Salvation never has been a matter of fairness. The election is rooted in pure grace. Then it seems that he is most Gracious. To those to whom grace seems most undeserved. Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. What's perhaps the most controversial doctrine in all of the Bible?
Well, it might be the doctrine of election, the idea that God chooses some for salvation. Many Christians love this doctrine it humbles them, and it stirs them to worship God for His mercy. Others reject election they think it makes God cruel and callous, and makes men mere automatons. The question is, what does the Bible say? Consider that today on Grace to You as John MacArthur continues his study called The Doctrines of Grace.
And now with today's lesson, here is John. Our salvation is secure to the end because our salvation was. predestined in the very beginning to be completed. And we remember that Romans 8 makes a monumental and very clear statement. Uh to that regard.
When in Romans 8, the Apostle Paul writes, for whom he foreknew. He predestined to become conformed to the image of his son. That is, all whom God predestined will become conformed to the image of his Son in eternal glory. And thus, whom he predestined he called, and whom he called, he justified, and whom he justified, these he also. Glorified.
And so we said that the great Undergirding foundational Truth. that secures our future is God's Decree in eternity past. It is the fact that we are chosen. for final salvation. that makes our salvation Secure.
The doctrine of election is a disturbing doctrine for many people. It is portrayed and presented that way. As if somehow it calls into question the goodness of God. The grace of God. In fact.
There are Literally shocking statements made about this doctrine. By prominent evangelicals. Pastor, author, and radio teacher says: This doctrine makes our Heavenly Father look like the worst of despots. Another says This doctrine is the most unreasonable, incongruous, self-contradictory, man-belittling, and God-dishonoring scheme of theology that ever appeared in Christian thought. No one can accept its contradictory, mutually exclusive propositions without intellectual self-debasement.
It holds up a self-centered, selfish, heartless, remorseless tyrant for God and bids us worship Him. The pastor writes. Five-point Calvinism, which of course would include the doctrine of election, makes God a monster. who eternally tortures Innocent children. It removes the hope of consolation from the gospel.
It limits the atoning work of Christ. Yeah. Resists evangelism, it stirs up argumentation and division, and promotes a small, angry, judgmental God rather than the large-hearted God of the Bible. Another says, to say that God sovereignly chooses who will be saved is the most twisted thing I have ever read that makes God a monster no better than a pagan idol. Another website from theological students in Canada says: This doctrine makes God a diabolical monster and reduces man who was created in the image of God to a mere robot.
Now, these are rather severe statements about this doctrine, but they represent a large portion of the evangelical world, and we're not talking about. The illiterate. We're not talking about those who only have a limited knowledge. We're talking about people who are leaders of ministry, pastors, and writers. And yet This doctrine Is taught In scripture.
The pervasive notion of these Skeptics and critics of this doctrine is that somehow. Election is unfair.
Somehow it is unjust. But first of all, we want to make it very clear that God is not to be measured by our understanding of what is just. We have to be the first to admit that our understanding of virtually everything is somehow warped and twisted and affected by our own sinfulness. In Psalm 50 and verse 21, God said, You thought that I was altogether like you. And certainly he is not.
Isaiah 55. And verse 8, My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And there is the key.
God has ways And thoughts that are to us incomprehensible, unresolvable, inscrutable. There is a great benediction in the eleventh chapter of. Paul's letter to the Romans. In which he says this, verses thirty-three to thirty-six. Oh, the depth.
of the riches. Both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor? Who could know how God thinks?
Who could be so bold as to tell God how he ought to think? For from him And through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. It is an essential Understanding of God, that He is holy.
That his nature is holy. That he is infinitely and perfectly just, that he is morally flawless and perfect. That he is perfection. Everything in him and of him and for him and from him and by him is perfect. And so, whatever he says is just is what justice is.
What is the rule of God's justice? What is the principle of God's justice? What is behind His judgments? What is behind it is his own free will. And absolutely nothing else.
God makes determinations based upon nothing but his own free will. And whatever it is that he wills is by definition just because he is just. It is just because he wills it. It is not because he Sees that it is just that he wills it, it is that he wills it, and then it becomes just. William Perkins.
The Puritan said, We must not think that God does a thing because it's good and right, but rather the thing is good and right because God does it. The Creator owes nothing to the creature who cannot understand his ways, cannot understand his mind, cannot be his counselor. And anyway. How could God ever be called unjust? For choosing To save some.
Because there are none that deserve to be saved. Salvation never has been a matter of fairness. And yet, that's what people say. That's not fair, that's not fair. But I don't think you want fair, do you?
The election is rooted in pure grace. He is most gracious, and it seems that he is most. Gracious. To those to whom grace seems most Undeserved. There are not many Mighty, there are not many noble.
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and that's a good place to begin. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse twenty-six. We read this.
For consider your calling, that is your divine calling to salvation, the effectual saving call of God. Consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But 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, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, that he might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God. When God does his choosing, when he is gracious to whom he will be gracious, and merciful to whom he will be merciful, it seems as if his grace.
Stoops. to the most undeserving of all. And so that no one could boast. Verse 30 says, But by his doing you are in Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ Jesus, it's by God's doing, not yours.
By his doing. Christ has become to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That just as it is written, Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. When we come to the to the people who believe the message. In the New Testament, they are the poor, and the outcasts, and the ignoble, and the weak, and the harlots, and the prostitutes, and the tax collectors.
When God passes by the mighty and the noble and the religious and the educated, most often there are few. Salvation is a matter of pure grace. And God has chosen to give that grace to those to whom it might seem most unfair. But we cannot be wrestling with these things intellectually as if there is going to be some answer in our reason. We must come to the Word of God.
And we must look at what the scripture says to reveal the truth of this doctrine. We must not let this doctrine become the victim of our corrupted, sinful minds and our self-centered and proud. Reasonings. And so, like every other biblical truth, we simply open the Bible and submit ourselves to what it says. And because it's painful, it doesn't change anything.
Hell is a very painful doctrine. That doesn't change anything. And while it may be hard for us to grasp this, It may be to our feeble and Sin-stained minds. Less than what we might think is fair We set all of that aside and submit ourselves to the Word of God.
Now, some people think that this doctrine of election is somehow alien to God and somehow alien to his purposes in the world. But that certainly is not true. It's not as if somehow the doctrine of election sort of jumped up out of the New Testament, never having appeared in the Old Testament. After all, Clearly, out of all the people in the world, God chose Israel. Out of all the people in the world, God chose Abraham.
and removed him from Ur the Chaldees. And made him the father of a great nation. That's why Israel is called, Psalm 105, verse 43, his chosen ones. Psalm 135, 4 says, For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself. Deuteronomy 7, 6 and 14, too says, 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 God said, It wasn't because you were better than any other people. It wasn't because you were more attractive than any other people. God said, It is because I of my own free will predetermined to set my love upon you and for no other reason. Israel Mine elect. God calls them.
You come into the New Testament and you have the same kind of language. The church is called the elect. The chosen. And this is not some isolated term in reference to the church. It's repeated.
In Matthew chapter 24, in that Olivet discourse where our Lord is talking about the second coming, he says, unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, There it is, a substantive. There it is, a noun, there it is, a term that describes believers. They are the elect. The called out, it means the chosen, the selected.
For the sake of the elect. Two verses later in verse 24: False Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. They're not called believers, they're not called Christians, they're called the elect. And in verse 31, he will send forth his angels when the Lord comes, when he appears in the sky, coming on the clouds with great power and glory. He will send his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together his elect.
He's elect. Elect by him. That is a designation for the people of God. In Luke 18, The Lord says in verse 6, Hear what the unrighteous judge said, Now shall not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night? Again, believers are called his Elect.
chosen, selected, In Romans 8, back to this marvelous epistle of Romans and chapter 8. And verse thirty-three is Those of us who are saved, those of us who are. Believers in the family of God who've been redeemed, regenerated, reconciled. We now belong to God. We have been declared righteous.
The righteousness of God has been imputed to us through faith in Christ. And verse 33 then says, Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, and if God declares that we are righteous before Him, no one can successfully bring an accusation against His elect. Again, the church is called the elect. Each case of the last two passages, God's elect, His elect.
It's not that we elected, it's that he elected. In Colossians Chapter 3, verse 12. And so Paul writes, as those who have been chosen by God. As those who have been chosen by God. Literally, the elect of God.
Believers, then, are people whom God has chosen to belong to him. And in the Old Testament, admittedly, it was a nation of people on the earth, a temporal people. And in the New Testament, the elect is a spiritual people. The New Testament is just filled with this inescapable teaching. In John chapter 15, And we have to cover the ground to establish The clarity And the breadth Of this designation, but in John 15, 16, Jesus says to the disciples You did not choose me.
But I chose you. I don't know how it could be said any clearer. Than that. You did not choose me, but I chose you. In the seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel.
And verse 9, and we'll come back to this concept later, but in 17, 9 we read this. Jesus, in this great high priestly prayer, this is in the Holy of Holies of the Trinity, where the Son communes with the Father. And he says, I ask on their behalf. He's praying for his own. I do not ask on behalf of the world.
But of those whom thou hast given me, listen to this. For they are thine. They are thine. They belong to you. You chose them.
You gave them to me. In the 13th chapter of the book of Acts, Again, the language is un Ambiguous. In the 13th chapter of Acts, And the 48th verse. For those who resist this doctrine, here's a verse very hard to swallow. Paul and Barnabas were Preaching.
And it says in verse 48, when the Gentiles heard this, heard the message about salvation. They began rejoicing. And glorifying the word of the Lord.
Now listen to this. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life did what? Believed. As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Go back to the ninth chapter.
of Romans. This passage Again. strong and unmistakable. Romans chapter 9. And you could actually Start with um The twins in verse 11.
Jacob and Esau, the twins, though they were not yet born. and had not done anything good or bad. In order that God's purpose according to his choice might stand. Not because it works. How could they?
do any works, they weren't born. But because of him who calls, it was said to her, that is to Rebekah the mother of the twins, the older will serve the younger. Jacob I love, Esau I hated. Wow. Before they were ever born.
Before they had ever done anything good or bad. Only because of God's purpose according to His choice. He is the one who calls. He determined the older would serve the younger. Jacob he loved.
Esau He hated. Say, boy, that's pretty clear. Absolutely clear. God made that choice before they were ever born. In verse 14, we sort of identify with, don't we?
What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? This doesn't seem fair. And he says, May it never be, Mei Geneta in the Greek. No, no, no, it's unthinkable.
This is nothing new for God to make this kind of choice between two. This is nothing new for He says to Moses. Way back in Exodus 33. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
So it doesn't depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. That is to say, God's choice does not depend upon. The will of the man. But on God. And verse eighteen says, So then.
He has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens. whom he desires. Inescapable. Absolutely. inescapable.
Chapter 11 of Romans and verse 5 as we continue to survey the literature. In Romans 11, 5, we read this. He's just been talking about Elijah the prophet who thought that he was the only one left and And God says, I have kept to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. You're not alone. Her seven thousand faithful.
And then verse 5 says, In the same way, then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant. Listen to this, a remnant. Of believing Jews in the present when Paul is writing this, according to God's gracious what? Choice. According to God's Gracious.
Choice In 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse 1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:1, to those who reside. As aliens? Sure, because they're believers and therefore they're aliens in the world. They're scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
Listen to this. Who are chosen? Who are Chosen. As you read through the epistles. of the New Testament.
Which means you're basically starting after the book of Acts with the book of Romans as you go through all the epistles, all the way to the book of Revelation. Every time you see the word call, or called It refers to God's effectual electing Sovereign Choice. to call someone to salvation. The called Are those who are effectively called, not just a general call? such as in the Gospel statement, many are called, but few are chosen.
Whenever the call is identified in the epistles, it is an effectual call. 1 Corinthians 1:9, God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We are the chosen. and the predestined, and therefore the called. In Ephesians chapter one, we continue.
In Ephesians chapter one, Verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. How how is this so? How is it that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ? Verse 4. Just as He chose us in Him.
That is in Christ. Before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. There it is. He chose us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him at the end when we're glorified. Verse 5, he predestined us.
to adoption. As sons through Jesus Christ to himself, listen to this, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. All that language there. Says we are chosen. We are chosen for final holiness and blamelessness.
In love, we were predestined to be adopted as sons through Christ. All of this because of the kind intention of God's own uninfluenced free will.
So that in the end all the praise and glory goes to him for his grace. freely bestowed. On us. No one deserves eternal life. We've all sinned.
We all deserve wrath. and yet God chooses to save some. that is salvation by grace. Encouraging truth today on Grace to You as we continue John MacArthur's compelling study titled The Doctrines of Grace.
Well, friend, the Bible makes it clear our salvation is secure because it depends on God's power, not ours. And yet, as definitive as Scripture is on the subjects John is discussing in his current study, you may still have questions about them. To help with that, I want to recommend the brand new book called The Doctrines of Grace. Whether you're a new believer or a long-time saint, but you've wrestled with these doctrines, perhaps for years, or you're looking for help in sharing these precious truths with others. This book gives you the clarity you need.
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Now for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for joining us today. Be back tomorrow as John MacArthur continues his look at the doctrine of election. And how understanding God's sovereignty and salvation can fill you with lasting joy and peace. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time.
on Grace to You.
