Salvation: Your Choice Or God's? Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Some find it difficult to accept a free gift.

They'd rather not be obligated to the giver. But those whom God has chosen for salvation know that they are obligated to the giver of their gift for eternity. His grace binds us to Him forever.

From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, many families have adopted children and give them all the love they'd show to their own kids. Is this anything like what we see in Ephesians 1-5, where Paul speaks of our being adopted as sons? Dave, I love that remark you made in your intro when you said God's grace binds us to Him forever.

Absolutely. And as for adoption, I've never adopted a child, so I don't know all of the details. I do know this, that when God adopts us, He gives us a new name, a new identity, we receive a new family, we receive the inheritance that Jesus receives.

That's why the doctrine of adoption is such a blessing. And if we need anything in this world where so much that has been nailed down is being torn up, we need to be reminded of our spiritual riches in Jesus Christ. I've written a book entitled The Inheritance of the Redeemed, Becoming the Spiritual Treasures that are Yours in Christ. I wrote it to expand our understanding of the full range of the gospel. It isn't just Jesus forgiving our sins. It is indeed adoption. It is the privilege of access into God's presence. And of course, it ends eventually with our glorification. Now, for a gift of any amount, this book can be yours.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Ask for the book, The Inheritance of the Redeemed. God mapped out ahead of time that you would be a son and that you would be adopted into his family.

He predetermined it. Now, you know, when it comes to adoption, always remember it is the parents who choose the child who is adopted. Some of you read Dori Vanstone's book, The Girl Nobody Loved. If you've never read it, you really should.

It's a terribly heart rending story, but it's a true story also of God's healing. But when she was in an orphanage, they used to, can you imagine how mean this was? How inexplicably mean.

They'd line the kids up maybe four or five years old and then parents would come by to choose one. Oh, do you like her? Yeah, she's really cute. Oh no, not her.

No. And Dori was never chosen. What a terrible story of heartache. But you know, she is chosen today because she's a member of God's family and she's been adopted into it and she has an amazing story of God's grace. But you see, it's the parents that do make the decision. And God made the decision now that we would be adopted into his family brought in and the Roman idea of adoption was that you inherited really all of the prerogatives and the blessings of the family. You were just as much a part of the family as if you had been born naturally to the parents.

Now here's what God does. God has chosen us to, with incredible, incredible privileges, marvelous privileges of friendship. For example, the fact that I can be your brother and you can be my brother or you can be my sister and we are together as members of God's family and we have the same brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are exalted because we have the same father, namely God is the father of all those who believe. And therefore what we really see is the uniqueness and the glory and the wonder of what adoption is all about. And if we had time to study the whole New Testament doctrine of adoption, we discover that what it is is God says that even new Christians can have all of the rights and privileges of sonship just as well as those who have been saved for many years.

And notice what the text says. How did he do it? Last part of the verse, in accordance with the pleasure of his will. The pleasure of his will. God just says this is the way I want it. What I want to do is I want to take people who have fallen deeply into sin and I want to exalt them, I want to clean them up, I want to make them holy, I want to make them blameless, just to prove what a gracious, good God can do to undeserving sinners.

Oh, we must hurry. God chose us for himself. God adopted us for himself. God has graced us for himself. Notice what it says now in verse 6. To the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves. You've heard me say this many times but I need to say it one more time because it's right here in the text. The only other place where this expression he has graced us appears is in Luke chapter 1 verse 28 where the angel says to Mary, he says, hail favored one. You remember Gabriel says that?

And that's the very same word. Hail one whom God has graced. You say, well, I always thought Mary had special privileges. She was a very special woman. Believe me, she was a very special woman. You and I are just as special as she is because of Christ.

She was saved because of his grace just like we are saved because of his grace. She is honored. Yes, we also are honored. We are equally blessed, each of us equally accepted regardless of the kind of past that you lived, regardless of the kind of life you lived before your conversion, regardless of where you are struggling now as a genuine believer of Jesus Christ, you are equally graced and accepted by God. We were disgraced, now we have received grace.

And you know what that also means? You are permanently blessed. This grace of God will take you all the way to heaven, all the way to heaven.

And it will never be improved upon. The righteousness that Jesus Christ gives you as a sinner, God will never say, you know, that righteousness was good for 1980 and 1960, but it won't do for the year 2000 and beyond. No, it's the kind of righteousness that is permanent and it is given to those who believe. And you know what the text would have us teach? That God can't even think of Christ without thinking of us. He can't even think of Christ without thinking of us.

You say, well, where is that in the text? Notice it says, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he has freely given to us in the one he loves. And remember, we are in the one he loves. We're in the one he loves. And all of God's wondrous thoughts about the beauty of Jesus and the obedience of Jesus and the wonder of Jesus, all those thoughts are also thoughts about us because we are in Jesus. We are in the one who is beloved and therefore we are beloved. We're beloved.

Now, how can I help us put all of this together? He chose us for himself. He adopted us for himself. He blessed us for himself. Very quickly, first of all, would you remember, as I summarize the teaching of this passage, that salvation is holy of God.

It's holy of God. You know, I can imagine somebody coming to church here today and maybe you're not familiar with what we teach and you're going to have brunch after this service and you and your wife are going to sit down. You're going to analyze what the service was about and you're going to say, you know, we went to the Moody Church today and those people are unspeakably arrogant. Unspeakably arrogant. You know, here they talk about this little group and that they are among the chosen frozen that belong to God. I mean, they are God's little ones elect from before the foundation of the world. How arrogant.

My dear friend, if that's what you're picking up, I want you to know that you could not possibly be more wrong unless you added two plus two and got five. It is just the opposite. First of all, we do not believe that we are just a little chosen group. We believe that God has chosen people from every tongue and every people and nation and every color and every language and and God describes heaven as being very, very multicultural, involving all of the tribes and all of the countries of the entire world. First of all that. But secondly, this doctrine is one that should humble us. It's the one that should make us fall on our faces and say, God, why me? Because there was nothing in me that triggered God's love.

It was his sovereign choice. That's why, that's why we should be on our faces before God in worship. In fact, that's what the scripture says in First Corinthians, isn't it? That that's why God chooses the poor of this world and the despised of this world and those that are not well thought of God, he says, I choose those.

Why, so no flesh would glory in my presence and that everyone might know that it is of God. See, I told you we're going to heaven today. And throughout all of eternity, you know what we're going to be doing? We're still going to be reveling with adoring wonder the mystery of God's love towards sinners who are totally and completely undeserving. Because you see, whatever we may say about the choice, it was not made because God foresaw that we were going to be righteous people.

No, he, that, that wasn't the basis. Yeah, and all of us are sinners anyway. It's just that according to his good pleasure, the text says.

So remember that. Salvation is holy of God. Secondly, God's primary desire is that we glorify him. You'll notice I stress that he chose us for himself, adopted us for himself, blessed us for himself.

Look at the text. Notice it says that we were chosen to be holy and blameless before him. He wanted to use this as an object lesson of his grace. Notice it says he predestined us that we might be that we might be adopted according to the pleasure of his will. He blessed us that we might be to the praise of his glory. We exist for God. We exist for God. Today I speak to somebody who says, well, I thought that the purpose of life was to earn all that I possibly could to retire early and then die of cancer. I thought that that was the whole purpose. Remember I speak to somebody who says I like power. I want it to be somebody who is going to leave my mark in this world.

I thought that was the purpose. How long will your mark last in the world? Well, if you ever want to know, just take a bucket of water, put your hand in it, and then pull it out and see how long the shape of your hand stays in the water. That's how long your mark in the world is going to last. I speak to you Christians first of all. The only purpose to exist, the only purpose is to bring glory to God.

There is none other, none other, none, none. That's the whole purpose of it. You say, well, I thought it was my happiness. Well, thankfully the purposes of God and the happiness of believers frequently converge, but that's not the motivation. God didn't say, well, you know, I chose you that you might be happy. Well, be happy. I hope you are. I often am, as my wife would probably confess in a moment of truthfulness.

But that's not with the Texas. We're redeemed by God for God. What was the choir singing that brought us to our knees? For thy pleasure we are and were created for thy pleasure. And God takes some of us through difficult circumstances and he rips from us our health.

Why does he do that? So that we might learn to exist for his glory even when all of the amenities of life are taken from us. And then there are others who go through periods of time when their relationships are torn and people whom they love turn against them and they come from families where there is so much hurt and then they are involved in conflict at work and it's so easy for us to become so absorbed by all that is going on around us that we forget that there is only one purpose and that is if God begets glory through my suffering let me suffer.

Let me suffer because I exist for him. And of course, finally, our responsibility is to live up to our calling. That's our responsibility. You'll notice we are to be holy and blameless before him in love. We're supposed to live as a child of God. If that's what we are, then live like one.

You belong to the Almighty based upon all that he's done for you. You and I, by God's grace, should live as if we belong to the Almighty. We live with our imperfections. We live with our sinfulness.

We live with our failures. But always we love him, we love him, we love him, we love him. And so it is through these experiences, you see, that God brings about his eternal purposes. To glorify thee, this is my plea. Work out thy purpose, thy plan for me. A yielded vessel, Lord, I will be my only desire to live for thee.

There is no other purpose. But let me ask you, eternity past, we can't fathom it, can we? We can think about eternity future.

We can't even think of God having no beginning. Already then he knew you by name. Already then he mapped out like a surveyor that you'd be his child. He says, I'm going to choose them.

I'm going to adopt them. I'm going to love them and grace them and use them as an object lesson of my grace. Now in light of that, what in the world can you and I possibly do other than to fall down and to worship and say, God, here I am totally?

There's nothing left to do, is there? And for those of you who do not know Christ as Savior, did you know that if you desire to, if you say, well, you know, I'd like to believe, I want to believe in Jesus, then believe all that the Father gives me, Jesus said, shall come to me. If you were a gift from the Father to the Son, you'll come. And when you come, Jesus says, when they come, I will not cast them out. Whosoever will may come. If you will to come, you come, prove that you belong to God and that he thought of you from eternity past. I challenge you to do that. This doctrine does not give you an excuse.

It gives you a motivation to do one thing or the other. Declare yourself, for he loved us and gave himself for us. And let us pray. Father, we do ask that in these moments, your blessed Holy Spirit might make us worshippers.

In light of the fact that you loved us so much and gave us so much and thought of us in eternity past, Lord, all that we can do is to say, here we are, here we are. Would you talk to God now? Those of you know Christ as Savior, you tell him whatever you need to tell him. And those of you who have never believed on him, would you at this moment say, Lord Jesus, I need you. I want to respond to your grace and accept you as Savior.

And you can even do that where you are seated. Come to us, Father, and help us to love you forever because of the wonder of your grace. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. If you've been listening to Running to Win for any length of time, you know that the message always ends with Jesus. We give much instruction as to how to live the Christian life, how to run the race, but at the same time, we want to encourage you to look to Jesus Christ who did more for us than we can possibly comprehend. I've written a book entitled The Inheritance of the Redeemed, claiming the spiritual treasures that are yours in Christ. Now, I need to emphasize that this is one of the last days that we are making this resource available. So, I hope you have a pen or pencil handy because I'm going to be giving you some info. But I also want to thank the many of you who support this ministry.

Because of people just like you, we are continuing to expand to other countries. Thank you so much for helping us. Ask for the book The Inheritance of the Redeemed, claiming the spiritual treasures that are yours in Christ. And remember, as I already emphasized, this is one of the last days we are making this resource available. Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. Of course, as you might guess, rtwoffer is all one word, rtwoffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's rtwoffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Ask for the book The Inheritance of the Redeemed, claiming the spiritual treasures that are yours in Christ. If you're a believer in Jesus, just know this, we are brothers and sisters. And even as we think about God's family, we're reminded that we belong to Him, and therefore we belong to one another.

Thank you so much for your prayers, for your support here at Running to Win. It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Awful memories can hound us for a long time. An anonymous woman needs release from guilt and shares this story. My dear sister, what an interesting question you ask. You know, as I look at your question, I find many interesting things. Here your husband was abusive, he did many filthy things, to quote your words, and yet he professed to be a Christian, he was an elder and a Bible teacher.

People may wonder whether or not that's even possible, but the answer is yes, and I'll tell you why. There are people who use the church to promote themselves, they may even know God's word, but they do not allow God's word to penetrate their own lives. And that obviously was the case of your husband. On the one hand, here he is in church, an elder, a Bible teacher, on the other hand, in the other compartment, abusive at home.

It's happened a thousand times or more. The second thing, however, that jumps out at me is that despite this, I am so encouraged. You say my sons and daughter do not blame me at all, but I feel guilty, my children are all born again, and people who live for Christ.

My dear lady, you have so much to thank God for. Most stories don't end that way, most stories say that my husband's abuse turned our children against God and they're living in the world and are very angry. You must have done something right, that you would have children who do not blame you, but they are born again and serving the Lord. Should you feel guilty? That's a very difficult question to ask as to whether or not you should have left your husband. Obviously, if he was abusive to the children, I think that the answer to that question is yes. But at the same time, you stayed and your children turned out walking with God.

What a miracle. My sister put the past behind you. It's no use feeling guilty.

You were probably seeking God during those years wondering what you should do. Give it all to God. Don't walk around in guilt.

Don't try to sort it all out as to what you could have done or if I had done this, then this. You and I are not in a position to be able to sort all that out. Leave it with God. Get on with your own life in serving the Lord and thanking Him profusely and daily that your children love Christ.

There are many parents who wish they could give the same testimony. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Pastor Erwin Lutzer, concluding Salvation, Your Choice or God's, the second message in a series on Between Heaven and Earth, taken from the Book of Ephesians. Next time, Erwin Lutzer explains why we have been bought at high cost. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.