Word of Salvation – August 2018

 

B.C.16 – Election: No Strings Attached

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 6:1-10 & Romans 9:6-26

Belgic Confession – Article 16

Text: Ephesians 1:4,5

 

Introd:  Why is it that some people… as soon as they hear the gospel… believe it almost immediately.

Why is it that other people… who have heard the gospel for years… continue to reject it?

It’s a tantalising question that people answer in different ways.

Some suggest that it’s purely an accident of birth.
We were born into a Christian family…. and into a Christian community.
If we had been born into an Islamic family we would be Muslims.
If we had been born into a Hindu family we would be Hindus.

Others say that it’s largely our psychological make up that determines our religion.
Some are psychologically inclined towards religion… others don’t care for it.
Some are open to Christianity by temperament… others lean towards Eastern religions.
Still others have the kind of mental make-up that attracts them to Islam.

The Bible has a different answer: “Faith is a gift of God”.  But that only complicates the problem.
Why then does God give faith to some and not to others?
In the O.T. age why did He chose to give faith almost exclusively to Israel?
Why did God… for many centuries, give the gift of faith
            almost entirely to Europeans and to the western world
                 while Australian Aboriginals and New Zealand Maoris had to wait till the 1700s
                        to hear the gospel and come to faith in Christ?

To those intriguing questions the Bible only gives one answer: God is a sovereign God.
IOW almighty God is responsible for these things to no one but Himself.
And He, for His own good reasons, has decreed that it be that way.

We call that the doctrine of PREDESTINATION.
That God chooses – out of a fallen human race – some people to faith in Christ.
But He passes others by and leaves them in their own just judgment.

A ]       MISCONCEPTIONS AND BIBLICAL EVIDENCE.

1. This teaching of election is what the Reformers called the HEART OF THE CHURCH.

And tonight we’ll see why they saw it as such a vital teaching.

Sadly, many Christians today continue to reject this teaching.
Some just don’t want to hear about it at all… they feel that it is contradictory.
Others reinterpret it…. they give it a slant that we believe is not faithful to Scripture.

I can certainly understand why folk have trouble with this teaching.
For starters it’s not easy to work out the details in a precise logical way.
For example: what is the connection between God’s election and our responsibility?
            If faith comes because God chooses us then surely we are no longer responsible.
            On the other hand if we are responsible for believing where does that leave election?

That is precisely why many Christians don’t want to hear about election.
The Bible teaches that you are responsible for your faith… or for your unbelief.
God holds you accountable for what you do with the gospel.
            Whether you receive it and bow before Jesus as Lord.
            Whether you reject it and refuse to acknowledge the claims of Jesus on your life.
            Or whether you try to sit on the fence and put off your decision about Jesus Christ.
            Scripture clearly teaches that in all these things God holds you personally accountable.

How then do we tie that in with faith as a gift that God gives to His elect…?
These are not easy questions… and logically we will never work it all out.
Election seems to cut right across human responsibility.

Of course it’s very easy to talk about predestination in unbiblical ways.

So many people have made a caricature of it.
We’re familiar with a caricature, aren’t we?
There’s the political cartoon in the daily papers….  they draw a picture of the Prime Minister.
            But they highly exaggerate certain features.
            So much so that we still recognise who is meant.
            But at the same time it all becomes rather funny or silly.
            That is a caricature…. and we can make a caricature of the teaching about election:
            For example: God is like a chess-player and we are just pawns on God’s chessboard.

As kids we often played games where some people had to be in one group or in another.

Or games where a leader had to be chosen.
Often we chose or eliminated people with a little rhyme… pointing to a person for each word.
“Eennie, meenie, mynie mo…”
The next line wasn’t very complimentary to dark skinned people.
But we got people in or out of the group with an “Eenie, meenie, mynie mo… out you go!”

And some people claim that Calvinists have a picture of God who sits in heaven doing the same thing.

Eenie, meenie mynie mo – to heaven you shall go… while others in the same way get sent to hell.

They have a picture of a God who tosses a coin to see who goes where.
                                    Heads you come with me…. tails you go to that other place.

That is a caricature… there are elements of truth there but all highly exaggerated.
So it becomes quite an unbiblical picture of the God who is our Father in Jesus Christ.
Because it paints a picture of God as an uncaring deity…
            some impersonal God, who without batting an eyelid damns people for all eternity.
Even worse… it makes God responsible for sin and judgment.
            After all… everything comes about by the decree of God apart from our responsibility.

As soon as we Reformies speak about election
many of our brothers and sisters in other churches right away have that kind of picture of God.
            And they want no part of that kind of a religion, thank you very much!
            So at this point Reformed Christians often find themselves out on a limb.
            People will accept many of the Reformed doctrines of grace and faith but not this one.

But the trouble is that these other Christians read their Bibles too.
And they read there not only about human responsibility.
They also read there about God choosing… about an electing God.
So they often conclude that God chooses us but that he does so on the basis of foreseen faith.
            IOW God already saw way back in eternity
                        that John Westendorp would one day believe in Jesus as Saviour and Lord
                        and so God chose John Westendorp on the basis that he would one day believe.

Well it’s true of course that God knows everything.
But that is not the biblical picture of election either.

2. Today we saw again clearly in those Scripture readings that election is taught in the Scriptures.

And then not just on the basis of God knowing beforehand who would believe.

We believe that God has spoken about it with great clarity.
And because God has spoken about it we may and must speak about it too.
We cannot just shrug this off… or put it into the “too hard” basket,

Calvin once said that we must speak where God speaks in Scripture
and that we must be silent where God is silent.
            So we must talk about this and we must struggle with it.

But that also means then that we must be careful that we do not go further than Scripture.
That we stop speaking where Scripture stops speaking.
Otherwise we do indeed end up with a caricature that is unfaithful to Scripture.

It is tempting for us to want to go further than Scripture.
Little children often ask. “Why?”
And when they are given an answer that want to know more… and again they ask: “But why?”

And we’re a little like that when it comes to this teaching about election.
We like to know more… to have our curiosity satisfied.
We want to work out all the answers…. for example, how it ties in with our free will.
We want harmonise it all… and tie up all the loose ends.
            So we have to remind ourselves that where God stops speaking we must stop prying.
            And where Scripture is silent we must go the way of child-like faith.
            Simply believe what God said even if you can’t work it all out.

Having said that – let’s take up our Bibles and look briefly at some key Scripture passages.
We’ll turn first to DEUTERONOMY 7 where God speaks of His choosing Israel.
Of course we could start a lot earlier with God choosing Abraham… or Noah.
Or with God preferring Jacob in preference to Esau (and Jacob was certainly no Mr. Nice-guy!).
But DEUTERONOMY 7:6-8 gives a valuable insight into God’s choice of Israel.
<<<  READ DEUTERONOMY 7:6-8  >>>

In the N.T. Jesus speaks of God’s sovereign election in a number of ways.
In MATTHEW 11 Jesus makes clear that a sovereign God reveals gospel truth.
It’s a telling passage we should really spend an hour or so unpacking.
<<<  READ MATTHEW 11 25,26  >>>

A beautiful passage in JOHN 15 was spoken by Jesus to His disciples – they were elect.
And we should note that this is said to the group after Judas has left them.
<<<  READ JOHN 15:16  >>>

Finally there is a very telling verse in ACTS 13.
The author of the Living Bible took the liberty to change it – he disagreed with this teaching.
Although later versions of the LB toned down some of the author’s prejudice.
<<<  READ ACTS 13:48  >>>

If we add the readings from Rom.9 and Eph.1 then we have overwhelming evidence for this teaching

In fact there are many more Bible verses we could examine.

IOW there is overwhelming evidence that Scripture teaches election.

B]        THE DOCTRINE STATED IN BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE.

1. Let’s then try to put this teaching together to formulate what it says.

We would have to say that a sovereign God
has come in grace and mercy to a mankind that was hopelessly lost in sin
and that He has chosen out of that lost humanity… some for salvation in Jesus Christ.

Or in the words of our confession:
God delivers and preserves from destruction all whom He in His eternal and unchangeable counsel
of mere goodness has elected in Christ Jesus our Lord without any respects to their works.

Please note that the only reason given for God’s choice is His mercy.
God wanted to show mercy to some… there is no other reason.
The only reason given in Eph. 1 is HIS GOOD PLEASURE (vs.5).

So it was not because God foresaw that these elect ones would believe.
Neither because they were better than others… Paul later says, “Not because of works…!”
IOW – totally UNCONDITIONAL – NO STRINGS ATTACHED.
The only cause was that God wanted to be merciful – we read that in Rom. 9.
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.

Some folk picture the offer of the gospel like a lifesaver throwing you a lifeline.
You are thrashing around in the water and drowning.
Someone throws you a life support.  But you have to choose to grab that life support.
Your rescue depends on you grabbing hold of that life support.  You must decide.
But Ephesians 2 begins by telling us that we were spiritually dead.
The image is not of you thrashing around in the water drowning
            but rather that you were drowned and dead on the bottom of the pool.
                        God had to take the initiative and give you life.

That is a humbling teaching.  God chose us… but not because of anything in us.

But only because of His great compassion… His love for lost sinners.  That’s all!

However there is also another side to this… a dark shadowy side.
And with heaviness of heart the church must proclaim that side too.
God also leaves in their lostness those who rebel against Him, who refuse to believe the gospel.
            God in mercy elects… but only some upon whom He sets His love.
            God in His perfect justice leaves others
                        in the fall and destruction wherein they have involved themselves.

But now please notice one important difference.

Our confession of faith in no way blames God for the judgment and destruction of those who perish.

It is not so that God has equally decreed both sides of election.

It is always so that salvation is only because of God’s gracious election.
But it is also always true biblically that eternal death
            is not the lot of sinners because of God’s decree so that they had no other option.
It is only because they themselves are guilty rebels against God.
            Salvation is all God’s doing – from beginning to end.
            But no one in hell will ever be able to blame God for passing them by.

2. Notice also something else that came out clearly in Ephesians 1.

Paul spoke about God electing His people way back in eternity.
He says, “He chose us… before the foundation of the world…”

God’s choice of His own is an eternal and unchangeable decree.
It is not so that God chooses us in that moment of time when we choose Him.
God already set His mercy upon us before He even made the world.

And yet the amazing thing about Ephesians 1 is that Paul at the same time relates it to the gospel.
He speaks – not just of God electing us before creation – but of choosing us IN HIM… in Christ.
IOW – in the one breath there is the eternal dimension… before creation…
            and the gospel dimension here and now… chosen in Christ.
That’s something that I don’t think I will ever fully grasp.
            Somehow election took place way back in eternity.
            And yet never in some arbitrary sense of God playing “Eenie, meenie, mynie, mo…”
            Rather at the same time it was a choice that centres in the gospel of Jesus.

I stress this link to the gospel because lots of folk are genuinely troubled by the teaching of election.

Some even become quite fatalistic about it.

They say: Well – if I’m elect I’ll make it… so I won’t worry too much.
     And if I’m not elect then I won’t get there anyway… no matter what I do.
     So who cares?  Just resign yourself to your fate.

No!  Election is IN CHRIST.
That means you may never talk about election unless you do so in context of the gospel.
Only against the background of your relationship to the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus.
So your belief about Jesus answers your question about election.

Election is not some new question that we must still struggle with
            after we have settled the question of our relationship to Jesus Christ.
                        No!  Those two things go inseparably hand-in-hand.
So if tonight you are not sure of your election then you must first face your responsibility….
            …to repent and believe the gospel.
When you do you begin to realise it wasn’t you who chose Him but He in mercy first chose you.

3. There is just one other matter I want to mention.

That is to suggest two reasons why many Christians have trouble with this teaching.

For some it is because their God is too small.
A God who has to wait and see whether or not man will believe – is not the God of the Bible.
The God of the Scriptures is a God who is in sovereign control over all things.
Also over our salvation.
            People have trouble with this teaching at times because of their view of God.

But perhaps, secondly, even more people have trouble with this teaching because of their view of man.
Those who have most difficulty with it are they who play down the seriousness of our problem.
They want to think of man as somewhat corrupt… a drowning man in the water.
            That way we human beings can still take some initiatives…  we can grab the lifeline…
                        we can maybe still make a choice for God and the gospel of Christ.

But in Ephesians Paul shows that ultimately man CANNOT even decide for Jesus Christ.
He is, by nature, dead in his trespasses and sins.
Every aspect of man’s being has been tainted by sin.
And our only hope is for God to take the initiative with us.
            His rescue was not just throwing us a lifeline… His rescue was to make us alive again.

That’s why our Belg. Conf. had two articles about man’s terrible state in sin (Art. 14 & 15).
Our situation was hopeless.
Only the sovereign mercy of God can save us… and He does so by giving us the gift of faith.

Let me say in closing that it’s easy to turn this teaching into doctrine of despair.  Maybe I’m not elect!

But the Bible never presents it as a gloomy doctrine.

Paul always talks about it against the background of the doing, the dying and the victory of Christ.
Against the backdrop of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Saviour and our Lord.
And when we see that then this teaching leads – not to despair – but to a song of praise.
In Scripture it is often set in the context of a doxology
            A song of praise to honour God and for the comfort of the believer.

God calls you to surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

And when you do that you also realise that you could never have done that apart from God.

In fact God did it all… from beginning to end… to Him be all the glory.

Amen.

BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith?

BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes.

When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith is increasingly under attack.

Those who drew up the BC declared that they were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would “offer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags and their whole bodies to the fire” rather than deny the truth expressed in this confession.