Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 43 – November 1992
Thank God For Election!
Sermon by Rev. W. J. Bosker on 2Thess. 2:13,14
Readings: Ephesians 1:1-14; 2Thessalonians 2:1-17
Dear congregation, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ;
From one point of view our text sets before us the knotty problem of election. We could add the letter ‘s’ to form the word ‘selection’ to make this biblical concept a little easier to understand. From one point of view, the idea that God could select some people to be saved and others not, seems contrary to natural justice.
Non-Christians reject this teaching, saying it is unfair. Some Christians feel they must defend God’s integrity and come to his rescue with human logic. Unwittingly, they also end up rejecting the teaching of election.
How does Scripture introduce and explain the teaching of God’s sovereign and gracious election/selection of sinners?
The wise Christian knows that any discussion of election in God’s Word always has a context. Election is not a cold, hard doctrine that you grab like a hammer to crush an unbeliever into submission to Christ! When God’s Word declares the message of hope, and shows the path to deliverance from sin and guilt – God doesn’t begin with election! So why should we?
If God expects us to read His Word from Genesis to John before explaining election in Romans, Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians etc, we should not try to persuade the unbeliever by beginning with divine election either!
We should begin where God begins! That is, presenting the good news of God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. You will find that any discussion on the doctrine of God’s election in Scripture usually follows the clear presentation of the gospel. Or it is mentioned to those who are already believers. That’s what we mean when we say that any discussion of election in God’s Word always has a context.
Is that true of 2Thessalonians 2?
Perhaps you know the context. Let’s remind ourselves in a few brief points:
a. The Thessalonian Christians lived in difficult times.
b. False teachings were doing the rounds saying that Jesus had already returned, or would appear at any moment.
c. Christians there were anxious, confused and worried.
d. Paul writes to settle them down and outlines events surrounding Christ’s return.
e. The Apostasy and the Man of Lawlessness will herald Christ’s return.
f. There will be a tremendous falling away before Christ’s coming:
Many will be confirmed in their condemnation
for refusing to accept the truth of Jesus.
With that shattering thought, Paul intends to reassure these Christians and to encourage them to stand firm in the faith. So that’s the context! Election is mentioned here in Scripture for the assurance and comfort of believers. Knowing that your salvation is anchored in God’s eternal plan is at the same time a humbling truth and a most wonderful comfort for a child of God!
Outline for sermon:
1. In our text there are three very telling verbs which explain the gracious sovereignty of God in electing us to salvation.
2. Our text also explains the means by which God works His election in us.
3. Thirdly, we will see some of the blessed results of God’s election in the life of a Christian.
1. Three telling verbs
It is very easy to pass over some of the most comforting and reassuring words of our text:
a. ‘…brothers loved by the Lord,’ (v.13)
I’m sure you know that when Scripture speaks of ‘brothers’ it is a term of endearment embracing all the people in the congregation, male and female.
Believers in Christ make up the members of a Christian family. With God as our Father, we are all ‘brothers’ (and sisters!). God’s people, His family, are loved by the Lord, Jesus Christ. The richness of the Greek language comes to its own here. We don’t have a way of saying it in English, unless we use many more words. The love of Jesus spoken of here, reaches all the way back into time past with a continuing effect into the present. In other words, Paul is defining election as ‘Christ’s love before time, as well as in time.’
Jesus loved us before the foundation of the world. Long before we were thought of as a human possibility, Jesus’ love went out to us. Love before time. Then, when we were conceived and born, His love found us. Can you think of anything to say against God’s electing grace? Could you call such a God unfair?
Truly it highlights God’s sovereign initiative! Christ loved you long before you could respond! Amazing grace! To be loved by the Lord Jesus before time! And to be loved by Him still!
b. ‘…from the beginning God chose you to be saved…’ (v.13)
Being loved by Jesus before time and in time is true because from the beginning, God chose you. Beloved brother and sister, you were chosen to be saved. This is the second important verb. The stress in this doctrine of election is to speak of what God has been doing and still is doing in the lives of His people. The nuance of the original is that from the beginning God chose you for Himself!
Here is a one way emphasis. God chose to save you for only one reason: He wanted to! Not because of any good He saw in you beforehand. God’s choice is sovereign and unconditional. Since God chooses you for Himself on this basis alone, your salvation rests solely on His divine choice. Not on any human effort.
c. ‘He called you to this [salvation] through our gospel…’ (v.14)
In addition to being loved by Christ and chosen by God, a third aspect of God’s sovereign election is that He called you to salvation through the gospel. This is the third important verb. Being loved by Christ and chosen by God for salvation takes place before time. Your salvation was in the mind of God and Christ before they created the world.
- God’s work of calling you to salvation takes place in space-time history.
- God’s call goes out to you after you are born.
- God’s call comes to you through the preaching of the gospel – the good news that Jesus saves.
Wherever the gospel is faithfully preached, God’s general call to be saved in Christ goes out. This general call is the free offer of the gospel, which is for all people. What Paul means here in v14 is the effectual call of God. A call which is specific, effective and lasting. In logical order it follows after God choosing you and Christ loving you. You can hear the gospel a thousand times and yet not believe. In that case, you have received the offer of salvation 1000 times. But when God effectually calls, you will surely know it! That is the calling of God which Paul speaks of here. When the Thessalonian Christians heard the gospel, they believed it, and became Christians.
Unashamedly, the emphasis on God’s sovereign election in loving us, choosing us, and calling us is on what God does. That’s the point! This is of tremendous comfort and assurance for us as believers. God’s sovereign and gracious election teaches us that our salvation is anchored in the eternal plan of God. Imagine how comforting and assuring this would have been for the Thessalonian Christians living in the turmoil of their day! The same comfort and assurance is here for us as well!
2. In the second place our text speaks of the means by which God works His election in us.
God is sovereign. He loves, chooses and calls.
The object of His love, His choice and His calling is people. Verses 12 mentions two means by which God elects people.
a. Through the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
b. Through our belief in the truth.
a. Election through the sanctifying work of the Spirit
The work of God in election continues through the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Trinity is specifically mentioned. The triune God actively works to save the elect.
God chooses, Christ loves, the Holy Spirit sanctifies. Our human ears are always tuned in to our part in salvation. But God has the first place, the first part and the first word. God knows beforehand that He will call you. Jesus causes you to hear the offer of the gospel. The Holy Spirit works to make you a believer.
God the Holy Spirit works in you and turns you towards God.
He turns you around (=repentance). He opens your eyes to spiritual truths and gives you understanding (=faith).
In a word, the Spirit is setting you apart for God!
That is the essence of holiness.
The more you are set apart for God, the more He controls your life, and the more you will be re-created into the image of Christ. It’s a life-long process. Changes can be slow or rapid. In some people progress is slow and steady. In others it’s like 20 years packed into one! When the Spirit of God is at work in you, you can be sure there is a progressive growth in holiness in your life. That is one of the ways God works out His election in you. When you look back over your life, can you see a change, a growth in your love and service for the Lord? Scripture calls you to holiness, not so that you can inch your way to heaven. The purpose of such exhortations is that God’s election may be evident in you! That’s the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit!
b. Election through your belief in the truth
People who call God unfair in sovereignly choosing whom to save, have to come to grips with this second means by which God works His election in us: ‘through belief in the truth.’ The free offer of the gospel goes out to all. There is no discrimination. God shows no favouritism. God doesn’t see one person as more favourable than another. Money is no obstacle. You can be black or white; rich or poor; well educated or not so well educated; country folk or city folk. God’s offer of salvation is full and free!
If people want to refuse to believe in the gospel of Christ, is it right for them to blame God? If people don’t want what God offers, can they call God unfair? Of course not! In reality, such people get exactly what they want. In the words of vs.10, ‘They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.’ They have ‘delighted in wickedness’ (vs.12). That’s what they want. That’s what they get.
When Jesus said: ‘Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Matt.11:28), did He mean it? Of course He did! Jesus also said: ‘Whoever comes to me I will never drive away’ (John 6:37). Then, in Rom.9, Paul argues the case for God’s sovereign choice as to whom He will save. He quotes the Old Testament saying: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion (9:13,15).
In the next chapter (Rom.10) Paul argues just as strongly for man’s freedom of choice and human responsibility. ‘Everyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame’ and ‘Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved’ (10:11,13). All these texts come out of the Old Testament.
Paul is appealing to the revealed Word of God as proof for his reasoning (there was no New Testament as yet).
So we are absolutely faithful to Scripture when we say that our election to salvation in Christ is evident if we sincerely believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead for the forgiveness of my sins. We are not out of step with Scripture to say that we have to choose to believe in Christ and are morally responsible for that decision. In that choice, our election is evident! When you follow Paul’s reasoning in Romans 9&10 and in our text, you must inevitably come to the point where you see two parallel truths in Scripture. These truths run together like railway lines.
One truth says: God is sovereign. He is accountable to no-one for His actions. The other truth says: Man is responsible. He has to make a choice to determine his destiny. This is where we come to our knotty problem. But it’s only a knotty problem when we try to solve it!
God’s ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Therefore His logic is higher than our logic! If God doesn’t try to satisfy human reason in Rom.9&10, why should we? Why don’t we let God’s Word stand on its own? As Paul says in Rom.9:20, foreseeing the objection regarding God’s sovereign choice: ‘Who are you… to talk back to God?’
A woman once came to Charles Spurgeon saying she had a problem with those words in Romans 9, ‘Esau I hated’.
‘How could God hate Esau?’ she said. Do you know what Spurgeon’s answer was? ‘That’s not my problem, lady; my problem is how could God love Jacob?’ Jacob the deceiver! Jacob the cheat! That should also be the believer’s response to God’s election! How can God love a sinner like me? In humble amazement we should stand in awe of God’s incredible love!
Someone has tried to illustrate God’s sovereignty to elect whom He wills, and man’s responsibility to accept the offer of salvation like this: A person enters into a porch and sees the ‘door of salvation’. Over the archway is written ‘Whoever wants to enter may come in’.
Encouraged by this generous offer he enters.
But just as he looks back to where he came from, he reads this: ‘Chosen before the creation of the world.’
The person asks: ‘What does this mean?’
The biblical answer comes to him: ‘God chose you and made you willing to come through the door. You were living in wilful hostility to God, but He loved you with an everlasting love and drew you to Himself.’
As believers we are filled with awe as the Holy Spirit witnesses to us that the God whom we have offended has loved us, and healed us in Christ. For a moment we are left without words. Our hearts are filled with thankfulness and love.
3. Some blessed results of God’s election in the believer.
Thankfulness and love for our gracious God, as we have just seen, are just two results when we consider God’s sovereign election. Imagine what Paul must have thought when writing to the Thessalonian Christians? Don’t you think he recalled the day his life changed from darkness to light on the road to Damascus! Thankfulness. Deep humility. A tremendous sense of gratitude. They are some blessed results of God’s election.
Verse 14 mentions another beautiful result:
‘…that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
As the Thessalonian Christians prepare for our Lord’s return, Paul reminds them that they will share in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ!
During our life, our election is confirmed by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in us.
He makes us more and more conformed to the image of Christ.
As we grow in holiness, our character reflects that of our Lord.
Through faith we are already joined to Him.
Our identification with Christ will grow daily.
When Jesus returns on that Last and Glorious Day, He will be glorified. Christ’s glory will also be seen in His saints.
Christ’s glory will be mirrored in us.
We are already one with Him, so then we’ll also share His glory!
That is the ultimate and future confirmation of our election. What a future to look forward to! Imagine how tremendously encouraged the Christians of Paul’s day must have felt. To have such a hope explained to them after they have just heard about the Great Apostasy, the Man of Lawlessness and a massive falling away. The knowledge of God’s sovereign electing grace is a tremendous assurance for us in our days as well. Safe in the shadow of the Almighty (Ps.91:1).
Jesus said:
‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand’ (John 10:27,28).
Election is God’s love before time and in time.
Let’s always be thanking God for it.
AMEN