Unconditional Election
0 Amens
Doctrines of Grace: Unconditional Election
Various Texts
May 6, 2007
Introduction
There are some undeniable facts in our world. Gravity is undeniable. We can try to overcome it but will eventually succumb to it. If you drop a rock off a roof it will hit the ground. Airplanes seem to defy gravity but in reality what they do is temporary. If the engine fails or a wing breaks off, the craft immediately becomes subject to gravity all over again.
Aging is another fact that we can not get around. All of us are getting older. Eventually our bodies will wear out and we will die. No matter how hard we try to avoid it we are all going to get wrinkles and achy joints and bones. For us men, the strength of our youth soon goes away. Our hair turns grey or it will turn loose. Aging is an undeniable fact. Gravity is an undeniable fact.
An undeniable fact in Scripture is the doctrine of election. This doctrine permeates Scripture. No matter how hard you try to dismiss it, you can not get around it and eventually will have to deal with it. That time of dealing with it has come for us today.
Let me take you on a quick tour of the Bible and let you see this doctrine of election.
Listen to Deuteronomy 7:6-7.
6 "For you are a holy
people to the LORD your God; 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 . 7 "The
LORD did not set His love on you
nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you
were the fewest of all peoples,
Everyone no matter of their personal view on election has to come to grips with it. This doctrine permeates the Old and the New Testament. Just look up the word chosen in a Bible dictionary or concordance and you will find that word used many times. Here are some instances.
Colossians 3:12 says, So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience
2 Thessalonians 2:13 says, But we should always give thanks
to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen
you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and
faith in the truth.
2 Timothy 2:10 says, For this reason I endure all things for the
sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and
with it eternal glory.
1 Peter 2:9 says, But you are A
CHOSEN RACE,
A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,
A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION
Revelation 17:14 says, "These will wage war against the Lamb,
and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings,
and those who are with Him are the
called and chosen and faithful."
The Lord Jesus told His disciples, “You did not choose me but I chose you.”
The word “elect” is another New Testament word that is used quite often of referring to believers. The Lord Jesus used it three times in Matthew 24 alone.
Luke 18:7 says, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night,
Now most people will not argue the fact that election and predestination are in the Bible. You can not read passages like Ephesians 1:4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, and come to any conclusion other than that God is uniquely and intimately involved in every salvation. Unless of course you discount the Scriptures and deem them unreliable. Which opens up a whole new arena of problems for you. So if you hold to Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, then you have to engage the text to find out what God has said concerning this doctrine of election.
If you boil it right down, and here I am going to paint with a pretty broad brush and discount those who do not believe the Bible and still call themselves Christians, the doctrine of election can really only be understood in two ways.
Our task is to discover which way is the right way. Either election is conditional or it is unconditional.
The best way to describe conditional election is how many people view Romans 8:28-30. I would like for you to turn there with me. The text says.
28 And we know that for those who
love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For
those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And
those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also
justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
This is a favorite place for those who hold to conditional election to turn to. There favorite word in this passage is the word foreknew. This is the Greek word prognosis and as you can understand it was a medical term. In medicine a prognosis is an educated guess. Based on the understood history of a disease or injury a physician can make an educated guess as to whether a patient will or will not recover. Prognosis can be wrong. A patient that receives a good prognosis may die and one with a bad prognosis may live. Doctors are fallible.
So those who hold to conditional election will explain this passage this way. “God looked down the corridors of time and He saw that so and so would choose to believe in Christ and based on that foreknowledge God then predestined them to life.
Now this presents some problems.
1. God is making the
prognosis here and His prognosis is perfect.
The word means to select in advance, choose or appoint
beforehand. But not only is this
interpretation ignoring the normal meaning and usage of the word it ignores
what we looked at the last two weeks. To
say that election is conditional from this text is to ignore the sovereignty of
God.
Two weeks ago we
saw that God is supremely sovereign.
Last week we saw that man is totally depraved. Romans 3 was very plain that the human mind
and will has been ruined by sin and left to our own we would never choose
God. So to come up with the
interpretation of foreknowledge as those who use this passage to argue for
conditional election do is to deny God’s sovereignty and the total depravity or
total inability of people to respond to God in faith apart from an act of
God.
2. Those who teach
conditional election, which I would say is the majority of the preachers in our
nation today, also do not see how the word, prognosis, is used in a similar
context with more explanation. Turn your
Bible a couple of pages over and look at Romans 10 starting in verse 13. Paul is dealing with the general call of the
Gospel and the fact that first century
13 For “everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how are they to call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they
have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And
how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful
are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But
they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has
believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So
faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Paul then begins to ask some questions. Look at verse 18.
18 But I ask, have they not heard?
Here in the context Paul is talking about national
Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Paul is quoting Psalm 19:4 here.
Paul then asks the $24,000 question. Look at verse 19.
19 But I ask, did
Keep in mind that
When I was in college I went to a Passover Seder that was done for us by a Messianic Jewish Congregation. I stood amazed as we celebrated the Passover and I saw Christ represented symbolically in almost every element of the Seder. My question at the time was, “How can devoutly Jewish people do this year after year and not see the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed in this observance?” It was so obvious. So I ask with Paul, why do they not understand? Paul does what any good preacher does, he goes to the Scripture. He is not appealing to an innate goodness and ability in people. He is not appealing to a theological framework. He goes to the text. He cites Deuteronomy 32:21. Look at the rest of verse 19.
First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a
nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
Then he appeals to Isaiah 65:1.
20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
“I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those
who did not ask for me.”
Then he quotes Isaiah 65:2.
21 But of Israel he says, “All day
long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
I will now play the role of Captain Obvious. What is obvious from the text of Romans 10 is that those people who were now believers in the Lord Jesus Christ were not seekers of righteousness and God. Paul made that plain. Look again at verse 20.
20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
“I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those
who did not ask for me.”
And those Israelites who had heard the Gospel and rejected it, who have all of the evidence in the world to believe and yet are still unbelievers, Paul shows that they deserve their destruction. Look at verse 21.
21 But of Israel he says, “All day
long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
What you should be able to deduce from what we have seen thus far in Romans 10 is that there is no way that God can act consistently and election be conditional. Those who heard the Gospel, the Israelites for the most part have rejected it. Those who did not seek God but were completely engulfed in their depravity and debauched way of life have received mercy.
Then in Romans 11 Paul illustrates the point for us. Look at the question in verse 1.
I ask, then, has God rejected his people?
This is a big question.
Could it be that the people that we see in the Old Testament that God
chose has been completely rejected by God?
Could it be that God’s election is conditional and that by
If the answer to this question, has God rejected His people, yes then we have proof positive that election is conditional. But look at the rest of verse 1.
By no means! The NASB says, “May it never be!” The KJV says, “God forbid!”
Paul says absolutely not.
God has not rejected His people and the proof is to come. Look at the rest of verse 1. For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant
of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
So how does this fit into God’s program of election? After all God did send confusion on the Israelites. Remember chapter 10:19?
“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish
nation I will make you angry.”
The answer to the question of conditional and unconditional election is found in the following verses. Look at verse 2.
2God has not rejected his people
whom he foreknew.
Remember our word foreknowledge from Romans 8? Remember the corridors of time illustration used by those who hold to conditional election and how God predestined based on this false view of foreordination?
Paul uses the greatest of all arguments for unconditional
election and that argument is that even though most of the Jews had rejected
the Gospel and were going to Hell he had believed. Those in
You know the story. Paul was a seeker. He was trying to weigh the evidence for Christianity against all other world religions to try to make an educated decision as to what religion if any he would adhere to. Right? Wrong.
Saul of Tarsus hated the church. He saw them as blasphemers. He stood by at the stoning of Stephen and probably many others. He arrested Christians and put them in prison. Many were probably executed because of what he did and his hatred for Christ.
Saul of Tarsus was so far from the
And then on the way to
2God has not rejected his people
whom he foreknew.
Paul then appeals to Scripture again. Look at the rest of verse 2 through
Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he
appeals to God against
Paul goes further to explain that this election is
unconditional. Look at verse 5 and 6.
5 So too at the present time there
is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no
longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
The evidence has now been weighed. Election can not be according to how man will respond. Election is unconditional based on God’s sovereign Grace. It is his choice. It is His decision. Look at verses 7-8.
7 What then?
Here we even see that God has gone so far as to not even allow them to see and understand. How many times in the ministry of the Lord Jesus do we see His disciples asking him, “Lord why do you speak in parables?” Because seeing they may not see and hearing they may not hear.”
This is the message of the prophet Isaiah. When Isaiah is sent this is the message that
he was given by God to the nation of
He said, "Go, and tell this people:
'Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.' 10 "Render
the hearts of this people insensitive , Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise
they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their
hearts, And return and be healed."
This is the truth of Scripture and the reason most preachers and most Christians reject this truth is because it a difficult one. But it does not matter how difficult a truth of God is, as His children we are to bow before Him in submission to Him as Lord of all.
Some may say this morning, I never imagined that God was like this. I don’t know if I can believe in a God like this who hardens and elects according to His good pleasure.
Listen to a quote from one of my favorite preachers, Dr. John Macarthur.
My own struggle with the doctrine of God’s sovereign election comes from my emotion, it comes from the influences of my fallen heart, it comes from my expectation that everybody ought to have a right to make a choice. And it also comes from the early years of my Christian experience when I didn’t understand what it meant to be depraved.
As a young Christian I didn’t understand how really dead the sinner is. That is the bottom line issue here. Salvation has to be all of God if you understand the doctrine of human depravity. If you understand what it means to be utterly unable to do right; unable to know God, dead in trespasses and sins, in the most profound kind of unalterable death about which you can do nothing. And if you understand there is no human merit, there is no human effort, there is nothing we can do to alter that situation or to please God.
Out of the doctrine of what I call utter human inability comes the doctrine of election. It was when I understood the sinfulness of man and the total inability of the sinner to do anything about his condition that I was left with nothing but the doctrine of election to solve that problem.
Here is where most people go wrong in their understanding of
God’s election. I heard a great
illustration this week by my former pastor in
Most Christians view the lost through a very sentimental lens. Many see the idea of unconditional election in this way.
Imagine that there is this big box of cute little cuddly puppies. Their tails are wagging and their little tongues are hanging out. They are looking out of the box just waiting and hoping that someone will give them a home. The box of puppies are soon to be exterminated. So their only hope is for someone to come and get them and give them a home. A man comes up and he has all the resources to take all the puppies home with him and give them a home. He looks and takes two of the puppies out of the box and leaves the rest which are quickly exterminated.
This is the way that God is often pictured when someone learns of unconditional election. God has all the resources but just refuses to save everyone and leaves the poor puppies to be exterminated.
But this is not the biblical picture at all of election or the condition of man. The Bible does not present sinners as puppies in a box just waiting to be adopted. But rather sinners are presented as a big box of snarling, rabid dogs who have wrecked the owners house and mauled his son to death. It is not that they are poor puppies waiting to be exterminated these are murderous dogs waiting to receive their due punishment and justice. But the Lord in unconditional election is pictured as having grace on some of the dogs and the others simply receiving what they deserve.
True biblical election is God going to that dog pen filled with mean, cruel, snapping, growling, rabid dogs, sticking His own arms and hands in the midst of those dogs and choosing out some of them to save from extermination because He is gracious and merciful. These dogs in their natural unconverted state, if they were able, would tear the Lord limb from limb and then fight over who would be in charge.
So for God to have grace and mercy on anyone, even you, is a miracle. But this is the way God has operated throughout biblical history.
God chose to create Adam and then chose to create Eve. Later it was Noah who found grace in the eyes
of God as the world was destroyed by a flood and he and his family alone were
saved. It was Abram who found favor in
the eyes of God and was called out of his pagan lifestyle to be made a great
nation. It was Isaac who was chosen over
his older brother Ishmael. The Bible
says of Isaac’s twin sons, Jacob and Esau, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated. The Bible also makes clear that
this was affection from the womb and it was God’s choice. From Jacob God brought forth the nation of
God is in the business of choosing people for salvation and that is for His glory and for His mercy to be displayed throughout all eternity. Turn to Ephesians 2:4-7 as another nail in the coffin of the false idea of conditional election. This is after the declaration of the Apostle Paul that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Then in verse 4-6 Paul says,
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which
he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and
raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus,
What Paul is saying is that while we were unsavable, not worth redeeming, while we were ravenous, snarling, mangy dogs God intervened on our behalf. We were not saved conditionally. If you are a Christian this morning you were converted because God had mercy on you. It wasn’t because you understood the Gospel and thought it was the wise thing to do. It wasn’t because you were so good that God thought it would be to His benefit that He save you.
So why in the world would God unconditionally elect you to salvation? Why would He choose to have mercy on you and not on someone else? What in the world was behind God’s decision to save any of us? Look at verse 7.
7 so that in the coming ages he
might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus.
In other words, the Gospel is not for our glory it is for God’s glory. In all of eternity as we who have been called out of sin and depravity into the glorious light of the gospel, we will be God’s showpieces of His grace, mercy, and glory.
That is why Ezekiel 33:11 says,
11 "Say to them, 'As I
live!' declares the Lord GOD,
'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
rather that the wicked turn from his
way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die,
O house of
God’s glory is in the salvation of sinners. That is why the cross is not a horrible image in the minds of Christians. That is why we don’t look at the cross as a mere torture and death instrument utilized by the Romans. That is why we sing,
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Listen to me this morning, if you as a Christian do not come to grips with the biblical doctrine of unconditional election then you will never rightly understand and appreciate God’s amazing love toward His people. You will never understand and fully appreciate the words of Romans 8:31-39.
What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He
who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He
not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who
will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who
is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was
raised , who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who
will separate us from the love of Christ ? Will tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just
as it is written,
"FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO
DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37 But
in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When you understand that your salvation was accomplished by God, was bestowed on you by God, and is secured for all eternity by God then and only then can you walk in the love of God toward you and find great comfort in the most difficult situation. When you understand that God’s unmatched mercy and grace has been poured out on you then you will be able to glorify your Lord by the life that you lead. You will rest in Christ knowing and understanding that Christ Jesus has indeed paid it all and all to him we owe.
Objection
In our society we like the idea of having a choice. As a matter of fact I read a commentary on Ephesians 1:4 that the author did not hold to unconditional election. So he explained it this way. “In election God voted for you, the devil voted against you, and the deciding vote is up to you.” Now the fallacy of that wonderful sounding argument is this. God, the devil, and us are not on the same level. Our votes are not equal. As a matter of fact God is the security council of the Universe and His vote overrides all others. He is supremely sovereign.
But I want you to think seriously with me about this whole idea of choice because in reality we really have very few choices.
How many of you chose your own parents?
How many of you chose the day on which you were born?
How many of you chose what race you would be?
How many of you chose whether you would be born male or female?
How many of you ever chose to get a stomach virus or a cold?
How many of you will actually choose the time and date of your own death?
How many of you chose your natural hair color or eye color?
How many of you chose the shape of your face or your build? Which limits the attractiveness of the spouse you have or will one day have.
How many of you chose how intellectually smart you would be? Which by the way limits the number of occupations that you can have.
How many of you chose your name?
So much of our lives are predetermined for us and we do not even realize it. Many of the so called decisions that we make are influenced by all of these bestowed qualities. The type of food you like, the type of house that you live in, the type of clothing that you like are all influenced by these qualities that you had no control over.
So in reality, how much choice do we actually have? And if the Bible is true, and of course it is because it is God’s Word, then we understand that our minds, our wills, our natures are so corrupted by sin if God could only save because we decided to repent of our sins and choose Him then not one single person would ever be saved.
That is why we glory in the unconditional election of God. That is why we delight in His sovereignty and that is why we will be eternally dependant upon God for all that we have.
Conclusion
Let me show you the final nail in the coffin of conditional election. Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 6:44.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
The salvation of man is unconditional in that God has not perceived any innate goodness in man but has saved Him because of the richness of His mercy and the greatness of His grace.
The salvation of man is conditional in that it is only God that can make alive a dead sinner to have faith and repentance.
So there are some natural consequences of this truth.
1. First, if salvation is truly God’s work then we need to be praying that God would convert our children. God uses the means of training in righteousness through His Word to convert the sinner. But we do not beg them to come to Christ because they can’t. We beg Christ to draw them to Himself. The same goes for our neighbors and friends and family that are lost.
2. When we proclaim the Gospel to the lost we are to employ biblical methods and not traditional or worldly methods. When I speak to a lost person I tell them they must repent and believe the Gospel. I also tell them that it is only God who can grant these gifts and that there is absolutely nothing within them that makes them able to respond apart from God. So I don’t send them down an aisle or have them repeat a prayer. I tell them to seek the grace of God, plead for it, and don’t stop until He grants that grace. The elect will do just that because God is drawing them.
3. There is the question for all of us to know for sure that we are truly a recipient of God’s grace. We do not presume on God or think that because of what we do ensures our salvation.
This is one of the biggest objections to the doctrine of unconditional election. They will say, how can a person then know for sure if they are truly elect? If what you have said is true then I can never walk in security because I did not decide to follow Christ and I can’t nail down a time and place. So how do I know?
Again we go to the Scripture. In 2 Peter 1:10 Peter tells the people that
he is writing to this, Therefore, brethren, be all the more
diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you
How do they do this? The rest of verse 10 and 11 tells us how.
for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 11 for
in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
And if you want to know what those are then you need to read
2 Peter 1:1-9. You need to do some self
evaluation to see if you truly are a believer.
I can’t tell you whether or not you are a Christian only God can do
that. Romans 8:16 says, The
Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
Again we go back to the author and finisher of our faith, God Himself. Only God can save you and only God can give you true eternal security. A preacher or teacher or parent can not provide that.
What if after searching you still are unsure? What do you do? You keep seeking the Lord and pleading for His mercy. The Gospel is look and live it is trust and live it is look to Christ to find life eternal.
Let’s pray.
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