Election? Is That Fair?
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 4th June service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Election? Is That Fair?
Election is a common Bible theme and the word in its various forms is used so frequently in the Old and New Testament that we might expect the doctrine of election to be generally accepted and believed. That is not, however, the case. Despite Old Testament prophets such as Moses, David and Isaiah clearly explaining election, and notwithstanding Jesus and all the New Testament writers doing the same, many professing Christians are either ignorant or ashamed of ‘the purpose of God according to election’.
God’s right to choose
Election simply means choosing. The Bible teaches that before the world began, God the creator, chose a fixed number of individuals to salvation and everlasting glory. These people were chosen unconditionally. This means their election by God was not provisional or dependent on anything they did or believed, or because they were in some way different from or superior to anyone else. God acts according to His own purpose and pleasure. He distinguished between men according to His own good will.
A people for His own
Moses is one of the clearest advocates of God’s authority and right to choose whom He will. God told him, ‘I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy’. David realised the implications of electing grace, writing, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance’. The Lord later tells Isaiah ‘hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen’.
Election is a work of the Triune God
In the New Testament the Lord Jesus tells us that times and circumstances are ordered for the sake of the elect and explains how God’s people will be redeemed, forgiven and saved by grace. Paul speaks of ‘the purpose of God according to election’ and of ‘a remnant people’ preserved and delivered ‘according to the election of grace’. Peter tells us of those who are ‘elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ’.
Christ is responsible for the elect
In God’s wise and gracious purpose certain individuals out of Adam’s fallen race have been chosen to salvation. However, because sinners are spiritually dead and can do nothing to deliver their own souls everything necessary for salvation must be accomplished for them and supplied to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. In the covenant of peace the Lord Jesus was appointed to be the Representative and Surety of the elect and they were put into His hands. The salvation and glory of God’s chosen people is the sole responsibility of Jesus Christ.
Mercy or justice?
Some people feel the doctrine of election is unfair. They protest that everyone ought to be given a chance to please God by performing a suitable duty and thereby earning salvation. Some imagine obedience and good works to be the measure of acceptance with God but God has said ‘by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified’. Others say exercising freewill, trusting Christ and following His example is sufficient. But Paul tells us, ‘So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy’.
The real problem
By nature we are carnal people with carnal minds. We are all at enmity with God, dead in sin and incapable of responding to spiritual truth. We are by nature children of wrath who would happily take personal credit and glory in God’s presence were we able to save ourselves. However, Paul tells us divine faith alone pleases God and since faith is God’s gift, dispensed at His discretion and not to all men and women, it must be particular, discriminating and according to His will.
We highly esteem electing grace
We are all condemned by Adam’s fall and as a consequence of our fallen nature we are all guilty of sinning against God. But in Christ there is forgiveness with God that He may be feared, worshipped and served. There is a way to life by the death of Christ, and hope for lost sinners in the gospel of grace. Some protest that election is not fair but God’s elect discover love, mercy, grace and faith they could never obtain by themselves and for that we will eternally praise the Lord.
Amen
Our hymns are below.
Hymn 1
Gadsby selection 205
Free Salvation. Ps. 68. 20; Isa. 45. 17; Acts 4. 12
J. Adams 8.7.4.
1
Jesus is our great salvation,
Worthy of our best esteem;
He has saved his favourite nation;
Join to sing aloud of him.
He has saved us!
Christ alone could us redeem.
2
When involved in sin and ruin,
And no helper there was found,
Jesus our distress was viewing;
Grace did more than sin abound.
He has called us,
With salvation in the sound.
3
Let us never, Lord, forget thee;
Make us walk as children here.
We will give thee all the glory
Of that love that brought us near.
Bid us praise thee,
And rejoice with holy fear.
4
Free election, known by calling,
Is a privilege divine;
Saints are kept from final falling;
All the glory, Lord, be thine!
All the glory,
All the glory, Lord, is thine!
Hymn 2
Gadsby selection 66
Free Election. John 17. 23, 24; Rom. 8. 29
W. Tucker L.M.
1
Deep in the everlasting mind
The great mysterious purpose lay,
Of choosing some from lost mankind,
Whose sins the Lamb should bear away.
2
Them, loved with an eternal love,
To grace and glory he ordained;
Gave them a throne which cannot move,
And chose them both to means and end.
3
In these he was resolved to make
The riches of his goodness known;
These he accepts for Jesus’ sake,
And views them righteous in his Son.
4
No goodness God foresaw in his,
But what his grace decreed to give;
No comeliness in them there is
Which they did not from him receive.
5
Faith and repentance he bestows
On such as he designs to save;
From him their soul’s obedience flows,
And he shall all the glory have.
The Biblical doctrine of unconditional election to salvation is denied and misrepresented by many but it is the foundation of God's covenant purposes of grace and truth. Believers rejoice to know that their great God and loving Saviour has accomplished and supplied a full, free and complete salvation according to His good will and sovereign purpose.
4 June 2023