Our scripture reading tonight is from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, the first chapter beginning at verse 3. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning at verse 3. Let us hear God's own word. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. For this reason, because I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So far the reading of God's Word. Well, we've been looking together at the Canons of Dort, part of our celebration of the 400th anniversary of the meeting of the Synod of Dort. And we've been looking at the way in which the Synod of Dort in its canons not only taught the doctrine of election, which is what the first head of doctrine is about, But we've been looking at the order of teaching that they offer to us. The canons might have begun with Article 7 that we're going to look at tonight. Because Article 7 really is the definition of election. In each of the heads of doctrine in the canons of Dort, there's one article that is a sort of summary and defining article. And the whole rest of the head of doctrine kind of revolves around that one article. And here in the first head of doctrine, it's Article 7 that provides the summary, provides the definition of election. And since that is true, it might have been easy just to begin with Article 7. Go straight to the definition. But the fathers at Dort were wise, as I hope we've seen so far, by saying to us, We need to prepare our minds to understand the biblical teaching of election, and we do that by seeing how God works to bring us to an understanding of election. And so we've had several sermons looking at Articles 1 through 6, and seeing how those articles prepare us to hear Article 7. As I'm sure you all remember perfectly, Article 1 is about our lost state in sin. Article 2 is about God's mercy in giving us a Savior. Article 3 is that God not only gives us a Savior, but He gives us preachers who go out with the good news to call us to faith and repentance. Article 4 is how some people reject the gospel and remain guilty. but that all those who believe are delivered from their sin. Article 5 says that the cause of unbelief is in the unbeliever, but the cause of faith is a gift of God. And then Article 6 says, The gift of faith is given by God to those whom he chose. And you see how wonderfully these steps of articles in teaching this doctrine take us from our need to God's gift, and then to the question, why does the gift of God come to some? And the answer is, because of his purpose. So that's what we find then in Article 7, a summary of God's purpose. And it seems to be the focus there in Article 7 is in that very first sentence where we read, election is the immutable purpose of God by which he chose to salvation. That's the great focus of the doctrine of election, God's choosing to salvation. We must never lose sight of that. Election must never become an abstract doctrine, a speculative doctrine, just an intellectual exercise. Election is integrally tied into what we think about salvation. Where does salvation come from? Why do we have it? And the answer of Article 7 is because God chose us. That's why we have it. That's how it comes to us. God acts to save, and God acts according to his purpose to save. That's what Article 7 is really saying to us at the very heart of it. And you see, one might almost accuse, we would never do this, but we might almost accuse the fathers at Dort of plagiarism. Because almost everything in Article 7 is found in Chapter 1 of Ephesians. But actually, when Christians quote the Bible, that's not plagiarism. It's a good thing to shape our words, our thought, our language by the Word of God. And that's what we find here. Most of the phrases in Article 7 are phrases taken out of the Scripture. Most of them taken out of Ephesians chapter 1. As I've said before, the aim of the Reformed were never to be novel, never to be inventive, never to be creative. And that's a good thing, because we're not very good at that. The aim of the Reformed was always to be biblical, to stick with the Bible, to stick with what the Bible says. It's not us that, in the first place, talk about election and predestination. It's Paul and other Bible writers who talk about predestination. There it is in Ephesians chapter 1. And the marvelous way in which Paul puts it, verses 3 and 4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. What are the spiritual blessings that we enjoy? Well, one of them is that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be his. And the great spiritual point of this is that we should have certainty of our salvation. You notice that first sentence there in Article 7, how it's put? Election is the immutable purpose of God. Now, immutable is not a word we use every day. So maybe we're not all exactly clear about what immutable means. It means unchanging and unchangeable. God has a purpose that cannot be changed. It is certain. That's the point the canons are making. It's the point that the scriptures make over and over again. Election is the immutable purpose of God by which he chose to salvation in Christ from the whole human race, a fixed multitude. A fixed multitude. That's an unchanging multitude. We could have read election is the unchanging purpose of God to choose an unchanging multitude. But they wanted a little linguistic diversity. But the point remains the same. This is certain. The purpose is certain. The people are certain. God is certainly going to accomplish a certain purpose. Is that clear? It's certain. And the wonderful thing about the certainty of God is it's good it means we're secure it means we're certain we've been praying over these many weeks now for Jean Feld who lies in a bed and has hardly any awareness of what is going on around her her mind is really almost entirely gone which means she doesn't remember us and she doesn't remember God. Well, if she can't remember God, is she still connected to God? Is her salvation still secure? And the glorious truth is absolutely. Because even if our minds fail us, God's mind does not fail Him. Even if our bodies fail us, His purpose does not fail. This is why this doctrine is so important, to bring us comfort that we are secure in the hand of God. That's the whole purpose of this doctrine. And through the ages, we've seen there are sometimes dangers associated with this doctrine. And the danger associated with this doctrine is we get distracted from the wonderful certainty and comfort that it brings to us to what theologians have called curiosity. In theological terms, curiosity is a bad thing. The theologians used to refer to it as vain curiosity. Now we know there are places where curiosity is a good thing. School is a place where curiosity is a good thing. We want students to be curious. We want to encourage them to learn all that can be learned. And in that process, curiosity can be a really good thing. curiosity that learns what can and should be learned is good the vain curiosity, the empty curiosity, the dangerous curiosity is the curiosity that wants to learn things that cannot be learned and should not be learned we cannot learn all about the mind of God We cannot learn all about what goes on in his mind. It's infinite and beyond our comprehension. And what we can know is what he has revealed to us. And to try to go on beyond what he has revealed to us is to fall into the sin of curiosity. Not to be content with what he's told us and want to be speculative beyond it, is sinful. It's so true that there's a proverb that you probably never thought of as a theological proverb. The proverb is, curiosity killed the cat. Now, we don't think of cats as great theologians, but it's a perfect proverb. Cats sometimes stick their noses where they shouldn't be to do things they shouldn't do, and they get in trouble doing that. And that's exactly what the theologians worried about. That we would get distracted into questions about election that God hasn't answered for us. And that we don't need answers to. And that we would fail to receive as the blessing, which Paul calls election, of the certainty and the security and the comfort and the confidence that is worked in us by the doctrine of election. And so we want to try to look at that certainty in three relatively brief points as they're presented to us here in Article 7. And the first point is that we have certainty from God in the doctrine of the lecture. We have certainty that comes from God. That's where this article starts. We have certainty in the purpose of God. We have certainty in the purpose of God. God has a purpose. God has a plan. He has a purpose that he will fulfill. That purpose is good for us, and he means to do it, and he will do it, And it can't be changed. And that's exactly what Paul says in Ephesians 1, isn't it? Ephesians 1, verse 5. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. There it is. This isn't something Dort invented. This is simply what Paul says. God has a purpose. His purpose is to save us according to his plan. And he will do it. We're down at verse 9. Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ. There may be a mystery to God's will, but that will has a purpose. And the purpose that He wants us to know about, He tells us about. Namely, He will save us in Jesus. God has a purpose. And His purpose is to save a number of people. We see that as well, don't we? By which he chose to salvation a fixed multitude of particular persons. If you're taking notes, add an S there. Of particular persons. A multitude of particular persons. Now the first thing to note here, I think, that's very important is the number of saved will be a multitude. Somehow the idea has gotten out in certain circles that Calvinists believe only a tiny number of people will be saved. I don't know where anybody ever got that idea. No Calvinist has ever said that. The promise of Jesus is that multitudes will be saved, like the stars of the heavens. And the canons of Dort say that clearly. It's a multitude that will be saved. Somehow, Calvinism has been misrepresented it as if it's a narrow, constricted, limited notion. And even worse, the notion sometimes gets out that there are many people who want to be saved, but God says no. Let me say to you, everyone who wants to be saved will be saved, because the desire to be saved is a gift of God. If you really want to be saved, if you really turn to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance, you will be saved. That's what the scripture says. that's what our Reformed heritage has ever taught. And it's particular persons. Now I thought of an illustration. I wouldn't dare use this illustration if my children were here because they'd laugh. But this is the illustration. If I were to go to the store to buy 20 nails, and that's where they'd laugh because I would never go to the store to buy 20 nails. But let's just say for purposes of discussion, I were to go to the store to buy 20 nails. I really don't care which 20 nails I get, right? Any straight nails of the right size will do. I always get nails that are too big and split the wood. But anyway, that's another whole problem. Any 20 nails will do. Well, for God, not any multitude will do. For God, not any multitude will do. He has chosen a multitude, but it's a multitude of particular persons whose names he knows. That's really important. From all eternity, if you're a believer, God knew you and your name. He didn't just want a multitude to fill up the seats in heaven. He wanted you to be one of the people in the seats in heaven. He knows us by name. You remember in Romans 9, he says, Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. It's people by name. The prophet Isaiah put it beautifully, didn't he? Isaiah 59, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. I always think about that when I think of the crucifixion of Jesus. As he hung there, our names were on his hands, in his mind. Can you really grasp that? As he hung on the cross, your name was in his mind. If you're a believer, that's the glory of what's being said here. God has a certain purpose. He has a certain number. And He did this all in eternity. Ephesians 4 says, Even as He chose us in Him, when? Before the foundation of the world. Before there was any world. Before there were any people. God chose His own. To be His. To place His love on them. This is important because God's plan is not a plan that keeps changing and being adapted in history. God is not the divine quarterback who is constantly adapting to the history around him as it plays out. I've been told there's a sport in which there are quarterbacks. I know little of that sport myself, but enough for that illusion. God doesn't duck and weave. God doesn't move in and out. God knew from eternity what he was doing, and he's doing it because we were known in eternity. We're here tonight. What a marvelous thing. What an amazing thing. But that's the promise of Scripture, and that's what's being said here in the seventh article of the first head of doctrine. And God did it in freedom, the canon said. He wasn't compelled to pick you or me. Nothing outside himself determined what he did. God is sovereign in election. And that's important not only to say, to defend God's freedom, but it's also important to make clear the necessity of our humility. We were not chosen because we're better than other people. That's an important truth to be grasped. We were not chosen because we're better than other people. The sad reality of Arminian theologies is that they have to say they're going to heaven because they made better choices than other people did. We are not going to heaven because we made better choices. We are not going to heaven because there's anything better about us. We are going to heaven purely and solely because of the mercy and grace of God. And how humble should that make us before him and before the world? How dare we be self-righteous before the world? What do you have that you have not been given, the scripture says. That's what's being defended here. This is what's being articulated here. This is the glory of the gospel message. that is being laid out for us. And so this is what God has done for us in eternity to bring us certainty. And then he works out that certainty in Christ. If our certainty is from God, our certainty is in Christ. And Article 7 says some wonderful things about Christ. He's our mediator. He's our go-between. He's the one who stands between us and God to make us right with God by his saving work. He's the one who's accomplishing God's plan in history that we will be adopted and made new in Christ. He's the head of all the elect. He's the head of the body, Ephesians 1 says. And that body is the body of the elect. He's the one who draws us together and unites us and leads us as our head. And he's the foundation of salvation. He's the one on whom our salvation rests. Now, my temptation as a historian almost overwhelms me. Because you cannot imagine how important that phrase, he's the foundation of salvation, was for 20 years of debate in the Netherlands. All right, I'll tell you just a little. The Armenians always wanted to say, he's the foundation of election. Well, that certainly sounds pious, doesn't it? But what they wanted to accomplish by that was to say election takes place in history because Christ is in history doing His saving work. And so our election is only in history, not in eternity. And the fathers at Dort rightly utterly rejected that and said that's not true. He's the foundation of salvation in history because of His saving work in His perfect life, in his sin-bearing death, in his resurrection and ascension. Now, the fathers at Dort knew that the eternal Son with the eternal Father and the eternal Holy Spirit and the councils of eternity certainly planned election. But that's not what the Arminians wanted to confess. And so the Calvinists said, quite rightly, he's the foundation of salvation. All that we have of salvation comes from Him. And Jesus Himself gave wonderful expression to this in John 17. At verse 6, we hear Jesus say, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept my word. And then down at verse 12, While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, that the scripture may be fulfilled. Now this is from the words of Jesus himself, this beautiful picture, that God, in his eternal plan, had a people, and he's given that people to the Son to save, and the Son has saved every one of them. Not one has been lost. That's our security. That's our comfort. That's what God in eternity and what Christ in history has accomplished. And therefore, that certainty is to be for us. It's to be for us. Election is not a doctrine to be memorized and forgotten. It's a living spiritual blessing for us. And the canons of Dort rightly say God accomplishes the salvation of His people and the knowledge of election in His people by the use of the means of grace. He talks about the Word and the Spirit. How do you know that you believe? How is it that you believe? How do you know that you're elect? By the Word, ministered in your heart by the Spirit. And that's why we believe in the centrality of preaching, the importance of preaching, opening the Word, so that we can hear God speak to us. And this is exactly what Paul is saying in Ephesians, isn't it? At Ephesians 1, verse 13, In Him, that is in Christ, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Word and spirit. Here it is, Ephesians 1.13. Those fathers at Dort never came up with anything original. And that's why we gather regularly to hear the word, to let the Spirit work in our hearts. Because we so easily become doubtful. We easily become worried. In some ways, the more sanctified we become, the more worried we become because the more sin we see in our lives. And how tempting it is to ask, how can God love a sinner like me? That's why it's so important to hear the word say, everyone God loves is a sinner like you. You're not more worthy because you're more sinful. God has come to you with his love in Jesus Christ to tell you that you belong to him. And we become certain because God gives us gifts, and the great gift that God gives us is the gift of faith. And that's why if we have the gift of faith, we can know we're elect, because only the elect have faith. There's no mystery about election for believers. Election doesn't bring belief into doubt. Election provides a foundation of security and certainty to believe. Luther, who was a great believer in predestination, said, if I could have control of my salvation in my own hand, I wouldn't take it for a minute. I want salvation controlled in God's hand, because he's reliable, and I'm not. And that's just what the truth is that Scripture teaches. That's just what the truth is that the seventh article of the first head of doctrine teaches us. And what is the fruit of faith? Well, the seventh article says justification and sanctification, preservation and glorification. God won't let us go. God will keep us in a right relationship with him. God will keep us growing in holiness. And God will glorify us at the end. That's the promise. That's the certainty. That's the assurance. I believe this is the very heart and core of Calvinism. That our salvation is certain and comforting because it's grounded in an unchanging, electing purpose of God. You're not in today and out tomorrow. If you're in, you're in. If you belong to God, you belong to God. Today and forever. And that truth led Paul to praise and glorify God And thank God for that blessing. It led Paul to write those wonderful words. Who shall separate us from the love of God? And what was the answer? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. He loved us because he elected us. he assures we'll never be separated from that love because he elected us. And we know he elected us because he's given us the gift of faith. Now, if you're sitting here tonight and you're not sure you have the gift of faith, what should you do? Well, don't try to climb up into heaven and see if you can check out from the heavenly library the book of life and see if your name's in there. That's vain curiosity. If you're not sure if you have faith tonight, listen to the words of Jesus, which are this. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's his promise. Don't call him a liar. If you don't have faith, come, and he'll give you rest. And when you've come, and when he's given you rest, then you can know you belong to him, now and forever, because of his electing purpose. Praise God for such great gifts. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord our God, we are thankful that you not only have a great plan of salvation, but you have revealed it so clearly to us. And so, O Lord, we pray that we might be filled with confidence and comfort and security in you, so that whatever the circumstances of our life might be, our hope is in you, and our confidence is that your purpose is immutable in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Fill us all with that faith, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.