[0:00] Well, let's get going, guys. I'm glad I was able to make it. It kind of was just sort of up in the air, to be honest. I've been just, I felt pretty rough last night, yesterday, and this morning. But we'll see if I can make it through this.
[0:15] We'll see. If I just fall over, just move me out of the way, and then somebody else just pick it back up. How's that sound? Yeah. Let's just start in prayer, and we'll kick it off.
[0:27] Lord, we're grateful for just the grace to be able to gather as the body, and we're thankful that you've allowed us to be here tonight, to spend some time together looking at things that are found in your Word, and your intended purpose for those things, and the impact they're supposed to have on our lives.
[0:52] I pray you would just help me to teach clearly, humbly, boldly, and guard us all from error.
[1:05] And I pray that the result of our time tonight would just be encouraging and convicting to our souls, and we'd have a greater understanding of what you have done for us in the work of redemption and through your election, Lord.
[1:24] And I just offer this time to you as an act of worship and our teaching and our discussion, our listening and our obeying later. So, yeah. Yeah, in Christ's name, amen.
[1:38] Yeah, hated to miss this morning. This was not really with the program, but really glad to be here tonight. Tonight we're talking about election, and here's our schedule that we've sort of been following.
[1:57] So last week we talked about just sort of the introduction of where we get the terms Reformed, Calvinism, and as I kind of can call it, like the doctrines of amazing grace.
[2:11] And we talked about the shattered image of God and what sin is and what depravity is. I hope that that was like challenging and enlightening to you.
[2:22] Like, oh, I thought I was bad. I knew I was bad. I didn't think I was that bad. It was like we're really bad. Like it's worse than we ever could actually imagine bad. And that kind of sets us up to talk about, well, wait a minute, another review.
[2:40] If you're wanting this, we can talk about it later. But we talked about just some of the historical debate behind some of these things with Augustine and Pelagius, Luther, Erasmus, and the Calvinists and Arminians.
[2:57] So, and this week we're going to dive into the next part of this, which is election. And I really tried to condense this. I know this seems long, but if you look at it, I've got like some extra references of other scriptures that are at the bottom in the footnotes.
[3:17] But, yeah, we will just start walking through it. But before we do, every week I'm trying to give you just one example of a faithful brother from the past, someone in church history who we respect and look up to that believe these particular doctrines.
[3:40] And last week, I think we talked about, well, two weeks ago we did Spurgeon. If you remember that, he talked about how he reflected on the pursuit of God in his life and how he just took observation that God was just chasing him down and saw his grace in election.
[3:57] And this week I chose George Muir. I think I read this quite possibly during one of the Romans 9 sermons. But if you know him, he lived in Bristol, England and started orphanages and did a lot of really gospel ministry, missionary.
[4:16] But this is what he wrote when he was confronted with the idea of Calvinism or election. But he wrote, I was brought to examine these precious truths by the word of God, being made willing to have no glory of my own in the conversion of sinners, but to consider myself merely as an instrument and being made willing to receive what the scripture said.
[4:40] I went to the Lord reading the New Testament from beginning with a particular reference to these truths. So he's basically saying, I'm going to read the New Testament and think about the doctrines of grace while I'm reading it and see how many times I see it as I read it.
[4:58] And that was actually his habit with a lot of different topics. He said, So I just, you know, when I began learning these things a long time ago, it made me uncomfortable.
[5:53] And it made me, I guess, in some way feel secure. This has been something that's been taught for the entire history of the church and a lot of people that we respect and look up to.
[6:05] So in addition to, or just under the scripture, it's just good to have good reminders like that. So, but a good challenge. Yeah, read the New Testament with thinking about these things, see how many times it actually comes up and you'll be surprised.
[6:20] So, all right. Let's jump into it. So, just a quick definition here for you.
[6:32] Just the word itself just simply means to select out of, to pick or choose out of a group. Because I've seen some people just try to do word somersaults with this.
[6:45] Like, it just means that you chose him and then he chose you. It actually doesn't say that. It says that he did the choosing. God is the one who chose.
[6:56] And, but really simply, this is just a definition from Wayne Grudem, but he has said, Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit or faith in them, but only because of sovereign good pleasure.
[7:19] Here, we'll, you know, unpack that. So, that's just a really simple definition. What we see the Bible teaching on it. But really quick, let's review.
[7:30] Like, this is what we went over last time. Because I've heard people say things like, well, I'm a three-point Calvinist or I'm a four-pointer. I'm like, well, really, they all connect together.
[7:42] So, like, they're not like separate things. They all tie in together. And so, when you take what we learned from what the Scripture taught about our fallenness, our spiritual condition before Christ, you have to connect it, that our condition, you have to connect to election.
[8:04] So, if you remember, we talked about all this. We had all the Scriptures and everything, but born spiritually dead. So, not an original sin idea.
[8:16] Our minds are darkened by sin. Our hearts are corrupted by evil. Slaves to sin. Children of the devil. You know, we read a bunch of Scripture on that one.
[8:29] None good or righteous. And our will is in bondage to sin. We talked about that a couple weeks ago. And then we're unable to improve our condition, meaning that everything that's in this list, we just can't wake up one day and say, you know what?
[8:43] We're going to do better. You know what? We're going to reform ourselves. We're going to just cowboy up and ask God for some help. It just doesn't happen like that. So, we're unable to do anything unless God comes first.
[8:57] So, we have to carry this idea of our fallenness into the conversation of election. So, let's just start walking through this.
[9:12] This is for you. We're not going to read every single Scripture. Obviously, we'll look at a couple, but you can go back and look at more later. But, why it's so important to understand depravity? Remember, I said that depravity is a description of our condition before Christ.
[9:29] It's not who you are after Christ. You're a new creation. You're adopted into God's family. You're no longer worthless and useless. You're having the image of God restored in you through sanctification.
[9:43] And so, it's very different. But, we apply that to our first principle here. Right? So, a lot of people, my big objection, or one of them, when I was back in my early Christian life, was this seems just unfair.
[10:00] This seems like God is not doing the right thing here. This just doesn't sound right, doesn't feel right. And I had to revamp my thinking.
[10:12] And that's what we talked about in Romans 9, right? It makes God unloving, unjust, or it implies that He's acted without any kind of reason or purpose.
[10:25] Remember, we did a whole part of Romans 9 on that. But, just to help you get, you have to do this. I spent some of the time in the sermon on this, but, you have to get out of, like, our Western, democratic way of thinking.
[10:43] And you have to think ancient. You have to think medieval. You have to go back to, like, what happened in the context of the Scripture. And, so back then, as I've said before, a king, an emperor, they would also serve as a judge.
[11:01] Just think about, in the Scripture, Solomon was the king. But guess what? He was the judge, too. People came and brought cases to him. And, what would happen a lot of the time when a king or emperor was confronted, like they, you know, you've seen the pictures in the movies or whatever, like they drag a bunch of guys in chains in.
[11:20] And they say, hey, these are the guys who rebelled against you. These are the guys who committed, you know, murder, rape, rape, and plunder. That's all these guys did. And they're all guilty.
[11:30] We have, you know, witnesses, evidence, everything. And, so a lot of the times, what would happen is a king or emperor would say, hey, look, you're all guilty.
[11:43] You all deserve to die. Like, that's what you deserve. You deserve to die. But, because I am a merciful king, and I desire for my people to know me as merciful, I will pardon you and you.
[12:01] But the rest of you, you get the sword. Because the rest, because my people also need to understand that I take this seriously, that I'm not a pushover. If you do this, there will be consequences. And what happens is, in those single acts, they invoke loyalty and love, but also fear, in like one act.
[12:22] And so what happens is, those guys that were chosen to be spared, they have nothing to boast about. They're just like, why me? Like, why was I different than the guy next to me?
[12:33] Well, he wasn't. He was the same. He was guilty. And so, in that way, the king glorified his mercy and his justice in one single act. And I think I showed you some examples of that in the scripture, which we can look at, you know, maybe later.
[12:51] But, but just imagine coming before the king as a guilty person. And that ties into our first point. All are guilty, right? Here on our paper.
[13:01] Because all mankind has trampled, mocked, and spat upon the infinite worth of almighty God, all are worthy of only divine wrath. Okay?
[13:13] None are innocent or deserving of God's goodness and love. Like, that has to be, like, drilled into our heads. Like, we don't deserve it. Because when we have those thoughts of, like, this is wrong or this is unfair, it's basically saying, like, God owes us something.
[13:31] Like, we don't really deserve this. We deserve to be set free, to be let go. And sin is just taken very seriously by God.
[13:43] So, Ezekiel 18, right there, the soul that sins shall die. Then you get into Romans 1, 28-32, and it talks about God gave us over.
[13:57] That was the judgment, right? God gave us over, gave them up, to a debased mind, to do what ought not to be done. And then it gives you this list of how sin comes out, how sin manifests.
[14:11] But pick up on this, verse 32. Though they know God's decree, it says, those who practice such things deserve to die. Right?
[14:22] So, like, that's the part you've got to remember. Like, we don't deserve mercy. We don't deserve salvation. And in fact, I remember wrangling with one of my friends a long time ago when I was still on the other side of this.
[14:33] Like, it's just, you know, it's just not fair. And he goes, well, fair would be we all die. Fair would be like no mercy. We were just all treated the same by God.
[14:44] So, it's a miracle that he showed mercy at all, right? And, if you think about, I think it's in 2 Peter, remember this?
[14:56] And it said that he basically just immediately brought justice to them. He didn't send the angels any savior. Can you pick up on that? Like, he sent, when the angels rebelled against God, like, he sent them no one to redeem them.
[15:09] They were just immediately judged. So, the fact that he even sent a savior was just astounding for us. So, yep, wages of sin is death. Like, you just got to get that in your head.
[15:21] That, that'll help you face a lot of things in life when you feel entitled by God. Like, I don't deserve to be going through this or I don't deserve why things are so hard for me right now. It, it humbles you.
[15:34] So, the next principle, I'll stop periodically too and to see if there's any questions, but kind of a balance of that and just moving, moving forward.
[15:48] Mercy or justice? That's kind of what I just said. Because all are guilty of sin, God has the sovereign right to have mercy on whom he desires and justice on whom he desires.
[16:00] if he decided to destroy the whole human race because of their rebellion against him. And therefore, there is no injustice with God if he grants mercy to some and justice to others.
[16:15] If you look on the back, there's a few scriptures for you as well as there's some reference in the bottom. But, kind of understand that. Like, God is not obligated to do anything on our behalf.
[16:30] And, if you look at, I mean, this is just one of those astounding verses in Matthew 11. Just, never saw it before.
[16:41] Just ignore the, the first part of that. That was like an accidental one. I didn't mean to copy that over. Just cross that. Verse 14 out. Look at verse 27. It says, All these things have been handed over to my Father, Jesus said, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father.
[16:57] except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal to Him. Yeah. Pretty, pretty crazy.
[17:09] And then, as we looked at a few weeks ago in Romans 9, referring to the Exodus account, what shall I say then? Is there any injustice on God's part? By no means.
[17:20] The strongest negative, like in the Greek language. For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
[17:38] So, pause for a couple minutes. Like, is there any thoughts so far or questions so far on the first two little principles here that all are guilty, none are deserving, God's obligated to do nothing, and so He has the perfect right to show mercy to whom He wants and to show justice to whom He wants and both bring Him honor.
[18:01] So, any questions so far? good. All right.
[18:14] Always free to come talk to me later too. All right. So, these are getting to the Scripture that points out that God indeed has a chosen people.
[18:24] This is the next part of this. So, there are general statements throughout Scripture that reveal that God has an elect people, both Jews and Gentiles, and that He has predestined them unto salvation and thus eternal life.
[18:40] It is blatantly clear that God did the choosing and not man. All right. So, let me see.
[18:52] Let me just pick a couple out here. Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to pick out the ones that are just sort of shockers. Like, wow, I never saw that. In Thessalonians, there it says, this is 1 Thessalonians, sorry, typo again.
[19:03] It says, for God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, whom He died for us, so that whenever we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.
[19:16] So, there's one. Yeah, let's just pick one more. Why not? But, yeah, Peter, you are, speaking to the church, the Christians, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
[19:40] Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And then there's a lot of scriptures, like in Titus here, where it mentions God's elect, God's people.
[19:53] Actually, you know, in Matthew 24, where it's talking about the last days, like the end, it talks about how if it wasn't for the sake of the elect, like, those days would have kind of continued.
[20:06] But God cut them short for the sake of the elect. Which means that God's people probably will be here when stuff's happening. Right? So it's just everywhere.
[20:18] This is just that general sense that God has, a chosen people there, made of Jews and Gentiles. So, and then here's the big surprise, right?
[20:29] Before creation. This happened before creation. Before the foundation of the world, God chose to show mercy to certain individuals for salvation.
[20:41] And their names are written in the book of life. So here's the really famous, you know, Ephesians 1. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
[20:53] In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace. Right?
[21:04] So we see all that in Ephesians 1 there. Pick up on this. It says, in love, He predestined us. Like, a lot of people want to think about this as an arbitrary, you know, harsh doctrine.
[21:20] And that's what it says. In love, He did this. And so, I'm trying to, this is probably a really poor analogy. It's just the one coming to my head right now.
[21:33] If you see your child running towards the road into oncoming traffic, what do you do? Say, hey, come back, come back.
[21:44] You know, or do you like rush out there and impose your will on them and bring them back? Like, that's, that's what election does. It kind of like grabs us. God choosing to reach out and pull us away from the danger that we were heading towards.
[22:02] So, just in love, He predestined us to adoption. As I mentioned earlier to some people, adoption, like we know that a lot of people in our church have adopted, it's the parents who do the choosing.
[22:17] It's usually not the kid. Right? It's, the parents initiate it, the parents pursue it, and the parents say, hey, we want you to be in our family. So, it kind of mirrors God's electing grace in that, that way.
[22:32] Um, all right, so there's 2 Thessalonians. Yeah, but look at Revelation 13. This one blew my mind a long time ago.
[22:43] Uh, Revelation 13, 8. It says, and all who dwell on the earth will worship everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world and the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
[22:57] What? Uh, I thought, like there was like an angel up in heaven with a big scroll and a feathered pen. Like, every time somebody was saved, he went, yay! You know, like, wrote her name down every time.
[23:11] Um, so what does it say here? It says, that book has been written before the foundation of the world. That's, it enforces this idea that this is something that God had done already.
[23:25] Um, never picked up on that. It actually says it again, Revelation, later, later on. So, that, that choosing happened before the foundation of the world, so he's not making it up as he goes.
[23:36] It's like a, a part of his plan. Um, then, next point, this is all happening by God's good pleasure.
[23:46] So why is it happening? Because he wants to. That's just pretty much why. Out of his grace, out of his goodness. So, God's sovereign election is not based.
[23:57] This is where a lot of people will split, right? This is like the, the split here. Um, and, because you can't get around it, like, even people who don't believe what we would believe here, mostly, they, they see the word election, they see the word predestined, they have to do something with it, so they have to figure out how to make it work.
[24:18] And I, I did this for a solid year. It was like, trying to nail a, a brown peg in a square hole. This wasn't working. But, let's read this together. God's sovereign election is not based upon foreseen faith that man would have.
[24:38] Saving faith is the result and evidence of God's election and not the determining factor of his choice. This saving faith does not come from man, but as a free gift.
[24:50] All right. So, point is, a lot of people say, like, God used his omniscience and his, his ability to look down in time, his foresight, put it that way.
[25:09] And he goes, ooh, you know what? One day, I see, Greg Girard, he's going to be a good guy. He's going to, he's going to be messed up like all people are before I save them.
[25:21] But you know what? He's going to get his stuff together and he's going to place saving faith in me. You know what? Therefore, I choose him. See that? Like, that's the fit. That's like what I tried to do.
[25:32] And, it doesn't say that because, the Bible explicitly teaches that saving faith is the result of God's election.
[25:43] Like, it's something that God gives us. And, I mean, look, this is one of those verses that will blow your minds in Acts 13, 48. Paul's preaching the gospel, right?
[25:55] So, imagine that, like you're preaching to a crowd of people. You're sinners against God. Christ came to save you from your sin. Put your faith in him.
[26:06] Repent and believe. And this is what it says in verse 48. When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many who were appointed to eternal life believed.
[26:21] Interesting. So, their belief was a result of their appointment of God choosing them before the foundation of the world. And, let me see, Ephesians 2, just trying to pick a few here.
[26:38] Yeah, the very famous Ephesians 2. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your doing, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one may boast.
[26:50] And so, what he really is trying to say here is both the grace and the faith are from God. Like God gave them the ability. This gets into next week a little bit, or the week after, about how God actually saves us, how he actually regenerates us, in the relationship to faith.
[27:12] Ephesians 1.39, it has been granted to you so that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. So, wow, so not only believe in him, we believe because God granted us that belief.
[27:27] God's choice is not based on any foreseen merit residing in us, right?
[27:40] Nor any good works. So that's just important. And so, when we're talking about works, we're also talking about just like spiritual things too. Anything spiritually good that we think we could contribute to make God want to save us.
[27:53] Like it just doesn't work. He's saying it's only, only God has done this. And, and let's pick a, pick a verse here. And let's just look at 2 Timothy 1.9 down there.
[28:10] It says that God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus. There it is. Before ages began.
[28:23] It's crazy. So, pause. Any questions? Any comments?
[28:35] Before we get to the next part. Crazy. Yeah. Insane.
[28:49] Oh, yeah.
[29:15] I get it. Yep. Love it. for people who are listening to this recording. All one of you, maybe, in the future, when I'm dead.
[29:34] The question was, like, how should you pray for somebody and their salvation, someone to be saved, if God has already chosen, right? If God has already chosen.
[29:44] Yeah. I'll have a whole night on that when we get to, like, the saving act of the Holy Spirit. But, I can tell you what, you're not praying.
[29:55] You're not praying, like, God, please just help them to pull their lives together. Please just help them just to use their free will to become a better person and choose you. You're praying, like, Lord, save them.
[30:06] Like, Lord, open their eyes. Like, Lord, soften their hearts. Like, God, help them to believe. Like, show them grace. That's like how we pray for people. We pray like we believe what we're talking about.
[30:17] We don't pray for them to kind of, like, use their own ability. We pray like, God, they don't have the ability. Please help them. That's like, sort of, it aligns with that. But I guess, really quickly, like, you know, again, I definitely want to get into this more in the future.
[30:35] Like, I, what you see in the Scripture, thankfully, is like God hunting down people. You see, he's not a lonely old man in the sky, just like hoping someone will be his buddy.
[30:47] You know, like, he's like, I'm after that person. So, that brings me to great confidence. So, I have some family members who are unbelievers, and, election pushes me to pray because I'm like, Lord, you know, like, just save them.
[31:04] I know you can. Like, if they're, you have the power to completely deliver them, like, you can do it if you want to. Like, please, like, just open their eyes. Please help them to believe.
[31:17] Give them, give them eyes to see and ears to hear. And, again, like, but if I just felt like it was just up to them, it'd be kind of a sad prayer. It'd be like, Lord, they're lost. Like, Lord, they don't see it.
[31:29] They don't have the ability to do this. Why is it that so many smart people in the world haven't quite figured this out yet? You know? If it was up for smart people, we would, they would figure it out and we wouldn't.
[31:42] And it's really just like praying that, like, to a God with confidence that He has the ability and when He's ready, He'll do it. Like, I've told my brother before, like, you can run from Him but you can't hide.
[31:54] Like, He's going to find you and when He does, like, there's nothing you're going to be able to do. He's going to corner you. He's going to kick down the door and He's going to make you His. Like, I talk to my brother like that, you know, sometimes.
[32:07] But again, if their salvation was tied to, like, their own ability to, like, get it together, that'd be a really sad prayer. But if it's like, no, no, God's the one in charge and God can do it, you know?
[32:18] So, and God uses the prayers and intercessions of His people to accomplish His will. So, as you're praying that, like, that should actually just give us confidence that God is like, He's hearing you, you know?
[32:32] And we're pleading on their behalf. So, short answer to that, I guess. Anything else? All right. Now we get into another controversial part of this, which is the question, like, if God has chosen some for salvation, that also means, on the flip side, that He's also chosen not to save other people.
[33:06] And, remember, that the king, I pardon you and you, but you I don't. It's the inevitable other side of this.
[33:18] And, it's what's referred to as reprobation. And, it's the opposite of election, if you look here. It's the sovereign decision of God before creation to pass over some persons.
[33:31] In sorrow, deciding not to save them and to punish them for their sins and thereby manifest His justice. In other words, God gives them over to their already sinful devices.
[33:45] All right? And, let me just tell you where we see this in the scripture first and then we'll talk about it. But, the first scripture I have here is in Isaiah. So, remember, unbelief is a judgment.
[34:03] People not able to see and hear. And, it says this in verse 9. He said, Go and say to those people, this is after the great commission of Isaiah, right? Keep on hearing, but do not understand.
[34:16] Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their eyes heavy, and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.
[34:33] That's like a sad commission. That's what he said to Isaiah right after. He said, Here am I. Send me. So, basically go and preach, but they're not going to hear. And, and reflecting on that in John, John 12, it sucks, you know, talking about the Lord here, talking about Jesus after he did these miracles and things.
[34:55] So, though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. So that, so, so why didn't they believe in him? That's the question.
[35:07] Why didn't they believe? So that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed what he heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
[35:21] They could not believe. For again, Isaiah said, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart unless they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them.
[35:35] So, wow, like judgment. And then, we looked at this one. We did Romans 9, but very clearly. But it talks about Pharaoh.
[35:48] God said to him, for this very purpose I've raised you up that I might show my power in you that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy in whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires.
[36:00] If you read Exodus, it talks about how I think it's three times that that says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. And then, and then lastly, you know, you have 1 Peter there, chapter 2.
[36:15] The stone, the builders rejected to become the cornerstone, a stumbling of, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobeyed the word and as they were destined to do.
[36:28] Like, wow. So, I know those are hard words, but it just really just means, like, so what does it mean to harden somebody?
[36:41] It's important to understand this, but it doesn't mean like God just zaps somebody and, and like, evil comes out of his finger and it hits them and they become bad because that means that evil, God's the source, is coming from him.
[36:56] what it really means is he just does this, he just goes, like, okay. Like, that's what it says in Romans 1, he gave them over, he gave them up and it says that three times, I think, in Romans 1.
[37:13] It just means that he leaves them to their already existing depravity. right? And, it, uh, so what we would call common grace, there's these restraints of God on man that keep them from becoming, we talked about this two weeks ago, the difference between utter depravity and total depravity, right?
[37:37] Like, if God removes some of those things, we become more evil, like we, our depravity gets worse, and so we're already sinful on our own, and any goodness that we have in us at all is because of God's grace in our lives.
[37:54] What he does, he just backs off, he goes, okay, I'm abandoning, abandoning you to the consequences of your sin. So, Jonathan Edwards here wrote, um, about hardening of the heart.
[38:10] He said, God is said to harden men in two ways. First, is by withholding the powerful influences of his Holy Spirit, without which their hearts remain hardened and grow harder.
[38:23] In this sense, he hardens them and leads them to their hardness. He does it also by ordering those things in his providence, which through the abuse of their corruption become the occasion of their hardening.
[38:38] Thus, God sends his word and ordinances to men, which by their abuse prove on occasion of their hardening. So, does that make sense? So, so, providentially, God arranged the Exodus, arranged the people leaving Egypt, and arranged the Red Sea encounter to be the circumstances of Pharaoh's hardening.
[38:59] So, God knows what it takes to put us in that position. another thing that Jonathan Edwards wrote that I don't have a quote for here, if this is helpful.
[39:11] I found it helpful. I want you to think about the sun and the earth. People have already heard this in the room.
[39:21] but, like the sun and the earth. The sun just gives two things to the earth, right? It gives light and it gives heat.
[39:33] And, if you took away light or if you took away heat, you just, everything would die here. We would have no life. So, kind of follow me there. So, while the sun is in its right place, we have life.
[39:46] We're getting light and we're getting heat. But, if the sun just went, like they were just, certain things would happen because of an absence of the sun's presence.
[39:58] And, it's very similar with God. Like, when God is being gracious to us, we have life. We have good things. We have health, et cetera. And, at very best, salvation.
[40:11] But, if he was to, like, back away, certain things happen out of want of his presence. Does that make sense? As, as the idea of hardening comes into play.
[40:23] So, anything on that before we do some closing things? Anything else? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[40:38] Can the reprimand ever be saved? No. Because, that means they would put them in the category of the elect if they were going to be saved.
[40:53] So, the question that was from... So, don't hold me... Answer that question. Yeah. But, Nathan talked about the mention of the reprobate in the passage.
[41:05] When it says, what then is there fail to obtain what he's seeking? They left the weakness of the rest of the heart. And so, he mentions that those who were reprobate. I guess my confusion comes in when verse 11 says, so I ask that they stumble in order that they might fall by no means.
[41:27] Rather, through their trespasses they say, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make this a little point. All that means some of Israel who, that it just says was hardened or broken off.
[41:42] He also says, maybe grab the back. And later in the first time. I know what he's talking about. Like I, preach the rest of Romans 11 for us tonight.
[41:54] Oh, okay. No. We'll record it and play it next week. No. John, we'll get into that one next. The, uh, from the place he's standing he's saying what we're seeing some place may be right but others not.
[42:10] And he goes on to say in Romans 11 but, but they can, right, they can place faith in Christ. Sorry, the one, um, yeah, but I wouldn't get yourself wrapped into the categories because those categories would be quietly confined to the end of all things.
[42:26] Hmm. Yeah. I mean, it's just basically when you say elected or reprobate, it's just another way of saying believer, unbeliever, saved, unsaved.
[42:37] but yeah, like, in that, in that particular text, like, if you get stuck in a, um, the terms themselves, like, yeah, you'll get kind of confused there. So, yeah, but, yeah, I mean, that's what's just crazy.
[42:52] It's just everywhere. I just never saw a lot of this so long ago. I also just didn't really read my Bible much either. Um, enough to, like, make people happy. But, yep, Romans 11.
[43:04] You thought we would get out of that in Romans 9, but, oh no, there's more to come. Yeah.
[43:27] Yeah. Yeah. Um, like, the, let me think here.
[43:44] In the last, like, few years, last couple years particularly, um, I would, I would probably say since Russia invaded Ukraine, Hamas invaded Israel, like, we haven't seen, there's that kind of stuff that goes on in the world, but it's just not for us to see very well.
[44:05] And, it's like made us wake up like, wow, there's some bad stuff out there. Like, you mean that not everything's just the way it is in my own little world where everybody's mostly nice, mostly polite.
[44:17] Um, I don't know if it was a mistake or not. Maybe it wasn't, but I, I watched some of the videos that Hamas made. just brutal.
[44:31] Anyway, it tears you up to watch. I'd actually just recommend that some of you don't. If you, but just the blood, the carnage, the depravity of what man can do to other men.
[44:43] and, and even if, um, Israel and any other allies, like, bring them to justice or, or kill them, like, the wickedness of man, when God judges that one day, it'll be a beautiful thing.
[45:05] Like, like, my point is, like, he will be magnified in his justice. Like, it'll be something that we give him great glory for. Like, for being a God that, like, lets no evil go unpunished.
[45:16] Like, zero. And he'll do it perfectly. Like, no injustice. Not, we all will, will see him display that. And any sin that has, that people thought they got away with, um, he will bring it to perfect justice.
[45:33] And that's why it says that God made everything for a purpose, even the wicked, for the day of evil. Right? Like, he, and, and so, while he's destroying the wicked, you know, and magnifying his holiness and his righteousness, simultaneously, those of us on the other side will just be going like, what?
[45:54] You know, why, why aren't I over there? I, I'm sinful. Like, I've rebelled against God. Why, why has he chosen to save me?
[46:06] And the answer is like, nothing, there's no reason. Like, there's no reason that in you that he did it. So he will simultaneously be bringing glory to his name by sparing you and showing you mercy and that you are in Christ like Noah's ark, you know, the, you know, you go out of the nurseries with kids and it's like the little boat with all the animals on and people going, you know, like in Noah's ark.
[46:34] I always, I had to play the jokes that if I ever paint that in my kids' room, I'm going to paint the people drowning outside the boat and to show them that like, yeah, in Christ we're saved, but outside of Christ we are only going to be destroyed, you know.
[46:52] And like, so I just want you to see that like the, it really is just supposed to leave you saying, why me? Like, why have I been spared?
[47:06] And it kind of leaves you trembling a little bit. And it's only because of God, it's because of his good pleasures, because of what he did. And William Carey, who was a missionary to India, Baptist, founder of the modern day missions movement in the late, late 1700s, believed deeply in election, believed in what we're talking about tonight.
[47:32] And I think he was asked, like, why is God tarrying, basically? Why is God waiting so long to, like, come and judge the wicked? And I'm paraphrasing what he said, but he basically said, like, would it bring God more glory to wait, or to come in now?
[47:48] Like, come in when evil is absolutely at its worst, at its strongest, or just to come in now? And he basically was saying, well, you know, he's going to wait until it's as bad as it can be, where he can just come in and just go, just destroy it, like, just with the word of his mouth, you know, which is just awesome to think about.
[48:08] You know, like, they're as ready as they're going to be, like, all right, God, we're ready. What does it say in Psalms 2? He laughs at them, and he just blows on them, and that's it, and they're done, you know?
[48:19] So, but a lot of people struggle with that, like, how can God do this, you know? Like, how can he pass over people and judge them? Well, I mean, again, it magnifies his justice, it magnifies his holiness, and the only reason you're not on that side of it is because of his grace, and that's it.
[48:40] you're at the throne room of the king. This is a quote from a Baptist pastor named C.D.
[48:52] Mallory in 1842, and talking about how an election can be rightly understood, but he says, is it not a doctrine that strikes human pride and brings the creature low at the footstool of Jehovah?
[49:07] It strips him of all boasting, nourishes a meek and lowly sense of dependence, while still tills the soil with adoring thoughts of his matchless, sovereign, eternal love of God.
[49:23] When the believer reflects that he has been blessed with all spiritual blessings, according to God's eternal purpose, he exclaims, melting into tenderness and grateful affection, as he dwells upon the peculiar mercy which has rescued him from death and gave him a place at the gospel feast.
[49:43] And he exclaims, why me? That's basically where we kind of find ourselves, like how, again, that's the only thing we can really say, we're just sort of stunned that God would actually choose to save us.
[49:57] So, of course, we all know the hymn, Amazing Grace, this is what he's writing about in the hymn, but it's grace that saved us and grace is going to carry us and grace is going to eventually bring us home to the Lord.
[50:16] So, yeah, any other questions? Comments? No, I'd rather not, I'm just kidding.
[50:33] Yeah, it's, so basically like what do our choices and our decisions, like how do they relate? Is that what you're kind of saying? I'm trying to like maybe be more specific.
[50:53] Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[51:03] Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
[51:26] What responsibilities men have in His salvation at all? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it kind of comes in the next few weeks, because, like, we talk about, like, this is what man does in response to these things, you know?
[51:43] And we know that, I mean, a lot of that gets down to what we talk about. I did a little bit two weeks ago. We talk about the will of man and how, yeah, like, we make decisions.
[51:57] We are held accountable for those decisions. You see that everywhere in the Scripture. Like, God holds people accountable for their actions. Like, very clearly. And, but, but basically, maybe this goes back to this question.
[52:14] I think, I think maybe just, shoot, where's my, there it is. I'm trying to get there.
[52:26] Here it is. So, is that sort of the objection? Like, election implies that we're not actually free, but puppets? Okay. Got it.
[52:36] Trying to, like, get my head around the language. Okay. So, that was a big problem I had. Because I was, you know, taught, and I think rightfully so, that for love to truly be love, it has to be freely offered by both parties.
[52:52] Right? The man has to love the woman. The woman has to love the man. And it can't be, like, forced on them. It can't be imposed. And, like, so, I said, I always joke, one of the very few people I respect that were, that are more than the Armenian camp.
[53:13] There's not many, to be honest, to be frank. Like, ones that just go off into great heresies all over the place. But one I do respect would be C.S. Lewis, I guess. And his whole argument, as he saw election as, is taking that away from man.
[53:30] Like, man's actions, man's love is not real if God forces him, if God imposes it on him. And so, therefore, like, this just can't be true, more or less.
[53:41] And to which, I would say to him, if we were just chilling out in Belfast one day, and he said that to me, and I would just say, hey, you know what? I completely agree with you.
[53:52] Like, 100%. You're right. Like, for love to be love, it has to be freely offered by both parties. I agree with you. And then I would say, but the problem is, fallen man has no ability to love God.
[54:10] And he won't love God. Unless God does something to give him that capacity again. And that's what we would call regeneration.
[54:23] Like, that's what we would call being born again. Given a new nature. Ezekiel, Jeremiah. Removing the heart of stone. Replacing it with the heart of flesh.
[54:34] And giving us plenty, putting his spirit within us. And then, our will is set free. And no longer is in bondage to sin.
[54:44] And we can freely love God. Freely worship God. Or freely choose to sin still, as believers. Like in sanctification. And so, our actions are real.
[54:55] We are not like puppets on a string. Like, we believe in providence, not fatalism. Fatalism basically says whatever is, must be.
[55:06] The Stoics, the Greek Stoics, the Norsemen, the Vikings. They all believe in this idea of like fatalism. Like your fate is fixed. You know, kind of idea. But there is no rhyme or reason.
[55:17] There is no point. Providence only implies purpose. Providence implies design. And like, the salvation that we have.
[55:28] Like we will give God, like praise for it one day. Like our love for what he has done for us will be real. You know, it will be a capacity that he has given us.
[55:39] That we didn't have before we were in Christ. And so, and you know, I guess the bottom line is. Like you could, you could look at a million different passages.
[55:50] That just talk about how God does hold us accountable for your actions. You know, and they don't have to be at odds with each other. God's sovereignty and our responsibility. Like God says, choose this day whom you will serve.
[56:03] Right? He says that in Deuteronomy. So our, we are not, yeah, puppets at all. But we need God to set us free if we're going to love and worship him.
[56:15] Um, that's like what I would kind of briefly say to that. You know, that wasn't, wasn't brief. But, I don't know if that was helpful at all.
[56:26] You know. Anything else? Okay.
[56:39] Um, if there was something you wanted to ask, it's not far in our bio. We'll be here. But yeah, next round. We'll talk about the saving work of the sun. All right. Uh, I'm pretty sure it'll be next Sunday.
[56:52] I know there's some stuff going on next Sunday. Is there anything going on here at the building next Sunday? I think Isaac and Savannah have a wedding shower. That's earlier in the day. Um, okay.
[57:03] Yeah, but this gets into, uh, what role did Jesus play in our redemption? But in short, we're trying to say that the Father chose, and the Son died for not every single individual walking the planet, but died for the elect.
[57:22] He died for those that the Father gave him to save. A very, we would call either limited atonement or particular atonement. Like he, um, Jesus died to save his people.
[57:36] And he did. And didn't lose any of them. So that's like what we're kind of going next week. And, uh, so. All right. Um, I'll pray for us.
[57:47] And then, uh, we can break. I'll be where we're at. Um, I'll be where we're at.