I believe in the doctrine of election because i am certain that, if God had not chosen me, i should never have chosen Him; i am sure He must have chosen me before i was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterward; He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for i never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love
Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon
Last week i studied Romans 9 with Bish...it was amazing to look at God's plan through election, and it got me thinking about how great, how exciting, how awesome it is, and how much it tells us of God and who He is, and who we are.
Security.
If it depends not on human exertion, but on God who has mercy (9:16), then we are totally secure in our salvation. God is immutable, He will never change, He will never cease to be God, God is God, He is who He is. The doctrine of election is great, because it means our salvation depends not on us, not on sinful, faithless, weak us...but on Holy, faithful and powerful God. How that inspires joy in us, and hope in us...our salvation us about God...not us. The Cross has happened, Jesus did rise. That is never going to change, what secured our salvation has happened, we can't change it, no one can. This is why election gives us security in our salvation. God has mercy on who He has mercy, and compassion on whom He has compassion. It's got nothing to do with us, if we are saved, we are saved, and nothing, nothing will change that. We are called, and God will not change His mind. I've never, never been able to work out why i've been saved...but i have to agree totslly with Spurgeon...it must be down to God and it must have happened before i was born. When we are saved, there is no way that we will lose that salvation...that is one reason why i love election. What an awesome God.
Evangelism.
So what do we do with evangelism? Slip into hyper-calvinism and say that its totally down to God, and that we have no role to play in people's salvation. No no no. I think Romans 10 makes it clear how importanr human responsibility is, though i obviously believe that this in no way contradicts anything in Romans 9. So what affect does the doctrine of election have on evangelism? It gives us so much hope! God has given us the amazing privaledge of participating in His eternal salvific plan. Lets do it! We go out and we indescriminatly preach the gospel, we preach, and we share and we teach. And God will save...He will shine the light of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ into people's hearts. He will save whom He will save. So great hope there...God will save people, we need to tell them the Gospel, and he will save. But not only this, as if this wasn't enough...but think about this, what does it mean that for us practically if it is God who saves whom He saves, if our salvation relies not on human effort but on God? It means that people are saved all over the world! It means that there are people called, people elected in North Korea, in Saudi Arabia, in Libya...in places where, if it was about us, no one would have a chance of being saved. We just need to go and find them...to go there and evangelise and find the people that God has elected in those countries...because they're there...every tribe, every tongue (Rev 5:9). Election means that God has saved people everywhere. And thats great!
God's Soveriegnty.
God is sovereign. If we don't election, it's ultimatly because we don;t like that fact. What right has the clay to argue with the potter? God is soveriegn and He saves whom He saves. That's great. So there is no room for boasting, no pride, no reason, equally for worrying about our salvation. Who is stronger than God's promise, or plan, or election? No one, nothing! God is utterly soveriegn, and why is that great great great news? Because God is good. God is glorious, God is beautiful, merciful, just, righteous, Holy. So so Holy. This is who i want in charge of the universe, of my life, of my eternity, of my salvation. Not me, not anyone else, just God. Because God is great. It's amazing, because the fact that He saves people at all is amazing. Why would God save people at all? There's no reason for it at all, aside from His passion for His own glory. Election is great because it means that God saves on the basis of who He is, if it was on the basis of who we are...we'd all be in a lot of trouble. Election gives the glory, the role, the initiative, the purpose to God. Our great God, and thats why i love election, because it glorifies our awesome God, because it saves forever and ever, in total security, and gives an amazing hope in evangelism.
Isn't that great?
Security.
If it depends not on human exertion, but on God who has mercy (9:16), then we are totally secure in our salvation. God is immutable, He will never change, He will never cease to be God, God is God, He is who He is. The doctrine of election is great, because it means our salvation depends not on us, not on sinful, faithless, weak us...but on Holy, faithful and powerful God. How that inspires joy in us, and hope in us...our salvation us about God...not us. The Cross has happened, Jesus did rise. That is never going to change, what secured our salvation has happened, we can't change it, no one can. This is why election gives us security in our salvation. God has mercy on who He has mercy, and compassion on whom He has compassion. It's got nothing to do with us, if we are saved, we are saved, and nothing, nothing will change that. We are called, and God will not change His mind. I've never, never been able to work out why i've been saved...but i have to agree totslly with Spurgeon...it must be down to God and it must have happened before i was born. When we are saved, there is no way that we will lose that salvation...that is one reason why i love election. What an awesome God.
Evangelism.
So what do we do with evangelism? Slip into hyper-calvinism and say that its totally down to God, and that we have no role to play in people's salvation. No no no. I think Romans 10 makes it clear how importanr human responsibility is, though i obviously believe that this in no way contradicts anything in Romans 9. So what affect does the doctrine of election have on evangelism? It gives us so much hope! God has given us the amazing privaledge of participating in His eternal salvific plan. Lets do it! We go out and we indescriminatly preach the gospel, we preach, and we share and we teach. And God will save...He will shine the light of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ into people's hearts. He will save whom He will save. So great hope there...God will save people, we need to tell them the Gospel, and he will save. But not only this, as if this wasn't enough...but think about this, what does it mean that for us practically if it is God who saves whom He saves, if our salvation relies not on human effort but on God? It means that people are saved all over the world! It means that there are people called, people elected in North Korea, in Saudi Arabia, in Libya...in places where, if it was about us, no one would have a chance of being saved. We just need to go and find them...to go there and evangelise and find the people that God has elected in those countries...because they're there...every tribe, every tongue (Rev 5:9). Election means that God has saved people everywhere. And thats great!
God's Soveriegnty.
God is sovereign. If we don't election, it's ultimatly because we don;t like that fact. What right has the clay to argue with the potter? God is soveriegn and He saves whom He saves. That's great. So there is no room for boasting, no pride, no reason, equally for worrying about our salvation. Who is stronger than God's promise, or plan, or election? No one, nothing! God is utterly soveriegn, and why is that great great great news? Because God is good. God is glorious, God is beautiful, merciful, just, righteous, Holy. So so Holy. This is who i want in charge of the universe, of my life, of my eternity, of my salvation. Not me, not anyone else, just God. Because God is great. It's amazing, because the fact that He saves people at all is amazing. Why would God save people at all? There's no reason for it at all, aside from His passion for His own glory. Election is great because it means that God saves on the basis of who He is, if it was on the basis of who we are...we'd all be in a lot of trouble. Election gives the glory, the role, the initiative, the purpose to God. Our great God, and thats why i love election, because it glorifies our awesome God, because it saves forever and ever, in total security, and gives an amazing hope in evangelism.
Isn't that great?
2 comments:
Brother, you cannot know how encouraged I am to see you gripped by these glorious doctrines of grace.
Thanks Ed
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