This morning we return to our consideration of one of our statements of faith, the Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 16, found on page 77, the top of page 77 in the back of the Psalter Hymnal. Article 16, top of page 77, dealing with eternal election. We want to read together from both Romans 9 and Ephesians chapter 1. Romans 9 verses 6 through 21 and Ephesians 1, the first 14 verses. After giving a beautiful teaching at the end of chapter 8 in Romans of the comfort and security of the believer's salvation, Paul goes on to talk about God's sovereign choice of those who are and will be saved. We pick it up at verse 6. Hear now the word of our God. It is not as though God's word had failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated. At the appointed time, I will return and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, I raise you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me, Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will? But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use. And we turn over to Ephesians chapter 1, the first 14 verses. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the one He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory and you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory there ends the reading of God's word may he add his blessing to it some of you may have noticed already in the uh in the bulletin that uh this morning is part one of this sermon in essence and uh that's why the points on the outline are kind of squeezed together there so don't become too nervous if i don't get to point two and three this morning because i'm not going to lord willing we'll consider those points tonight Now, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, Deuteronomy 29, verse 29 says, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Now, the simple truth is that there are some things, there are many things that God chose not to tell us, things not necessary for us to know in order to be saved. Yet we may be comforted that even those things that are known only to Him, He uses for our good, the good of His people, the good of His church. But there is so much that God has revealed to us. And all of it is profitable for us and our salvation. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. And because all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for us, there is not one part of it that we may take or leave as we see fit. We may not take this little portion and say, well, you know, that really doesn't speak to me, so I'm not going to worry about that. Neither may we take another portion and say, well, that really speaks to me, so I'm going to hold that in greater esteem than the rest of Scripture. All of it is useful for us. And it is all for us. And it is all to be considered by us. Even the difficult parts. Even the parts that are hard for us as finite human beings to understand, to reason, to figure out. And one of those difficult doctrines of Scripture that God has revealed to us, Yet a doctrine that we know causes much controversy and argument, even among Christians, is the doctrine of election. And in a sense, the controversy is really not whether or not the Bible teaches election. It clearly teaches election. The controversy deals with how do we understand it? What does God's Word mean in its teaching of election? Of course, there are some who would say it doesn't teach election, but for the most part, the controversy is not with that. It's how do we understand it? And if we're honest, some of us will admit that when it comes to talking about predestination, election, and reprobation, even though we, by God's grace, are confident of what it is we believe, yet we are intimidated by those, even in the Christian camp, who disagree with us, who don't see it as we see it, who mock and ridicule this teaching and accuse God of being unfair in a sense as Paul dealt with a couple of those questions in Romans chapter 9. And therefore, in those kinds of situations, sometimes it's easy for us to simply not talk about it or to agree to disagree with our Christian brothers and sisters who don't agree with us. But beloved, we may not do that. We cannot, we must not simply agree to disagree and to keep our mouths shut. We must take a stand on the truth of the Word of God. Indeed, we are to speak the truth in love. But we are to speak of it. We are to talk about it. We must never forget that election, we might say, is the central glory of biblical Christianity. And we see that glory as this doctrine of Scripture causes us to direct everything back to the source of our salvation, which is the amazing grace of God, which alone saves us. And it's for that reason studying and teaching the truth of election is not optional for us. As one minister said, if it is important enough for God to tell us about it, it's important enough for us to consider it. Simply said, yet truthfully said. And instead of being critical spectators of God's work of election, as many are asking questions, well, why didn't God this? Why did God that? Why, why, why? God is unfair. Instead, we are called to be humble servants who are taught by Him and respond to this truth with humility, with confidence, with praise. Because indeed, the beginning of our salvation is the truth that God's children are chosen by God. I know that title is familiar to some of you. It's the title of one of Dr. R.C. Sproul's books on this very subject, Predestination and Election, and I commend it to you for your reading. Young people, Brent Cooper has some paperback copies, a number of them ready if you are interested in reading it, and I do commend it to you for that. But as far as the Belgic Confession of Faith, notice the order in which things are dealt with. Just to do a quick recap of where we've been, we first considered the doctrine of God and the articles dealing with His revelation of Himself and with His holy and scripturated Word, with His triune being, with His creation and providence of all things. Then we moved on to a couple of articles dealing with the doctrine of man, including our creation and fall into sin, as well as original sin. You may recall that we considered very pointedly the truth of the matter, that there is none righteous, no, not one, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every single human being, except for our Lord Jesus Christ in His human nature. Apart from Him, every single human being has chosen in Adam to reject God and therefore deserves eternal punishment in the depths of hell. And beloved, that's our starting point for considering eternal election. I say that carefully. It's not the starting point. But as human beings, that's our starting point for considering this. Notice article 16. Follow along if you have your soul to hymnals open. Article 16, eternal election. We believe that all the posterity of Adam being thus fallen into perdition and ruined by the sin of our first parents, God then did manifest Himself such as He is. That is to say, merciful and just. Merciful since He delivers and preserves from this perdition all whom He in His eternal and unchangeable counsel of mere goodness has elected in Christ Jesus our Lord, without any respect to their works, just in leaving others in the fall and perdition wherein they have involved themselves. Now, just as an aside, maybe like me in my younger days, I wonder why are there Scripture references included in the Heidelberg Catechism with each question and answer in the back of the Psalter hymnal, but not with the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort. Unless some should think, well, they were just written by theologically knowledgeable men, and that's about it. That's not true. These are faithful summaries of what we believe Scripture teaches. And we have in the office many, many copies that's been printed with Scripture references included not only with the Catechism, but with the Belgic and the Canons of Dort. And they are available for any of you. If you would like just a paperback copy in the office that you two can study these and study the Scripture references that support them. But again, as far as the Belgic Confession of Faith goes, this article, 16, now makes that transition from the doctrine of man and our depths of depravity to the doctrine of Jesus Christ and the articles dealing with His salvation and the restoring of His people back to the height of glory from which Adam fell. You see, for us, understanding God's electing mercy and grace and the beauty of that election begins with understanding the truth of ourselves in sin. That's where our understanding begins as finite human beings. Unfortunately, that's also where much, if not all, of the controversy comes in with regard to this doctrine. even among believers. Because so many want to say, well, the foundation of God's election is not God's mercy and justice, but it's our worthiness. And in essence, we can summarize how the Bible answers that with one small word. Not. Not. Not true. But we can only understand God's manifestation of Himself as either merciful or just as we understand our desperate need. If we don't understand that desperate need by the illuminating power of the Spirit, we cannot, we will not understand the doctrine of election. Only one who has been born again by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit can truly sing, I sought the Lord and afterward I knew. He moved my soul to seek Him seeking me. It was not I that found, O Savior, true. No, I was found of Thee. Thou, dear Lord, took hold on me. Thou wert long beforehand with my soul. That's my comfort as a believer because that's the revealed truth of election as our God reveals it in Scripture. Again, even though our starting point for understanding election is to first understand our sin and misery, God's starting point is eternity past. I don't like to say eternity past. Something doesn't seem right about that, but you get the idea from way back from eternity. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, For he that is God chose us in him, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in his sight. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says, But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, Because from the beginning, God chose you. Why? To be saved. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9 speaks of God who has saved us and called us to a holy life. Not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace, Paul goes on, was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. Before God created the heavens and the earth. Before the human race plunged itself through Adam into sin. sin which utterly hates God and deserves the just wrath and punishment of God for all eternity. Before that, God, knowing all of this, which is also a mystery to us, chose to intervene, to work powerfully in the hearts of some that they might believe in Him. That's the merciful part of Article 16. He predestined some to salvation. That is, He determined that the final destinies of some who deserve hell, but He determined that the final destinies of some would be with Him in the eternal glory of heaven. But the Bible also teaches what we call in theological language, double predestination. That God also determined that He would not intervene, that He would not work in the hearts of others. But in His justice, He would pass over them and leave them untouched in their sin and miserable condition. This is called reprobation, boys and girls, to be passed over. The Bible clearly teaches this as well. Paul clearly teaches in Romans 9 that God chose Jacob to receive His blessing, but not Esau. Jacob, I have loved, but Esau, I hated. And 1 Peter 2, verse 8 says, They, speaking of unbelievers, stumbled because they disobeyed the message, which is also what they were destined for. God chose Israel in the Old Testament out of all the nations of the earth to build them up as a nation, as His showcase to the nations. Not because of anything they had done, not because they were worthy or deserved it. Read the Old Testament. You see over and over again how they showed over and over again how they were unworthy. God chose them, out of all the nations of the earth, to be a showcase to the nations and as well through the nation of Israel to bring forth our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of spiritual Israel, those who would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God is a just and holy God, and the sin that is committed against Him must be paid for either by ourselves or by another. Again, this is where part of the controversy comes in. How can this be? How can God send some to hell? It simply isn't fair. It certainly isn't loving. It's unjust, as some would have said as Paul was anticipating that question. But again, when one is born again and truly understands their sin and misery and how they have offended and hated God, then they also understand that they too do deserve to be cast away from God's presence forever. And they understand that what's really not fair is that they are saved, that anyone is saved. If you want to talk about being fair, then what would be fair is for each and every one of us to go to and suffer in hell for all eternity. And God would have been perfectly just if He would have let that happen. He would have wronged no one. he didn't make anyone an unbeliever he didn't cause us to sin man did that all by himself God doesn't owe anyone any mercy but he has chosen to mercifully intervene and rescue some from hell and for Jesus' sake to bring them to faith and glory but this controversy again has that other side I think that larger side we might say as well. Many believe that the Bible teaches election because, again, it's hard to read it and say, well, it doesn't because it's very clear. But they twist the truth around and put the power in the hands of men. A dangerous place. Arminianism, we know, comes in different shapes and sizes, but with regard to election, Arminius and his followers made it clear, and you can read this, made it clear that to summarize, in one sentence they're teaching, God chooses those who choose Him first. And right away, even the boys and girls here know that that doesn't make sense. It conflicts with what the Bible teaches, because John says we love because He first loved us. Arminianism says that when Paul says in Romans 8, 29, For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. That that means that God knew beforehand who would hear the gospel message and of their own free will they would believe it and put their trust in Jesus. And therefore those are the ones God chose or elected. But if we think this through a little bit, not only does it conflict with Scripture, but there are some practical implications of that. If that was the case, then Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, would contradict what he said in other places under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Again, Ephesians 1, verse 4, For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. God did not choose us because we were holy and blameless in His sight or because we could make ourselves holy and blameless in His sight, but to be that, to become that in His sight by the regenerating power of His Spirit. God foreknew and loved those whom He in His sovereign mercy and grace, whom He would change and rescue them from the sin and misery into which they had willingly fallen. And think about this, if God did look down through history and choose some based on their choice. What would he see? Whom would he choose? Again, even some of our boys and girls would say quickly, well, there would be no one. There would be no one to choose. Because all he would see by nature is that by nature, all that he would see is that by nature that all men, women, and children love the lie instead of the truth. All he would see is those who hate him. As R.C. Sproul said to a college professor, I heard him say this on his radio program about 70 years ago and read it in one of his books. I think I've mentioned it here before too, but he was being challenged by this professor as to how he could even consider a God who would provide only one way of salvation And in response to that, he said the question is not why didn't God provide 5 or 10 or 15 ways to be saved? But why did He even bother to provide one? And what a way of salvation that is to which we as believers have been chosen. Nothing in my hands I bring. And beloved, as we engage in that examination, and the power of the Holy Spirit to prepare to come to the Lord's table, that too must be our rightful conclusion, right? Nothing in my hands I bring. The table teaches us that. It's all of our Lord Jesus Christ. What He has done, what He will do. There are some details of God's election revealed in Scripture that we want to take notice of. First of all, the author of election is none other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, as Paul says in verse 5, picking up from verse 4, in love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will. This God who is sovereign over all things, who answers to no one and depends upon no one, He alone has decreed what He would do with His creation and with fallen man. Verse 11, Ephesians 1 says, In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. And praise God that His will included choosing some without any respect to their own works, as Article 16 rightly says. In other words, unconditionally elected them to bring them to salvation. Paul says, for He chose us. Well, who's the us? In verse 1, he says, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. God chose believers. Now, have we contradicted everything else we've said? No. Not those who already believe, because Paul makes it clear in chapter 2, that we were dead in transgressions and sins, and He made us alive with Christ. We've already said God chose those to whom He would give new life. Again, it's only when we have been born again and given the new light to see things clearly, to go back then to study Scripture, to see the order of events. And who did them? It's God's work. Reverend Hyde, in a series of articles in the Belgic Confession and the Outlook, says it beautifully. He says, There is nothing so amazing than election. It reveals just how big our God truly is and just how small we really are. It is beyond our thought and reasoning as to why God has chosen any, including me and you. Before they had done either good or bad, God chose Jacob and not Esau. He has chosen us without sight of our works, so that it is freely of grace, but also in full view of our wickedness, so that it would be doubly gracious. Have you thought about that before? in full view of our wickedness. You see, we make choices, don't we, based on what is profitable for us, that which will benefit us, even boys and girls with regard to what you eat. You choose the things that are going to tickle your tongue, the things that taste good. You don't choose things that don't taste good. We choose friends based on what we think they can do for us oftentimes. Our choices are based on that. What's profitable? What's beneficial? But God's choice of us is in spite of our complete wickedness apart from Jesus Christ. There was no benefit in us. In no way could we be profitable to Him. And that's why, again, it's in full view of our wickedness, which is humbling, so that it would be doubly gracious. That's the beauty and the comfort of election. And we cannot say it enough. It's not because of our faith or good works. Again, Paul in Romans 9, 11, 12, and 16 says, Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by Him who calls. And verse 16, It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. Not because of our faith or our good works, but it's in spite of ourselves and our sin that God chose us. His election is not based on our faith, but it results in our faith by God's grace. Our election. And don't forget, only those who are saved are elect. And the elect are, and every one of them will be saved. Our election is only of God's grace. Paul makes that clear in every place he talks about election. And because election is the gracious and eternal work of our sovereign God, it is also changeless. Psalm 119 verse 89 says, Your word, O Lord, is eternal. It stands firm in the heavens. And the psalmist in Psalm 33 verse 11 says, But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever. The purposes of His heart through all generations. And that means those whom God has chosen to be holy and blameless, each one will become holy and blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit. Those whom God has chosen to be saved, according to 2 Thessalonians 2, will be saved. Romans 8, verses 33-39, we know is a most comforting portion of Scripture outlining the eternal security of those chosen by God. If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall separate us from the love of God? We are more than conquerors through Him. Beloved, the fruit of election is salvation with all of its benefits. And that's because of the foundation of election, Jesus Christ Himself. Paul says we have been chosen in Him, in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not that Jesus Christ earned our election. That was determined by the Father. But He earned the salvation. He earned the forgiveness of sins. He earned the justification of all those whom God has elected to save in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Election is the root of all of the blessings of salvation given to us in Christ Jesus. Election is unto salvation. And there is no salvation apart from Christ. And therefore, God has elected some in Jesus Christ, in the One who would stand in our place, in the One who would make us righteous in God's sight, in the One who has been raised back to life as the firstfruits of all those given to Him by the Father, in the One in whose likeness we shall be made. Beloved, as we engage in that task of examination, in many respects the result ought to be as well Father, we are more confident, humbly confident, of being elect children of God. And just as Christ's work is perfect and guaranteed, so is the application of His work. So much so that Paul could say, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Not one of those whom God has chosen from before the creation of the world will be left behind. Not one. Jesus said all that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. God's revealed truth of election is that He has chosen some to receive from His hand the mercy and grace of His salvation in Christ Jesus not because of anything they have done, could do or would do but in spite of their sinful rejection of Him. He chose to deliver some from the hell they deserve and others He chose to leave headed for the hell they deserve. We don't know exactly why He chose to save those He did and not the others. We don't know. We do know that it wasn't arbitrary. Boys and girls, He didn't just say, eeny, meeny, miny, moe, I'll take you and you and you and you and you. He didn't just pull some names out of a hat. We can be confident of that because Scripture teaches us that God has a purpose for all that He does. But whom He chose is a part of the secret things that belong alone to Him. We do know that all of His work, even election and reprobation, is done to the praise of His glory, as Scripture says. And the glory of His justice is seen that no one can sin and offend God and get by with it. Not one will sneak into heaven that God was not planning on. And the glory of His mercy is seen in that He has rescued some out of all those who were not able to rescue themselves. And we are called to adore Him for His sovereign mercy and grace. And if you can do that, that's a sign of being elect. We are to be and we can be conscious of our election as we hope to consider a bit tonight. After all, Scripture says, Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. That doesn't mean that we make election happen. But it means that by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, we are to make certain that God's calling and election of me are real. How can you know if you are elect? The Bible says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Do you believe that for the sake of Jesus, all of your sins are forgiven and you have been made right with God? If so, then you can say in confidence, I'm saved. I'm saved. And if you can say that, then you can also say in confidence, I am an elect child of God. You can say that because indeed, the Bible teaches that all who are elect are and will be saved and all who are saved are elect. The number in the end will be the same. How comforting it is to know that God thought of me long ago. We'll talk more tonight, the Lord willing, about the comfort we experience from election, which is indeed so wonderful, and as well, the faithful response of the elect. But may we leave here this morning, beloved, with the comfort of being chosen by God. May we leave here this morning praising and adoring Him for transforming our hearts and lives to know our sin and misery and to look to the only Savior, Jesus Christ, and to desire to live for and to please Him. The writer of Ecclesiastes said, Everything is meaningless, and apart from God's electing grace, that is true. But for those chosen by God and redeemed by Christ, all of life has meaning, and every detail of our lives is affected by God's electing grace. We are called to show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. All of this life that we enjoy, which we don't deserve, is to be lived to the glory and praise of His name. Even the bad and the difficult and the sad things of life. It's interesting, isn't it, that when there is a tragedy that comes upon an individual or a family or a nation, invariably there is someone who will say, they didn't deserve that. Why did that happen? I had people say that to me when I was diagnosed with cancer. You don't deserve that. When a family loses a young husband and father or a young wife and mother, others will say, well, what did they do? They don't deserve that. When 200,000 plus are killed, put to death because of an earthquake and a tsunami wave, they didn't deserve that. Beloved, the truth is we deserve hardships, pain, and toil. That's all we deserve in and of ourselves. We don't deserve that things should go well for us. Considering that, how much do we have to be thankful for? And may our lives be lives of thanksgiving and praise to God that He hasn't left us like some in the fall and perdition into which we had cast ourselves, but that He chose to save us completely. And may it be our desire that He would deliver so many more before our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Tonight we'll talk a little bit about the effect of election with regard to missions and evangelism. But may we leave this morning, beloved, knowing as we sang, This heart would still refuse thee hadst thou not chosen me, but instead thou from the sin that stained me hast cleansed and set me free. Of old thou hast ordained me that I should live to thee. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, as we come before You, we come before You with humble hearts once again, yet grateful hearts, as we consider the true teaching of Your Word with regard to this difficult doctrine, yet a most comforting doctrine. For we have to confess, Lord, that if any little part of our salvation were left up to us, Even the thought of you, that we would only mess it up. For you are sovereign, O Lord. We thank you and praise you for your electing mercy. We pray, Father, that you would continue to work powerfully in the hearts and lives of all of your elect children. Those who have been born, those yet to be born. That you would continue to prepare your church for the day of Christ Jesus. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in His name alone. Amen.