Naracoorte Presbyterian Church

Divine election (3)

Scripture Readings

• Exodus 33:12-23

• Romans 9:1-15

Introduction

Dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus Christ, we continue in our preaching of the Word of God. Our focus is on God’s election. Once again, I pray that God will enlighten my mind. I wish to proclaim the depths of this marvellous doctrine to your edification. It aims to up-build your knowledge and faith of our God and Saviour through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. 

In 1618-1619 churches in Europe gathered in the Dutch city of Dordrecht to wrestle with the Biblical teaching of election. At the time, there was confusion among Christians about the effect of original sin. They were uncertain about how it affected man’s ability to be saved. Is salvation a matter of grace from God? In which way does man contribute to his salvation, if he contributes anything at all? They formulated a confession  called The Canons of Dordt. 

Last week, our message focussed on the Gospel claim as formulated in Chapter 1, and then headings 1-4. We learned the following:

• All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are not born in a state of innocence; by nature, we are all sinful.
• We are saved by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God freely gives salvation to those who believe.
• We know this because the Bible tells us so. This is the Gospel we must preach to all nations, peoples, tongues and tribes of this world. This is the only Word unto salvation. For the spreading of this Word we must pray; we must be willing to go; we must be willing to provide. It is the only hope for a perishing world.
• This Gospel calls us to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Because of the hardness of heart, not all who hear this Gospel responds to it.

This then takes us to the next statement in the Canons of Dordt. 

The wrath of God abides upon those who do not believe this gospel. But those who receive it are saved. They embrace Jesus the Saviour by a true and living faith. They are delivered by Him from the wrath of God. They are saved from destruction. They also have the gift of eternal life bestowed upon them.

 The eternal decree of God

First of all, let’s look what the Bible teaches about God and his eternal decree and sovereignty.

One of God’s attributes is his sovereignty. Because He is indeed sovereign He must be an infinitely intelligent Creator and providential Ruler. He must have had a definite purpose with what He called into being. He must have had a planned destination of all that He has created. He understands and controls His main purpose in one all-perfect system. He created this system and managed all secondary purposes and means in connection to that chief end. Everything was planned to work together towards the same end. God is an eternal and unchangeable Being. His plan must have existed in all its components. It is perfect and unchangeable from eternity. 

How does what we just said stack up against the evidence of the Scriptures? First of all then:

• God created with a purpose.
• All things are created by God.
• All things created work together towards the one purpose. Even the minor and mundane things we do not consider important contribute to this. This is God’s decree.
• God is eternal and unchangeable.
• The secondary purpose of all lesser parts is to work together. They aim towards his eternal purpose. All things He created and planned are perfect and unchangeable from all eternity.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

In the next verse of Romans 8 Paul writes,

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (

(Romans 8:29 )

Here we meet the doctrine of predestination, also called election. This doctrine is not mentioned in passing; it is essential to understand God act of righteousness.

Now let’s go to the Scriptures. Our first text is Ephesians 1:11-12.

In Him [Christ Jesus – verse 10] we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him [God, the Father – verse 3] who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His [the Father’s] will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His [the Father’s] glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12)

Apart from proclaiming the mystery of our election in Christ, this verse proclaims the eternal plan of God. This eternal plan has a purpose. Everything God ordained from all eternity fits neatly together. This coordination occurs to accomplish the purpose He had from all eternity as the plan unfolds in time throughout history. Understanding something of this wonderful truth, the apostle Paul breaks out in a doxology:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? (Romans 11:33, 35)

These verses teach us that God’s ways are beyond our understanding. What He does is good and right. There is no ground we have to accuse God of doing things wrong. He didn’t ask our advice in the beginning, He owes us nothing. We will never understand why God does things, unless He explicitly revealed it in the Scriptures.

We have to follow the logic of what the Scriptures have taught us up to this point. God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. He is absolutely wise, powerful, and sovereign. Therefore, the essential attributes of His own being will be evident in His purposes. His purposes are then itself infinite, eternal, unchangeable and absolute wise.

God’s wisdom and understanding is absolutely perfect, and his plan is eternal and perfect. The overarching purpose of creation was to display His own glory. The only one all-comprehensive objective, for man’s existence is to give God glory.  He eternally provided all the means and conditions for our fist parents to achieve this. For as long as they were obedient to their Creator nothing could stand in the way to glorify Him. This is exactly the teaching of the Bible.

We know what happened to Adam and Eve. They rebelled against God, fell into sin, marred God’s image in them and became slaves to sin. 

When it was necessary to elect leaders. God’s people sought His direction. They then prayerfully cast stones, called the urim and tummim. Even in these circumstances, God was in control. The way this stone fell was not bound to the skill of the one who cast it; God directed it.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matthew 10:29-30)

Do you get the point? The finest of detail in the flow of history is planned and executed by God. If He is not in control, who is?

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he [God] directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases. (Proverbs 21:1)

It is about time the leaders, kings and rulers of this world take note of this truth.

 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

 Is God the author of sin?

A main problem in understanding the doctrine of Divine Election is this question: Is God the author of sin? Does God cause people to sin?

The question still remains: If God planned everything so well and in detail, is He the author of sin? No, God is not the author of sin. This is a very clear teaching from the Scriptures. God hates sin and does not leave sin unpunished.

 When tempted, no one should say,

“God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. (James 1:13-14)

The teaching about God in the very same chapter is this:

 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)

The Apostle John wrote this:

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

God is the author of his Moral Law which forbids and punishes sins. God who is holy, demands his people to be holy. If not, He punishes them. And because of our sinfulness, we couldn’t meet the righteousness of the Law. God wanted to rescue us from our sinful powerlessness. He punished his Son in our place. He did this because He could not stand the sight of sin.

Theologian A.A. Hodge helps us to understand this complex issue:

“… the purpose of God with respect to the sinful acts of men and wicked angels is in no degree to cause the evil, nor to approve it, but only to permit the wicked agent to perform it, and then to overrule it for his own most wise and holy ends.”

God did not design sin. He approve it; He permitted it, but God still overrides the wicked and evil. God still achieves his eternal purposes. The devil, although he is the father of sin. He can’t and will not have the final say over the lives of those whom God elected from all eternity. Nothing can thwart the plan of God to save some sinners. We see it in the life of Joseph. His brothers wanted to kill him. They eventually sold him to the Midianites. They in the end sold him as a slave to the Pharaoh. He got locked up in jail in Egypt, but God had a plan with his life. We read about it in Genesis 50:20:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)

The “many lives” not only refers to the 70 souls of the household of Jacob. It also refers to all those who are being saved by faith in Jesus Christ. He was born along the line of the children of Jacob.

To underline this truth, the Bible gives us another angle at what happened with Jesus Christ. Let’s read Acts:

This Man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. (Acts 2:23)

But this is not where the story stops. Read on:

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom You [the Father] anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. (Acts 4:27-28)

God allowed these things to happen and He overruled their wickedness to his own glory and for his own purpose.

Man is responsible for his sins

We saw last week than no-one is born in a state of innocence or neutrality. We are children of Adam and as such we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God did not put us there; we must take responsibility for our demise. To argue against the point, takes us nowhere. We deserve to be punished; we deserve no grace of God.

Whenever we hear the Gospel calling us to faith in Jesus Christ, it shows us God’s mercy. He does so because He planned it from all eternity. Our natural hearts are hardened and unable to understand or receive the Gospel. God softens the heart of some by His will. This allows them to receive the grace of the Gospel. He does so because He planned it from all eternity. Some do not receive this grace. And in withholding his grace from them, God is in no way unjust. He does not harden their hearts; they are already hardened because of their sins. He leaves them in their hardness of heart to do their wickedness.  No one can blame God to be unjust. Those who are saved are by no means better than those who are not saved. They are just saved by grace.

God said to Moses:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)

Conclusion

Is God unjust? No, He is sovereign, merciful and holy. His decree stands from eternity to eternity. Who are we to talk back to God? 

Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 

Let’s just bow before His authority and thank Him for the mercy in Jesus Christ. Amen.