christ when they heard the gospel. Now, That, you'll probably realise,
is a bit of a circular argument. It's kind of like a Swiss cheese
argument. It's circular and it's full of
holes. And yet many individuals choose
to believe this. They make it a central tenet
of their religion. We reject that for several reasons. Firstly, we reject it because
it elevates man's freedom to choose God above God's freedom
to choose man. By it, man claims personal autonomy
over God. Man claims to be above God. by this argument. Man claims
the right to be free to choose apart from God's will. Man can choose God, but God can't
choose man, is basically what they say. God has denied what
man takes to himself as his own right. that freedom to choose
his own destiny. Therefore, man takes preeminence
over God. And another reason why we reject
this idea of God looking forward and knowing what man is going
to do is that that argument ignores the implications of the fall
and man's original sin. It ignores the carnal mind. It ignores the fact that mankind
is enmity against God. And this is what would happen
if the fall had not taken place. That's what they suggest. They
are assuming that they would be able to trust in the Lord
if the fall had not taken place. Basically that makes every man,
woman, boy, girl a picture of Adam once again. And it replays
the temptation by Satan over and over and over again. Because
people imagine that they are better than Adam and that they
wouldn't fail where Adam fell. they would succeed in being faithful
to God. They would follow God's direction
and be obedient to his duty. It's an argument that is full
of pride and presumption. It says, if I were Adam, I wouldn't
have failed. And they base election on that
principle. We reject that argument because
it makes grace a reward for man's works. The strong succeed and
the weak succumb. And it makes election merely
God's response to man's choice. and it gives human flesh the
opportunity to glory in God's presence because man is the source
and the author of his own salvation and ultimately his own glory. And all this we utterly reject
because God alone is the first cause and the supreme authority
in all things spiritual. Nothing in God depends on man. We read in the prophecy of Daniel,
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say to him, what doest thou? And furthermore, we learn from
scripture that we are told in Adam all die. We're not on probation before
God, rather man is guilty and man is condemned already before
God. Paul says, by one man sin entered
into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all
men. And it's nonsense to speculate
about what we would choose if we had no original sin. So we
deny, therefore, that election to salvation is based on man's
free will, when scripture rather clearly teaches that election
and predestination are founded on God's everlasting love and
his own good will and pleasure. And it is utter presumption to
imagine that my will can trump God's will. God who created all
things. Election to salvation is God's
choice. It is unconditional because no
action of man or attribute in man is taken into account in
God's choice of some to life while passing over others. So God is the source of election,
the will and good pleasure of God. Here's the second point. Election's purpose is before
us now. Have you ever wondered why God
ever mentioned election? Simply presenting salvation as
man's choice would be easy for people to grasp. It would be
easy to explain. It would be easy to teach. And
it would be universally understood and accepted. Let me give you
a couple of reasons why I believe God revealed his purpose in election
in scripture. First of all, It's the truth. Salvation is of the Lord. The prophet Jonah taught us that
in the Old Testament. Salvation is of the Lord. From the beginning to the end,
salvation is of the Lord. from the earliest counsel in
the covenant of grace to the final offering up of all things
to the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord
and God will not have his people to be ignorant or deceived on
such an important matter as the source of their salvation. Our
relationship with God will not, cannot be founded on a lie. Christ, who is truth, came that
we might know the truth. And he says, when the spirit
of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. You shall
know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Eternal
salvation cannot be built on a lie. Therefore God has taught
his church, God has taught his people where their salvation
originates. Now I have heard it said as an
argument against the doctrine of election or at least as an
argument against the preaching of the doctrine of election,
let's not lie, let's just delay telling people about it and maybe
you've heard the idea that we preach free will until a person
is saved and then we teach them about election afterwards. There are lots of even evangelical
preachers that would hold such an idea. You don't need to preach
election up front. That's something that's left
for the deeper things, for the Bible studies later on when people
are much more mature. We just preach the will of man
now, we get the decision, we get people saved, and then we
teach them about election later. Sometimes you hear it presented
like this, that it's like a big door and the door says over the
top, come unto me. And then when people go through
the door and they look back, they see chosen before the foundation
of the world. And that's just a graphic way
of saying, don't teach election upfront. But I say rather, let
us follow the apostolic example in preaching. On the day of Pentecost,
Peter stood up and he preached the determinate counsel of God. The Apostle Paul, these are the
examples of preaching that we have in Scripture. The Apostle
Paul preached the whole counsel of God to all the Gentile churches
wherever he went. He preached it purposefully and
he preached it completely. He says, so I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And that includes election
and predestination. And secondly, let me say this,
that God's elect, these are the two reasons that we think about
why God revealed his purpose. The second one is this, God's
elect are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. Our lives in this world are purposed
by God, designed by God to be conformed to the image of Christ. But if our salvation is based
on man's choice, that fosters pride in the human flesh. It fosters a sense of superiority
and self-importance. We can see that in so many people. Qualities that are exactly opposite
to the humility and the lowliness and the self-effacement of our
Saviour, who was meek and gentle and lowly in heart. So these
are the reasons why we see election being purposefully taught by
the preachers in the New Testament. Let us think thirdly of elections
comfort. Now I might have mentioned this
under the purpose of election in point two, but I wanted to
keep it separate because I think it's important for the Lord's
people as a source of their encouragement when they come to the scriptures
and when they consider their salvation and the gospel and
the doctrines which the Lord has taught. election is a great comfort to
the Lord's people. Now, some might say that they
fear that they may not be amongst God's elect. Well, let me just
say on that particular point that such fear, such anxiety
is, I believe, an evidence that you know that you are a sinner
in need of salvation and therefore you are one of those upon whom
the Spirit of God is working. I say to you, if you find yourself
in that situation of being anxious concerning your soul's eternal
well-being, keep listening to the gospel, keep searching the
scriptures, keep in mind the promises of God that he will
save all who come to Christ confessing their sins and trusting in the
efficacy and power of the blood and righteousness of the substitute. When the Lord sends grace into
a sinner's soul, when the Lord implants faith We are grateful
to learn that all and everything needful for our salvation has
been fully and completely and freely supplied. And this is
why election is a great comfort to the Lord's people. There is
no greater ground for assurance in this life, in this world,
than to trace the purpose of God according to election from
the everlasting counsel from before the foundation of the
world to the cross where the Lord Jesus Christ died. Then
to trace it from the cross by way of the gospel to the conversion
of sinners. and by way of conversion to the
fulfilment of God's faithful promise of glory. We see ourselves
as weak and needy, but we see in God and we see in Christ everything
that is needful for our salvation and deliverance freely and fully
supplied. There's no comfort in a gospel
that teaches salvation dependent upon the will of the sinner.
There is no comfort in a gospel that teaches salvation can be
lost, nor any comfort which says that we must keep faith with
God. rather than we are saved by the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no joy when self-examination
and duty lie at the heart of our Christian experience, rather
than Christ's completed work in fulfilment of God's covenant,
his counsel and his eternal purpose. being spiritually dead, being
in our sins, being in our Adamic nature, we are unable to deliver
our own souls. Therefore, everything necessary
for salvation must be accomplished for us and supplied to us by
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the covenant of peace,
the elect were put into Christ's hands and the Lord Jesus was
appointed to be our representative, the substitute and surety of
his people. And therefore salvation and the
glory of God's chosen people is the sole responsibility of
our mighty saviour. the perfect man, the holy son
of the living God, has had committed to him your salvation and mine. How comforting it is, therefore,
to rely upon such a one as Jesus Christ. That, that is what trusting
Christ means. It's not just some cerebral decision
to follow a particular course of life or some pattern or walk
or attendance at a church. It is trusting upon the efficacy
of the work on the cross to satisfy every demand of the Holy God. Let me just mention quickly in
conclusion about elections detractors. Maybe you have encountered someone
who has told you election isn't fair. And maybe you question
the doctrine yourself. I wouldn't be surprised. Our
flesh retains its Arminian bias even after we are saved and come
to a knowledge of the truth. And Satan is always ready to
sow doubt in the minds of God's people. But let me simply say
this. Another word for fairness is
justice. And those who call for justice
from God, those who call for fairness from God, really don't
know what they are asking for. The last thing that we need is
justice, because justice is hell. We need grace. We need mercy. The real gripe of those who say
election isn't fair is with Adam, not with God. It was Adam who
brought his posterity into condemnation. God has made a way of escape
and he promises that no one who comes to Christ for forgiveness
and salvation shall ever be turned away. If unbelievers are looking for
an argument against sovereign grace, then unconditional election
is as good as any for them. But God is not answerable to
men and women, nor are our human estimations of what is right
and proper a good measure of the divine perfections. Let God be true. and every man
a liar. Let the foolish wave their fist
at God. Let wicked men shake their head
and turn their back. Someday every knee will bow. Someday everyone will acknowledge
that the ways of the judge of all the earth are right. And
our Saviour has done all things well. God's people do not complain
about election because we discover in election God's love, God's
mercy, and God's saving grace. We find all the riches of his
love. We find Christ to be our great
salvation. We have learned that we can never
by ourselves obtain these precious heavenly blessings. Therefore
we are content to eternally praise and thank the Lord for them,
for all his goodness and all his grace. We can do no more. I love the doctrine of election. I love that God has accomplished
a full and free salvation from start to finish, from beginning
to end. And with Paul, I rejoice in the
hope of being an elect child of God. Knowing, says the Apostle,
knowing, brethren, beloved, our election of God. For this gospel
of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, ascended into glory, it came
not unto us in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen. Amen.