Dr Greg Bahnsen - In Understanding Be Men: Salvation Completely By Grace (Part 3)

Want to welcome everyone back for the third session of our basic training in theology course. I'm glad you could be with us for the first two. Before we get into some really good news this afternoon about the gracious nature of our salvation, let me review for you what we have found out already in terms of our basic training. Our first session essentially had as its theme. You need to grow up in understanding that having a childlike faith in the sense of trusting God for whatever he says, believing him at His Word, doesn't mean you should be childlike in the nature of your thinking, that you should not think the deep thoughts of God or trace out the pattern of sound words in Scripture. God wants us to grow up in understanding. Now we have to remember that the God who calls on us to know him so very well is a God that's transcendent. Remember that Word. We learned it together. He goes beyond us. He exceeds our limits. He's transcendent and he is holy. And therefore we cannot presume to know God based on our intuitions or our inclinations. We cannot presume to know God based on our experiences. The only way we can know God truly accurately is if God reveals Himself to us. And so his self revelation is at the very foundation of our faith and our theology as his people. And where has God revealed Himself? Well, he's revealed Himself in writing, in words that can be understood in Scripture. And the Bible tells us that the Scripture has an unchallengeable authority. No man can talk back to God, no man can presume to correct his errors. Whatever God says is without error. Whatever he has said is the standard of what we are to believe. And we saw that there is a pattern of sound words, a pattern of healthy words to be found in the Scripture. There is what's called the teaching, the apostolic dogma that the Scriptures present to us. And God wants us to deepen our faith and understanding by coming to know that pattern of sound words. And therefore we need to handle the Scripture aright. We can't come to it with alien preconceptions about what God can or cannot do, or come to it with alien preconceptions about what is right or wrong, what we should expect to find there. Nor can we come to the Bible with a kind of naive literalism that says, well, if I'm going to really believe God, then I must take every one of these words to be the literal truth. Well, every one of those words is true. But God doesn't always communicate to us in literal form any more than we communicate to each other in literal form all the time. There are figures of speech, symbols and so forth that have to be taken account of. And finally I said we mustn't approach the Bible as though it's a Procrustean bed. Remember good old Procrustus who stretched his guest or he cut off their feet so they'd always fit on his beds. And sometimes Christians approach the Bible with preconceived ideas that operate like a Procrustean bed. And one of the worst mistakes that's being made in the Christian church today is this idea that we are New Testament Christians. Now I'm not against the New Testament, Praise God for the New Testament. But I said we should be whole Bible Christians. Man should live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so let's grow up in understanding. Let's take the Bible as our unchallengeable authority and plummet for its depths to see the pattern of sound words that are there. In our second session, we saw that if we look at the God who is revealed to us in the Bible, we'll see that he's a covenant keeping God. And boy, is that good news. God is willing to make a promise. We don't deserve any promises. We don't deserve them in terms of being creatures, because after all, creatures are supposed to obey. That's all there is to it. And we don't deserve anything from God because we have disobeyed, as a matter of fact. So the only thing we have coming is his wrath and curse. But God has made a promise. We looked at Genesis 3:15, the basic promise of salvation, that God will send a Savior and there will be a seed that belongs to the Savior. And we went on to see that all of the subsequent promises of God, all of the covenants that God made subsequent to that initial promise are unified in their fulfillment in Christ. All the promises are yes in Christ, and they are amen in Christ. They all focus on Him. And therefore we don't believe there are multiple routes with God. There are multiple contracts out there and you can kind of pick. Do you want a law covenant? Do you want a grace covenant? They're all covenants of the promise, as Paul said in Ephesians 2:12. And so contrary to the dispensational understanding of the Bible, we saw that in redemptive history. Three things just by way of review. Hopefully your notes correspond to what I'm telling you. We found that in redemptive history there is continuity as to the covenants. The covenants of God supplement each other rather than supplanting each other. Each subsequent covenant amplifies and is a development out of the previous promises God has made. Secondly, we saw there's continuity as to God's people, Israel and the church. The Church is the Israel of God. We are one with the Old Testament Jews as being identified in history and on earth as the special people of God. Israel and the church form one, not two plans. One people, not two. And then thirdly, we saw there's continuity as to the scripture. Jesus said, you dare not set aside even the least commandment from the law and the prophets. Every jot and tittle is binding until heaven and earth pass away. And so we don't presume on the basis of we're in the New Testament now, not the Old. We don't presume to get rid of anything from the Old Testament. And the only changes that are made, the only progress that we see is that which is biblically defined. When the Lord of the covenant makes changes, then that's fine. But we don't presume to cancel things from the Old Testament when God himself hasn't done so. So continuity as to covenant, continuity as to God's people, continuity as to scripture. God is a covenant keeping God. Now we come to our third lesson. This is just basic training. I realize that you may want to get more tapes and courses that are available to you to amplify. I'm not trying to tell you everything, but if I had to pick three themes to set down as the planks for your starting course in theology, they would be the superiority of the Bible, which we've looked at. They'd be the covenant keeping God, which we've looked at. And then thirdly, I'd want you to know something about salvation. I'll put it very simple. Children can understand this. Praise God. Our salvation is by God's grace. You know, all Christians, all Bible believing Christians say that should say that salvation is by grace. But I don't think that the theological system that is taught by many Christians really reflects the graciousness of our salvation. And so I'm going to try to take our time together this afternoon to amplify on the graciousness of God's salvation. So salvation is completely by God's sovereign grace. And the first point, if you're going to understand the nature of salvation, the first point that you have to pick up on is that God has a comprehensive, unchanging and undefeatable plan. Our God doesn't sit in the heavens, just kind of Sitting back maybe like a grandfather rocking his chair and saying, now I wonder what my children are going to do. I wonder what they're going to do. I wonder if I can handle this. I wonder if I can respond properly. That isn't the biblical picture of God. God is not someone like the bumper sticker God that says, give Jesus a chance. Oh, please. You know, like, I'm at your disposal. Please. I mean, I can't really be God unless you'll let me be God. Now, that kind of wimpish, really pathetic creature that bumper sticker theology gives us and which many churches preach about is not the God of the Bible. Our God is a consuming fire. Our God is the sword of God. When Isaiah came into his presence, he fell on his face. Our God is awesome. Our God is all powerful and he's not at the disposal of men. He doesn't sit back and say, oh, please let me be God. Oh please give me a chance. Psalm 115:3 says, Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he pleased. God governs everything. And the Bible tells us that he has a comprehensive plan by which everything that happens, every event that takes place, is part of his plan and part of his purpose. You'll find Paul saying in Ephesians 1, verse 11, he uses this expression according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. Think about that description of God. God is one who has a purpose. He is aiming to accomplish something, and everything that takes place serves that purpose according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. He doesn't consult with other people. He doesn't go to the bargaining table and negotiate how history is going to go. He has planned it in advance. And everything that happens is part of that plan. Everything. One of my favorite Bible stories is in First Kings, chapter 22. If time weren't limited, I'd read the whole thing for you. I'd just preach that. I love it. It's a story about how Jehoshaphat went up to the court of Ahab. And there Ahab said, ramoth, Gilead is still in the hands of the Syrians. Can you believe that? What are we going to do about that? So they finally decide they're going to go to war. Well, they really shouldn't go to war. And God's not pleased with this. Now. All the prophets of baal, all the false prophets had come in and told Ahab, oh, yes, go up to war. This is going to be a grand Time. You're going to love it. He said, oh, I like to hear that. You know, people are so much like that, aren't they? They want the prophets to come and speak, but they want to hear the things they'd like to hear. Jehoshaphat was a little worried, though. He said, I'm not so sure about this. Don't you have a prophet of Jehovah that might speak to us? And Ahab very honestly says, oh, yeah, there's this Micaiah. But he never says anything good about me. I don't like him. Jehoshaphat says, well, what's it going to hurt? Call him in. So as the messenger goes to get Micaiah the prophet to bring him, he says, now, look, all the prophets have said that Ahab is going to win this battle. So if you want, you know, career advancement, make sure you say the right things. Just go in there and go along, because, you know, the majority is against you. Isn't it amazing the way people are willing to do theology? That way they'll say, well, most people don't believe this, so it can't be true. So Micaiah, just go tell them what he wants to hear, get along, and maybe, you know, you'll get out of prison and things will go better for you. So Micaiah comes in and he does what he's told. Of course, he does it in a way that Ahab catches on to right away. He says, oh, Ahab, sure, go up. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be great. You'll love it. Ahab says, how many times do I have to tell you? Speak the truth in the name of God. Micaiah says, you asked for it. Okay, here it is. You go to battle, and you're not coming back. Because here's what I see. The sheep are without a shepherd. And now Ahab's furious. I mean, he said, tell me the truth. And then he gets the truth, and he's mad about it. Well, I tell you, some people, you just can't win. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Micaiah comes in and says, I told you what you wanted to hear. You didn't believe me. Now I told you what you don't want to hear, and now you're mad at me. And so Micaiah's been taken out. Ahab sends him back to prison, says, give him bread and water, the bread of affliction, until I return. You know, I'd love to make a movie out of this one, too. You can just see Micaiah being dragged out of the room, and Ahab saying, the bread of affliction until I return. And Micaiah turns and he says, if you return at all, the Lord has not spoken through me. Now, Ahab is no dummy. He goes to battle and he's thinking about this. He goes, Well, I got 400 prophets who say it's going to go well. I've got one who said, you're not coming back, so I think I'll hedge my bets. And so on the way to the battlefield, he turns to Jehoshaphat, who must have been dumb and dumber. He turns to him and he says, now you wear the royal robes, okay? I mean, we can't have two guys out there all decked out. So how about you be king for a day? You'll love that, right? I'll just go into battle, look like an ordinary soldier. And of course, the Syrian army, they know what to do. They have their instructions. Look for the guy who's all decked out, get the king, go right for him. And that's what they did. So Jehoshaphat's running now, so forth. Ahab's got it made. And they finally catch up to Josh about. He turns, he goes, I'm not the one you want. I'm not Ahab. So Ahab has escaped, right? And then the Bible tells us. That's what I love about the story. Well, I love all of it up to this point, too, as you can tell. But I love this. The Bible says that there was a soldier in the Syrian army who had one arrow left, and on a venture, he just put it into his bow, shot it into the air. The battle's out there. He just lets this arrow go. Ahab's wearing battle dress, not just fatigues. He's in the full armor. He's going to protect himself, right? And this armor is such that the only way you could ever get through to a person's body is if you did it through the joint. So that when a man now reaches his arm back, he exposes about that much of his body, and that's it. And the Bible tells us this soldier shot that arrow by chance, as we would say at a venture into the air, and caught Ahab as he was, just like that, right between the joints. He eventually bled to death and died. God has a comprehensive plan that cannot be defeated. The smallest details of life are covered in it. Jesus said, the very hairs of your head are numbered. That's incredible. Think about the religious significance of that. Tomorrow, as you see those Hairs that you pull from your brush in the morning. God planned that. The Bible tells us that God plans even those things that appear to be chance happenings to us. Proverbs 16:3. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. The casting of the lot is similar to rolling dice. I won't explain the differences, but very much like rolling dice. And so when you roll the dice, of course that's in our way of thinking, the most chance, arbitrary event of all, but the whole disposing of it is of the Lord. God plans everything. Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he pleased. Psalm 136:6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that he did in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. And whatever God has planned is unchangeable. God isn't like you or me. I make plans and then I change my mind. I make plans and I find out I can't live up to what I wanted to do. I'm always in this process, you know, the cybernetic process of altering and making adjustments and amendments and so forth. I bet you're like that too. God has never, ever had to change his mind. Because God never fails to accomplish whatever he plans. Daniel 4:35 and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? God doesn't have to worry about carrying out his plan. He's always going to. No one can even talk back to him. The counsel of Jehovah stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. So the psalmist said in Psalm 33:11. And here's the amazing thing. The Bible tells us that the plans of God even cover the free choices of men. God plans what you freely do. You're going to say, wait a minute, how can God do that? And the answer is going to be when all is said and done. I don't know. But it is important that I know how. I don't know how God created the world out of nothing. And I don't know how God had a virgin have a baby. But the Bible says God plans in advance what you freely choose to do. And that's why he holds you accountable for what happens in his plan. Because you're not a puppet. You're not somehow somebody who is forced to do the things you end up doing. In fact, Paul has somebody talk back to him A hypothetical opponent. In Romans the ninth chapter, he says, you'll say to me, who can resist his will? You know what Paul says to that? Who are you to talk back to God? Who are you to draw the conclusion that I'm being forced to do what I do? God plans every detail of life, even your free choices. And his planning. It doesn't take away your freedom. You freely do what you wish to do, and you will be held accountable for it. In Acts the second chapter, verse 23, we read about the Lord Jesus Christ. And we read him being delivered up by the determinant, counsel and foreknowledge of God. Yet you by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Isn't that interesting? Jesus was delivered up according to God's determinate counsel. It was part of his plan. And yet, on the other hand, Peter can say, you did it by wicked hands. You are fully responsible for crucifying the Lord of Glory, even though you were only doing what God had planned all along, as you did exactly as you wish to do. No one forced you to do it. You followed your own will. But your will, mysteriously, amazingly, was subject to the will of God. Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he pleased. God has a plan. In terms of that, we can say with Paul In Romans 8:28, all things work together for good to them that love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. You know, we'd have no basis for saying that if we didn't believe in the first place that God has a sovereign plan for everything. Now God has a comprehensive plan. And if that means that everything is included, even the free choices of men, even the wicked choices of men, like crucifying His Son, then certainly the plan of God must include. It must encompass the work of salvation, the greatest of all of God's works. It doesn't make any sense to you to think God plans everything, even the details of the flight of an arrow that goes between the joints of the armor. He plans everything, even to the hairs of your head. But when it comes to salvation, he stands back and goes, oh, no. Hands off. I don't have anything to do with that. No. God's plan includes a plan of salvation. The Bible tells us that given man's condition, salvation must be accomplished and granted by God's grace. Given man's condition, salvation must be accomplished and granted by God's grace. What is it that the Bible tells us about man's condition? I think this is where most modern theology makes its initial mistake, because we don't like unflattering things said about us. And so we don't listen to what the Bible says about man's natural condition. Because what the Bible says is not at all pleasing to us. It's not at all flattering. The Bible tells us that we are repugnant to God. Well, that doesn't make God sound very happy. That doesn't make God out to be that indulgent, tolerant grandfather in the sky that most people think that he is. God is angry. The Bible tells us that he is wrathful with sinners every day. You know how angry God is with your sin. There's nothing you can do that pleases him. Nothing. Even giving clothes to Goodwill. Nothing pleases God. Even your good intentions, they do not please God. Romans 8, 7, 8. The mind of the flesh is enmity against God. Why? For it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can it be. And they that are in the flesh, listen. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Talk about an impossible task. When preachers tell people to go out there, do your best. Make God happy. The Bible has already told you in advance he is not happy with you. He is not satisfied with your efforts. He is not. Even your best intentions are no good. All your righteousness is as matchless cloth in his eyes. And so Paul says, those who are in the flesh cannot, cannot please God. He's not given a generalization. He doesn't mean 98.5%. He means it cannot be done categorically, absolutely, without qualification. Nada. None of us are pleasing to God, for none seeks after God. There is none righteous. No, not so much as one. Yeah, well, we've done a bad job in the past. So now what we need to do is get our act together and try to please him. Right. Can't be done. The Bible says, Ephesians 2, 5, 10. God, when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace you've been saved. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. The Bible doesn't give us any reason to think that our coming to salvation or anything in us has been accomplished because of our ability. Paul says, you're dead. Dead is dead is dead. Dead people don't respond. Dead people don't have good intentions. Dead people don't do anything except putrefy. God is repulsed by you. Yeah, I realize that's not what people want to hear today. That's what the Bible tells us. But you see, if you don't understand this Bad news about your condition, you'll never understand the goodness of the good news because the Bible doesn't say, you know, you were kind of sick and then you cooperated with God and finally you ended up being saved. The Bible says you were dead and God made you alive. Now if God made you alive, who does salvation depend on? See, we can get rid of all of these altar calls and all of these churches. Now if you want to have an altar call and do it right, we'll talk about that some other time. That's not the big deal. But. But when altar calls tell you, you see, God's done everything he can do, now it's in your hands. You've got to take that step forward for Jesus. Well, I got bad news for the person who's doing the altar call. If it really does depend upon you taking a step for Jesus, it's never ever going to get done. Dead people don't respond. You don't put together a life giving potion and then drive to the graveyard one night and say, all of you who are in the graves, come forward, do this altar call and say, and take this life giving medicine and you'll live again. Because the problem is those who are called to live are already dead and they cannot respond. That's what the Bible tells us about ourselves. Given man's condition, therefore salvation must be accomplished and salvation must be granted by God's grace. There are people in the Christian church, numerous in the Christian church, who will tell us that the reason why some people have faith and other people do not, when all is said and done comes down to man himself. To put it simply that men make themselves differ from one another. Some people have faith because those people were good enough to choose for Jesus, had enough good sense to choose for Jesus. Other people did not. Lutherans tell us that if you're baptized, the grace of God will save you unless you resist it. So the difference between the saved and the lost is who resists and who doesn't resist. Arminians historically have taught that you'll be saved if you cooperate with the grace of God, what we call synergism. In theology, God and man working together. Man naturally retains some ability. It's only a little, we'll be told, but some ability. Even in his sickness, he has just enough strength that he can call out to God and God will take him. So that it's those who make that choice to cooperate with the grace of God who will be saved. Or Wesleyans, Wesleyan Arminians in our own day, and particularly in Our own country have taught that sinners differ from one another because some will appropriate the grace of God. That God has endowed every man, even though all men are depraved. God has endowed every man with the ability to respond to his invitations. And some people appropriate it and some people don't. It's the old thing where Jesus has put the money in the bank, but you got to go put your name on the line, right? You got to write your name on that check if you're going to have the riches of salvation. But you see, in all of these schemes, Lutheran, Arminian, Wesleyan, whatever it is, and all of them, it's men who make the difference. God does everything he can, and then he stands back and he waits for you either to resist or not resist, to cooperate or not cooperate, to appropriate or not appropriate his grace. Nothing could be further from that. The truth, it's not that I don't love these people who name the name of the Lord. But you know, if you're going to get into the deep things of God's word, then you'd better understand that salvation is completely by the grace of God. Let me show you how complete that is. Ephesians 2:8 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. You see, in all these other schemes of salvation, there is a little bit of room. Maybe not a lot, but there's a little bit of room for boasting, isn't there? I didn't resist the grace of God. Or I boast because I cooperated with the grace of God. Or I boast because I appropriated the grace of God and the Bible says, no, you didn't. God gave it to you as a gift. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that is not your own work. It's the gift of God. God grants faith to people. In First Corinthians 4, 7, Paul says, for who makes you to differ? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you glory? Why do you boast? If you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not because you're better than other people. If that doesn't flatter you, tough. Because if you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one you should want to glory in, your only boast should be in the Savior Himself. And it's his kindness who has brought you new life, you were not alive enough to respond. So when God called on you to respond, guess what? You couldn't do it. The only ones who respond therefore are those for whom God graciously does a work of regeneration. He gives new life to the dead. That's why Paul tells us, it's by grace that you've been saved. You were dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus put it this way in John 15:16, you did not choose me, but I chose you. John says, we love him because he first loved us. Philippians 1:29. To you it has been granted in behalf of Christ to believe on him. That was granted to you to believe on him. John 1:12, 13. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name, and who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. I mean, what else do we need? God has told us categorically, he's told us clearly. He's told us repeatedly, it's not by your will that you believe. It's by my will that you believe. It's by my grace, by my granting, by my gifting you with this faith in terms of which you can be saved. See, the problem is, so much of the Christian church teaches today that God's grace did not actually save anyone. God's grace only provides the opportunity for salvation. God's grace did not accomplish the redemption of his people. God's grace went so far, and then we must do the rest. It may be very little, but. But still, it's we who do it. We must believe. But the Bible says God has done it all. Not only has he accomplished salvation, he gives the faith necessary to lay hold of that salvation that's found in Jesus Christ. There is no such thing as hypothetical redemption. I wish I had time to teach you an entire course just on that. The nature of redemption is that it must be an accomplished thing. And as an example, Hebrews 9:12, in the 11th verse, the author says, christ having come a high priest of the good things to come through the greater, more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place. And now catch this. What's the significance that Christ took His blood into the very holy place, having obtained eternal redemption? He didn't go in and make redemption possible. He didn't go in and make it hypothetical. He didn't simply make it available. He obtained it. When Jesus died on the cross. He didn't say, now everything's ready. It's up to you. He said, it is finished. What Jesus had done on the cross was sufficient to cover all the sins of all of his people for all eternity. Praise God. It's completely of him. And that means that I don't take credit even for my faith. Faith is a gift from the Lord Jesus. He accomplished salvation. Now, all those systems of theology that tell you Jesus died for all men, but not all men are saved, what does that say about Jesus says that he can go through all of that, but it isn't enough that Jesus can actually die as a substitute for sinners and God might still punish those for whom Jesus died. Well, on what basis could God possibly punish them? If Jesus died for them, it makes a mockery of divine justice and it makes Jesus out to be a wimp. He wants to save all men, but he can't save all men. The Bible doesn't teach us that Jesus came into this world to save all men. Jesus said, I, I lay down my life for the sheep, not for the goats. Now, of course, among the sheep are all kinds of men. And so the Bible says, Jew and Gentile alike, people of all races, of all economic classes, of all statures, all men have the invitation given. Jesus said, any man who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. That's why we preach the gospel to all. We don't worry about the fact that God has a plan that's going to make it possible for some to be saved and then say, well, who's going to be saved? We just preach the gospel to everybody and hope that they'll respond. Because Jesus said, any man who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. And in the same verse in John the sixth chapter, he said, and all that the Father has given me will come. And so we preach the gospel to all kinds of men. And those that the Father has chosen will come to Jesus. And when they come to Jesus, they need to give him the credit for their salvation it has been granted to them. He accomplished everything, and He. He is the one who has granted the faith by which the grace of God saves us. And so the inescapable biblical conclusion is the one that you'll find written for you in the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter three. And we read these glorious words. God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass by the decree of God for the manifestation of his glory. Some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life and others foreordained to everlasting death. That that's the biblical truth. Now, I'll bet you know very well, though, that many people don't like it. Maybe some of you are sitting there having a hard time swallowing the saying, well, I don't want to believe that about God, and I really do want to be gracious to you. But the response is tough. Get used to it. Because you know what God is in the heavens. He's done whatsoever he pleased and he didn't consult with you with whether you'd like it or not. But I'm going to tell you something beyond that. You don't have the right to talk back to God. So if you don't like it, it is tough. But I like it. I really like it because this is good news. Can I tell you why it's good news? Well, in the first place, it's good news because on the other way of looking at things, on the Arminian way of looking at things, Jesus dies for people who are going to be lost. That is to say, what he did is not enough. Well, that really takes away my confidence, doesn't it? Because if Jesus died for me, and I think I'm going to be saved for that reason, on Arminian theology, I can't draw that conclusion because I already know Jesus died for a lot of people who aren't going to end up being saved. So my believing that he died for me doesn't mean that I'll necessarily be saved. Of course the Arminian will say, yeah, but of course you have faith. See, the formula is Jesus death plus your faith equals salvation. That makes it, of course, dependent upon me. It makes it work, righteousness and has all kinds of problems. But there's another problem. That's that my faith isn't the greatest in the world. Probably yours isn't either, is it? And if it does depend upon me in the slightest degree, I have no confidence that I will ever make it. That was Luther's problem. You know, as Luther thought about how he had to cooperate with the grace of God, he said, how do I know that I'll continue to cooperate? How do I know that my cooperation is good enough? But it's worse than that, because even if you could be confident, and you really are a shameless egotist if you think that your faith is so strong it could never waver. But beyond that, if God is the kind of being that's been described for us, where he can change his mind and not accomplish what he sets out to do. We have no confidence that he won't change his mind before the day of judgment. So that all of us who have trusted in Jesus, even imperfectly, we'll find that God says, well, that isn't the plan anymore. I've got a different plan. No, I tell you, it's very good news to know that God planned salvation from before the world was, and that God set His love on me. It's very good news to know that when Jesus died on the cross, he didn't go to the cross for the mass of humanity, nameless and anonymous. That when he went to the cross and since still so hard to believe, he knew my name and he loved me and gave Himself up for me. And he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. And so Jesus is never going to let me go. And no man can take me out of his hand, and no one can take me out of the Father's hand, because no one's greater than a sovereign God. Now I realize that what I'm telling you is not good news in many quarters, but it's very good news to me. I praise God that He chose me and that my salvation depends upon his work and not on mine. In 2nd Timothy 1:9, the apostle Paul says, God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his, his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus. And when was it given to us? Before times eternal, Before God created the world, he had already set in place his plan to give grace to me, that I would be saved. Chosen of God. What more comforting description could there be of the Christian chosen of God? 2nd Thessalonians 2:13 God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit, in belief of the truth. John 6:65 Jesus is so clear. Jesus said, no man can come unto me me, unless it be given unto him of the Father. I'm really glad that I came to Jesus. But you know, having come to salvation, I don't sit down in a kind of smugness and say, oh, what a good boy am I. I say that if I've come to Jesus, praise God, he's the one who drew me. Acts 13:48 and as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. What is it that makes men differ then? Why do some believe and others not? Those who ordained to eternal life believe in Romans 9, Paul said, for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him who calls. As it stands written, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. Therefore he has mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardens. And so the Bible says it's all of God, completely of God's sovereign mercy. He chooses who will be saved. Now they do exercise their will. They do choose to come to Jesus. But what I've been telling you is they do so because faith was granted to them by God. He ordained it. They love him because he first loved them. And According to Romans 9, what I've just read, it has nothing to do with God seeing that we'll do good or evil. It has everything to do with the purpose of God according to election. That's why things turn out the way they do. Ephesians 1, 4, 5, 11 he chose us in him, in the Son. The Father chose us in the Son before the foundation of the world, having ordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Not according to anything in me, not according to any kind of negotiation, not even according to a little bit that I might do in writing my name on the dotted line. According to the good pleasure of his will, in whom we were made a heritage having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. Salvation is completely by God's sovereign grace. He predestines us by we have been chosen by Him. What about those who do not believe? Everyone's going to ask that question, so we might as well address it. There's no getting around it. Proverbs 16:4. Jehovah has made everything for his own purpose. Yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. Stand in awe of this God. Evil is not outside of his plan. And evil men do not thwart his plan. And they have been created for his purpose. And for the day of evil everything serves his purpose, even the unbelief of men. Now if we are man centered, and so much of theology is if we are man centered, the then we rebel against that. We say that's not right. God should be existing for man's sake. But the Bible says man exists for God's sake and that means all men, believers and unbelievers alike. God is not somehow less than sovereign when it comes to unbelief than he is sovereign when it comes to belief. In Romans 9, Paul says that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand. It stands written, jacob, I loved, Esau, I hated. So then he has mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardens. What if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he before prepared unto glory out of the lump of clay that we know as mankind, God has made some vessels fit for destruction. He's made others for his own glory that he might save them. And then somebody is going to say, that's not fair. Well, let me tell you why it's fair. First of all, because God indiscriminately calls all men to salvation. He goes, and if you come, then you'll be saved. He's fair. It's open to all. We also know he has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He changes the hearts of those and grants faith to those that he has chosen. Somebody says, well, that's not fair, because I couldn't help it. Paul says, who are you to talk back to God? What do you mean you can't help it? If you couldn't help it, then you are still to blame for what you are doing. First Peter 2. 8 says, for they stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. See, God doesn't condemn men apart from their disobedience. The Bible says he nevertheless planned their disobedience. He planned their unbelief. He made them vessels fit for destruction. So that in everything God is is to be credited for what comes about in everything, even the death of the wicked. Now, how should you respond to this dreadful doctrine known as reprobation? Let me suggest how you should respond. Flee to the grace of God. Let me tell you how you should respond. Thank God, without ending, that he set his love on you. Because, you see, if this concerns you, then that means God's given you a heart that's tender in response. And you shouldn't stand back and say, well, I'm more loving, more gracious than God. You're a sinner and you're repugnant in his sight. Stop flattering yourself. Stop thinking you're so wise. God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. What you need to do is thank God that He saved you. Because, you see, God didn't owe salvation to anybody, right? We're all dead. We're all repugnant. We're all guilty in his sight. The way we should respond to the doctrine of predestination is to say, praise God for His mercy. Some are going to be saved. People will say, but now wait a minute. God predestines, but not individuals. He just predestines that there'll be a group of the people who are saved. Or he sets the Church apart as his people in this world. But he doesn't really elect individuals. Well, you can't believe that if you read Revelation 13:8, because in Revelation 13:8 we read of those whose names were written before creation in the Lamb's book of Life. God doesn't just predestine a group, a certain number, or even this body called the Church. He predestines particular names. And then there'll be those people who will say, well, of course, that just means God knew in advance who would choose him and he decided to save them. You know what a mockery that makes of God's sovereignty to say, God says, I chose you. But in fact, he was looking down the corridor of history and he saw that you were going to choose Him. And so then he comes and he says, well, then I chose you. You know, it's as terrible as when a person gets fired. And he goes, no, you can't fire me. I quit. Which is it? Who had the initiative here? Well, what does the Bible consistently tell us? Who has the initiative in salvation? Is it you or is it God? For by grace, you are saved through faith. And it's not of yourself. It is the gift of God. So what I tell people when they say, well, God just looked down the corridor of history, whatever that means, he looked down the corridor of history and he saw that I was going to have faith, and so then he chose me. But you see, if faith is a gift, you follow me. If faith is a gift, then when God looked down the corridor of history, what he saw is that he would give you the gift of faith. And so even if you think it's based on foreknowledge, you have to grant that God saw in advance who he would save, who he'd give the gift of faith. So it still comes back to God's initiative. And then, of course, there are always going to be people who say, well, this can't be true because that violates the free will of man. I have courses where I go through days, hours of lecture, talking about the philosophical and theological issues here. I'm not going to pretend in three or four minutes I can boil it all down for you, but I'll give you the bottom line. The bottom line is this. The Bible teaches us that God predestines who's going to be saved, who's going to be lost. The Bible teaches that those who are lost are depraved and unable to help themselves. And the Bible tells us that men choose freely what they do. And the Bible teaches us they are held responsible for their choices. Now if someone wants to come along and presume to know more than God and his holy infallible word and tell me those four things can't all be true, I say, well, you got a real problem because God says they're all true. And if God says they're all true, I know there's no contradiction between them. See, when people argue man can't have free will if God predestines, I'm going to say, how do you know that? Well, because I can't understand. I say, oh, so truth is limited by your understanding and the Almighty can only do what you are able to explain, like the Trinity, creation from nothing, miracles and all the rest. None of us think that God is limited by our understanding that God is limited by our ability. Now I will grant you that if I were to have a plan where somebody in this room has to rob a liquor store tonight and I want to make sure that that plan comes about, I will take away that person's free will. That's me for you. I'm a human being and I'm on the same level with you. And so if I try to control you to that degree, I'll probably have to put a gun in your back and force you to do it. But notice what is wrong in this analogy. I said, I'm just like you. I'm on your level. Well, what does God say? God says, your thoughts are not my thoughts and your ways are not my ways. For as the heaven is higher than the earth, so are my thoughts and ways higher than yours. God says, don't make me out to be like you. I'm not limited to what you can do and I can plan your future free, responsible choices. And if you say God, I don't understand how you do it, then just stand back in awe and wonder and praise me that I can do what you can't even understand. Now the Bible doesn't allow us to say that predestination can't apply to individuals. The Bible does not allow us to say predestination is based on God seeing things in advance. The Bible doesn't allow us to say that predestination is inconsistent with man's voluntary choices. And therefore it's not true. The Bible teaches us that salvation is completely by God's sovereign grace. This has great practical importance for us who are believers. It has practical importance because first of all, it leads us to thank God for everything that we have. There isn't anything I take credit for, not anything God says, I don't share my glory with another. And so if you are saved, I hope that you will from this moment on, if you haven't already begun this, just keep passing the glory right through you to God. Say, thank you, God. Thank you, God. It's your grace that has given me this hope. Secondly, it's the foundation for your assurance in predictive prophecy. You know, you can't be a Christian if you don't believe that God has planned certain things because he makes prophetic mention of them in the Old Testament about the birth of his son, about his death and so forth. Well, but if God doesn't plan every detail, then how can you be sure that he can predict the future in that way? Thirdly, this is in fact our comfort in affliction, isn't it? In a very strange way, surprising to what you might initially have thought, There is no comfort in saying things happen that's beyond the control of God. Can you imagine a pastor going to a hospital and having to minister to parents who have lost their child? You say, well, you don't want to say God planned that well, that may be your initial impression. But you, you know, that's the only thing I can say to offer comfort. Because if this somehow is beyond the control of God, if Satan did it, as people like to say, then, boy, we really live in a spooky universe, don't we? And there's no good that can come of this. But the only comfort we have is that we know that all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. And so we have to say that in affliction, in hard times, praise God, even this is part of your wondrous plan, and it will somehow be for our happiness and for our good. And finally, this is great news for those of us who need assurance of our ultimate salvation. Because if it's in the hands of God, you can be sure it will never be taken away. I really don't want a theology that says my salvation is up to me because I know myself too well. And if you don't feel what I'm telling you now, you better go home and look yourself in the mirror and get honest. Because the only hope in life and death that you have is that you belong to a faithful Savior. Praise God. Salvation is completely by his sovereign grace. I hope you'll take home these elementary lessons in theology that I brought you in this conference. I know it's only basic training, but it's a good start. You understand something about God's Word and its unchallengeable authority. That there is a pattern of sound words there and that you need to understand it and grow up in your Christian life and understanding. Secondly, that the God who has saved you is a covenant keeping God. And thirdly, the salvation you enjoy is completely by his sovereign grace. Let's pray. God, we come to you as those who have been lazy and irresponsible. Those who have not paid attention to what you have taught us. We have not appreciated the treasures of your Word. We thank you that you've given us this opportunity to study, to begin studying in a serious way which you tell us about yourself and what you tell us about ourselves as well. And we want to give you thanks, Lord, because as we come to see what your Word teaches us, we recognize that glory and honor belongs to you. You are the Sovereign One. You are transcendent. You are holy in all your ways and we bow before you in submission. You are God, we are not. We are your creatures. We need to hear your voice, to believe what you say and follow whatever you tell us to do. And God, what you have shown us about yourself is that you have made a promise of salvation and you keep that promise. You are reliable and faithful. You are true. How we thank you that you do not change your mind. We thank you that your word is in fact trustworthy. We thank you that every covenant that we find in Scripture fulfills the purpose of that original promise to save us those who will be your seed and belong to your Son and Lord. We thank you that you chose us from all eternity to belong to you. We know therefore that you receive the glory, that it's by your grace and mercy that we are what we are, that we enjoy any hope of salvation. And we thank you that that hope is a solid, assured confidence that you will never let us go. That you have loved us from eternity past and therefore will love us to eternity future. Thank you Lord Jesus, for laying down your life and fulfilling the covenant promise of God. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for thinking of us when you died and knowing us by name. Thank you for sending your spirit into our hearts that more we might truly understand the Gospel. Thank you for granting us, by your grace, the gift of faith. Everything that we are. We are because of you. And now take our lives and help us to live that way so that you would be the center of everything we think and everything we do. For we pray in your blessed name. Amen.