The Doctrine of Election (Romans 9:6-29)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:04.839 If you would please a remain standing, and let's turn to Romans, Chapter 2 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:11.349 Nine, verses six through twenty nine. The Romans Nine, verses six through 3 00:00:11.470 --> 00:00:17.149 twenty nine. This is God's word. Let's give our attention to the reading 4 00:00:17.230 --> 00:00:23.500 of it. But it is not as though the word of God has failed, 5 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:27.980 for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not 6 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:34.340 all our children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But through Isaac 7 00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:39.210 shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of 8 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:43.810 the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise 9 00:00:44.009 --> 00:00:49.289 are counted as offspring, for this is what the promise said about. This 10 00:00:49.530 --> 00:00:54.000 time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son, and 11 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:58.399 not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, 12 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:04.829 our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either 13 00:01:04.950 --> 00:01:11.829 good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not 14 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:15.829 because of works, but because of him who calls. She was told the 15 00:01:17.030 --> 00:01:21.620 older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, 16 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:26.500 but Esau I hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on 17 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:32.500 God's part? It by no means. For he says to Moses, I 18 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:36.930 will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom 19 00:01:36.969 --> 00:01:42.689 I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, 20 00:01:42.569 --> 00:01:47.400 but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 21 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:51.519 for this very purpose, I have raised you up that I might show my 22 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.719 power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 23 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.469 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. 24 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:06.510 You will say to me. Then, why does he still find fault? 25 00:02:07.469 --> 00:02:10.229 For who can resist his will? But who are you, Oh man, 26 00:02:10.389 --> 00:02:15.629 to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to the MOLDER? 27 00:02:15.539 --> 00:02:20.259 Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right, 28 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:23.379 over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable 29 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:29.460 use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his 30 00:02:29.659 --> 00:02:34.810 wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of 31 00:02:34.889 --> 00:02:38.889 wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory, 32 00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:46.800 for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he 33 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:52.639 has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the gentiles, 34 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:57.280 as indeed he says in Josiah. Those who were not my people, I 35 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.990 will call my people, and her who was not my beloved, I will 36 00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:04.990 call my beloved, and in the very place it was said to them, 37 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:08.590 you are not my people. There they will be called sons of the Living 38 00:03:08.629 --> 00:03:15.379 God, and Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons 39 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:19.180 of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them 40 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:23.539 will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth 41 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:28.530 fully and without delay. And, as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of 42 00:03:28.610 --> 00:03:32.330 hosts had not left US offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become 43 00:03:32.889 --> 00:03:38.770 like go mour. This end us the reading of God's word, that you 44 00:03:38.849 --> 00:03:44.479 may be seated. Up until this point in the book of Romans, Paul 45 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:49.599 has been explaining to us what God has done in salvation through his son. 46 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:54.280 He tells us who we are, as those who are born under God and 47 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.030 accountable to him, those who understand his law know it, both Jew and 48 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:04.189 gentile, as those who have sinned against God, who have exchanged the glory 49 00:04:04.310 --> 00:04:10.659 of God for creatures and creeping things, things that have he got, the 50 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:15.300 Creator has made. He's shown us how our sin is making us. Our 51 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:20.300 sin has created the situation in which we've all fallen short of the glory of 52 00:04:20.379 --> 00:04:26.050 God and which none of us can stand before a God and say you owe 53 00:04:26.129 --> 00:04:29.649 me, in fact, the only thing that God owes us. Paul has 54 00:04:29.730 --> 00:04:33.850 taught us his judgment and his wrath, but at the same time, Paul 55 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:39.199 has said in so many ways and so clearly that there is a salvation that 56 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:46.560 has come into the world, salvation in Jesus Christ, one who has come, 57 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:50.879 who was this promised child of Abraham, who is the fulfillment of the 58 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:57.509 Covenant Promises, who has given us his very spirit and has blessed US beyond 59 00:04:57.509 --> 00:05:01.509 anything we can imagine, such that those who stand in Jesus Christ, who 60 00:05:01.509 --> 00:05:09.819 believe in him, Paul says, there is no condemnation anymore. We stand 61 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:16.019 before God as those who can share in his glory, who look forward to 62 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:20.889 the glories of the new heavens and the new earth because of what Jesus has 63 00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:28.529 done. And all this is simply given to us freely by God. We 64 00:05:28.649 --> 00:05:30.649 don't work for it. We don't strive for it, we don't pay our 65 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:35.000 debts off. These kinds of things are impossible, but God gives us to 66 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.480 them out of His grace and out of his mercy and out of his love. 67 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:48.040 There are questions, though, that come up, questions particularly concerning the 68 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:54.550 Jews, and Paul wants to address these old for these next three chapters, 69 00:05:54.670 --> 00:06:00.550 over chapters nine, ten and eleven, and this is a really wonderful thing. 70 00:06:00.629 --> 00:06:06.540 Jesus Christ is common. Something has happened by and large, when Jesus 71 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:14.860 was when Jesus came, he was rejected by his own people. He and 72 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:17.970 then in Paul and sending Paul out and others to go preach the Gospel to 73 00:06:18.089 --> 00:06:24.170 the gentiles, he starts bringing in New People. It creates this question. 74 00:06:24.329 --> 00:06:28.050 Well, what do we make of all of these covenants and promises and the 75 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:31.370 giving of the law and everything that Paul listed in verses four and five that 76 00:06:31.449 --> 00:06:34.959 we've been focusing on in the past few weeks? What do we make of 77 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:39.759 all of those things? What of the Jews? How do we understand them? 78 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:45.879 Well, these three chapters God opens up his plan of salvation to us. 79 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:49.350 He helps us to understand what's going on why it's going on and how 80 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:56.350 it will come to pass. Just as a caveat. I'm God of course 81 00:06:56.790 --> 00:07:02.180 did this in his wisdom and he reveals to US perfectly exactly how much we 82 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:06.379 need to know. Not Anymore, not any less. This is a good 83 00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:11.620 reminder, I think, because we're often pressing God for four things that he 84 00:07:12.699 --> 00:07:16.649 won't tell us. We often press God and feel like we're owed somehow the 85 00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:23.930 different things, knowledge of his plan and and many times God says it's not 86 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:27.089 up to you to know these things, it's not up to you to know 87 00:07:27.649 --> 00:07:30.120 why I'm doing this or why I'm doing that. And yet, at the 88 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:34.920 same time, in the very pages of scripture, these things that these bibles 89 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.480 that sit by our night stands and on ourselves and on our phones, we 90 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:46.550 have so ready access to God's plan, to what he's doing, why he's 91 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:53.230 doing it, his purposes. He tells us things and we should pay attention, 92 00:07:53.310 --> 00:07:57.589 and that's what he does in these three chapters. He tells us what 93 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:01.740 he's doing, why he's doing it, he explains some of the background of 94 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:05.819 all that's been going on, all the things that have happened in history. 95 00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:11.300 Now let me remind you and warn you as and you will will approach this 96 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:16.970 in this chapter. God tells us these things. He tells us his plan, 97 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:22.050 not so that we can inspect it and decide whether or not we want 98 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:26.529 to approve of it. I'm God doesn't submit his work to us like a 99 00:08:26.689 --> 00:08:30.839 student submits a test to his teacher and says, here, what do you 100 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.200 think? What? WHAT GRADE DO I get? Do you approve or not? 101 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:41.159 No, God submits his plan to us that we might be filled with 102 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:46.350 humility, with gratitude, with the fear of the Lord. He doesn't submit 103 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:50.950 his plan to us. He is his plan to us. This knowledge of 104 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:54.820 himself and of his will he gives to us as a act of grace and 105 00:08:54.940 --> 00:09:01.100 of love. It's like when children are maybe struggling to understand what's going on 106 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:03.539 in a household in the parents set them down and say, Hey, family 107 00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:07.779 meeting time. We need to explain to you a few things that are going 108 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:11.409 on now. Parents, they may not tell you everything. Kids, you 109 00:09:11.450 --> 00:09:16.769 might not hear every particular detail and everything that's going on, but when your 110 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:20.730 parents do this kind of thing, it's because they love you, they want 111 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:24.919 to bring you into something and understanding of something. They want to bless you, 112 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:30.320 and that's what God does hear. And what he does is he causes 113 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:35.639 us, he asks us, he gives us an opportunity to meditate on his 114 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:43.669 great sovereignty. In chapter nine he calls us to meditate on his election, 115 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:48.509 not as a student turning in a test, not as a bully trying to 116 00:09:48.549 --> 00:09:54.379 offend us and push us away, but as a father, drawing US close 117 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:58.220 to him so that he m so that we might know him, so that 118 00:09:58.340 --> 00:10:01.899 we might fear him, so that we might love him, so that we 119 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:09.610 might be grateful for the things that he's done. Now, despite these good 120 00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:15.090 purposes and teaching us and talking to us about his election, why he chooses 121 00:10:15.370 --> 00:10:18.889 some in Israel and not in is real, why you choose, as some 122 00:10:18.129 --> 00:10:22.879 gentiles and not other gentiles, despite these good purposes that God has, many 123 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:31.399 people do struggle with this chapter, struggle with Romans chapter nine. I don't 124 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:35.789 think it's so much an understanding it, but in understanding and accepting its implications. 125 00:10:37.110 --> 00:10:43.429 And this was a very true for me personally. I don't often share 126 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:46.110 personal stories, but I will so hear in the hope that it will be 127 00:10:46.230 --> 00:10:54.419 helpful to you. Romans nine came to me I don't know if I'd really 128 00:10:54.460 --> 00:11:00.220 read it before until someone in college I came to me and told me about 129 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:05.570 some of my friends, some mutual friends, and they were talking, Maybe 130 00:11:05.690 --> 00:11:11.889 Gossiping, and said, you know, they're calvinists, and I said they're 131 00:11:11.009 --> 00:11:16.529 calvinists, what does that mean? And they said, Oh, well, 132 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:20.879 that means that people don't have they's at someone who believes that you don't have 133 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.879 to really believe in Jesus. It means that God has this certain number of 134 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.360 people that he elects and then he saves them and it doesn't really matter what 135 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:35.070 they do or what they don't do. On this person continued, sort of 136 00:11:35.110 --> 00:11:39.029 vehemently to explain that this creates it's this doctrine creates a kind of theology of 137 00:11:39.309 --> 00:11:43.549 robots. God elects these people. They have nothing to do with it, 138 00:11:43.950 --> 00:11:48.940 and so they they're basically robots. They they God has complete, powerful over 139 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:54.659 them, and this in turn takes away all desires for missions, for prayer, 140 00:11:54.980 --> 00:11:58.340 for sharing the Gospel with other people, for good works. And you 141 00:11:58.419 --> 00:12:05.409 know what I said, that's terrible. That is terrible. Our friends believe 142 00:12:05.570 --> 00:12:09.649 these things. I couldn't believe it and I was really concerned. These are 143 00:12:09.690 --> 00:12:13.409 my friends, that I loved, I cared about, and they were being 144 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:20.600 pulled in by this very dangerous doctrine. Well, because I cared about my 145 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.039 friends, I asked them about this. I talked to them and they said 146 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.919 I started talking to me and I said, well, this is things were 147 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.590 reading in scripture and you should read them too. And one of them, 148 00:12:30.669 --> 00:12:33.950 they one of the things that I was pointed to, is Romans nine. 149 00:12:35.509 --> 00:12:39.669 Now, Romans Nine, among other passages, sort of approached me in this 150 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:45.259 particular way that God's word hadn't before. This was a particular time in my 151 00:12:45.419 --> 00:12:50.740 life when I was taking God's word very seriously. I wanted to understand it, 152 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:54.419 I wanted to know it. I was a Christian, I wanted to 153 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:58.970 hear God, I wanted to believe what he would have me believe, do 154 00:12:58.129 --> 00:13:03.850 what he had would have me do. And so I'm reading Romans nine and 155 00:13:03.970 --> 00:13:09.009 I'm reading things like it as it is written. Jacob I have loved, 156 00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:13.759 but Esau I have hated. I read things is like in verse eleven, 157 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:18.840 though they were not born yet and nothing had done, nothing, either good 158 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:24.799 or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because 159 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:28.629 of works but because of him who calls, she was told the other older 160 00:13:28.669 --> 00:13:33.070 shall serve the younger, or verse eighteen. So then he has mercy on 161 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:41.539 whomever he wills and hardens whomever he heartens. Approaching this I though, I 162 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:45.419 read it many times and there were particular things I asked questions about, I 163 00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:48.860 would try to look up in commentaries. The more I read it, the 164 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:56.009 more it just the sort of very plainly stated. The Westminster Confession of faith 165 00:13:56.090 --> 00:14:01.610 says that not all things in scripture are equally clear, they're not all equally 166 00:14:01.649 --> 00:14:05.730 understandable, and that's true. There are very difficult parts of scripture to understand, 167 00:14:07.370 --> 00:14:09.840 some that require a lot of work, a lot of study, but 168 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.759 I don't think this is one of them. This is one of those chapters. 169 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:18.279 This is one of those plassages in scripture, especially taken as a whole, 170 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:24.750 that just gets to the point and speaks very plainly. And what I 171 00:14:24.830 --> 00:14:28.429 found in myself the more I read that's chapter, the more I thought about 172 00:14:28.470 --> 00:14:31.309 it and the what and how it fit into the rest of the context of 173 00:14:31.389 --> 00:14:35.710 Romans, the more I found how my problem and my disagreements was. It 174 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:45.620 wasn't in what it said but in the implications. I thought it men well, 175 00:14:45.700 --> 00:14:52.889 what does it say? Let's go through it briefly. In versus one 176 00:14:52.970 --> 00:14:58.929 through five, Paul expresses his feelings, he expresses his feelings about his his 177 00:15:00.570 --> 00:15:05.450 people, and in so doing he lays aside any objection that someone would have 178 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:09.879 to this doctrine of election, that he points out, any objection that would 179 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:13.200 say, well, Paul's just saying this because he doesn't care about his people 180 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.200 anymore, or at Paul saying this because he doesn't think the Jews are important, 181 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:20.399 or Paul saying this because he doesn't cont God, because he thinks God 182 00:15:20.549 --> 00:15:26.149 doesn't continue to love Israel anymore. All these objections are set aside. And 183 00:15:26.230 --> 00:15:31.269 Verses One through five, I didn't read them before, so I'll read them 184 00:15:31.309 --> 00:15:35.139 now. Paul says, I'm speaking the truth in Christ, I am not 185 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:41.779 lying. My conscience spares me. Witness in the Holy Spirit that tells us 186 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:46.860 he's speaking strongly. Here he's swearing an oath. Essentially, he's saying, 187 00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:50.009 listen to me, I'm not lying, I'm telling you the truth. And 188 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:56.090 what does he say? That I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my 189 00:15:56.330 --> 00:16:03.210 heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from 190 00:16:03.250 --> 00:16:07.080 Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsman. According to the flesh, 191 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:14.080 they are the Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, 192 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.559 the Covenant, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises. 193 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.950 To Them Belong the Patriarchs, and from their race, according to the Flesh, 194 00:16:22.909 --> 00:16:26.549 is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. 195 00:16:27.669 --> 00:16:33.500 Paul cares. Paul cares deeply, so much so that he says, 196 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:37.899 if it were possible for me to be cut off from Christ for my brothers, 197 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:45.059 I would unceasing anguish in his heart. Paul cares. And does Paul 198 00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:49.049 think the Jews are important? Absolutely. He gives us this great litany of 199 00:16:49.169 --> 00:16:56.250 all these gifts, these massive gifts that God has given to this people, 200 00:16:56.809 --> 00:17:03.879 the chief among them being Christ, who is God, not over the gentiles 201 00:17:03.599 --> 00:17:10.039 but over all, Jews and gentiles. When Jesus Christ comes, he doesn't 202 00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:15.309 throw away the people of God forever, that the Israelites. He continues to 203 00:17:15.509 --> 00:17:18.549 love them. He has not failed, as he says in verse six, 204 00:17:18.869 --> 00:17:22.829 but it is not as though the word of God has failed. The promises 205 00:17:22.869 --> 00:17:26.309 to the Patriarchs, the covenants that were made, the direction to which the 206 00:17:26.349 --> 00:17:32.859 law pointed, the reasons for worship, all of these things, the glory 207 00:17:32.900 --> 00:17:37.339 of God, the adoption he brought them into, these things didn't fail ail. 208 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:41.859 When Jesus Christ came and the preaching of the Gospel went into the world, 209 00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:49.490 they achieved their highest point. They came into into fulfillment. So Paul 210 00:17:49.529 --> 00:17:56.930 lays aside these objections and talking about what happened with Israel. God doesn't throw 211 00:17:56.170 --> 00:18:02.440 this people away. He God gives them the culminating gift of everything he's been 212 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:07.599 doing since Adam and eve and, as we see in this chapter, even 213 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:14.430 before that. That's versus one through five, then in verses six through seven. 214 00:18:14.589 --> 00:18:19.470 Paul argues that why some believe in Christ and others reject him, why 215 00:18:19.630 --> 00:18:26.460 some are saved and others are hardened. This is not new. This has 216 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:33.220 been going on for a long time. That God's people, this sense of 217 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:40.180 who is Israel has always been understood on two levels. There's Israel and then 218 00:18:40.180 --> 00:18:45.130 there's Israel. There is Israel and then there are those who truly, spiritually, 219 00:18:45.329 --> 00:18:51.329 personally deeply belong to Israel. There are those who belong to it in 220 00:18:51.410 --> 00:18:57.039 an outward and temporary sense, in a way because they are of Abraham, 221 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:03.799 there of his offspring, they are born of the flesh. But then there 222 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:08.759 is Israel that come through the PROMUS. There are those who believed and what 223 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:15.630 Abraham believed, who belong to God. Why does this happen? This gets 224 00:19:15.670 --> 00:19:21.750 to the plan and the purpose, the foundation of all of this. God 225 00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:27.420 says it's because of his choices. It's because of his will. Not Because 226 00:19:27.460 --> 00:19:30.980 of the will of Abraham, not because of the will of Isaac, not 227 00:19:30.099 --> 00:19:33.500 because of the will of Jacob, not because of the will of Esaw, 228 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:38.450 because of the will of God, not because of the works of men, 229 00:19:40.089 --> 00:19:42.930 as it says in verse eleven, but because of him who calls and he 230 00:19:42.970 --> 00:19:48.930 gives these proofs in by using these historical examples in scripture. He says, 231 00:19:48.009 --> 00:19:56.079 look at Isaac. Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And that's what 232 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:00.279 happened. The children of flesh were born through Isaaac, and again it happened 233 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:04.119 with Isaac to it was through his son's as will. There were two sons. 234 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:11.069 Neither had done good or evil before both were born. God chose one. 235 00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:15.109 I the younger or sorry, the old. The older will serve the 236 00:20:15.230 --> 00:20:21.779 younger. This is what he says to Rebecca, and that is indeed what 237 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:25.700 happened. And then when we get into all the details of the story, 238 00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:32.140 you remember Jacobs not some awesome guy who's just this massively holy person that God 239 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:36.809 sort of sees and says, wow, look at faith of Jacob, I 240 00:20:36.890 --> 00:20:44.130 am going to bestow on him my love. Jacob is a Niver fief in 241 00:20:44.289 --> 00:20:49.000 some ways, a manipulator, does all kinds of terrible things, but the 242 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:56.119 principle stands. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. God doesn't 243 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:00.759 Love Jacob either because he's sinful. That's not the reason God loves him. 244 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:07.029 He loves him because he loves him. He loves him because he says that 245 00:21:07.269 --> 00:21:12.309 one's mine, and we don't know why, except that it was God's will. 246 00:21:15.269 --> 00:21:18.700 And we know that it's because we're talking about in the category of mercy. 247 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:23.940 It's not something that God owed to Jacob or to Esau. Neither one 248 00:21:23.980 --> 00:21:30.859 of them were deserved the mercy of God, but God gave it nevertheless. 249 00:21:32.700 --> 00:21:34.930 So this is what he says in verses six through twelve. He points at 250 00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:40.529 the very history of Israel, the progression of the covenants, the Progression of 251 00:21:40.609 --> 00:21:42.569 the Patriarchs and the promises is. It all leads up to Christ and he 252 00:21:42.769 --> 00:21:48.119 says this is how it's always been, this is the way that it is, 253 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:55.519 this is how God does things for a particular reason, in order that 254 00:21:55.839 --> 00:22:02.470 God's purpose of election might continue. God has a purpose and he wants it 255 00:22:02.750 --> 00:22:07.390 to continue and he makes it known to us. This is the wonderful thing 256 00:22:07.430 --> 00:22:14.190 about election. It not it doesn't merely exist, but it is revealed. 257 00:22:15.779 --> 00:22:19.740 There are many things that exist that we do not know about. Some of 258 00:22:19.779 --> 00:22:25.339 them we discover regularly. I am I think about the oceans, for example, 259 00:22:26.539 --> 00:22:33.490 crazy creatures, strange fish and animals, and I probably even other classifications 260 00:22:33.609 --> 00:22:37.690 that I don't know, living and swimming and dwelling down deep on the bottom 261 00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:42.289 of the ocean that none of us have ever seen or will ever see. 262 00:22:44.049 --> 00:22:47.920 Maybe someone from a long time from now we'll discover something new, and yet 263 00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:53.319 there it is, existing while yet to be revealed. This is true not 264 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:59.710 only of creation, but of other things to God's will, eternal principle, 265 00:22:59.950 --> 00:23:03.509 spiritual things. We're waiting for the revelation of the new heavens and the new 266 00:23:03.589 --> 00:23:08.190 earth. We're waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ. There are things that 267 00:23:08.509 --> 00:23:15.460 are planned purposed exist but we don't see them. But here God tells us 268 00:23:15.500 --> 00:23:22.740 about his purpose of election. He reveals this deep water kind of thing so 269 00:23:22.900 --> 00:23:26.890 that we might know it and see it and believe it. God does things 270 00:23:27.049 --> 00:23:32.410 this way, not only to do them in that way, but he tells 271 00:23:32.450 --> 00:23:38.410 us about them. Well, once establishing this principle, he has mercy, 272 00:23:38.529 --> 00:23:42.319 on whom he has mercy. He hardens whom he hardens. This is the 273 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:49.960 prerogative of God. Paul then answers a couple objections. First, verses fourteen 274 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:56.430 through eighteen. First he answers this objection about injustice. What shall we say 275 00:23:56.470 --> 00:24:03.150 then? Is there injustice on the part of God? In other words, 276 00:24:03.190 --> 00:24:07.029 when God is saying Jacob, I choose Esaw A don't, I don't. 277 00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:11.660 Can we go and stand before God and say that's not fair? Can we 278 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:21.579 say to God that you are being unjust unfair in your election? What does 279 00:24:21.660 --> 00:24:27.369 God say? It's very clear. By no means because God does what he 280 00:24:27.529 --> 00:24:32.410 does. He has mercy on whom he has mercy. He has compassion on 281 00:24:32.490 --> 00:24:37.569 whom he has compassion. Verse Fifteen. Then the principle behind it. Verse 282 00:24:37.650 --> 00:24:41.000 Sixteen. It depends not on human will or exertion, but on god, 283 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:48.000 whom he excuse me, but on God whom has mercy. It gets back 284 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.589 to this point that I was making earlier. God is showing mercy. He's 285 00:24:52.630 --> 00:24:57.109 not rewarding people, he's not sort of looking at people who all sort of 286 00:24:57.230 --> 00:25:04.230 stand their mutually and are asking for something and or he's rewarding these things or 287 00:25:04.309 --> 00:25:11.180 good works or whatever. No, God is giving something to people, something 288 00:25:11.339 --> 00:25:15.220 they don't deserve. Well, I suppose you could call that injustice if you 289 00:25:15.299 --> 00:25:19.299 have to, but do we really want to call that injustice, to say 290 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:26.049 that God has given me His grace when I didn't deserve it? Now we 291 00:25:26.130 --> 00:25:30.490 call that grace, we call that mercy, and we know too that behind 292 00:25:30.650 --> 00:25:36.240 that grace and mercy there is justice. It's not as though God sweeps the 293 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:38.799 smit sins under the rug and say, well, I'm not going to pay 294 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:42.680 out justice this time. No, he does pay them out, he does 295 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:48.880 seek retribution and justice. He is good in that way. It's just that 296 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:53.950 he doesn't do it in us, but he does it in Jesus, on 297 00:25:55.069 --> 00:26:00.589 himself. So is there injustice and God? Are we going to look at 298 00:26:00.589 --> 00:26:06.380 the cross on whom he's pouring out the his own wrath so that we might 299 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:15.019 not endure it and say well, that's not fair, of course not. 300 00:26:18.539 --> 00:26:25.170 Well then, versus ninth, nineteen through the end, he says this other 301 00:26:25.250 --> 00:26:30.569 objection. Will you say to me then? Why does he find fault for 302 00:26:30.650 --> 00:26:33.359 who can resist his will? In other words, it's this subjection. If 303 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:40.759 God is electing some and not electing others, Paul says there's this thought that 304 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:45.799 you might have, that I certainly had when I first bumped into this doctrine. 305 00:26:47.670 --> 00:26:52.670 Well, how can God, if he's choosing some and not choosing others, 306 00:26:53.150 --> 00:27:03.220 make me accountable for my sins or for his choices? Well, that's 307 00:27:03.220 --> 00:27:07.539 a big topic, but there's a simple point that Paul wants to make, 308 00:27:08.619 --> 00:27:12.380 that you should let settle in your hearts, and that I had to let 309 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:19.490 settle in my heart, and it's this verse twenty. But who are you, 310 00:27:19.769 --> 00:27:26.609 Oh man, to answer back to God? He essentially says you don't 311 00:27:26.650 --> 00:27:32.400 have a right to ask that question. There's no such thing as a stupid 312 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:36.200 question. Well, we appreciate what teachers mean when the they say this. 313 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:40.319 They're trying to encourage us to talk and be brave and explore and learn, 314 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:45.349 but it's also true that there are such things as stupid questions and this is 315 00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:51.230 one of them. To Go to God and say, Hey, that's not 316 00:27:51.549 --> 00:27:55.670 fair. How can you find fault with me when we know our ends, 317 00:27:56.549 --> 00:28:00.099 when we know how much we've offended him, how far we fallen short of 318 00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:07.380 his glory, when we know how supreme he is, how sovereign he is, 319 00:28:07.859 --> 00:28:14.289 how majestic and Almighty he and his will is. And then Paul explains 320 00:28:14.410 --> 00:28:19.529 this using an example. A clay, a piece of clay being molded by 321 00:28:19.569 --> 00:28:25.450 a potter. Does it have a right to to stand up and say, 322 00:28:26.009 --> 00:28:30.160 why are you doing this to me? It's a silly thing, because clay 323 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:37.279 doesn't even do that. The created clay doesn't answer back to the Creator, 324 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.069 the one who's molding and making the pot and yet we do. That's what 325 00:28:42.269 --> 00:28:47.710 we do. We stand on the plotting wheel as the clay and say to 326 00:28:47.789 --> 00:28:52.069 God, how come? That's not fair, that's not I don't like that. 327 00:28:52.269 --> 00:29:00.900 You're unjust. Paul essentially says, shot up. Who are you, 328 00:29:00.220 --> 00:29:04.500 Oh man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to 329 00:29:04.579 --> 00:29:08.500 the MOLDER, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no 330 00:29:08.900 --> 00:29:14.730 right over the clay to make what he wants. Of course he does. 331 00:29:15.130 --> 00:29:18.970 God has every right. It's his plan, it's his mercy, it's our 332 00:29:19.130 --> 00:29:26.759 sins. And then he points out prophecies from Josiah, from Isaiah, showing 333 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:32.960 that this has been God's purpose all along, to call the only from the 334 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:37.910 Jews, but also from the from the gentiles. You know, it's amazing 335 00:29:37.990 --> 00:29:41.750 to me, though, is he not only says to us sit down and 336 00:29:41.910 --> 00:29:47.789 be quiet, but then, after telling us that, he answers the question, 337 00:29:48.710 --> 00:29:52.099 even after telling us you have no right to answer that, ask that 338 00:29:52.180 --> 00:29:59.220 question, he says. Well, what if God, Verse Twenty Two, 339 00:29:59.660 --> 00:30:04.220 desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with 340 00:30:04.299 --> 00:30:11.490 much patience, vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the 341 00:30:11.609 --> 00:30:17.490 riches of his glory, for vessels of mercy which he is prepared beforehand for 342 00:30:17.690 --> 00:30:25.000 glory? This doesn't tell us everything about God's will, but it tells us 343 00:30:25.079 --> 00:30:29.720 something that what God is doing, in making some pots this way, in 344 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:36.470 some pots this way, in choosing some and not choosing others, is he's 345 00:30:36.670 --> 00:30:41.910 working things for his own glory, for his power, so that he might 346 00:30:41.990 --> 00:30:48.349 be exalted and we who are caught up in that who are brought along in 347 00:30:48.750 --> 00:30:56.220 the riches of his glory, we find joy and salvation. We find that 348 00:30:56.420 --> 00:31:03.180 God is doing these things in order to make them known to us, another 349 00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:11.410 way of putting it, as the unbeliever is not a person who's going to 350 00:31:11.529 --> 00:31:18.410 be asking God, why are you not saving me? Because God says to 351 00:31:18.529 --> 00:31:22.279 that person, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 352 00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:26.200 This is freely offered to you, and the Christian who has been saved is 353 00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:30.119 the last person who should be asking God, why have you made me like 354 00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:37.069 this? Right? Why have you made me a vessel of mercy and shows 355 00:31:37.150 --> 00:31:41.269 of me in your great love and kindness? Isn't that unfair and unjust? 356 00:31:41.670 --> 00:31:48.140 Do you see why this is crazy talk? We who have been made vessels 357 00:31:48.180 --> 00:31:51.900 of mercy, we who have been cared and loved and who are caught up 358 00:31:51.940 --> 00:31:56.299 in the riches of his glory, when we hear about God's purposes of election, 359 00:31:57.180 --> 00:32:00.650 we fall on our knees and we say, well, this is an 360 00:32:00.690 --> 00:32:08.130 amazing thing you have done. The doctrine of election should not cause us to 361 00:32:08.329 --> 00:32:14.009 stand like indignant children with our hands on our hips, but it should cause 362 00:32:14.049 --> 00:32:19.960 us to fall on our faces before a merciful God and worship him. It 363 00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:25.599 took me a while to get to that point, though. When I was 364 00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:32.309 first reading Romans Nind it was a struggle. I remember struggling reading it over 365 00:32:32.509 --> 00:32:37.029 and over, and the more I read at the more plain it seemed to 366 00:32:37.109 --> 00:32:43.750 me, the more I couldn't get around these very plain truths. But as 367 00:32:43.789 --> 00:32:46.660 a Christian, I found myself in a place where simply had to submit. 368 00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:52.019 I mean, what other option do we have as Christians? Are we going 369 00:32:52.059 --> 00:32:54.940 to say, well, God said it, but yeah, that's okay, 370 00:32:54.940 --> 00:32:58.930 I'm just not going to believe it. I'm going to do something else. 371 00:33:00.930 --> 00:33:04.930 We approach God's word, we we believe it, we do it, whether 372 00:33:05.009 --> 00:33:08.329 we like it or not. That's obviously not the best attitude, but it's 373 00:33:08.410 --> 00:33:14.279 better than not doing it. It's better than refusing him, and that's the 374 00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:17.039 place I found myself in. In some ways, I kind of not to 375 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:22.359 compare myself to Abraham, but sometimes I imagine. I imagine Abraham being in 376 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:28.069 a similar situation when God told him to sacrifice his song God. Abraham didn't 377 00:33:28.069 --> 00:33:30.789 understand the plan. He didn't know that the ram would be provided, he 378 00:33:30.829 --> 00:33:35.630 didn't know what God was doing and all these kinds of things. There's a 379 00:33:35.670 --> 00:33:39.309 lot of it that didn't make sense. The implications of sacrificing your son, 380 00:33:40.150 --> 00:33:45.539 the son of promise, even how do you get your head around that? 381 00:33:47.180 --> 00:33:54.420 But Abraham, as a faithful as one who trusted God and believed him and 382 00:33:54.500 --> 00:34:00.690 so and and belong to him, he says okay, and that's what he 383 00:34:00.769 --> 00:34:02.569 did. He went forward, and that's what I tried to do and that's 384 00:34:02.609 --> 00:34:07.130 what I would encourage you to do whenever you bump into any doctrine of scripture, 385 00:34:07.130 --> 00:34:13.239 whenever you see something so plainly taught in God's word, even if you 386 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:16.639 don't understand all the implications, even if you don't can't work it all out 387 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:22.920 in your mind, when something is plainly and clearly taught, when you are 388 00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:29.429 called to believe something or called to do something, we should be like Abraham. 389 00:34:29.989 --> 00:34:32.670 We stand up and we say yes, Lord and we trust him. 390 00:34:32.670 --> 00:34:37.659 And you know what, God is good and just like with Abraham and with 391 00:34:37.860 --> 00:34:40.380 me and I think perhaps many of you, in our lives, when we 392 00:34:40.460 --> 00:34:46.780 go forward in a faithful submission and obedience, he begins to make clear some 393 00:34:46.940 --> 00:34:52.329 of these things to us. Not Always, God, ever, lays all 394 00:34:52.449 --> 00:34:57.329 his cards out on the table and says here is everything I'm going to do 395 00:34:57.610 --> 00:35:00.090 and every kind and every way. Even if he did, we wouldn't be 396 00:35:00.130 --> 00:35:05.449 able to understand it hold it all together in our minds. But he does 397 00:35:05.570 --> 00:35:09.639 tell us things, he does help wrap things up and he grows US and 398 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:14.840 helps us to understand the implications, and that's true of election as well. 399 00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:21.119 The more that I understood the doctrine of election and the more that people do, 400 00:35:21.949 --> 00:35:31.349 not just me, you'll find these wonderful comforts and assurances. As I've 401 00:35:31.429 --> 00:35:37.820 said and hinted at already, it moves us from a posture of obstinence to 402 00:35:37.980 --> 00:35:45.059 a posture of love and worship and prostration, of humbling ourselves before God. 403 00:35:46.300 --> 00:35:52.090 When God says here is the House of salvation and it sits on this foundation 404 00:35:52.250 --> 00:36:00.329 of election, we find that it's no longer theologically speaking and as we conceive 405 00:36:00.530 --> 00:36:04.760 of our salvation. It's no longer sitting on the sifting sands of our works 406 00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:08.440 or our faith. Let me read to you a few of these lines that 407 00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:14.719 we sang earlier from sixty one. Thy Work Alone, O Christ, can 408 00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:16.760 ease the weight of sin. Thy Blood alone, a lamb of God, 409 00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:21.510 can give me peace within. Thy Love to me, Oh Christ, not 410 00:36:21.670 --> 00:36:23.909 mine, O Lord to Thee, can rid me of this dark unrest and 411 00:36:24.070 --> 00:36:28.989 set my spirit free. Well, that work of Christ is not just the 412 00:36:29.070 --> 00:36:32.820 work on the cross in time and space, but it's his will from all 413 00:36:32.940 --> 00:36:40.219 eternity to choose us. This is why, this is why our salvation depends 414 00:36:40.340 --> 00:36:45.340 not on us, not on what my hands have done. I love this 415 00:36:45.539 --> 00:36:50.769 line in the first verse. Not what I feel or do can give me 416 00:36:50.889 --> 00:36:55.010 peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my 417 00:36:55.250 --> 00:37:02.719 awful load. It means that our salvation is not based on the greatness of 418 00:37:02.760 --> 00:37:08.039 our faith. It means the salvation is not based on how well we pray 419 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:15.710 or read the scriptures or how well we execute God's decre his will is commands 420 00:37:15.789 --> 00:37:21.829 in our lives. Because if we if that's what our salvation depends on, 421 00:37:22.630 --> 00:37:25.750 if our salvation depends on our works or our work somehow mixed with God's grace, 422 00:37:25.789 --> 00:37:30.820 anything in there, it creates a kind of crumbling. So the foundation. 423 00:37:32.219 --> 00:37:37.860 God says, that's not the way it is. Your Salvation stands only 424 00:37:37.059 --> 00:37:45.289 and always on me and my perfect will, and that should bring comfort and 425 00:37:45.489 --> 00:37:51.050 assurance. It means that we who walk into that door, that door of 426 00:37:51.130 --> 00:37:54.010 Jesus Christ, into this House of salvation, we're not going to slip and 427 00:37:54.130 --> 00:37:59.199 fall. It's not going to fall out from underneath of us when our prayers 428 00:37:59.239 --> 00:38:04.320 are less than good, when we find ourselves falling into sin. It means 429 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:10.400 that we stand forever on God and his will, as Jesus says, and 430 00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:16.710 John Ten none that the father has given me will I lose, not one. 431 00:38:16.869 --> 00:38:22.150 No one can snatch them out of my father's hand. They belong to 432 00:38:22.309 --> 00:38:27.380 me and I have kept them and I will keep them. Another implication of 433 00:38:27.420 --> 00:38:32.659 the doctrine of election means that we give all glory to God. All boasting 434 00:38:32.780 --> 00:38:38.300 and on ourselves is taken away. It means that in Salvation God gets all 435 00:38:38.579 --> 00:38:45.449 the glory. And what other way should we desire? It as Christians? 436 00:38:49.530 --> 00:38:52.650 Makes US gratitude, it fills us with worship, it gives us a deep 437 00:38:52.849 --> 00:38:59.840 sense of the deep grace of the Gospel that God has chosen us before we 438 00:38:59.960 --> 00:39:05.559 have done anything good or bad, that even in spite of our sin, 439 00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:08.079 in spite of our works, God has had mercy and compassion on us. 440 00:39:09.150 --> 00:39:15.829 That is good news. That is deep grace, and that relates to things 441 00:39:15.989 --> 00:39:23.579 like prayer missions. In our prayer we go on our knees and we pray 442 00:39:23.699 --> 00:39:28.099 to God and we say, Lord, do the things that I am unable 443 00:39:28.139 --> 00:39:31.300 to do. I'm leaning on you, I'm depending on you because you're the 444 00:39:31.380 --> 00:39:37.940 rock of ages, because your will is set from all eternity, because the 445 00:39:37.059 --> 00:39:40.570 salvation is from you and not from me. We can and go to a 446 00:39:40.690 --> 00:39:45.369 god and depend on him because he is dependable, because he's not shifting and 447 00:39:45.489 --> 00:39:52.559 changing, because he's what he decides, is is what he decides and because 448 00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:57.280 of the grace of the Gospel, the certainty of God, it means that 449 00:39:57.440 --> 00:40:04.039 in missions, we go confidently forward, knowing that the lost will be reached, 450 00:40:05.559 --> 00:40:10.030 knowing that it depends not on the eloquence of our words or the particular 451 00:40:10.070 --> 00:40:17.230 tricks we use or the particular method, but it depends on God. Romans 452 00:40:17.269 --> 00:40:22.739 ten will talk about people going forward preaching the Gospel so that all will believe 453 00:40:24.099 --> 00:40:30.579 those truths are based on the certainty of God's grace. We go out into 454 00:40:30.579 --> 00:40:36.730 the world looking for our brothers and sisters, people that have been elected from 455 00:40:36.730 --> 00:40:42.010 all eternity. We go not trying to figure out which one is which is 456 00:40:42.889 --> 00:40:45.769 this person electors this person? Not? Oh, I think they might be 457 00:40:45.849 --> 00:40:51.880 all. Preach the Gospel to them. Know, when we invite people to 458 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:54.599 come into this great's healths of salvation. This is borrowing, by the way, 459 00:40:54.639 --> 00:41:00.639 from a an analogy that our be Kuiper uses in the sovereignty of God 460 00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:04.389 and evangelism. I think is the title of the book, something like that. 461 00:41:06.349 --> 00:41:10.670 Ourgue urb Kuiper says when we when we point people to salvation, where 462 00:41:10.670 --> 00:41:15.349 do we point them? The foundation of the House. Well, at the 463 00:41:15.389 --> 00:41:20.940 door Jesus we say come in, come in, you're invited to come in. 464 00:41:21.699 --> 00:41:24.699 When they come in, we say look at the floor and we can 465 00:41:24.780 --> 00:41:27.820 tell him ahead of time. You know, we could say look at the 466 00:41:27.900 --> 00:41:30.980 floor, this is a strong house, this is a strong foundation. You're 467 00:41:30.019 --> 00:41:34.809 safe, you're secure. All who come to Jesus Christ belong in him and 468 00:41:35.170 --> 00:41:39.289 will forever. But we don't point them at the foundation say figure out whether 469 00:41:39.329 --> 00:41:45.210 you belong to God or not and then decide. We're not supposed to find 470 00:41:45.250 --> 00:41:50.159 out the secret will of God. Were called to believe. And so that's 471 00:41:50.199 --> 00:41:52.760 our response to the Gospel and it's what we call people to as well. 472 00:41:53.480 --> 00:41:58.519 We go into the world with confidence in this task. Then, boasting not 473 00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:01.989 in our work but in pride and hope and confidence in the work of God, 474 00:42:04.150 --> 00:42:07.030 we say this House of salvation is strong, the door is open, 475 00:42:07.670 --> 00:42:14.389 come on in, and they do, and when they come inside we see 476 00:42:14.429 --> 00:42:21.059 our brothers and sisters and we rejoice at the mercy of God. I could 477 00:42:21.099 --> 00:42:24.420 go on all afternoon, but the point is this, that the implications of 478 00:42:24.539 --> 00:42:31.969 the doctrine of election are good and many. We don't need to suffer under 479 00:42:32.010 --> 00:42:37.250 it, we don't need to fight against it or submit with a kind of 480 00:42:38.170 --> 00:42:42.690 you know, lip that sticks out and go to our room kind of frustrated 481 00:42:42.730 --> 00:42:51.320 and pouting. We say thank you, we worship and we go forward in 482 00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:54.320 the confidence of the God, that the that the God's work in the Gospel, 483 00:42:55.039 --> 00:43:01.789 will be done, that God has not thrown his people aside, but 484 00:43:01.949 --> 00:43:07.789 that through him or through them and through his purpose of election, he has 485 00:43:07.869 --> 00:43:13.619 been drawing them to himself and growing his church ever since the beginning, and 486 00:43:14.780 --> 00:43:19.579 he continues to do that today. If you are here and you don't know 487 00:43:19.780 --> 00:43:24.579 Jesus, then come into this house, come into this family, knowing that 488 00:43:24.739 --> 00:43:32.969 your salvation is secure from beginning to end, from eternity, from everlasting, 489 00:43:34.090 --> 00:43:39.889 everlasting, come in, enjoy, belong and know the mercy of God that 490 00:43:40.050 --> 00:43:46.840 is given to you. And, if you are already inside, enjoy yourself, 491 00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:54.869 praise God, worship him and thank him for his sovereign work in your 492 00:43:55.070 --> 00:44:00.630 life, work that you didn't deserve, but work that you have received. 493 00:44:00.869 --> 00:44:04.230 Nevertheless, let us pray