Major Bible Themes
Mike Doyle · Sep 4, 2011
Major Bible Themes (2011), No. 36
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492624605483

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

The definition on the overhead is that it designates a sovereign divine purpose so formulated as to be independent of human merit, descent, or cooperation. Somebody want to explain to me what that means? Number one, it's a divine operation, right? Or a divine purpose. And it's done independent of whether you earned it or are deserving of it or you're not deserving of it. or there's no solicitation of your cooperation. Does God have the right to do that? Huh? Think he does? Okay.

I think it's important we understand, like right here, God's message to the sinner. How does God approach a non-believer? What's the message he sends to him? It's only one message, right? What is it? Believe in Jesus? That's right. He presents the gospel to them and nothing else. And we should take a page out of that book in terms of what we do with non-believers. We don't need to debate with them or discuss with them or argue with them because the gospel itself is... As a matter of fact, I just want to talk about the Lord's Table today. Is the gospel a persuasive argument? What do you think? It's powerful, which is different than a persuasive argument. Do you understand what I mean by that? How is it different? How does the gospel being powerful differ from a persuasive argument?

It's factual. And it's not subject to discussion. It just preaches or states out facts that have power within the words. And I think a lot of times, and you would know, you create evangelistic environments and maybe somewhere in there the gospel is presented. When in fact the gospel should be the focus. Because it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. So the message goes out to everybody in the world. Whosoever will may come. Right? Under the heading of divine election. Whosoever will may come.

Now, for the saint, what's the message? The Word of God says that you and I were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. How could he possibly say that? How could he say that Courtney was chosen in Christ before the foundation of eternity? He didn't know what a rat he was going to be. Yes he did. He did know. So why did he choose him? Yeah, see, did he choose him because he could merit it? Did he choose him because he didn't merit it? Or because he knew he'd be cooperative? No, none of those are the reason why.

He divinely and sovereignly elected you, and you, and you. He just elected you. Okay? Okay, here's the question. Is that fair? Is it fair? How many think it's fair? How many think it's not fair? Come on, college, put your hands up. It's not fair, is it? Not in the human mind. But God did it anyway, whether it was fair or not. Does it have to be fair? If God's fair, what happens to all of you? If God is just fair, and the principle of divine election is that you couldn't earn it and you couldn't demerit it and you couldn't cooperate in it so if God's going to be fair what happens to everybody?

Everybody goes to hell. All of them. All of us do. So, it's by grace that he saves anybody. Right? Now, under the heading of whosoever will may come. Should you be comforted by the fact that you're one of the elect? Don't get a little haughty about that. It should comfort you.

Because if you understand that it's based on God's grace alone, His unmerited, unlimited blessings to you, then that blessing, if they began on the basis of no merit, or no cooperation, they're going to continue on the same basis, right? That God is going to do what he's going to do because of his grace. Divine election is for the saint, not the sinner. The point is that in any discussion with a non-believer, you should never enter into predestination discussions or divine election or anything like that, because that's not the point.

What's the point? Whosoever will may come. Right? Okay. You and I, because we are one of the elect and we've been saved, we have a position in Christ. Tell me, what's position mean? If I say you have a position in Christ, what do I mean? That you've got the right credentials? What's that?

I have a standing before God. Not based on me. Eternal, unchangeable. Eternal, unchangeable. Position. I have a position. And because I'm a realtor, I'm always interested in location. Where is that position? It's in Christ. So I have this position in Christ that says, I'm going to... Actually, let's do this. Somebody... I'm going to designate you. They've got their Bible open.

Let's pick on the guys with the... you get the 2nd Thessalonians 2.13.14 John 17 you can do please Romans 8.30 you probably already know what that one is and the other one I want is 1st Corinthians 3.16 I think yeah now In John 17, 22, when the Lord Jesus is praying to the Father, he says to the Father, he asks in the first couple of verses, he says to the Father, glorify me with the glory that we had before the world began. As a man, he's asking God to glorify him as a man. And then later on, when you get down to 22, he says, the glory you've given me, I've given them. So we have, positionally, the very glory of Christ in him. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. Somebody read that.

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. Okay, he chose you from the beginning for salvation, and why did he save any of us? Why did he do it? Why does he do anything? for his glory. So how does, connect the dots, how does God doing everything for his own glory translate into you being the glory of Christ? Or manifesting the glory of Christ? How does that work? When he looks at us he sees Christ. He looks at us he sees Christ, but how does that accomplish the purpose of him glorifying himself? How does he do that?

Mercy because we don't deserve to be saved and it shows us mercy. Okay. Think about this. Every move that God makes is designed specifically to glorify himself and to manifest his glory. How does he, by saving Alan, accomplish that purpose? Alan doesn't even know. Here's the thing, every single believer will for all eternity manifest openly the glory of Christ through their very person. That's how he accomplishes it.

And now from your position and for those who are watching like angels and stuff, they see his glory being manifested through us even though we don't see it maybe. It's a mind-boggling concept to think that the God of the universe has specifically chosen you to be the vehicle through which he's going to manifest his glory. And there's only two vehicles he's going to do that with to the creation. What's the other one? The other one is Christ himself and we as his body.

That's it. Isn't that something? Not a big deal. That's a huge deal. So, divine election. You have been divinely elected for that purpose. He called you to share in Christ's glory. You got a specific call. It wasn't an invitation, it was a call. He chose you in Him before the foundation of the world.

Do we need to explain how that works? How could he accomplish that? I mean, you're born at 19-whatever, right? And yet he says, I chose you. And when he chooses you, it doesn't have anything to do with who you are and how wonderful or how crummy you are. Here's how I think it works. And Courtney and I have had this discussion a lot of times. It's kind of cool.

When you believe in the person and work of Christ, and you're saved, Your history changes. You leave Adam and you now are identified with Christ. When did Adam's history begin? In the garden, right? So his history is maybe 10,000 years old. When did Christ begin? He's always been. Right? So now your history goes back how far? to eternity.

So God can say, oh I knew you in Christ before the world began. Because you leave a time-space man and now are identified with an eternal man. So I don't, that's as far as my understanding of eternity goes. We all think in terms of sequences in time, but in eternity there is no such thing. You were baptized. He baptized you and baptized means to be placed in and never to be taken out. You were baptized into Christ. At what point in Christ's existence? When did you go in? His death. Huh? His death. Right. Because it's your death.

Your separation from Adam is when he was made sin and separated. You're justified. In other words, you're declared righteous. He sanctifies you. We talked about sanctification last week. He specifically set you apart to himself for his own purposes, all position. He enlifed you, you have the same life as the resurrected Christ, Romans 8, actually Romans 6, 3 I think as Christ is raised to newness of life so are you. You have a new life, it's a new life and it's kind and quality, it's not like Lazarus just came back and had the same old life. He freed you from sin, He dwells you forever, and He seals you. Election and chosen in scripture really are kind of the same word or from the same source. There's a corporate election of Israel. Did God do that with Israel? Did He just pick them?

Did He go to Abraham and say, I'm going to make some promises in you, and I'm just going to do it? Did He do that? Did he say, I'm going to do it if, Abraham, you respond? No. He said, I'm going to make you a great nation. I'm going to make you a father to faithful. I'm going to do all these other things. And it didn't matter whether he responded or not, God was going to do it.

So that shows he divinely chose to do that. In Deuteronomy 7, he says, O Lord, your God has chosen you to be the people for his own possession out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. And I love this one in, I guess it's that one, because you were, the Lord did not set his love on you or chose you because you were more in number than any of the other peoples. In other words, you didn't have any credentials, you were the fewest of all the peoples because the Lord loved you and kept his oath. He just decided to do it. Okay? So he decided to choose you.

Is it fair? Don't you, when you hear a class like this, don't you have this little voice in your head saying, well, it's not fair. Don't you think that way or are you okay with it? Until you realize what fair is and then you just find it. Yeah. I mean, it's one thing to say, oh yeah, I'm chosen. How about the guy that lives across the street or your friend we just prayed about? Is it fair? Because we're all about fairness, right? Hey Mike? Yes? Just to poke on that one, maybe stir the pot a bit. Cool. Dictionary.com, definition of fair. Free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice. Can you say it was fair? Free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice.

Wow. Let's see, if I'm the candidate, he'd have to be biased. God's behavior, was it biased? No. Oh yes, it was actually. Because he arbitrarily decided. I wouldn't say so, because he made that decision based on you and Christ. What's the next principle? Was he dishonest in doing it? No. Was he unjust in doing it? Oh, wow. You could say he was unjust, except for the fact of what?

That he's righteous. He's righteous, and what else did he do? Christ died to... Yeah, see he took care of his own righteous requirements. in order that he could make the choice. So it may be hard for our brains, but I'd say from God's perspective it was 100% Perry. Yeah, totally fair. Totally fair. Cool. Okay.

The root of both words for choose and elect is this ek-lek, ek-dig, ek-dig, how do you say that? Ek-lek-o? Ek means out from. Lego means to gather or pick out, out from, out from what? When he elected you, he elected you out from what? Where were you out from? Where did he take you out from? Yeah, all of them guys. It's in the middle voice which means what? He did it, he chose it for himself. It wasn't passive. He chose you for himself. It doesn't necessarily imply the rejection of what is not chosen.

That's an interesting statement, kind of a catch-off-the-hook statement. And the idea of kindness and favor and love, and it denotes a relationship to be established between the one choosing and the object chosen. You're going to be a mom. In your heart is this idea that there's going to be a relationship that you're going to establish between you and your child. Because you chose it to be that way. And so that's what God did. He chose you for a relationship. He didn't choose you to be a robot or to be a rabbi. He chose you for a relationship with Him. That's what he's after.

Mark 13.20 says, unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved. For the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. What events is he talking about? I think so. So he even chooses then to shorten the days so that his elect and the ones he chose wouldn't perish.

Luke 6.13 talks about choosing the twelve. He tells the disciples that if he chose them, they didn't choose him. And if you go back and study how the apostles were gathered up, he would just go call them, and they came, and he chose them.

I know the ones that I have chosen, that the scripture might be fulfilled, Christ was chosen, is the chosen one from all eternity to be the Savior. The election, the divine election from God can be a difficult thing to get your arm around until you realize that all of the choosing that he's done is beneficial to you. Do you see that? He chooses you in grace, to live in grace, to belong to Him, to be blessed by Him for all eternity. That's why He does it. And that's what manifests as glory. Now this is kind of interesting.

Ephesians 1.3 Let's get some more to look her up in our verses. Actually, they're there. We can just read them. Ephesians 1-3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. So, you talk about a verse that's positional truth. Look at this one. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. You think that's true? Oh, come on. Erica, you can't believe that's true. You just got out of the hospital.

Was what happened to you a blessing? Was what happened to you a blessing? What? Was what happened to you a blessing? Sure was. Didn't seem like at the time. But what's the... I've just created an environment where she's forced to say, yeah, having all that pain is a blessing.

Right? What does the verse say about where the blessings are? In the heavenlies, not in the hospital in Fort Collins. No, they're in the heaven. So what? Tell me what some of those blessings are that are already yours. Again, position. What is already yours? Well, I'll give you an easier question. What isn't yours in the heavenlies? What blessing don't you have? Nothing. I told you it was an easier question. So what do you have? If you've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, list two. What do you have? His righteousness. His righteousness? There's one. Gold ship with God. What's that? Gold ship with God. Yeah? Sonship. Sonship. Yeah, I mean it's, and the thing is, is that notice the tense of the verb, has blessed us. When did that happen?

Is it already done? Oh, you mean I don't get more next Tuesday? Or next Sunday? Or if I go home and memorize a bunch of scripture this week, I'm going to get more blessings? So, based on that, should I pray for blessings? Should I? Well, it seems logical not to, but that means you have to throw away your laundry list. Don't you? That means that you stop asking God for anything? Paul the Apostle didn't.

To piggyback on that question, should you bless others? Yes. And why do you do it? Because you already have been blessed. It's the same thing about forgiveness. Why do you forgive others? Because you're already forgiven. That's why you do it. Now, I'm trying to make a connection between your positional blessings and why you would pray and ask God for anything. We started out this morning's class by praying for some people and praying for ourselves. What did we ask God to do? What did we ask God to do about the class this morning? We asked Him to open up our understanding. that we would enter into the truth that he had for us.

Does that mean we didn't have them positionally? No, we already have them. The problem is that because I'm ignorant of it, it isn't mine. If I don't know what the blessing is, does that mean I don't have it? No, I have it. But I may not live in it. I may not know it. I may not enjoy what it is. So Paul is saying that in Colossians and Ephesians, he's always asking God to open them up, make them aware, allow them to enter in to what's already been given them of God. Why? It's not like if your dad is a communion or a prince, you have all these things. You have to learn what you have. It's just because you don't know, you don't have the authority or the power to do this or that. It is the same idea.

As a matter of fact, if I call you up and start complaining about my Christian life, and you're going to pray for me, what would you pray for? That I might figure out what is already mine. I mean, realistically, the biggest problems with believers is they don't know who they are, they don't know what they have, and they don't know where they are. Look at this. I'm blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Well that tells me where I am. It tells me what I have. And it also tells me who I am. See? Just in that one sentence.

So He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world for a specific purpose. Isn't that interesting? He just doesn't choose you to occupy a seat. He specifically chose you to be holy. What's that mean? What's holy mean? Sure, it can be set apart. And that other cool word is blameless. I'm guilty, how can you make me blameless? How can you do it? And it's before Him in love, so there aren't any... I'm not there, can't be sneaky about it. See, if I'm before God, holy, and blameless in love. Is he going to withhold anything from me because I'm a chosen one? No, he's not.

Peter says we were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Oh, the foreknowledge of God means he knew which one of you guys was going to come and then so he picked you because he knew you were going to come, right? Isn't that what foreknowledge means? Trick question. It's not what it means. What does it mean? What does foreknowledge mean? How does God's knowledge work?

Time doesn't matter. So he doesn't think sequentially, right? He doesn't have to take a test. He doesn't have to read the next chapter. He has all knowledge in play right now. And he has all knowledge in play right now. And all knowledge in play right now.

He knew you, this knowledge of you, is He knew Ruthie personally then. Isn't that something? He knew her personally then, in Christ. And because you are in Christ, He can say that. He knows you, each one of you, personally then. You know, not the day you were saved, then. In 2 Thessalonians, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation to be saved, He chose you through the sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

So two things happen there. Sanctification means what? Set apart. And what is the setting apart tool? It's the Spirit of God who does it, right? It's your belief in the truth, faith in the truth. So all of the elements it takes to be a believer and to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus have already been determined beforehand for you. So you don't have any excuse.

Right? Now let's look at this chart for a minute because I think it, is that the most confusing thing you've ever seen? Have any idea what it means? Right here, see this thing right here? That's to represent, I'll take it back, right down here, that's the gates to heaven. So here you are walking down the street, moving up towards the gates of heaven, and there's this big sign over the gate. What's the sign say? Whosoever will may come. Isn't that what it says to the world? Anybody, whosoever will may come.

So you believe, you're drawn by the Spirit of God, and you believe, and you go through the gate, through the cross, and now you're in Christ. And you turn around and you look at the gate, and on the back of the gate is another sign. And what's the sign on the back of the gate? Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Again, how can both of those be true?

Do you want to hear what Courtney said? He said our identification with Christ would put in him, he's now our history. So, it's God's sovereign grace that elected and chose you by your faith. Now, so I can go to God and I can say, I know you chose me, this is wonderful, and it's a sovereign grace, sovereign choosing, but I did have to believe. That was my part. What is God going to say about that? Can't you go to God and say, well, I did my part. I believe. What's wrong with that statement? You get no credit for it. I don't get any credit for believing. Look at what I get by believing. Why wouldn't I get any credit for believing?

When you believe in the person and work of Christ, where is all the value? It's in what you believe, not the fact that you believe. And is that true through your whole Christian life? grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus. Is that true? That everything that you learn and then subsequently believe and reckon upon, where's the value? Not in the fact that you believe it, it's in what you believe. But look what you get by one knowing and then believing. You grow.

So why do you think God would do it that way? Same question I asked 40 minutes ago. Why does he do it that way? Why does he make faith this system whereby there's no credit on your side of the ledger for believing. It's all on his side of the ledger. Why would he do it that way? Because then we could boast. That's right. I did it. We could boast. And if you can't boast, then who gets all the credit? He does. which means it goes back to why he does anything. Why does he do anything? To glorify himself.

Now a couple of weeks ago we were kind of in this conversation with Monique and Monique to her credit is really an honest thinking person. She is what she is and it's right there which is terrific. She can't reconcile in her mind or couldn't at the time that God being that God's desire or his purpose is to glorify himself wasn't somehow self-centered.

Doesn't it seem that way? I mean, you know, give me a break, I need a little stroke here, right? How do you deal with that? He created me and I wasn't, but he gave me this thing called will and And I am an American after all. So what's the benefit? Well that's not the right question. How do you overcome the issue that it sounds like God doing everything for his own glory is kind of self-absorbed? Is it? Well you're going to say no because you wouldn't dare say yes. But why isn't it? You ever think about that? I guess obviously you haven't thought about that question, right? Why would you even entertain a question like that?

Everything that God does demonstrates his character, who he is. And he's not a mean old guy in a white towel or someplace waiting to hit you with a hammer. Because you and I, as long as we are identified or think of ourselves as sinners in Adam, and we know we deserve God's judgment in Adam, right? But through the cross and understanding and growing in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, you begin slowly to see things from his side of the ledger. He has always, his great desire has been to bless us right off of our socks, way beyond anything we can handle. That's what he wants to do because His character and His nature is love, but He's also righteous. And if you understand your position in Christ and that you're righteous in Him and that you're blessed with all spiritual blessings and on and on it goes, you begin to see that this character of God about manifesting His glory is a good thing, not a bad thing. He wants the whole entire creation to recognize that He is a God of love. that he does want to bless us, that he does want to give of himself to us, for us to have fellowship.

If you look at it from your condition and sin nature, it looks like he's just another self-centered creature just like you are, and he's grabbing for as much glory as he can. But if you begin to see it from his side of the ledger as your position in Christ, you begin to see, creatures in the creation is to demonstrate the wonderfulness of this person. See that? I'm done. For the buzzer. Any questions? Did anybody figure this out? This is drawn by a guy who is an electrical engineer. Okay, let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace and your mercy and we do appreciate the fact that you do things only for your glory and as we grow in the knowledge and grace of your Son, the Lord Jesus, we can rest in him and just be receivers of your grace, Father. Thank you. We pray in his precious name. Amen.