Growing in Steadfastness Pt. 1
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Growing in Steadfastness, Part 1
Please turn your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 2. We will look at 13 to 17 today. We're at the two thirds mark around there of this letter, three chapters, almost at the end of chapter two, and in similar fashion to 1 Thessalonians, which we were in last spring. Uh, it's around this point, the close of chapter 2, similar in chapter 3, in 1 Thessalonians, where Paul looked like he was getting finished. He even had kind of a closing tone to his letter, where he was giving them a blessing and a benediction at the end of 1 Thessalonians three and then just when you thought he was done, he revs up. And he has two more chapters about Christian living. In similar fashion we find in 2 Thessalonians that these first two chapters, most of the focus is on what they needed to know, what they needed to know about the suffering they were going through, and about the future that they were going to face, more so than how they were to respond. That's going to come in chapter three of 2 Thessalonians. But what we find today is kind of a closing thought in this second chapter that is meant to encourage them to move forward in faith, that is meant to encourage them to stand firm in the faith, to be steadfast in the faith. And it's all predicated, as often we see in the gospel, in the New Testament, predicated on the realities we already know about ourselves, that are the strength in which we stand so that we can fight.
In the New Testament I call that gospel grammar that we move from the realities of who we are in Jesus Christ, into what we do for Jesus Christ. And that's maybe we want to call that the indicatives, the things that are just true of us as Jesus followers, as children of God, as brothers and sisters in Christ. They're true of us, irrespective of what we think about ourselves. That if you find yourself in Christ today, these are the benefits, the blessings, the spiritual blessings that you have that are untold, that you can't count them all according to Ephesians 1:3. That all the blessings in the heavenly places are ours in Christ. Those realities are true about you, believer, and they are what can lead you to fulfill imperative statements in the New Testament, or commands of what you're supposed to do. And even when we look at this letter of 2 Thessalonians, we see there's really two chapters of Paul telling them whose they are, who they are in Christ before, and last chapter three, he's going to tell them what they are to do. And that's a good ratio to keep in mind. Side note kind of a 2 to 1 ratio of when I live my Christian life, I need to double down on the things that I know are already true about me in Jesus. That's where the strength comes from. That's the victory that we fight from...we're not fighting for. Because we just sang it. What's already been done for us. The price has been paid. The victory has been won. It's who we are in Christ Jesus. And then that 2 to 1 ratio...for the two things I know about who I am in Christ then becomes the one part which is now what am I to go and do? And we see that in the letters to 1 and 2 Thessalonians. You could even make the argument from Romans. You know, 11 chapters of all these truths and realities about what we have in Christ before chapters 12 to 16 about what we're to do for him.
So follow along in the section as Paul is really using this as a transition, encouragement, even a prayer in 16 and 17. A benediction, a blessing to launch these believers forward in faith based on where they stand in Christ. Verse 13. 2 Thessalonians 2:13...
"But we should always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this he called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word."
The grass withers and the flowers fade away, but the Word of God stands forever. May he bless the preaching and hearing and applying of it today.
Call your attention to that phrase in verse 15 that really these five verses hang on, it's the hinge, which is when he says, brothers and sisters, stand firm. It's a command that means to be steadfast. And if I asked you when I use the word steadfast, if we as Christians are to be growing in steadfastness, who is it that comes to mind when I say the word steadfast? Or maybe what is it that comes to mind when you hear the word steadfast. It's maybe not the most common adjective that I use when I'm trying to describe someone or something that has qualities of loyalty, dedication, perseverance, devotion. But it's a good word. In fact, when I checked on Google, as I often do for its definition just to be right on things and even its etymology...based on Google listening to us and hacking into our lives constantly. The word steadfast peaked in the mid 1800s. How they take all those books of antiquity and pulled them together, I don't know, but they do. So if you find yourself using the word steadfast on a regular basis, you now know what generation you belong to...the 1800s.
When I heard that word, and it's an old English word combining the idea of place and firmly fixed, I thought of the Beefeaters, the the King's guard, you know, protecting Buckingham Palace...the Queen's jewels. That they're steadfast. Right? They stand there. They're supposed to be immovable, unswerving. You can try to make them laugh. They're not supposed to crack a smile. They're not supposed to do anything. But you've probably seen some of those videos where, um, you push it too far and you're going to pay for it. I also thought of the Marines and theirtheir motto, Semper fidelis, always faithful. Those those people come to mind for me. That being steadfast is at the heart of what they're about. And at the heart of what Paul is saying to these beleaguered Christians in Thessalonica are to be about despite being discouraged. Chapter one, he had to help them, as we talked a few weeks ago, that they were suffering affliction for their faith. They were being persecuted for their faith. And he encourages them to not lose the faith, not stop loving, not stop hoping in what?...the righteous return of Jesus Christ who will repay those afflicted, and rescue those being afflicted. And then in chapter two, they were discouraged. They were deceived, thinking the day of the Lord had come. But he reminds them and enlightens them to the truth, that the day of the Lord has not come. And when that day comes, God will triumph over Satan, over Antichrist, over sin, once and for all.
And so to close chapter two, after he has bolstered them in their knowledge of who they are and who they belong to and the strength that they fight from, he can tell them in verse 15, stand firm. And that's what we want, isn't it? As Christians in the day and age we're in, whether you're being persecuted in the present or you just see the inevitability of it in your future for believing what you believe, for living the way that you live. I think we all want to know how Paul strengthened these Christians to grow in steadfastness, so that we can be the same, so that we can have those same qualities said about our faith devoted, dedicated, persistent, persevering, unswerving, unflappable, unflinching in the face of persecution and affliction.
And Paul gives them three ways that they can be steadfast. Three things that any Christian soldier would need to know in order to stand firm. And, um, truth be told, I actually only got through one of them today in first service, so I'm going to do something I haven't tried before. I'm going to just preach to you guys points two and three. And then you guys can meet up with first service this week. You could trade notes and you have a completed sermon. Actually somebody asked me a few weeks ago, have you ever done that? Adam preached one sermon to 9 a.m. and the other to 11 and don't tell anybody. And then just let them show up for small group this week and see what comes of it. But no, we only covered point one. And so if you have that sheet of notes in the back. Um, point one is all we're getting through because point one had three sub points. So you still get three points today no matter what you do. It's a blessing and a curse.
Here's the first point that you need to know. And it's just in verses 13 and 14. To fight the good fight, to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord as a soldier of Christ, you must know the ground that you stand on, and that is the ground, the immovable, unshakable ground of God's providence. In a book by Sun Tzu called the Art of War, written in the fifth century BC. One of his key principles for warfare is the importance of knowing the terrain that surrounds you, and you make wise decisions in light of it. He wrote, "In any military operation, it's important first to know the lay of the land. When you know the relative safety of the terrain, then you can discern whether to do battle or disperse." And so maybe Paul one hundred years later
got a copy of that Art of War. Because when he is telling these believers to stand firm he wants to first give them the principle of...know the ground that you stand on before he encourages them to take any action. He is saying take an assessment of where your feet currently stand. And are they firmly planted on the providence of God? And we'll learn about that Providence or that sovereignty of God in three ways. And these are the three sub points in verses 13 and 14. The first ground to stand on to wage war from is this God loves you.
What a wonderful starting point. In fact, the love of God is the highest ground to get to. I'm no soldier, nor pretend to be, but I did play my fair share of King of the Hill growing up...in the day and age we're in, where the weirdest things could become the next Olympic sport. If it ever comes back I'm coming out of retirement. That's my shot. I think I can make it to the Olympics and at least get a bronze in King of the Hill. And the whole point of that is you need the high ground, and if you have the high ground, you can wage war from there.
And the highest ground that Paul starts with to shore these Christians up is to say right out of the gates, we should always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, beloved by the Lord. The love of God is the high ground in standing firm. No matter how frustrated Paul was with some of these believers in Thessalonica, anxious about anti-Christ, nervous about the day of the Lord...he calls them beloved. And that's just like Paul, isn't it? Notice what he said right out of the gate before he called them loved by God. He said, I should always give thanks to God for you. What principle have I been repeating myself over the last few months, maybe even years. When you see the grace of God in operation around you, what are you to do?...give thanks. Because our theology is grace. Our ethic is gratitude. I feel like I have played that one out, but yet in my life group just a month ago I had mentioned it apparently and mentioned that I mention it and then it was mentioned in life group. Adam, I never heard you say that before. So I said, I'll keep saying it to just drive it home. That because our spiritual synapses should be trained to constantly be on the lookout for the work of grace around us. Because think about what that does for you. One, it takes your eyes off of you. You're not so consumed with you. And then it puts your eyes on two things. God is working in someone else's life, and I recognize that that is a work of grace. And hopefully, when I do that, it produces greater humility in me to see God's grace is at work all around me. And then maybe if you are discouraged in your own faith of where you're at, maybe knowing, seeing the work of God's grace in other people around you then reminds you he could do that same work in you. And maybe the work of grace he's trying to do in you is for you to be recognizing grace. But it's not enough just to see it. Paul says it. He sees that they are loved by the Lord.
And I know in my own heart, when I'm at odds with the fellow believer, when I'm at the end of my line, if you want to call it that. When I stop to pray for them and the first thing on my lips is God, you love them. That changes the whole direction. When you are at odds with a fellow believer who is loved by God, right? They're in Christ, it's the one thing you know about them...they're loved by God. They've been saved by his son, whom he sent in love. And if you can coach your heart when it feels like it's hardening and growing bitter to someone who's your brother and sister in Christ, maybe even lives under the same roof to say right out of the gate, God, you love them. Now help me. That gets you somewhere.
And that's the that's the first ground that they're fighting from, is that they are loved by God. Our kids need to hear that constantly from us as parents. Why wouldn't we, as God's children, need to hear it for us? You don't grow past it. You don't grow out of it. You are loved. We had that on a on a sign at our old campus before we moved here ten years ago. Last thing you saw, as you would drive out of the campus, was a sign to the side that said what?...you are loved. And it was a great reminder that however you felt going in and by the gospel of God's grace, ministering to you as a child of God going out, you might already be here the kids....we want burger, fries. No, we want chicken. It's everywhere you look around here. And you're like, oh, I got to deal with that. I'm loved. Okay, let's go kids. I can do this. It just brings out the best in us to know we're loved. That's the first ground that we stand on that is secure, is the love of God for us in Christ. And it almost comes out as just a by word at the beginning of verse 13.
Because he says, we should always give thanks to God for you brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because and then he gets to his first reason. But I didn't want to skip past...friend this morning, you are loved and that's your firm foundation. In Jesus Christ nothing can separate you from the love of God. You're loved.
Now that Paul gave you a spoonful of sugar, it's time for the medicine to go down. The second position of our firm foundation in God's providence. First is that we're loved. Next is that we're chosen. Paul says we should give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. And that is known as the doctrine of election. If you want a good definition for the doctrine of election, use the Bible's definition for the doctrine of election. Underline it and to the side when somebody wants to know, oh, I've heard about the doctrine of election or predestination. They relate. They're not identical. Or we could call it God's sovereignty in salvation. So the best definitions are the ones that the Holy Spirit wrote. God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. And there it is. You can't really improve upon it.
If you're new to Christianity election is God's choice of individuals in eternity past to receive salvation on the basis ofhis own good pleasure, with no account of seeing any good in them at all. Now, I gave you the Biblical definition...that was just a little expanded definition when you take in some of the other verses on election in the Bible. It's God's choice of individuals in eternity past to receive salvation on the basis ofhis own good pleasure, taking no account of any foreseen good in them.
And that is a controversial doctrine. Now, the interesting thing is that in the mind of Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit that it's paired ever so perfectly with God's love. Do you see that? That the doctrine of God's choice, irrespective of our actions, comes right on the heels of talking about God's love for us. And the interesting thing is, no one seems to be bothered by the idea that God first had to love us before we love him. In fact, when I was just talking about you being loved, we love that, didn't we? It's so encouraging. 1 John 4:19 says, we love because God first loved us. I don't find a lot of people arguing against that verse. Romans 5:8, while we were still sinners, God demonstrated his love for us by sending Jesus to die. People love that. But yetwhen we read, God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation, it hits different. Or we read in Ephesians 1:4...right out of the gates in that magisterial letter. 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. I already said that this morning. How wonderful it is to count all our blessings in Christ. And the first on the list is...just as God chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. John 17 the high priestly prayer...first thing off of Jesus lips, all that you chose to give me, I will give them eternal life.
So why is it that we can accept God loved us before we loved him, but we find it hard to accept God chose us before we chose him? Why do those two ideas seem to be in tension? The doctrine of God's love, everlasting love, as far as the East is from the West so far has he removed our sins from us. And as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love towards us. We love that doctrine. And yet it's hard for us to accept the doctrine of God's electing grace. Well, Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 here doesn't defend it. To him, it's just a fact. He just states it right next to talking about God's love. With no reason he has to stop and say, hey, I know you guys are going to be all maybe thrown off by this. We do get a defense of it if you want to turn to Romans 9. And we get a defense of it by an illustration Paul uses from the Old Testament in the story of twin brothers Jacob and Esau...Romans 9:6-29, you could turn there, is the extended defense of the doctrine of God's electing grace. But just a few verses in 9 to 13 focus the story on Jacob and Esau, where God chose Jacob over Esau for a blessing based only on God's sovereign will. It says in Romans 9:11, speaking of Jacob and Esau...the twins. 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. And Paul is using this illustration from the Old Testament, this physical illustration for the spiritual point, to say, look on the scales, that we like to weigh God's justice that some are, he's going to anticipate accusing him of injustice. He is just saying, here's what election is. These twins had not yet done anything good or bad. They're in the womb at the same time. Same parents...there's nothing that anybody could say, okay, to differentiate in God's purpose and God's choice will stand. And here's the issue...not because of works, not God foreseeing any good in the one, or foreseeing any evil in the other. But what was the reason God chose? Because of him who calls the older will serve the younger. Him who calls...who's that?...God in advance not based on anything other than God's, verse 13, electing love for Jacob.
Now knowing that some will say that's unjust. And Paul just knows to say, look, there is no injustice with God. May it never be in verse 14 is a way to say, God forbid. You could take out of the discussion that this is an issue of God's justice because God is just and therefore his decisions are just. Not because we sit there and evaluate him according to our fallen sense of justice. God is just. What we may not understand then, is that this issue that we are taking umbrage with is actually an issue of God's love, not justice.
Because all of them, everyone who is a sinner deserves to be judged. But he says, here's what I do. Verse 15, I have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I have compassion on whom I have compassion. And that probably answers the question of why we wrestle with God's love in verse 13, back in 2 Thessalonians 2. And then right after that, God's choosing, because it seems that we think it's a matter of injustice with God to do this, but yetreally, it's a matter of mercy. Verse 16, back in Romans 9, then it doesn't depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on the God who has mercy. This issue of God's electing grace is an issue of who God chooses to show love towards, who God chooses to show mercy towards, when none of them deserve it. Paul just established that...there was no foreseen, good or bad in Jacob or Esau that tipped the scale to one or the other. It was based solely on God, Verse 18, having mercy on whom he desires and hardening on whom he desires.
And then Paul anticipates the accusation. You will say to me, why does he still find fault? Who resists his will? And here's Paul's final answer, Verse 20. On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? If God chooses some for salvation and not others our fallen, understanding runs that out...that means he's not loving and he's not just. And Paul's answer was clear...God is merciful. And in his electing love, he has the freedom because God...Newsflash...is the only free being in all of the universe. Truly. Because to be entirely free, as we would think of it, is to not be affected or influenced or changed by any of the surroundings around us. We just do whatever we please and nothing can influence us whatsoever. And the only being that is described that way in the Bible is God. Psalm 115...our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. Or back over to Ephesians one, the reason that he chose us before the foundation of the world and predestined us to adoption as sons in Jesus was according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. It all goes back to God's good pleasure. It all goes back to God having the right as God to choose according to his own desires.
So firm Foundation number two, which to a lot of us isn't very firm. Just being honest because it's hard to understand, isn't it? And I hope you get from me this morning that I, nor Paul is making the case that we need to understand the doctrine of election completely in order to accept it personally. You don't need to say that you...in fact, it's a joke. If you actually want to tell me this morning, I completely comprehend it. Oh, really? Soyou can do something that even Paul at the end of Romans 11 said he couldn't do...fathom the riches of the wisdom of God. How 'unsearchinable' are his unsearchable! I think I've said that before here. That's twice in the last year. Unsearchable and unfathomable...put them together into one. Thank you, Jerry. He likes my word, the 'unsearchinable' riches of God.
So he's not saying that you need to be able to understand it in order to accept it. In fact, we could probably go down a host of issues through the Bible that we accept without completely understanding, starting with God...his eternality. Anybody can sit there and just be totally at ease and understand and cool with that He's existed before in all eternity and nothing created him. You just get the self-existent God. You can explain that. Come on down. Thanks, Jerry, once again. I don't get his eternality. I don't understand it. I don't understand it going backwards into eternity past or forwards into eternity future. But I accept it. My existence depends on him. His doesn't depend on me understanding his. Second, I could throw the Trinity into that. That God, one true God in three persons. I don't understand it completely, but I accept it. How I have the Bible in front of me...the perfect, inerrant, infallible Word of God, yet who wrote it?...man or God? Both. Do you understand that? Probably not completely, but you accept it. Your sanctification. God works in...you work out. You do something good. Who gets the credit? You for obeying...your God for working in...both. Do you accept it? Yeah. Do you understand it completely? Probably not. Soyou can go down the list of these things.
And rather than be dismayed by the doctrine of election, I choose. Or at least I think I choose to be amazed by it rather than debate it. Because this doctrine, as I stepped back this week and spent some time thinking about it, pushes my mind and heart to the farthest expanse of the sovereignty of God. We can say we love the sovereignty of God. You know, he's in charge of the fishes and the sea. And I don't think that offends any anybody...maybe the fish. The rain falls on the just and the unjust, and nobody's offended by that except when it rains on you. We like God's Sovereignty with like a lower case 's'.
You know, the kind that we can accept without major implications for offending my sense of what?...freedom or choice. But the doctrine of election is the sovereignty of God. Capital S, capital O and however else you spell that big word. Election is at the farthest reach in the universe of God's providence, the hardest for the telescopes of our small souls to see to his outer edge. It's what I like to call...of all the doctrines, this one is at the heart of the 'Godness' of God. It is. I don't know any other doctrine that is at the heart of what makes God uniquely God, because he doesn't have to explain to me his choice. He doesn't owe it to me, and I will never find my way to the end of it, just like Paul in Romans 11. Now, it's not something to be afraid of, ashamed of, avoid talking about. But I would advise this. We need to respect it. Listen to this quote from a theologian advising when venturing into the realms of election and predestination to take caution. He writes this.
"First, let us remember that when we inquire into predestination, we are entering the sanctuary of divine wisdom. Anyone who pries into it and delves too brashly and confidently will never reach the point where he satisfies his curiosity, but will stumble into a labyrinth from which he will find no way out. For it is not right that the things which God has sought to conceal, and whose knowledge he has kept for himself, should be scrutinized in this way by men. Nor is it right that the lofty wisdom which he wished us to revere, rather than comprehend, so that we might wonder at his greatness should be made subject to our human mind. What God thought good to give to us was everything which he knew would be relevant and rewarding to us. Once we grasp the idea that God's Word is the only path which allows us to investigate all that we may lawfully know about him, and is likewise the only light by which we behold all that we may lawfully see of him. It will stop us from acting impulsively, for then we will realize that by going beyond the bounds of Scripture, we will be straying off into the darkness and will inevitably, with every step, wander, stumble, and trip up."
Now, that sounds like somebody very critical of the doctrine of predestination. Definitely couldn't be a fan of it, except it comes on page 463 of the 800 pages of John Calvin's Institutes. You know the guy, John Calvin that's the boogeyman of Calvinism. Two terms he actually wouldn't have recognized in his own day boogeyman or Calvinism. Calvin is seen today as those who don't understand him, one who wrecks the gospel with this doctrine of predestination. But in his own time during the Protestant Reformation, he was one who rescued the gospel from works based righteousness. And what drove him was the glory of God in Jesus Christ. You open those 800 pages in the institutes and right out of the gates he wants to impress you with Christ. You got to get two thirds of the way through the book to get to the one chapter...20 some pages on predestination. To which most people would ask, oh, if they don't like him...that's all that guy was about, predestination. May I encourage you, if maybe that was your estimation of John Calvin, in the spirit of the protestant Renaissance, not quite the Reformation...what Erasmus believed that led to the Reformation was the spirit of avantis...back to the sources. If you want to understand what John Calvin believed, you need to read him yourself. You don't need to read some blog critic taking pot shots and piling on, taking the quotes to misquote. So there's your assignment. For the first time in the annals of my five year time here, assigning you to read Calvin's 800 pages. I'll give you five years, and at my ten year mark, if I make it after today especially, you can read Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will.
But I really would just recommend, hey, being discerning and we've talked about growing in discernment the last few weeks. The best way to grow in discernment, especially of doctrines that don't sit well with us, is to read them in that own person's words, in their own time, give them that much credit. It was always drilled into me when I was going through seminary. Adam, if you're going to critique this position, do it in a way that the person that promotes it could sit in the room and say, yes, that's exactly what I believe. As in, you're not intentionally misrepresenting them to make your point.
So all this talk of election, the charicature of it is, if you believe it, you become part of the frozen chosen, as in, if God chooses us, why do we do anything?
I wonder if Paul has an answer for that in the next two phrases. Brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation...here's how you thaw out...through sanctification by the spirit and faith in the truth. There's Paul's answer to the accusation that the doctrine of election is going to put us into some state of inactivity, because if God is in control of it all, we shouldn't do anything. He says...those who are chosen by God have these two qualities about their life that proves they're saved... sanctification by the spirit and faith in the truth.
Now, that sounds exactly like the rest of the New Testament, particularly the letter of 1 John that the the mission statement of it in chapter five is...I write these things that you would know that you know Jesus Christ as Lord. And the qualities of a true Christian, according to the Apostle John in 1 John are...that you confess Jesus Christ as come in the flesh, that he is the Son of God. Well, that is right here...faith in the truth, the right confession. And then he says, and you can't go around saying you're a Christian making a practice of sin. And then he highlights one particular sin, a lack of love for your brother. And he uses the example of Cain and Abel. So, lo and behold, if you are chosen by God, sanctification and deepening convictions will mark your life, not you just being able to explain the doctrine of election. In fact, that's not going to get you anywhere. In fact, that will probably put a target on you. And it should...if you're going to boast in this amazing doctrine and it is, then these things should be true of you...sanctification by the spirit. You are becoming more like Jesus Christ rather than less, especially in the way that you want to tell people about the doctrine of election with a smile in love, because it's built on what?...God's sovereign love that he gave at his good pleasure in eternity past. You should sound like that, talking about it. You should certainly live like that. Proving the depth of your love for God and all of his wonderful truths in your actions. Second, you believe in the truth. He says. You have convictions. You believe more in the truth of God as your life goes on, not less.
So really, what Paul is doing in these, um, these few verses here, he's taking you from eternity past into the present. He took you to into eternity past, giving thanks to God for you. Loved by God because chose God chose you from the beginning. And then he brings them into the present for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and faith in the truth. Present day believers in Thessalonica...how do you answer the accusation against this election?...look at my life and listen to what I believe. Sanctification by the spirit...you could see it. It's happening in me and through me. Deepening conviction in the truth of God. It's the same truth we read about holy living in Ephesians 1:4. Chosen in him to be holy and blameless before him. That's a wonderful defense against the accusation that if you believe in election, you will endorse antinomianism, the idea that we don't obey God's commands. These verses teach us the opposite, that if there's no obedience in your life, if there's no sanctification by the spirit, if there's no surrender of your life to the will of God, if there's no change of your affections in your heart, then whatever claims you make to know something theologically, there's reason to question whether it's actually changed you. On the other hand, if you have according
verse 13, heard and believed the gospel and seen the transforming work of the spirit in your life, you have good grounds to believe you are God's elect.
So he has put your feet on the firm ground in eternity past of God's choosing. He has brought you into the present of looking at your life and measuring it by those two standards sanctification in the spirit and faith in the truth. And then the last piece after loved by God, chosen by God, you're called to future glory, called by God. That's verse 14. He says, it was for this that he called you through our gospel, but he moves them from the past and present into the future that you may gain...see, it's still out there for you...the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've gone from past to present to future. And isn't that the nature of our great salvation?...from justification to sanctification to glorification? You see how when you understand these subjects in the Bible, they they come out of the text. You don't have to put them on it. You're called to future glory that God loved you believer and chose you believer and called you believers so that you would be conformed to the glorious image of Jesus Christ forever. And that's where some people get it wrong when they think predestination is only about going backwards. Right? Where does he go with the doctrine of predestination here? He goes forwards into your glorification.
And this is what we call from Romans 8:29-30, the golden chain of salvation. So you could turn in your Bibles there to see it for yourself. The Golden Chain of salvation is covering the whole sweep of God's unfolding plan of redemption in your life, from his first thought of you before time began, all the way until you are with him in heaven's eternal joys. That's the golden chain of salvation. Let me read it to you.
Romans 8:29-30, For those whom God foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And these whom he predestined, he also called, and these whom he called, he also justified, and these whom he justified, he also glorified.
Each link in this chain is so connected to the next that it forms your unbreakable faith, and ought to encourage you today and bring you some comfort if you have a weary soul. If you're struggling with assurance and wondering, will you make it? You hold to the golden chain. This chain spans all eternity. It was forged in the flames of God's loving heart and hammered into form by the iron will of God Almighty. No one and nothing can break it. That's an encouragement to the Christian. And the amazing thing of this is it's all of God and it's all of Christ, and it's all of the Holy Spirit, and none of it rests on you. You rest on it. That's good news.
Now, one note on a common issue that comes up when talking about these verses is people that try to take that first piece of the chain and try to twist it a little bit when they talk about foreknowledge. And how some people do this is they say, well, that foreknowledge is at the front, because that's another word for God foreseeing, meaning he didn't actually do all this choosing and predestination. When he has foreknowledge, he can see into the future. And when he looks into the future from eternity past, he sees good in you and that you would choose Jesus. Well, there's a problem with that. Because if God has tolook into the future to see a move that you're going to make, he's no longer God. It takes away from the glory of his omniscience and omnisapience. As in, he knows everything and he is all wise, and there is nothing he needs to look into the future to know about you that he doesn't already know.
In fact, what God did know and does know about every single one of us, and it's true of every person in this room for all time and eternity, is that we are all damned sinners left to ourselves...headed for hell. There's actually a place in the Bible that does speak of God looking from heaven and God seeing. And this is what he sees. Psalm 53:2-3, God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.
Do you understand from these verses why God chooses? Why God must elect. Why God must set his sovereign love. Because in looking out as best as we can, pull it out of Psalm 53:2-3, and not put it on. Is there is no one looking out from the beginning to the end who would ever turn back to God. They're all running in the opposite direction, and God's justice would be to let them all perish because he's holy and they're not. And there is none who would have any inkling of goodness in them already to turn around and seek him according to the very words of God. So that's why foreknowledge being foreseeing...it doesn't work.
It also doesn't work because the effect of something cannot also be the cause. In Ephesians 1:4, it says, God chose us in Jesus before the foundation of the world, so that...effect, we would be holy and blameless before him. But if there was some good thing in us that was going to choose God, i.e. something in us that wanted to be holy and blameless, so God sees we're going to be holy and blameless, and chooses us so that we're holy and blameless. So the effect is the cause? Is that how cause and effect work in any realm, anywhere, any time? No. The reality is no sinner is or ever will be holy and blameless left to themselves apart from Jesus Christ. Therefore, the only way we changed is how? The only way we change is by God's electing love. That's the beginning and the end. And that's why we could say, like Paul did in Romans 11:36 about Jesus. For from him and through him, and to him are all things, in our salvation. To him alone be the glory.
Now some of you sitting here this morning. Might say, is there good news in that? Yeah, it's the good news of the gospel. It's the good news of the gospel this morning. You don't have to. One of the prerequisites to be born again, to be saved this morning, to be rescued from your sin, is not to figure out God, but it is to humbly accept the way he presents the gospel to you right now. Which is this...repent of your sins and trust in my Son, Jesus Christ, who came to take away the sin of the world. Turn to me. Turn to me from what? From whatever pride of thinking, you need to be able to figure God out in order tobelieve in him, that you first have to have understanding before you can have faith. It goes the other way. You humbly bow in faith and admit I don't understand it all, but what I do know that's burning inside my chest right now is that I don't deserve anything. Amen. And God and His son in love gave me everything. And if I know that much, I can be saved. And if you call upon that God, he will receive the humble and the weak. That's the only way any of us get in. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. The things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no man may boast before God. By his doing You are in who? By God's doing, you're in Christ Jesus, who then has become to us the wisdom of God and the righteousness of God and the redemption of God. It's all in Christ today. So call upon him to be saved.
And for those of us who know that gospel, we know that's the only gospel. It excludes all boasting, all works, any glory to us...all glory to him.
That's as far as we're going to get today. Uh, you'll have to come back next week to hear the other ways in which we stand, the weapons we stand with, and
the strength we stand in.
And I'll just wrap up by saying that today was a lot. And look, I put my afternoon of watching the first week of the NFL out there by doing this today. I understand there could be emails and long conversation. I'm kidding, I love you. This is a doctrine to rejoice in, and like I said already, it's something that we can accept, not necessarily understand. And your head may hurt right now trying to wrap your mind around these things. I've been trying all week and the weeks leading up to this to wrap my mind around it. Yesterday in the car I was on about my fifth sermon of the week, um, driving my son to his football game...poor kid. He wants he wants some thunderstruck to get pumped up. And I'm like, we're going to listen to a sermon on election. And so, um, it's 30 minutes away. We're about 20 minutes into the drive, and I hit pause. I have mercy on whom I have mercy. And so I hit pause and I turn to him and I say, did you understand any of that? And he goes, mm, not really. And so then I venture to ask, why is that? And he says, well, the preacher is just using a lot of words...go figure. And I think I understood that. So I said, oh, so maybe he just needs more illustrations. And without missing a beat, he replies, nah, just an easier topic. And friends, that's probably just the way it is. But it won't stop us from trying. And I'll try to make it easier as best I can.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your grace and kindness to us in your son Jesus today. We have to hold in tension, trying to fathom the unfathomable. And not just that, but to turn it into praise. When sometimes these things we look into, we don't even have the words to form to praise you with. And we thank you that not all of the Christian life we approach this way. Some of it we just grasp so immediately. And your word says some of it is spiritual milk. Some of it is right there for the taking and then others of it even Peter can write about Paul. Some of those things he writes are hard to understand. Maybe he was talking ofthis, but all of it is yours. It's all your truth, and it's all the truth that comes out of your being. That what we believe about this is a reflection of you, who you are, perfect in every way. We thank you that we come most simply to you through your son, Jesus Christ, and the good news that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Thank you for the gospel. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
