Who Chose Who? – Part 1
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
June 4, 2017
As you know we are in our study called “500 Years of Reformation”
And presently we are exploring the concept of SOLA GRATIA
We are examining the Scriptures to determine what exactly is meant
By the term “Grace Alone”.
And the first thing we had to come to grips with was the word “Alone”.
• We are asking if salvation is the sole work of God (monergism)
Or if salvation is the cooperative work of God and man (synergism).
AND TO BEGIN answering that question had to begin at the fall
To figure out what the state of man actually was.
And we found that Adam killed us all.
As a result of the fall, we all became “dead in our trespasses and sins”
And the consequence of this is what we called ABSOLUTE INABILITY.
That is to say, that it is impossible for a sinner
To initiate any sort of salvation process whatsoever.
So the notion that man demonstrates “good will” toward God
And then God responds to that good will with grace and mercy
Is a spiritual impossibility.
Man is dead and has no ability within himself
To ever make that first step toward God.
And we spent several weeks looking at that biblically.
Whether you want to go to Ephesians 2 or 1 Corinthians 2 or John 6, it becomes increasingly evident that man did not have the ability to initiate anything.
If any man is to be saved it only occurs because God initiates it.
I think we can safely say we have crossed that bridge.
Well, tonight I want to move a little further down that road.
And so let’s ask this question:
IF MAN IS INCAPABLE OF INITIATING SALVATION, THEN WHO DOES INITIATE IT?
And of course the only possible answer there is: GOD
And Jesus made that pretty clear to us:
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
So then, in a world filled with lost and spiritually dead people,
The only people who can be saved
Are those whom God brings to salvation.
Since man can’t do it on his own, God must do it for him.
SO… the only people who get saved are those whom God chooses to be saved. Right?
We cannot say that it is up to the sinner to choose God,
Since he has no desire or ability in the matter.
It is up to God to choose the sinner.
Romans 9:16 “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”
And that introduces to us the DOCTRINE OF ELECTION
Traditional Calvinism has called it “Unconditional Election”
Carrying the idea that God chooses or “elects” those who will be saved based on nothing but pure grace.
That is to say that God doesn’t just look down and see who are the best and then “choose” them.
And of course that is true because we recently learned that all humanity is in the same boat.
• We could go back again to Romans 3 and be reminded that “there is none
who does good, not even one”
So anyone whom God chooses
Would most certainly be apart from any merit which deserves it.
What all that means then is that
Salvation is up the sovereign prerogative of God.
HE SAVES WHOM HE CHOOSES TO SAVE.
AND IF THAT REALITY HITS YOU A LITTLE SIDEWAYS
THEN REST ASSURED, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
The doctrine of divine election is without a doubt
One of the most argued and hated doctrines of our evangelical world.
• It directly offends man’s notion of “free will”,
• And it even violates what most people assume to be the all-encompassing love of God.
How could a loving God choose some and not choose everyone?
THAT’S NOT FAIR! (is the common cry)
I heard a sermon several years ago about election and in it the pastor quoted several well-known evangelicals just to illustrate how hated this doctrine can be.
Tim LaHaye
“And to suggest that the merciful, long-suffering, gracious and loving God of the Bible would invent a dreadful doctrine like this, predestination, which would have us believe it is an act of grace to select certain people for heaven and by exclusion others for hell comes perilously close to blasphemy.”
(MacArthur, John [The Doctrine of Election, Part 1, a sermon on www.gty.org,] code: 90-273)
Another pastor says:
“The flawed theology of preselection is an attempt to eliminate man’s capacity to exercise his free will which reduces God’s sovereign love to an act of a mere dictator.”
(ibid)
And another:
“This doctrine is the most unreasonable, incongruous, self-contradictory, man-belittling and God-dishonoring scheme of theology that ever appeared in Christian thought. No one can accept its contradictory mutually exclusive propositions without intellectual self-debasement. It holds up a self-centered, selfish, heartless, remorseless tyrant for God and bids us worship Him.”
(ibid)
And that is only a few of those listed even in that sermon.
The point is, that this is a hated doctrine.
And most likely, the first time you were ever exposed to it, or heard it,
I’d be willing to bet that you rejected it too.
• It OFFENDS the very essence of all man-centered theologies.
• It CRUSHES the pride of man and offends all that seems right and fair to all human reason.
But…As we have said,
• Our reason does not dictate what we believe.
• Our sense of fairness does not dictate what we believe.
• What we want to be true of God does not dictate what we believe.
In order to determine what is true and what we believe, where do we go?
SOLA SCRIPTURA
SO THAT IS WHERE WE ARE GOING TO START TONIGHT.
Now, I put down as a text that we were going to study 1 Corinthians 1:26-31,
And we are, though I must confess, we may not get there for a while.
What I want to do first is
Take you on a sweeping journey of Scripture
To make sure that you understand just how much the Bible
Speaks of this doctrine of election or predestination.
We will eventually seek to analyze the doctrine a little more fully,
But I first just want to make sure that you know that
This is not some obscure, left-field thought
That we just grabbed from a verse or two.
It is not like we just found some verse in the middle of Obadiah
And used it to build an entire doctrine on.
I’ve told people many times that this doctrine of election
Is literally everywhere in the Bible.
In fact, I’ll go a step further and tell you this:
If you believe the Bible then you believe in election and predestination.
This doctrine is so prevalent that it is impossible to believe the Bible
And not believe it.
So, let’s just go on a sweeping journey together
So that I can show you that the God of the Bible
Is in a fact a God who chooses or elects or predestines people.
I think the place we have to START is with the Old Testament,
And let’s look at Israel.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 10:14-15 “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. “Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.”
Deuteronomy 14:2 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”
Moses’ doctrine there is impossible to miss.
• He could see that God did in fact choose Israel over and above all the other peoples of the earth.
• He did not choose everyone, but He did choose Israel.
• There is no doubt there as to what Moses is saying.
Now, we have no real interest in challenging the authority of Moses here,
But just for argument sake, let’s push him a little.
Was Moses correct in this assessment?
When he says that God chose Israel “above all peoples” was he right?
TURN BACK TO GENESIS 11.
In Genesis 11 we have a universal reality over the whole earth.
In fact, we could easily make the point that in Genesis 11
The whole earth was just 1 people.
(READ 11:1) “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.”
There weren’t multiple peoples on the earth at this time, there was just 1.
They were all descendants of Noah.
One language, one people.
But you will then remember the idolatrous attempt they made with the tower of Babel and how God then separated all the peoples.
God confused their language and there became distinct and separate peoples scattered all over the earth.
Had God wanted to “choose” everyone,
It would have made much more sense
To leave them all as one people, but He didn’t.
God first separated all of humanity, and then we come to chapter 12,
Where God reveals who, of all the peoples, He is going to choose.
And in chapter 12 we are introduced to Abram.
(READ 12:1-3)
Now a study of Abram will reveal that he was anything but remarkable among the people.
• He was idolatrous
• He was greedy
• He was worldly
• He was even disobedient
BUT HE WAS CHOSEN
And time won’t permit us to walk again through his life, though if you never have, I certainly recommend our sermon series online from Genesis.
Abraham tried many times to reject (or at the very least neglect) this blessing from God, and God simply would not let it happen.
Abraham was chosen.
And it wasn’t just him.
God continued to make distinctive selections among Abraham’s children.
You will remember that Abraham had a son by his hand-maid Hagar.
That boy was named Ishmael. He was Abraham’s first born son.
But God had not chosen Ishmael, even to Abraham’s surprise.
(READ 17:15-21)
God made a definite and absolute distinction between Ishmael and Isaac.
And then it happens again with the children of Isaac’s children.
(READ 25:19-26)
And this selection may be the most remarkable of all.
• We sort of dismiss the selection of Abraham because we think him to be a good man.
• We then dismiss the selection of Isaac over Ishmael because Ishmael was the son of a hand-made.
• But this selection makes no rational sense.
Both of these boys had the same father and the same mother.
And God just said, “I choose the younger”.
And you are certainly aware that Paul made a strong point regarding this revelation of God’s choice.
Romans 9:10-13 “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”
IT’S PRETTY CLEAR.
And in reading that, it’s not hard to see why Moses believed
Israel to have been chosen above all the peoples of the world.
And if those stories weren’t enough,
Surely the Exodus convinced Moses that God favored them.
• God took a nation of slaves and chose to deliver them at the ruin of the nation which owned them. God made His choice of Israel undeniable.
Psalms 135:4 “For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession.”
And if the exodus was not enough to convince you,
Then take a little farther journey into the book of Joshua and see how God uprooted entire nations that He might give the land to Israel.
How many peoples did God command for Israel to totally annihilate?
Over and over and over God shows His favor and choice to Israel
Over and above all the other nations.
And why did God choose Israel?
Because Israel was more righteous than the other nations?
No, in fact they were probably more sinful.
The only reason is because God wanted it that way.
He chose Israel because He wanted to.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 16:1-14
There again the point is made.
• You weren’t special
• You weren’t loved
• I made you live
• I made you grow
• I made you clean
• I made you loved
God simply chose to do that for Israel.
He most certainly did not do that for all the nations of the earth.
It is clear, unmistakable election.
HE IS A GOD WHO CHOOSES, HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN.
And it is important for you to see in the Bible that HE HAS NOT CHANGED.
Election and predestination are ALL OVER SCRIPTURE as well.
Let’s take a quick walk through the New Testament.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 22
• There you find that parable of the wedding banquet and the regrettable reality of those who would not enter the wedding banquet.
• We also find there a man who sought to enter by his own righteousness who was then thrown out.
But it is the statement of explanation in verse 14 that is so telling.
(14) “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
TURN TO: MATTHEW 24
• Here we have the Olivet discourse and Jesus teaching on the end times.
• He reveals to them just how awful the tribulation will be and then says:
(22) “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
(24) “Fro false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”
(31) “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”
I mean there is no mistaking who is and who isn’t being saved.
He is saving His “elect”, His chosen.
TURN TO: LUKE 12
• Jesus is teaching about the sin of worry and commanding people not to do it.
(32) “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
It was a choice that God made.
TURN TO: LUKE 18
• Here we have Jesus teaching on prayer, and it is that parable of the persistent widow.
But notice the point Jesus makes at the end of the parable.
(6-7) “And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?”
Last time we looked at the gospel of John, so you don’t have to turn there, but let me remind you what we saw.
John 13:18 “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’”
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
It’s pretty clear isn’t it?
TURN TO: ACTS 2
• Remember Peter preaching at Pentecost?
(38-39) “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
This promise of salvation is for anyone whom God calls to Himself.
Anyone who is chosen by Him.
It’s not for everyone, but for the elect.
TURN TO: ACTS 9
• Remember the salvation of Paul?
And might I just say that all true salvation is like the salvation of Paul.
Paul was a dead man whom Christ chose and changed.
And look what God says to Ananias as he is concerned about confronting Paul.
(15) “But the Lord said to him, “God, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.”
TURN TO: ACTS 10
• This is where Peter is preaching to Cornelius about the saving work of Jesus.
(39-41) “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.”
TURN TO: ACTS 13:48
• Here Paul is preaching in Pisidian Antioch, and after the sermon, notice what it says.
(48) “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
TURN TO: ACTS 16
• Here Paul is preaching in Philippi and he comes across a woman named Lydia.
(14) “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”
Who did it?
God did.
TURN TO: ACTS 18
• Paul is preaching in Corinth, and although the opposition is heavy, God makes Paul a promise.
(9-10) “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”
Who are these people?
They weren’t saved yet, but they were going to be,
Because God had chosen them.
All throughout Paul’s ministry,
He recognized that salvation was the sovereign prerogative of God.
Those whom God chose were saved.
It was that simple.
And Paul’s belief in this echoed throughout his writings.
TURN TO: ROMANS 8
• Paul is speaking of God’s determination to save us forever, and look at what he says.
(28-30) “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
(33) “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;”
Paul certainly understood the doctrine of election.
TURN TO: ROMANS 11
• Where Paul talks about the present reality of a Jewish remnant.
(5) “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”
(28) “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;”
We read to open the sermon the passage from 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 1:27-28 “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,”
TURN TO: EPHESIANS 1
• This is really unmistakable.
(3-6) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
TURN TO: COLOSSIANS 3
• Notice what Paul calls the Colossians.
(12) “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;”
TURN TO: 1 THESSALONIANS 1
(4) “knowing, brethren beloved of God, His choice of you;”
TURN TO: 2 THESSALONIANS 2
(13) “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”
TURN TO: 2 TIMOTHY 2
(10) “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”
TURN TO: TITUS 1
(1) “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those who are chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.”
And it wasn’t just Paul.
TURN TO: 1 PETER 1
(1-2) “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
TURN TO: 1 PETER 2
(9) “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
TURN TO: REVELATION 13
• Speaking of the deception and persecution of Antichrist.
(8) “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”
Only the chosen won’t surrender to him.
TURN TO: REVELATION 17
• There again we notice who will not submit to Antichrist.
(14) “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”
Ok, so I hope you’re getting my point.
I realize this was just a quick skimming through Scripture,
But I felt it necessary to make sure you understand something.
People hate the doctrine of election and when most of those people argue against it, they just throw out these vague blanket statements like:
• “A God of love would never do that”
• “Our God would never choose who is saved”
• “Election makes God a dictator or a monster”
And most people never even give it a second thought.
They hear some vague statement like (which is a statement their itching ears want to hear) and because it agrees with their sense of reason or logic they just accept it as gospel fact.
But go read your Bible.
You may not like the fact that God elects or predestines or chooses who will be saved, but that’s your problem.
THAT FACT SATURATES THE PAGES OF SCRIPTURE.
Because man is dead in sin and can come to God on his own,
The only reason anyone is saved
Is because God chooses for them to be saved.
And before we dive into this doctrine a little deeper, I just first wanted to make sure that you knew this wasn’t some off the wall doctrine.
Now, you may have to go home and wrestle with this a while, and that’s fine.
I’d be lying if I told you that I believed this the first time I heard it.
I did not.
The first time I heard it, it flew right in the face of what I had always believed to be true about God.
However, when the Bible is opened, there is no mistaking what it says.
So go home and chew on these verses a little while.
And come back next time, we’ve got a lot more to look at.
