This morning, I ask that you turn with me to Romans 9. Romans 9 for our reading of Scripture. And also, if you would turn in our confessions to the Canons of Dort, the first head of doctrine, found on page 92. 92, as I've indicated in the bulletin, and I would like to do a short series on the Canons of Dort. Really not doing it justice, but considering in one sermon each of the five points of Calvinism, as we call them, tulip. As you recall, the Canons of Dort is the Reformed Church's response to the error of the five points of Arminianism. And in many respects, we can consider these the deep doctrines of the Bible. However, as you may also recall, the canons does not deal with these five points in the order of TULIP, but instead deals with them more as ALTIP, U-L-T-I-P, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Total Depravity, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance or Preservation of the Saints. And this morning, we want to consider a portion of the first head of doctrine dealing with Unconditional Election, Articles 7, 14, and 15. We read together, first of all, Romans 9, beginning at verse 3 through verse 26. Hear now the Word of God. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons. Theirs is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. theirs are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ who is God over all forever praised. Amen. 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 raised 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? What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known bore with great patience the objects of His wrath prepared for destruction? What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy whom He prepared in advance for glory? Even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. As He says in Hosea, I will call them My people who are not My people, and I will call her My loved one who is not My loved one. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, You are not My people, they will be called sons of the living God. And then if we turn together to Article 7, page 93 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, reading together Article 7 and then 14 and 15 as I ask you to follow along as I read these articles. Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby before the foundation of the world, He has out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen from the whole human race which had fallen through their own fault from their primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom He from eternity appointed the mediator and head of the elect and the foundation of salvation. This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery, God has decreed to give to Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually to call and draw them to His communion by His Word and Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justification, and sanctification, and having powerful, preserve them in the fellowship of His Son, finally to glorify them for the demonstration of His mercy and for the praise of the riches of His glorious grace, as it is written, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love, having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. And elsewhere, whom He foreordained, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified them, He also glorified. In Articles 14 and 15, the following pages. As the doctrine of divine election by the most wise counsel of God was declared by the prophets, by Christ Himself, and by the apostles, and is clearly revealed in the Scriptures, both of the Old and the New Testament, so it is still to be published in due time and place in the Church of God, for which it was peculiarly designed, provided it be done with reverence, in the spirit of discretion and piety for the glory of God's most holy name and for enlivening and comforting His people without vainly attempting to investigate the secret ways of the Most High. What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of election is the expressed testimony of sacred Scripture that not all but some only are elected while others are passed by in the eternal decree whom God, out of His sovereign, most just, irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure, has decreed to leave in the common misery into which they have willfully plunged themselves and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion, but permitting them in His just judgment to follow their own ways, at last for the declaration of His justice, to condemn and punish them forever, not only on account of their unbelief, but also for all their other sins. And this is the decree of reprobation, which by no means makes God the author of sin, the very thought of which is blasphemy, but declares Him to be an awful, irreprehensible, and righteous judge and avenger thereof. Beloved people of God, if there's one teaching or doctrine of Scripture that really rubs people the wrong way in many ways. It's the teaching of the Reformed, and I dare say, biblical view of predestination. Predestination as we know it. That God has determined from the very foundation of the world the final destiny of each and every person that would ever live. You see, by nature, man does not like the fact that when it comes to eternity, it's not up to him. He does not control it. God does. And so many just can't swallow the truth as they would say that a loving God could or would send an unrepentant sinner to hell. Many want to tear out that portion of Scripture that says, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. They can't imagine how God the potter from the very same lump of clay makes some pottery for noble or honorable purposes and some for common or dishonorable use. It is inconceivable to them that God could actually allow some people to be born when He knows from the very beginning that they are going to hell. This doesn't make sense to man. Why would God do this? And doesn't this then make God the author of sin? Beloved, predestination with its component parts, election and reprobation, is one of the deep doctrines of the Bible. And can we fully understand this doctrine of why God does what He does and why He permits what He permits? No, we can't. Can we fully explain this doctrine? No. We can't fully know the mind of God, but we can know Him as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word and God teaches the truth of predestination in His Word. Now, boys and girls, just because we call this a deep doctrine of the Bible does not mean that it's something that you cannot understand. You can understand it. You can understand the meaning of the words. You can understand the teaching. But you have to listen close. This confession, beloved, beautifully sets forth the teaching of the Word of God. The believers are saved by grace alone from beginning to end, from first to last. Yet this is what Arminianism attacks. The sovereign grace and good pleasure of God. And it's because man can't stand to not have control that there is a battle over his participation in salvation. And it's clear, especially with predestination, that the truth of the Gospel is indeed a stumbling block to those who don't want to believe it. This morning, we seek to highlight Scripture's teaching of predestination as it is summarized in the first head of doctrine of the Canons of Dort, specifically the three articles that we read together, 7, 14, and 15. And I preach to you, beloved, God has elected some to salvation in Christ and passed over others. We want to notice, first of all, the necessity of teaching election as we find it in article 14. Secondly, the Bible's teaching of election as Article 7 explains it. And then the Bible's teaching of reprobation, Article 15. Now first of all, at the beginning, we need to ask ourselves why in a day when many churches have decided not to bother or burden the people in the pew with these deep doctrines because after all, we can't really understand them anyway. And you know, it really doesn't matter. All the Bible says is that we have to believe in Jesus. Why then do we here find it necessary to teach these things? Especially predestination with election and reprobation. Well, Article 14, as I hope the last two points of this sermon will support, clearly tells us why. Because the Bible, God's holy, inspired, infallible, inerrant word, teaches election. And it teaches election unconditionally. God, in His wisdom, as Article 14 says, taught election through the apostles, through Christ Himself, and through the prophets. So first of all, very simply and very basically, it is necessary to teach election because our sovereign God teaches it. But another reason that plays off of the first one is this. When a church fails to teach the truth of the Bible concerning election, that instead they are teaching something, that church is teaching something, That is false. The canons of Dort, as we know, is one of our confessions, one of our three forms of unity. And a confession, very basically, is the church's studied response to the teaching of Scripture. And therefore, the canons are the church's studied response of Scripture against Arminianism. But you see, Arminianism didn't die after this confession was written. It continued to spread. In fact, it's alive and well today. And I believe that this is true, at least in part, because by man's very nature, he rebels against authority. And Arminianism is rebellion against the authority of Scripture. So we must teach the biblical truth of election because the Bible teaches it and because it is being attacked. I remember a couple of years ago in our former congregation as we were getting ready to start a men's Bible study, We were going to study Reformed Doctrine, Berkhoff's Summary of Christian Doctrine, that one of the gentlemen at the very beginning said, we must not only say what we believe, but we must also say what we don't believe and why we don't believe it. Congregation in connection with election, Arminianism teaches, first of all, and this we must understand, that there is election. They do teach that there is election, but that it is conditional. The Arminian would say that yes, God elects some to salvation. But if you ask Him why He does that, why God does that, the Arminian will tell you because the elect meet the conditions for salvation. Boys and girls, think of buying a house. If you want to buy a house, you've got to meet some conditions. One of those conditions is that you need to have a down payment. You must pay for a certain portion of the price of the house up front, but you must also be able to make that monthly payment month after month. You must meet those conditions before you can buy that house. Or if you want to go to a friend's house and your mom says, well, you've got to clean your room first. That's a condition that your mom has set. And once you've cleaned your room, then you have met the conditions to be able to go to your friend's house. Arminianism says that those God elects or elected meet the conditions of salvation. And here's what it means. That God elected those whom He foresaw, whom He saw beforehand, would respond favorably to the Gospel call. In other words, from the foundation of the world, God looked down through His telescope of history, through the ages, and He saw that Frank and John and Peter and Mary and Beth and Sally, that they would hear the Gospel and that by their own choice, by their own free will, that they would repent and believe in Jesus Christ. And therefore, God really had no choice. He had to elect them. He had to choose them. Because they were going to believe. Election is then determined or conditioned by what man would do with the Gospel. In other words, Arminianism says that God doesn't freely give faith to those He is pleased to save, but it's up to man. God saves those who put their faith in Him first, which then makes election neither sovereign, all of God, nor unmerited. And the reprobation is the same, that God does not choose them because he foresaw that they would not believe. And what this means, beloved, is that with Arminianism, the ultimate cause of the salvation of the believer is sinful man's choice to believe in Christ and not God's sovereign choice to give the sinner to Christ. We don't believe this view of conditional election because it opposes the clear teaching of Scripture. Jesus said in John 15, verse 16, You did not choose Me, but I chose you. But the necessity of teaching the truth of election also includes teaching election properly. In another version of the canons, there is inserted headings under each of the article numbers, and that's the heading under Article 14, Teaching Election Properly. With the last half of this article, it says regarding the doctrine of divine election, So it is still to be published in due time and place in the church of God for which it was peculiarly designed, provided it be done with reverence in the spirit of discretion and piety for the glory of God's most holy name and for enlivening and comforting His people without vainly attempting to investigate the secret ways of the Most High. With reverence in a spirit of discretion means with reverence and awe in a godly and holy manner, rightly dividing the word of truth. In election, we begin to discuss something of the mysterious, powerful sovereignty of God and therefore it must be done with discretion and humility. In due time and place would not mean the very first time one is confronted with the Gospel message. It wouldn't make any sense to them. In fact, it is only after one is regenerated and converted by the power of the Holy Spirit, Only after that, that one will understand the sovereign grace of God by the grace of God. Only then will one understand that he sought the Lord because the Lord first sought Him. And our teaching must also be done to God's glory and for our enlivening and comfort. God is to be praised as His sovereignty is taught. as His transcendence over all is explained. God is to be glorified as we begin to understand that salvation is His work from beginning to end and that we are not saved, beloved, because we chose Him, but in spite of the fact that we rejected Him. And God's people are to be enlivened in their Christian faith and comforted as we begin to understand that in spite of our unworthiness, it was God's good pleasure to grant faith and life to us. And it is also to our comfort and assurance when by God's grace we recognize within ourselves, as Article 12 says, the last part of it, the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the Word of God, such as a true faith in Christ, filial, that is, childlike fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc. The Beloved also teaching election properly as the last phrase of Article 14 says, it forbids vainly attempting to investigate the secret ways of the Most High. That means that we cannot go beyond the boundary of Scripture. Election is dealing with the hidden or secret will of God. We don't know it until He has elected us. We don't know that we are part of His elect until we come to faith. and as well as others. Deuteronomy 29.29 says, The secret things belong to the Lord our God. And we are bound by what God has revealed to us in His Word, yet that must be a comfort to us because that's all we need. Nothing can stand against God's Word. And we may not fully understand it, yet with confidence we can say, I believe it, I confess it because God says it. The necessity of teaching election is because God teaches it because it is being attacked and it is to be taught properly. And therefore now in response to the error of Arminianism, we seek to properly teach what the Bible teaches about election and reprobation. Therefore we consider in the second place the Bible's teaching of election. Article 7 makes it clear that the whole human race has fallen through their own fault from their primitive state of rectitude that is their original innocence, fallen into sin and destruction. Paul says in Romans 3, verse 23, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Congregation, everyone deserves eternal death. I think that's largely forgotten today. Every one of us here, not one of us withstanding, every one of us deserves eternal death. That's what we have earned for ourself. In a sense, that's what we have said we want through our sin and misery. But why do some believe in the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Because God chose or elected to save them and give them faith through the preaching of the Gospel. You see, from the foundation of the world, God decided. God decided. whom he would call and draw them effectively in a fellowship with Christ. And his decision, beloved, was not based on looking down through his telescope of history, seeing who would answer the call, because apart from God giving the gift of faith, not one of us, no one, would answer his call. Article 7 also says, This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery. The elect in themselves are not able to meet any conditions. Notice again what Paul says in Romans 9, beginning at verse 11. Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and election might stand, not by works, but by Him who calls. In the end of verse 13, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. In verse 15 and 16, 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. Again, can we fully understand the mind of God here? Not at all. But it's our business not to fully understand, but to believe by faith. You see, Scripture radiates with the good pleasure of God being the basis, the foundation for election. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 1, verses 4-6, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. If there were no other scriptural proof for election, this one is sufficient. We are elected that we should be holy. Not because we were already so holy or because God saw that we would become or we would choose to be holy, but because God in His good pleasure has elected us to become His holy people. We are elected that we should be without blame, not because we were already blameless, or again because God saw that we would become blameless by our own choice, but because He in His good pleasure has elected us to become righteous in Jesus Christ. And we are elected to be forgiven. Not because we are worthy. Not because we made the choice to be forgiven. Not because we met the conditions to be forgiven, but only because of God's mercy. The deep doctrine of election, beloved, is about the mercy of God. His good pleasure was not to elect and save those who think they can make themselves acceptable, but those whom He has made accepted in the Beloved. In the Ephesians 1 passage we just quoted, Paul talks of the many blessings that are the believers in Christ. Adoption, forgiveness of sins, holiness and redemption. But election deserves the place of honor. Because all of the other blessings flow from God's gracious election. God's election is not based on foreseen faith or holiness, but election is unto or toward faith and holiness. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1 verse 9, God has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. It's nothing short of blasphemy to claim that man is able of his own free will to make a decision for Christ. Jesus said, no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. Is there a decision for Christ? Well, yes, in some respects. But we need to qualify it. We do make a decision. But it comes only after He moved my soul to seek Him seeking me. My decision for Christ is a Spirit-filled, a Spirit-led, a Spirit-motivated decision. In Acts 13, verse 48, Paul makes it clear that God makes sure that those He has elected, that they are given faith apart from any condition of themselves. He says, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Notice, they weren't appointed to eternal life because they believed. But they believed because they were appointed to eternal life. And Jesus says in John 6, this is the work of God, that you believe in Him. whom He sent. Even in the Old Testament, God's unconditional election is seen as Jesus makes clear in Luke chapter 4. He says, But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout all the land. But to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow outside of Israel. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. One from outside of Israel. Beloved, it's all God's work from election to salvation. Everything is worked out in His time according to His plan by His power. Peter says, Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. And that's not to say that God's election might fail. That's not at all what Peter is saying here. There's no contradiction. But through the gift of faith, by the power of the Spirit, we make ourselves sure of our calling and election. For, beloved, it is through love and obedience that God is glorified and that we may rest secure in the knowledge of our unshakable salvation. For the proof of God's work in us is that we are leading a godly life. And this election can only be sure through Jesus Christ, because apart from Him, Without His saving sacrifice, then all, then every one of us, is still hell-bound. But we cannot forget, congregation, that predestination has a second side. By the very fact that we speak of God electing or choosing some, we know that there are others. So finally, what is the Bible's teaching of reprobation? Article 15 deals with this and makes it clear that the teaching of reprobation tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of election. The teaching of reprobation strengthens our comfort in the teaching of election. The believer's comfort, that is. In other words, the elect also must understand, though, that they deserve what the reprobate get. We who have the comfort of salvation in heaven must know that we deserve to be forsaken in hell. What is the teaching of reprobation? That as God sovereignly chose some to be His elect in Christ, at the very same time, He also sovereignly passed by others. The Bible's teaching is that as God chose some to be saved, He automatically did not choose others. Now, some say that the Bible doesn't teach reprobation, but you can't ignore the two sides of choosing. Let me give you a very simple illustration. If you go to the store to buy a gallon of milk, there might be 50 other gallons of milk on the shelf. They all have the same package. They all have the same expiration date. They all have the same content. They're identical. But you pick one. You pass the others by. It's a very simple illustration to show you that all are the same. but understand God does not pass by the reprobate because He is worse than the elect by nature He's no different than the elect let me turn that around by nature the elect is no different than the reprobate all have plunged themselves into the depths of sin God chooses to leave the reprobate there He doesn't take anything from Him he chooses to leave the reprobate there and not to give him the gift of faith but instead to condemn and eternally punish him not only for his unbelief but as the article says also for all of his other sins you see that's justice that's justice again God doesn't take anything away from the reprobate he cannot be charged with any wrongdoing this doesn't make God the author of sin but He is the judge of sin. God doesn't make men sin, but He does move some to believe. His justice demands, as Scripture says, the soul that sins, it shall die. The soul of the reprobate suffers the punishment for sin and dies for himself because of himself. He gets what he deserves. Justice. But Jesus Christ suffered the punishment and justice and died for the elect. For you and me who believe. And that means the elect does not get what he deserves. That's mercy. But instead the elect gets what he doesn't deserve. That's grace. Does the Bible teach reprobation? Yes, it does. Verses 21 and 22, 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? What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the object of His wrath, prepared for destruction? Chapter 11, verse 7, What then, what Israel sought so earnestly, it did not obtain, but the elect did, the others were hardened. In 1 Peter 2, verse 8, it speaks of those to whom Christ has become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense and says they stumble being disobedient to the Word to which they also were appointed. Jude 4 says, For certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. And while Revelation 13, verse 8 speaks of those whose names are written in the book of life, Revelation 17, verse 8, speaks of those whose names have not been recorded in the Lamb's book of life. Beloved, this is indeed a deep doctrine of the Bible. God has elected some to salvation in Christ. Jesus Christ accomplishes the purpose of God's electing grace that some should be eternally saved. but God has also passed others by that they might remain in the misery that they have chosen. Why do we preach and teach this? A couple of reasons. Many reasons, really. But first of all, that we might know the sovereign grace of God and glorify Him for it. That we might understand how precious is that grace to give to us that which we did not deserve. But also because God works through His Holy Spirit in time using the means of His preached Word. He has promised that His Word would not return to Him empty and void. And beloved, God has not yet gathered in all of His elect. If He had, then I confidently say that we wouldn't be here this morning. Because the world, the wicked world, is nothing but the scaffolding around the church God is building. And once that church is complete, that scaffolding will be torn down and destroyed forever. No more use for it. We don't know whom God has or has not elected in His sovereign grace. We don't know when He will make it real to the hearts of those He has elected. And therefore, the call to repent of sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ must go out indiscriminately to one and all. So that by God's grace, sinners might be converted. And the comfort of election with its unmistakable fruits must be preached to the edification and assurance and enlivening of the saints. Beloved, if this doesn't enliven you in your Christian walk, then I'm really not sure what else will. Only by the sovereign grace of God, which converts my heart of stone into a heart of flesh and causes me to make my calling and election sure, only by that sovereign grace will I confess, tis not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me. You see, if salvation were up to you and me, we would choose against it. Guaranteed. We would reason our way against it. But praise be to God that those who believe, believe by His unchangeable, eternal, gracious, sovereign, unconditioned choice. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, as we bow before You once again in this morning hour, we confess that sometimes these doctrines are so deep because we have a hard time swallowing them. With our finite minds, we can't seem to make heads or tails or reason these things. But we thank You for the doctrine of election, unconditional election. that we might be taught and be filled with joy that knowing what it is we deserve, that You have not given that to us, but as Your people, You have given to us that which we do not deserve, that which Jesus Christ has earned for us. Oh, Father, may that be a joy that indeed makes us alive in our Christian walk, that we might desire to walk in a way worthy of Your calling. Father, continue to gather together the number of Your elect, chosen from before the foundation of the world. Continue to build Your church until she is complete. And prepare each and every one of us for heaven. Make us fit to live with Thee there. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name, Amen. Thank you.