GOD IN SOVEREIGNTY SAVES THE ELECT PART 2

One of the sovereign works of God is that of election. That is to say that God in eternity past chose some people for salvation. And this is not based on any goodness of the individual but on the grace and mercy of God. Paul Enns gives an excellent definition of election when he says:

What is election? Election may be defined as “that eternal act of God whereby He, in His sovereign good pleasure, and on account of no foreseen merit in them, chooses a certain number of men to be the recipients of special grace and of eternal salvation.” One of the principal passages concerning election is Ephesians 1:4 in the statement “He chose us.” The verb chose is the Greek eklego, which means “to call out” from among the people. The word means that God selected some individuals from out of the masses. Moreover, the word is always used in the middle voice meaning God chose for Himself. This describes the purpose of the choosing—God chose believers to be in fellowship with Him and to reflect His grace through their living a redeemed life.  

The question concerning election is not whether one understands it but whether the Bible teaches it. If indeed the Bible teaches election (or any other doctrine), then one is obligated to believe it. The doctrine of election includes a number of areas: Israel is elect (Deut. 7:6); angels are elect (1 Tim. 5:21); the Levitical priests were elect (Deut. 18:5); Jeremiah the prophet was elect (Jer. 1:5); and believers are elect (Eph. 1:4).

It is imperative before we move on to answer the question why does God elect, why does he chose some? The Bible gives several answers to this important question. The first is that it for His own good pleasure (Ephesians 1:5), Paul explains that the reason God predestines us was… “according to the good pleasure of his will”. The second reason we see from the Bible as to why God elects is so as to display his glory (Isaiah 43:7) 

The other reason as to why God elects is His foreknowledge Romans 8:29 says:  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

What is the point of all this you ask? God does what He pleases, when he pleases, how he pleases and to whom he pleases. He has the right and power to do what he pleases for his own glory! Hence God chose to elect some to salvation. He planned salvation Therefore when the second member of the God- Jesus Christ came on earth to die for sinners and pay the penalty of sin. He came to carry out the work of salvation.

The work of salvation that God the father had planned. That is that those whom he chose (election) should come to salvation.  This is what Christ is talking about in His priestly prayer in John 17. Several times in the chapter he says God has given him a group of people and has done all the work i.e. given them eternal life (v3), taught them the truth (v 6) etc. The logical flow is obvious God the father chose some for salvation and planned the work of salvation. God the son came to die for those whom the father chose and carried out the work of salvation. John Piper summarizes this point quit well in his book Does God desire all men to be saved when he says:

Christ's atonement is not performed in abstraction, but is performed in accordance with the purpose of the Father and is performed in relation to specific people whom God has purposed to be saved.  Like Paul, each Christian is brought to the amazing realization that the Son of God... loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (Gal 2:20)  It is by saving particular sinners that God saves the world. By sovereign grace, the Lord makes Himself our God and we come to know Him personally, intimately, particularly.

This then leads us to the third person of the Godhead and His role in the plan of salvation. The Holy Spirit through the word of God convicts and regenerates the elect to salvation. He is the one who draws men and seals them and God gives him as a seal or pledge of our salvation. William Evans makes this same point when he says:

The Holy Spirit is the one who seals the work of salvation and completes the work of salvation in the elect. The Holy Spirit seals, attests, and confirms the work of grace in the soul by producing the fruits of righteousness therein. It is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus who gives us freedom from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). He is called the Holy Spirit, not only because He is absolutely holy Himself, but also because he produces that quality of soul-character in the believer. The Spirit is the executive of the God-head for this very purpose. It is the Spirit's work to war against the lusts of the flesh and enable us to bring forth fruit unto holiness (Gal. 5:17-22).

We have established that God is sovereign and in his sovereign wisdom he elects some people to salvation for his own good pleasure and for his own glory. We have further established that salvation is the work of the triune God. The father planned, the son carries out and accomplishes the plan of salvation and the Holy Spirit seals and implements the plan of salvation. David and Paul Gibson writing in the great work “From He came and sought her” explain that:

The doctrine of definite atonement states that, in the death of Jesus Christ, the triune God intended to achieve the redemption of every person given to the Son by the Father in eternity past, and to apply the accomplishments of his sacrifice to each of them by the Spirit. The death of Christ was intended to win the salvation of God’s people alone.

GOD IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY SAVES THE ELECT

I recently had to write a research paper on the extent of the atonement for my class. So i thought i should edit it and share it here in parts. So this is the first part.

PART ONE

When discussing the extent of the atonement where you begin from is of great essence. It is therefore very important that you deal with the atonement in the entire scope of the scriptures and the entire framework of the doctrines it espouses. No single doctrine should be viewed and treated in isolation. When discussing the atonement we cannot afford not to begin from the author of salvation.

It is for this reason that a discussion of Theology Proper is inevitable before you actually get to the atonement. This is so because understanding the nature and character of God will explain the nature of salvation, that He is able to work out and how he does it. For instance it is important to know that he is a loving, gracious, merciful, holy, righteous God etc.

One attribute I want to focus on is that of the sovereignty of God. Salvation is an act of a sovereign God and that has colossal implications on the entire work of salvation including the atonement and its extent. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign. He is in total control of all that happens in the entire universe and ordains everything that comes to pass. The best passage that explains the sovereignty of God is Daniel 4: 34- 35 where we find the words of Nebuchadnezzar who confesses by saying:

“At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven  and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is about the kingship of God. Nebuchadnezzar said, “His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation” (Daniel 4:34).  It is about the reign of God, hence sovereignty of God (1 Timothy 6:15).  Just as a king rules his subjects, so also God is in total control of the whole universe forever.  He planned its details (divine decree) and he carries out those plans (divine providence).

You have not truly acknowledged divine sovereignty until you contrast it with human sovereignty.  Nebuchadnezzar said, “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing” (Daniel 4:35).  This is what Job had to learn the hard way (Job 38).  This is what the Israelites needed to know for their comfort while in captivity (Isaiah 40:1-31).  God’s rule includes control over even human affairs.  We are as clay in the hands of a potter.  God’s sovereignty leaves us in the dust.  It is totally incomparable to any other authority!

The sovereignty of God, when properly understood, must include the concept of total or absolute power.  Nebuchadnezzar said, “He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth”.  It includes the fact that God had no advisor in his planning, needs no helper in carrying out his plans, and makes no external considerations in the final fulfillment of those plans (Romans 11:33-36).  Hence, all things are to God’s glory alone.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect to accept about the sovereignty of God is that it is totally irresistible.  Nebuchadnezzar said, “No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35).  This is a constant theme in Scripture (Job 23:13-17, Isaiah 14:24-27).  This is true religion as was portrayed by old Eli (1 Samuel 3:18) and learnt by Job (Job 42:2).  When people think they have successfully opposed God’s revealed will, all they have done is fulfill his secret will (Acts 4:28).

A.W. Pink rightly summarizes the sovereignty of God in his classical book the Attributes of God when he says:

He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him. So His own Word expressly declares: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isa. 46:10); "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand" (Dan. 4:35). Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things "after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11).

God as supreme king does what he pleases, how he pleases, where he pleases and when he pleases. He has planned salvation, worked out the means of salvation and determined the methods of salvation and equally determines the recipients of salvation.  

YOU PHARISEE AND LEGALISTIC!!!

We are living in a time of name calling and classification our society has come up with plenty.  And the problem is these classifications are constantly thrown out at people unnecessarily. There is no room for debate these days, if a person is against homosexuality they call it homophobia if they have a particular position on women they are called sexist or fascists, if they believe in corporal punishment they are considered child abusers, disagreeing with a disabled or under privileged is called discrimination, calling people false teachers is called judging and in the same vein holding a standard is called legalism or pharisaic. It happens theologically, politically, socially and religiously. People cannot argue logically these days without being called a name!

Now I am not any way saying we do not have racists, sexists, child abusers etc. My point is simply that people use these as a way of avoiding truth. So just because a person has a position on music for instance does not make them pharisaic. Simply put a legalistic is one who believes and teaches that works will gain you salvation. So legalism is generally connected with salvation. In other words legalism is heresy that leads to hell! The word Pharisee means separate one and it is important to note that they had righteous and noble roots. They up held the word of God. However they slowly drifted from upholding the law that they became a law in themselves.

In Matthew 23 Jesus brings out the major problems with the Pharisees when he gives seven woes to them. And the issues he raises are quite instructive for us. To begin with they failed to recognize Jesus as the messiah hence hindering kingdom seekers (v13). The second problem was that they were full of pretense (v14). Their message and actions did not line up. Furthermore they were zealous but did a lot of damage in other words instead of making Disciples of Christ they reproduced themselves v 15. Their main concern was people conforming to their standards and teaching. The other problem was that they missed the main (central) things and focused on the secondary-misplaced priorities (23-24). They emphasized tradition over text (25-28). They were more concerned with keeping what they historically believed and how they had done things than with what the bible actually said.

Pharisaic behavior is a really danger for any believer. It is therefore very important to guard against its spirit at all cost. We should not try to be more spiritual than God is! There clear matters of doctrine that we should die for and there are matters of in different and we should Paul’s instructions in Romans 14. But whatever you do always remember, Christianity is not about everyone having the same haircut, wearing the same clothes, listening to the same music, playing and watching the same games or buying the same things. So do not demand others to keep and follow your standards!

Layton Talbert in his article published in Front-line magazine in 1999 gives five helpful suggestions to help us from having a Pharisaic attitude and behavior and I would like to end with them.

1. Maintain a tough Biblical evaluation of yourself and your motives in all things.

2. Maintain a charitable Biblical evaluation of others and their motives.

3. Guard against a self-righteous attitude and a hypocritical observance.

4. Guard against a preoccupation with externals over or at the expense of internals.

5. Maintain the distinction between applications/interpretations and the changeless truth upon which they are based, that is, between Tradition and Text.

EVOLUTION IS A RELIGION

The creation versus evolution debate has raged for years now. And there is no doubt it will continue on for many more to come. And for most it is an issue of science versus religion or science versus the bible. Creation vs. Evolution is a more accurate statement, the battle is far from being one between religion and science, but as I will seek to prove this is a battle between two religious systems.

The creation vs. evolution debate is a question of origins. How did we get here? Were we created or did we evolve randomly? Are we the product of purposeful intelligence or are we merely the end result of countless cosmic accidents? Everyone has their own opinion. The question is what is the basis for that opinion? The truth of the matter is no one was there to test and observe the origin of the universe to provide conclusive evidence. All religious systems have presuppositions where they start from.

What is religion?

The concise oxford dictionary defines religion as “a belief in a superhuman controlling power, especially a God or gods” “a particular system of faith and worship” or “a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion”. (Concise oxford English dictionary 11^th edition). These two definitions are quite instructive for our understanding of what a religion consist of.  Anything that a person pursues with great interest and undeterred devotion is his religion. Furthermore any system that has a set of faith that they adhere to and strongly hold to makes a religion. If one was to judge based on these three definitions then both Christianity and evolution qualify to be religions with one major exception, the belief in the existence of God. In other words the two systems are religions with opposing beliefs. Namely Christianity believes in God while evolution rejects the idea of God. This invariably affects what they believe about origins. Whereas Christianity believes in God as the supreme creator, evolution believes everything was an act of chance. Logical or not one thing is clear the two systems are religions.

The religion of evolution strongly proclaims that our universe, though majesty in beauty, enormous in size, sophisticated to fully comprehend, organized and orderly in operation and glorious in design, was an act of chance, a big bang or explosion, a freak accident. The light nature teaches that explosion do not bring about design. Explosion or big bangs always destroy!

They further preach that these explosions happened millions or billions of years ago, but somehow whatever exploded existed before. Now the laws of nature teach us that nothing happens without a cause, hence the law of cause and effect. Living things produce living things nothing produces exactly that, nothing.

Is the debate between religion and science? Is the issue biblical truth versus scientific evidence? Is the argument between faith and reason? The answer is no to all the questions. This has never been a scientific issue necessarily. This debate is not about fundamental religious fanatics holding on to their beliefs despite the obvious and overwhelming scientific evidence. This debate is and has always been between two conflicting religious systems that hold on to their beliefs with unwavering faith.

The therefore is which religion makes sense? Which religion is logical? And which religion requires a lot of faith? 

WHY I HAVE NO APOLOGIES FOR DESIRING MARRIAGE

My wedding is coming up in the next 59 days! And of course I am excited and the countdown is well and truly under way. As you would expect a lot of people have been giving us a lot of advice and offering their opinions. Some of the things being said are very insightful, helpful and biblical; however, we have also got some weird ones. But the comments that have really disturbed me have come from youths and the single. Their line of reasoning has been you are young and have a lot of ahead of you. Why commit yourself for the rest of your life? And the comments go on, almost making one feel ashamed. I however, disagree and have no apologies for desiring marriage and I have 5 reasons to give!

It is not good for man to be alone. Throughout the six days of creation, when God finished creating on each day he concluded by saying it was good and everything God created was good. However in Genesis 2:18 God looked at Adam alone with animals and he says IT IS NOT GOOD FOR MAN TO BE ALONE. And the all wise God decided to create a woman to be a helper suitable to the man. Surely if the Lord says it is not God for man to be alone, who are you O man to question the creator?

Not only did God create a woman to be a companion to the man He further ordained marriage. Later on in chapter 2:24-25 God then says a man shall leave his parents and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one. Marriage was not a man’s invention, it was the all wise creator who ordained it and blessed it.

Marriage is also a glorious picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. It is no wonder Paul in Ephesians 5:22-33 commands husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the church and the wife to submit to their husbands the way the church. Marriage is a picture of Christ’s relationship with the church. It is that glorious!

Marriage is the only biblical platform for reproduction. One of the commands God gave man is to be fruitful and multiply. The only biblical platform or avenue for reproduction is marriage. Part of the reason we have an increase in teenage parents is a failure to acknowledge and respect God’s ordained means of being fruitful and multiplying.

Companionship is of great value. We all crave companionship even those who despise marriage. No man is an Island they say and two are better than one Solomon says. It seems to me that a lot of people want the privileges of companionship but not the responsibility of the same.

Now I am not in any way saying everyone should be married and neither am I saying it is sin to be single. It is wrong for those marrying or married to impose on those who are not, but the opposite is also true. Those who are single and do not desire marriage should not look down on those who desire marriage. A number of young people have a negative attitude towards marriage and they may have their reasons (i.e. lack of good examples, what the married say about marriage, letting the world dictate our way of life) and some genuine concerns, however that should not mean they throw the baby with the bathing water and do away with a God ordained institution. It is for these reasons that i desire and plan to get married and i am not ashamed of it!