Knowing Your Election
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
As you know, we've been giving considerable attention to this opening paragraph which begins in verse 2, begins with verse 2 and down through to verse 10, the end of the chapter, where Paul describes those things which caused Him to give thanks to God with reference to this Thessalonian church. He said in verse 2, —"We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers,"— and then He tells them, He tells us the things for which He gives thanks. “Remembering,”— verse 3, —"without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ before” —in the sight of— “our God and Father, knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election." It's what Paul remembers and what Paul knows that causes Him to burst in this word of thanksgiving.
Verse 3, he says, "We give thanks… Remembering," and then in verse 4, "knowing." And what he remembers and what he knows becomes then the occasion of his giving praise to God. He gives thanks as a result. He burst into this really doxology of thanksgiving to God. We've studied the things which He remembered in verse 3: work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope, and last week we began to consider that which He knows, that which he's assured of concerning this people, these precious people, and that becomes the occasion of praise and thanksgiving to God.
And so in verse 4, we have two statements of things that were true of the people there, the believers in Thessaloniki. One is a very direct statement, the other is indirect. Paul says indirectly he knows that they are beloved of God and then directly he says he knows their election. And so we have really two basic doctrines set before us in verse 4. Number one, the doctrine of election, and it's number two related to it, the doctrine of God's distinguishing love for His people. For in this verse, beloved of God is a title given to the people of God in a peculiar way, and we looked at that last Lord's Day.
Whatever kind of love God may have to all men in general, His benevolent love is His love of benevolence. This term beloved of God is a title, a phrase used only of the redeemed of God. And so I want us to think together concerning the fact that it's individual people who are called beloved of God and elect of God. It's a distinguishing love. Notice He's not speaking in a general way, but He's writing to His specific people. He said in verse 1, "Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church." There's a church, there's a local church, a real church there in Thessaloniki. He's talking about this with reference to a distinct body of people in a particular place.
He says in verse 2, "We give thanks to God always for all of you,” you there, the people of God in Thessaloniki. So he's talking about specific people. Verse 3, "Remembering without ceasing your,”— your— “work of faith," talking about specific people. And by implication, you continue to add this, you can supply this, your labor of love and your steadfastness of hope. So when he comes to speak about election and about being beloved of God, he's not speaking of a love of God that is general, he's not thinking of an election that is vague, that is indefinite, but he is using these two terms, beloved of God and election, in a very personal way, in a very distinct way, with reference to a specific people.
And I point that out because people who believe the Bible to be the Word of God must all admit that the truth that God, the truth of God's special love to His people and His electing grace are indeed truths taught in the Bible. They can't get away from it. It is there. If they're honest before God, honest with the text, they have to recognize they are here. They are taught in the Word of God, those two truths. They cannot even really think otherwise. They dare not even infer that the terms beloved of God and elected of God are not in the Scripture. So what they try to do is to hold those two phrases and they acknowledge and admit they are biblical phrases, but somehow they bleed them of their true life and their true meaning.
And so in the first place, I want us to observe that it's individual people who are called beloved of God and elect. Now, what does it mean to be beloved of God? What does it mean to be elect? We looked at the first one last Lord's Day, beloved of God. Remember, now Paul is not writing to some people who had behind them ten years in the Lord, ten years of theological education. He's writing to an infant church, babes in Christ, a church that just a few months ago had been called together by the preaching of the gospel as we saw in Acts 17 in our study of the birth of this church.
And to this infant church, Paul writes these words. Just right off the bat, no explanation needed: "Knowing, brothers beloved by God,” —His choice of you,— “your election.” Indicating that the truth of the election, their election, is not to be some kind of a contraband possession kept under the counter, hidden, camouflaged. Paul never treated it like black market goods. No, he treated this glorious doctrine as a wonderful truth, as a marvelous truth, and infant Christians, I mean, he talked to them about the subject of election with great freeness and with deep warmth.
There was no concern, oh well, you know, they're babes in Christ and I don't want them to stumble. No, no. With freeness. And so tonight, I believe I'm in good company this evening, teaching on the subject as openly, as publicly as God enables me to do so by His grace. So we're committed, and as we're committed to a verse-by-verse exposition of the Word of God, when we're here in verse 4, we want to understand what does verse 4 say, and we don't want to bleed the meaning, to bleed it of any of its honest implications.
As I mentioned, last week we considered the phrase, beloved of God, tonight let us consider knowing your election, knowing your election. So to do that, I'm just gonna begin with the first question: what is it to be the elect of God? What is it to be the elect of God? When Paul wrote to these people and said in verse 4, "knowing” —beloved brothers, or— “brothers beloved of God, your election," what did he mean when he chose that word, eklogēn, your election?
As Paul was sitting there thinking of the people back in Thessaloniki, he picks up his pen and writes and he says, we give thanks to God for you all, and his mind reminisces, and he thinks of their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope, then he says, "knowing brothers,"— and now what does he know? And he chooses a word under the superintending hand of the Holy Spirit,— "knowing your election,”— knowing your eklogēn. Now as Paul took his pen and wrote your election, what meaning did he put upon that word by the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit?
That's the whole end of our study this evening, what did the Apostle Paul mean as an instrument in the hand of the Spirit when he wrote your election? And beloved, we must stop at nothing short of discovering what he meant. Well, that raises another question, well how can we do this? Well, what we must do is we must go to the other portions of the Word of God, the analogy of Scripture, we must go to the other portions of the Word of God written by different authors, small a, they're all written by one Author, capital A, the Holy Spirit, under the superintendent of the same Spirit, and we need to see what that word means.
For the meaning of the word is determined by its usage, and the usage of the words in the Bible are determined by the will of the Holy Spirit. “For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved,” —nautical term, moved, like a ship in a boisterous sea moved by the wind.— “but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God,” 2nd Peter 1:21. So what does this word, eklogēn, mean?
Well, first of all, consider with me briefly the general usage of this word. Let's look at a general usage of this word in the Scripture. It's found about 50 times in the New Testament, 50 times in the New Testament, its various forms, various usages, and in the Old Testament when they were translating out of Hebrew into Greek in what we know or call the Septuagint, the LXX, by these 70 men who did this work several hundred years before Christ, the word is used there several times, in fact in very interesting ways, I think begins to give us some idea of the meaning.
For example, when it is said that David went down to the brook, 1st Samuel 17, he went down to the brook, you remember that scene, preparing for the battle with Goliath, verse 40, he came to the brook, he did something, the Scripture tells us. We read, "Then he took his stick in hand and chose for himself,”—eklogēn, same word in the Septuagint,— “chose for himself." Now this is the word, the same word used as we have in 1st Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 4. So, "He took his stick in hand and elected five smooth stones from the brook, put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine." So as David came to the brook, the brook was full of stones and out of the many stones David selected, David elected, chose, picked out of the many five stones that he would use in his conquest of Goliath.
Same word is used in Luke 14 and verse 7 where our Lord spoke of those who came to the feast and that they would pick out the places of honor, same word, they would pick out the places of honor at the table, the chief places, the chief seats there at that feast. There were many seats, some of high degree, some of low degree, and these particular people would choose out, they would select out, would, same word, elect the seats of great honor and rank and importance, same word. It's the same word used in Acts chapter 6 and verse 5 where the early church met the problem of managing the widow's necessities by what? Choosing some servants, and the suggestion was that they find some men out of the many full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and appoint them over this task. Verse 5, Acts 6, "And this word pleased the whole congregation and they,”—eklogēn,— “chose”— in verbal form,— “Stephen." They elected, they selected out of the, amongst all of the qualified men, Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and then Philip and the rest.
Now you begin to get a picture of the use of this word. David selecting out of the many stones five, just five stones to be used, out of the many seats they select some to be the ones upon which they will recline, out of the many they selected these seven who would be appointed over the task at hand. In light of this then, the conclusion we draw from the general usage of this word is that the choice is always, always initiated by the chooser. The choice is always initiated by the chooser. In every instance of the use of this word, eklogēn, the choice is never conditioned or initiated by the chosen, but by the chooser.
In other words, you didn't have five little stones wiggle themselves up out of the brook, stand up on their backside and say, "Well David, I'd like to be part of the conquest, will you choose me?" No, the stones were lying there, either in the brook or alongside the edge of the brook, and all the stones were there and David is the one who took the initiative and made the selection. And these people took the initiative in the choosing of the seats and the multitude took the initiative in the selecting of the seven. That's the first conclusion we draw from the general usage of the word.
The choice was initiated by the chooser, and something that flows from that is this: the thing chosen was in this sense passive in the choice. It didn't have a vote in it, it didn't have a say in it, it was selected by another. That leads us to the second question: what is its distinct biblical or theological use, this word, eklogēn? What is its distinct biblical or theological use? I've looked at its use in general narrative, now how is it used with the relationship to what we would call, you know, theological issues?
Well, very briefly, let me give us three usages, three. First of all, it is used again and again of the Nation of Israel, and we looked at that briefly last week. You remember that passage in Deuteronomy 7, God said there in Deuteronomy 7:6 through 8, "I did not choose you because you were greater or wiser than the rest of the nations or all the other nations, but He said I chose you because I loved you." The Nation of Israel was an elect nation, a chosen nation, and God determined that He would set His affection upon them, and this was in that sense a national election. Isaiah 44 verse 1, He calls Israel His chosen, His elect: "But now here, O Jacob, My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen." And again you come to the New Testament, Acts 13:17, God had to have a nation through which He would accomplish His redemptive purposes, He would build a framework within which He would send His one and only Son to be the Savior of the world, and out of all the nations He chose to use one nation, and the nation that He chose was Israel.
Why? Why? Well, God says why in Deuteronomy 7: "I chose you because”— I chose, period,— “I loved you." Why do you love? Well, I chose you. I loved you.Why?— "Because I loved you.” Not because of anything in you, but because of a purpose that was locked up in My own heart."
Another usage, second usage of this word: Christ is spoken of as God's elect, God's elect. Isaiah 42 verses 1 and 2, He's spoken of as God's elect: "Behold My servant whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom My soul is well pleased." And in 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 6, twice this term is used of our Lord Jesus Christ, "a choice,”—eklektos,— “a choice stone, precious in the sight of God." He was selected, set apart, chosen out for the office of mediator, Messiah, the one who would be the representative of His people, and for His people He would become man, would live, would die, would rise again, ascend to the right hand of the majesty on high.
Now there's another usage of the word elect, and this is the prevailing, and I want to underscore the word prevailing, the prevailing use of this word in the New Testament when it refers to the people of God being elected, and here's the use. It's an election of individual men and women to the blessings of salvation. It's an election of individual men and women to the blessings of salvation, a sovereign selection. It's a sovereign selection of specific individuals to enjoy the blessings of God's salvation. The people of God are called in 1st Peter 2 and verse 9, a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God's own possession, the church, the called out ones, believers, God's people, God's children have been chosen by God to enjoy the blessings of saving grace and sovereign salvation. And it's in this sense that the word is used in the passage, not only this passage, but passage after passage in the New Testament.
Now the only reason anyone would ever hold to this meaning of the word is because He is compelled to it in an honest handling of the Word of God. That's the only reason. You're compelled to it. You're constrained to it. There's no other choice. If you do honest, if you have honest handling of the Word of God, this is the only conclusion. It's the only one reason why the church, for example, has believed the doctrine of the Trinity throughout its history. The doctrine of God, that God is one, and yet this one Being, to use the only term we have, exists in three persons, —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,— yet the one is not three distinct gods, but there are three persons, one God, one, three, three, one, and we say we cannot understand it, but we are compelled to embrace that which is a mystery to us.
Why? Because the Word of God leads us there. Leads us there. The Word of God teaches clearly the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit of God, yet there are not three gods, but one God. So the biblical teaching, as it were, squeezes us into this position where we hold that truth, one God, three persons, three in one, one in three, and the only reason we believe that is because the Bible leads us there. The only reason the church throughout its history has believed in the doctrine of eternal punishment is that the Scripture takes us there. The doctrine of eternal punishment is repugnant to human understanding that creatures made in the image of God who have sinned in a lifetime should for eternity be the object of the wrath, the wrath of God, the judgment of God, in conscious torment. I mean, everything within the human personality recoils at such a doctrine in our finiteness. Yet the church has held throughout all of its existence this doctrine.
Why? Why? And this is one of the—this is a hill to die on, because the church has been compelled to it by the Word of God. "And these will go away into”— what?— “eternal punishment,"— Matthew 25:46,— "but the righteous into eternal life." If words mean anything, punishment and life are eternal. "To be cast into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched," Mark 9:47, 48. Revelation 14:11, "and the smoke of their torment goes up,”— how long?— “forever and ever they have no rest, day and night." You see, God's people who are honest with God's Word embrace the doctrine of eternal punishment. Why? Because simply the Scripture forces them to. We're compelled.
Now why does anyone believe the doctrine of election? Beloved, for the same reason that when one's mind is subject—is subject indeed to the Word of God, subject to the truth of God—there is no honest handling of a word such as we encounter in 1 Thessalonians 1:4 except to come to that conclusion. What conclusion? That that word means that God in His sovereign good pleasure has reached down—He took the initiative—He reached down into the mass of sinful humanity, and for reasons known only to Him, has chosen to Himself a great multitude that no man can number. Some out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and for that people He sent His one and only Son, and for that people His Son died, and for that people His Son lives, and for that people He will infallibly bring to Himself that people.
Election is a biblical word, it's a biblical concept, and it is not, beloved, to be relegated to the name of any man, really, fundamentally. When people will say of an individual or a church that believes and does not treat as a contraband possession this doctrine, but gladly confesses it as Paul did here, and they say, oh well, you know, they're nothing but a Calvinist. Oh, he's a Calvinist. Or that church is a Calvinist. Or they're nothing but reformed in their theology. You see, this is a biblical concept, and it was around a long, long, long time before John Calvin ever breathed his first breath. It was around a long time before Martin Luther ever breathed his first breath, before Uldrich Zwingli breathed his first breath, before the Puritans breathed their first breath, and before Jonathan Edwards breathed his first breath.
The Word of God declared, "knowing, brothers, beloved of God, your election." It's right here. Right here. And all of these men, all these men did, all of them, all they did was in their return to the authority of the Scripture, sola scriptura, which had been virtually denied, though confessed with the lips by the Roman Church, in their return, having their minds subject to the Word of God, it's only inevitable that the doctrine of election would come to light in the Reformation. Only inevitable. Why? Because the Scripture came to light, and wherever the Scriptures come to light, the doctrine of election will come to light. Why? Because it's found throughout the length and breadth of Scripture. You cannot avoid it.
That's the reason, that's the only reason. That's the only reason some even here in this congregation have come to embrace this doctrine in the last couple of years, because you've come with a new spirit of inquiry to the scripture. You say, what I've been doing is spreading the words of the Bible through my mind, through my eyes, but what I've really been doing have been stamping upon the Bible the meanings that perhaps I've gotten from my childhood. I was really doing an eisegesis, not an exegesis. I haven't really come to grips with what the scripture teaches, and that attitude which has led you to come to grips with the teaching of the scripture and other issues has led you now to come to grips with what it teaches on this glorious doctrine, the doctrine of election, and you find like with the doctrine of the trinity and the doctrine of justification and the doctrine of eternal judgment, I can do no less than embrace the scripture, for the scripture teaches it, and as a Christian I am subject to the words of the living God. My life is to be regulated by it. My conscience is held captive to it.
And so much then for the general use of the word, theological use of the word, the nation of Israel, Christ the chosen one, individual men and women to the blessings of salvation.
Thirdly, what are we warranted to say then by way of sort of a setting out clearly the meaning of this election as found in the scripture? May I very quickly share with you a few thoughts that I trust will be helpful tonight. Here are the few thoughts.
Number one, I'm going to state the obvious. It is God who does the choosing. God who does the choosing. In dealing with sinful humanity, it is God who puts forth the initiative. Mark 13:20 speaks of the elect whom He has chosen. The elect whom He has chosen. I mean, could words be more simple than that?
Let me illustrate. If I were to speak to you about a certain car that Mr. Smith, I'm being creative here, Mr. Smith has chosen, those words have a very obvious meaning. Mr. Smith either went to the showroom or went to the car lot. He looked around, inspected the cars, surveyed all the cars there, and after that he said, you know, I want that car. I want that car. And he chose that car. And as a result of it, he drove it off the lot and took it home.
If I were to say Mr. Smith chose a 2026 Toyota Land Cruiser I-Force Max hybrid powertrain, would you ever put on my words the meaning that as he sat in the showroom, all of a sudden a 26 Toyota Land Cruiser put itself in gear, drove up alongside of him and said, now Mr. Smith, I'd like to go home with you? Is that what you think? And Mr. Smith said, you know, all right, because you decided to go home with me, I will ratify your decision. I will choose you therefore as my car, take you home with me. Would you ever put that kind of meaning on my words? I mean if you would, I'll be very concerned, but if you would, then all meaningful communication will break down and we'd have it. There would be no meaningful communication whatsoever. And if I say Mr. Smith chose a 2026 Toyota Land Cruiser and you would twist my words to mean that the Land Cruiser chose Mr. Smith and he okayed its choice, well, we'd have a problem. All communication would be, I mean, it would be a breakdown of communication. And yet it's amazing what tricks people play with the Bible. Gymnastics. It says, Mark 13:20, "for the sake of the elect whom He chose,”— for the sake of the elect whom He chose. And they say, oh, but that doesn't mean God has chosen them. What this means is they chose Him and God saw that they would choose Him. And so in turn He chose them. That's what election means.
Beloved, that is butchering the word of God. That's substituting, to use the words of Brad Classen, the voice of God for the voice of man. That's unwarranted twisting of the obvious sense of scripture. And if we did it in the realm of normal communication, we'd say, well, how can we communicate if we're going to handle words like that? In the same way the word of God reveals, it's God who does the choosing. The illustration of David and his stones is a classic one here.
Secondly, it's God who chooses individual people. God's election, not sort of looking through a foggy glass and He just sees shapes and forms and He says, you know, I'll choose something called believers. No, no, no. It's a choice of individual people. Individual people. How do we know? Notice Romans 16 and verse 13. And this is what I mean when the doctrines of the word of God sometimes pop out in the most unusual places, really. They just, as you're reading something and it's a record that, and all of a sudden you have this doctrine, you know, popping up.
Here Paul is giving some directives to send greetings to a bunch of Christians in Rome and he's saying, salute so and so and so and so and so and so. And notice verse 13, Romans 16, "greet Rufus." Notice now the next word, "a choice man in the Lord and his mother and mine." He calls a particular individual one who was eklektos, chosen. Same word in the original, elected in the Lord. It's God who does the choosing. Secondly, it's God who chooses individual people.
And thirdly, God chooses unto salvation. He chooses unto salvation. Second Thessalonians 2:13, "but we should always give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." God's election has reference not just to privilege, not just to opportunity, as sometimes some commentator is trying to pull this gymnastic. In fact, one of them commenting, he says, all that Paul meant by this election, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, was that when the Spirit of God didn't let him go into Asia, turned him down, and so that the vision came, the man of Macedonia saying, come over here and help us, he was just telling them that they had an election to privilege of hearing the gospel. That's all.
You don't, I don't read my Bible right, do I, if I only read it that way or see that. This is butchering the Word of God. Beloved, "He has chosen you from the beginning,"— not just to hear the gospel, not just to be exposed to the gospel, but— "He has chosen you to salvation," 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
So then we conclude from the scriptures. First of all, that God does the choosing, Mark 13:20, "for the sake of the elect whom He chose." He chooses individual people, Romans 16:13. He chooses unto salvation, 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
Number four, He chooses in eternity. In eternity. Ephesians 1:4, "He, God, chose us in Him,"— when?— "Before the foundation of the world." Before the foundation of the world. And then, of course, Titus 1:1 and 2. "Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised,"— when?— "From all eternity." God's choice is not a choice in time, but one in eternity.
In the fifth place, God's choice always, always, always, always has reference to Christ. Always. We are chosen in Him. God cannot think of having sinners in a saving relationship with Himself apart from His Son. There's no way. Ephesians 1:4, "He chose us,"— where?— "In Him.”— In Him.— “before the foundation of the world." And I trust I'm not irreverent in saying that God cannot think of this. I believe it's an accurate expression of the truth of the Bible. God cannot think of having sinful man in a saving relationship with Himself apart from His Son. So when He chose, it was in Christ, and it was with reference to Christ, we are chosen in Him, in the beloved.
In the sixth place, God's choice is based on no other basis but His sovereign will. But His sovereign will. Romans 9, the great treaties on this. Ephesians 1:5 declares, according, it's all done “according to the good pleasure of His will.” "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world… according to the pleasure of His will." God has told us, Romans 9:15 and 16, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy."
And then in the last place, the seventh conclusion we make in the study of this word is that God's choice has as its end His own glory. Ephesians 1:6, He has chosen us in Christ. Verse 4, verse 5, He's predestined us to be like unto His Son. Verse 6, to what end? "To the praise of the glory of His grace which He graciously bestowed on us in the beloved."
If I'm saved, the scripture says I'm saved because I was chosen to be saved. Why was I chosen? Because it pleased God. Well, why did it please God? No answer comes from the scripture. You know what that means? In light of this, it's time now to put your hand on your mouth, put your face in the dust and worship. That's the only fitting response.
Those seven conclusions, we are compelled to them by the scripture, by an honest handling of the text. God does the choosing, He chooses individual people, He chooses unto salvation, He chooses in eternity, He chooses with reference to Christ, He chooses on no other basis but His sovereign will and He chooses to His own glory.
Well, a few more minutes by way of application, what does it say to us in closing? May I address a word to you, believers, the people of God, to us, the people of God, all of us. How can you know if you are the elect of God? How can you know? How can you know? You know we're going to see that in our next studies, how we know. You see, we're going to see that by looking at how Paul knew and that helps us. You see, Paul didn't say, "knowing brothers, your election of God because God allowed me to look into the secrets of His heart and His eternal counsels. That's how I knew." No, no. He said, "knowing brothers, beloved of God, your election," —and this is a good really intro to next study,— "how our gospel came not in word but in power." That's how we knew. That's how we knew.
He said, I read your election in the fruits of the salvation of God in your life. Isn't it amazing how the Lord connects morning and evening service, not planned, not planned by me, by Him. That's how you can know. That's how you can know if you're the elect of God, not by prying into the eternal counsels of God, which are shut to us, but by looking into your own life and seeing if you have the fruits of His salvation. Just to whet our appetite, has the word of God come to you in power? Has it come to you in power? Has it turned you from self and sin to the Lord Jesus Christ? Has it turned you from idols unto Him? You read the entire first chapter, 1 Thessalonians, and you see why Paul was convinced that these people were the elect of God. Because they were attached to Jesus. They were attached to Jesus. They had severed themselves from all their idols and turned to the living God.
And so I say to you who profess to be the children of God, do you have the marks of God's elect? We read our election not in the secret counsels of God, but in the open evidences of His transforming power in our lives, that radical difference. And if we can read those evidences, oh let us be found this evening at His feet in wonder, in love, in praise, in adoration, in thanksgiving. You see the problem many of us had is that we did not get what these Thessalonians got. And when I say we, I'm not using it editorially. God had wonderfully saved me by His grace 37 years ago, but for the first several years of that time I was trying to build much of my Christian life on the wrong foundation. I thought that I became a Christian because I finally decided it was time I ought to be a Christian. But it wasn't until several years later after my conversion, forced by the scripture, warring and wrestling for a period of time over some of these issues, when I finally was brought to the place where I realized, Lord, Your word is clear, I can't avoid it. I can't fight it, nor do I want to. I can't put my own meaning on Your word.
You said Mr. Smith chose a car, Lord. I don't have a right to say that the car chose Mr. Smith. And Lord, the reason I was saved back in my 19th year of age on the island of Cyprus was because You purposed to save me. And when you begin to establish as your foundation, beloved, free grace, free grace, sovereign grace, the whole superstructure becomes different. You'll find that your worship is different. You'll find your witness in measure is different. You find your praying in certain areas is different. And the problem with us in this day where everyone has built a monument to the sovereign will of man is that when we try to build any kind of superstructure of biblical piety, biblical evangelism on that foundation, everything goes what? Amuck. And Paul wanted this young church at its very foundation to have ingrained into their thinking that their salvation was attributed to the free, free, free grace of God.
And so I say to you as God's people, to all of us, including my own heart, let us pray that we shall have that foundation beneath us, solidly laid by God's Spirit in His word.
And what word do I have for anyone who is not joined to Christ this evening? What word is there to preach to those who are not His? Oh, this is filled with words of exhortation and comfort and warning to you who are not savingly attached to Jesus, not savingly joined to Jesus. Does God owe you anything? I ask. I ask. Does God owe you anything? Maybe you're sitting here saying, well, God owes me salvation. God owes me salvation. Well, it's in His hand. He owes it to me. If you talk that way, you're not ready to get saved. You've never seen yourself.
If you sit here this evening, not joined to Christ, not born of the Spirit, and you say it isn't right, why should God choose some and not others? Friend, you've never seen your heart. God doesn't owe salvation to anyone. There's only one thing God owes you and me. That's damnation. Damnation. The only thing that we can claim as our just recompense is punishment. Why? “For the wages of sin is” —what?— “death.” You know wages? Wages of sin? You know, you get your wages when you work for something. We deserve it. That's what we deserve. It's our wages. If we get anything else, it will be the sheer, free, sovereign grace of God.
And so if you sit here this evening fighting, arguing with the doctrine of election because you say it isn't fair, you've never seen your heart. Rather than argue with God, you need to fall on your face and say, oh God, oh God, show me, show me what an ill-deserving, hell-deserving sinner I am. And if you're in that place, you say, oh I see myself lost, undone. I see that God doesn't owe me anything and He can give and withhold salvation according to His sovereign, His own sovereign will. What hope is there for me? Ah, there's wonderful hope for you. For God says in His word and His word becomes the basis of our approach to Him. He says in His word, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." He says in His word, "him that comes to me, I will in no wise, no way, by no means cast out."
What are God's secret purposes? Including election? I don't know. But His promise is, I know, that they are yea and amen in Christ. "Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out." Do you see yourself ill-deserving? Do you see yourself as one who has no claim upon God, His mercy, His grace, undone, hopeless, helpless, doomed, damned? Is that the way you see yourself? Then hear the promise, hear it. "Come to me,” —come to me— “all you who are weary and heavy laden," Christ said, "and I will give you rest."
Your coming to Christ from the standpoint has nothing to do with knowing whether or not you are an elect. Your coming has to do with your consciousness of need and His promise to receive needy sinners. Did you hear that? Your coming has to do with your consciousness of need and His promise to receive needy sinners. If you leave this place complaining and whining, then you see you're not conscious of your need and there is no salvation for you. He didn't come to call the righteous who think that they're righteous, who think they've got a claim upon Him. He came to call sinners who know they have no claim, no claim whatsoever. He receives such.
And so I trust as Paul could write to this young church and thank God for them when He remembered their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope, and when He could say, "knowing brothers beloved of God, your election," they did not fight the fact that they were chosen by Him. They were the chosen ones. No doubt, no doubt, I like to think that they fell down and worshiped Him. And would to God that you and I should be found in that posture, would be found in that posture, and from that posture of humility and brokenness and an attitude of utter reliance and dependency upon the free sovereign grace of God.
But we should be able to say with the Apostle Paul, "therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may obtain salvation which is in Christ Jesus," that this should fill us with a sense of obligation to proclaim the mercy of our great and sovereign God to all who desperately need Him.
Let's pray.
Verse 3, he says, "We give thanks… Remembering," and then in verse 4, "knowing." And what he remembers and what he knows becomes then the occasion of his giving praise to God. He gives thanks as a result. He burst into this really doxology of thanksgiving to God. We've studied the things which He remembered in verse 3: work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope, and last week we began to consider that which He knows, that which he's assured of concerning this people, these precious people, and that becomes the occasion of praise and thanksgiving to God.
And so in verse 4, we have two statements of things that were true of the people there, the believers in Thessaloniki. One is a very direct statement, the other is indirect. Paul says indirectly he knows that they are beloved of God and then directly he says he knows their election. And so we have really two basic doctrines set before us in verse 4. Number one, the doctrine of election, and it's number two related to it, the doctrine of God's distinguishing love for His people. For in this verse, beloved of God is a title given to the people of God in a peculiar way, and we looked at that last Lord's Day.
Whatever kind of love God may have to all men in general, His benevolent love is His love of benevolence. This term beloved of God is a title, a phrase used only of the redeemed of God. And so I want us to think together concerning the fact that it's individual people who are called beloved of God and elect of God. It's a distinguishing love. Notice He's not speaking in a general way, but He's writing to His specific people. He said in verse 1, "Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church." There's a church, there's a local church, a real church there in Thessaloniki. He's talking about this with reference to a distinct body of people in a particular place.
He says in verse 2, "We give thanks to God always for all of you,” you there, the people of God in Thessaloniki. So he's talking about specific people. Verse 3, "Remembering without ceasing your,”— your— “work of faith," talking about specific people. And by implication, you continue to add this, you can supply this, your labor of love and your steadfastness of hope. So when he comes to speak about election and about being beloved of God, he's not speaking of a love of God that is general, he's not thinking of an election that is vague, that is indefinite, but he is using these two terms, beloved of God and election, in a very personal way, in a very distinct way, with reference to a specific people.
And I point that out because people who believe the Bible to be the Word of God must all admit that the truth that God, the truth of God's special love to His people and His electing grace are indeed truths taught in the Bible. They can't get away from it. It is there. If they're honest before God, honest with the text, they have to recognize they are here. They are taught in the Word of God, those two truths. They cannot even really think otherwise. They dare not even infer that the terms beloved of God and elected of God are not in the Scripture. So what they try to do is to hold those two phrases and they acknowledge and admit they are biblical phrases, but somehow they bleed them of their true life and their true meaning.
And so in the first place, I want us to observe that it's individual people who are called beloved of God and elect. Now, what does it mean to be beloved of God? What does it mean to be elect? We looked at the first one last Lord's Day, beloved of God. Remember, now Paul is not writing to some people who had behind them ten years in the Lord, ten years of theological education. He's writing to an infant church, babes in Christ, a church that just a few months ago had been called together by the preaching of the gospel as we saw in Acts 17 in our study of the birth of this church.
And to this infant church, Paul writes these words. Just right off the bat, no explanation needed: "Knowing, brothers beloved by God,” —His choice of you,— “your election.” Indicating that the truth of the election, their election, is not to be some kind of a contraband possession kept under the counter, hidden, camouflaged. Paul never treated it like black market goods. No, he treated this glorious doctrine as a wonderful truth, as a marvelous truth, and infant Christians, I mean, he talked to them about the subject of election with great freeness and with deep warmth.
There was no concern, oh well, you know, they're babes in Christ and I don't want them to stumble. No, no. With freeness. And so tonight, I believe I'm in good company this evening, teaching on the subject as openly, as publicly as God enables me to do so by His grace. So we're committed, and as we're committed to a verse-by-verse exposition of the Word of God, when we're here in verse 4, we want to understand what does verse 4 say, and we don't want to bleed the meaning, to bleed it of any of its honest implications.
As I mentioned, last week we considered the phrase, beloved of God, tonight let us consider knowing your election, knowing your election. So to do that, I'm just gonna begin with the first question: what is it to be the elect of God? What is it to be the elect of God? When Paul wrote to these people and said in verse 4, "knowing” —beloved brothers, or— “brothers beloved of God, your election," what did he mean when he chose that word, eklogēn, your election?
As Paul was sitting there thinking of the people back in Thessaloniki, he picks up his pen and writes and he says, we give thanks to God for you all, and his mind reminisces, and he thinks of their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope, then he says, "knowing brothers,"— and now what does he know? And he chooses a word under the superintending hand of the Holy Spirit,— "knowing your election,”— knowing your eklogēn. Now as Paul took his pen and wrote your election, what meaning did he put upon that word by the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit?
That's the whole end of our study this evening, what did the Apostle Paul mean as an instrument in the hand of the Spirit when he wrote your election? And beloved, we must stop at nothing short of discovering what he meant. Well, that raises another question, well how can we do this? Well, what we must do is we must go to the other portions of the Word of God, the analogy of Scripture, we must go to the other portions of the Word of God written by different authors, small a, they're all written by one Author, capital A, the Holy Spirit, under the superintendent of the same Spirit, and we need to see what that word means.
For the meaning of the word is determined by its usage, and the usage of the words in the Bible are determined by the will of the Holy Spirit. “For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved,” —nautical term, moved, like a ship in a boisterous sea moved by the wind.— “but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God,” 2nd Peter 1:21. So what does this word, eklogēn, mean?
Well, first of all, consider with me briefly the general usage of this word. Let's look at a general usage of this word in the Scripture. It's found about 50 times in the New Testament, 50 times in the New Testament, its various forms, various usages, and in the Old Testament when they were translating out of Hebrew into Greek in what we know or call the Septuagint, the LXX, by these 70 men who did this work several hundred years before Christ, the word is used there several times, in fact in very interesting ways, I think begins to give us some idea of the meaning.
For example, when it is said that David went down to the brook, 1st Samuel 17, he went down to the brook, you remember that scene, preparing for the battle with Goliath, verse 40, he came to the brook, he did something, the Scripture tells us. We read, "Then he took his stick in hand and chose for himself,”—eklogēn, same word in the Septuagint,— “chose for himself." Now this is the word, the same word used as we have in 1st Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 4. So, "He took his stick in hand and elected five smooth stones from the brook, put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine." So as David came to the brook, the brook was full of stones and out of the many stones David selected, David elected, chose, picked out of the many five stones that he would use in his conquest of Goliath.
Same word is used in Luke 14 and verse 7 where our Lord spoke of those who came to the feast and that they would pick out the places of honor, same word, they would pick out the places of honor at the table, the chief places, the chief seats there at that feast. There were many seats, some of high degree, some of low degree, and these particular people would choose out, they would select out, would, same word, elect the seats of great honor and rank and importance, same word. It's the same word used in Acts chapter 6 and verse 5 where the early church met the problem of managing the widow's necessities by what? Choosing some servants, and the suggestion was that they find some men out of the many full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and appoint them over this task. Verse 5, Acts 6, "And this word pleased the whole congregation and they,”—eklogēn,— “chose”— in verbal form,— “Stephen." They elected, they selected out of the, amongst all of the qualified men, Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and then Philip and the rest.
Now you begin to get a picture of the use of this word. David selecting out of the many stones five, just five stones to be used, out of the many seats they select some to be the ones upon which they will recline, out of the many they selected these seven who would be appointed over the task at hand. In light of this then, the conclusion we draw from the general usage of this word is that the choice is always, always initiated by the chooser. The choice is always initiated by the chooser. In every instance of the use of this word, eklogēn, the choice is never conditioned or initiated by the chosen, but by the chooser.
In other words, you didn't have five little stones wiggle themselves up out of the brook, stand up on their backside and say, "Well David, I'd like to be part of the conquest, will you choose me?" No, the stones were lying there, either in the brook or alongside the edge of the brook, and all the stones were there and David is the one who took the initiative and made the selection. And these people took the initiative in the choosing of the seats and the multitude took the initiative in the selecting of the seven. That's the first conclusion we draw from the general usage of the word.
The choice was initiated by the chooser, and something that flows from that is this: the thing chosen was in this sense passive in the choice. It didn't have a vote in it, it didn't have a say in it, it was selected by another. That leads us to the second question: what is its distinct biblical or theological use, this word, eklogēn? What is its distinct biblical or theological use? I've looked at its use in general narrative, now how is it used with the relationship to what we would call, you know, theological issues?
Well, very briefly, let me give us three usages, three. First of all, it is used again and again of the Nation of Israel, and we looked at that briefly last week. You remember that passage in Deuteronomy 7, God said there in Deuteronomy 7:6 through 8, "I did not choose you because you were greater or wiser than the rest of the nations or all the other nations, but He said I chose you because I loved you." The Nation of Israel was an elect nation, a chosen nation, and God determined that He would set His affection upon them, and this was in that sense a national election. Isaiah 44 verse 1, He calls Israel His chosen, His elect: "But now here, O Jacob, My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen." And again you come to the New Testament, Acts 13:17, God had to have a nation through which He would accomplish His redemptive purposes, He would build a framework within which He would send His one and only Son to be the Savior of the world, and out of all the nations He chose to use one nation, and the nation that He chose was Israel.
Why? Why? Well, God says why in Deuteronomy 7: "I chose you because”— I chose, period,— “I loved you." Why do you love? Well, I chose you. I loved you.Why?— "Because I loved you.” Not because of anything in you, but because of a purpose that was locked up in My own heart."
Another usage, second usage of this word: Christ is spoken of as God's elect, God's elect. Isaiah 42 verses 1 and 2, He's spoken of as God's elect: "Behold My servant whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom My soul is well pleased." And in 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 6, twice this term is used of our Lord Jesus Christ, "a choice,”—eklektos,— “a choice stone, precious in the sight of God." He was selected, set apart, chosen out for the office of mediator, Messiah, the one who would be the representative of His people, and for His people He would become man, would live, would die, would rise again, ascend to the right hand of the majesty on high.
Now there's another usage of the word elect, and this is the prevailing, and I want to underscore the word prevailing, the prevailing use of this word in the New Testament when it refers to the people of God being elected, and here's the use. It's an election of individual men and women to the blessings of salvation. It's an election of individual men and women to the blessings of salvation, a sovereign selection. It's a sovereign selection of specific individuals to enjoy the blessings of God's salvation. The people of God are called in 1st Peter 2 and verse 9, a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God's own possession, the church, the called out ones, believers, God's people, God's children have been chosen by God to enjoy the blessings of saving grace and sovereign salvation. And it's in this sense that the word is used in the passage, not only this passage, but passage after passage in the New Testament.
Now the only reason anyone would ever hold to this meaning of the word is because He is compelled to it in an honest handling of the Word of God. That's the only reason. You're compelled to it. You're constrained to it. There's no other choice. If you do honest, if you have honest handling of the Word of God, this is the only conclusion. It's the only one reason why the church, for example, has believed the doctrine of the Trinity throughout its history. The doctrine of God, that God is one, and yet this one Being, to use the only term we have, exists in three persons, —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,— yet the one is not three distinct gods, but there are three persons, one God, one, three, three, one, and we say we cannot understand it, but we are compelled to embrace that which is a mystery to us.
Why? Because the Word of God leads us there. Leads us there. The Word of God teaches clearly the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit of God, yet there are not three gods, but one God. So the biblical teaching, as it were, squeezes us into this position where we hold that truth, one God, three persons, three in one, one in three, and the only reason we believe that is because the Bible leads us there. The only reason the church throughout its history has believed in the doctrine of eternal punishment is that the Scripture takes us there. The doctrine of eternal punishment is repugnant to human understanding that creatures made in the image of God who have sinned in a lifetime should for eternity be the object of the wrath, the wrath of God, the judgment of God, in conscious torment. I mean, everything within the human personality recoils at such a doctrine in our finiteness. Yet the church has held throughout all of its existence this doctrine.
Why? Why? And this is one of the—this is a hill to die on, because the church has been compelled to it by the Word of God. "And these will go away into”— what?— “eternal punishment,"— Matthew 25:46,— "but the righteous into eternal life." If words mean anything, punishment and life are eternal. "To be cast into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched," Mark 9:47, 48. Revelation 14:11, "and the smoke of their torment goes up,”— how long?— “forever and ever they have no rest, day and night." You see, God's people who are honest with God's Word embrace the doctrine of eternal punishment. Why? Because simply the Scripture forces them to. We're compelled.
Now why does anyone believe the doctrine of election? Beloved, for the same reason that when one's mind is subject—is subject indeed to the Word of God, subject to the truth of God—there is no honest handling of a word such as we encounter in 1 Thessalonians 1:4 except to come to that conclusion. What conclusion? That that word means that God in His sovereign good pleasure has reached down—He took the initiative—He reached down into the mass of sinful humanity, and for reasons known only to Him, has chosen to Himself a great multitude that no man can number. Some out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and for that people He sent His one and only Son, and for that people His Son died, and for that people His Son lives, and for that people He will infallibly bring to Himself that people.
Election is a biblical word, it's a biblical concept, and it is not, beloved, to be relegated to the name of any man, really, fundamentally. When people will say of an individual or a church that believes and does not treat as a contraband possession this doctrine, but gladly confesses it as Paul did here, and they say, oh well, you know, they're nothing but a Calvinist. Oh, he's a Calvinist. Or that church is a Calvinist. Or they're nothing but reformed in their theology. You see, this is a biblical concept, and it was around a long, long, long time before John Calvin ever breathed his first breath. It was around a long time before Martin Luther ever breathed his first breath, before Uldrich Zwingli breathed his first breath, before the Puritans breathed their first breath, and before Jonathan Edwards breathed his first breath.
The Word of God declared, "knowing, brothers, beloved of God, your election." It's right here. Right here. And all of these men, all these men did, all of them, all they did was in their return to the authority of the Scripture, sola scriptura, which had been virtually denied, though confessed with the lips by the Roman Church, in their return, having their minds subject to the Word of God, it's only inevitable that the doctrine of election would come to light in the Reformation. Only inevitable. Why? Because the Scripture came to light, and wherever the Scriptures come to light, the doctrine of election will come to light. Why? Because it's found throughout the length and breadth of Scripture. You cannot avoid it.
That's the reason, that's the only reason. That's the only reason some even here in this congregation have come to embrace this doctrine in the last couple of years, because you've come with a new spirit of inquiry to the scripture. You say, what I've been doing is spreading the words of the Bible through my mind, through my eyes, but what I've really been doing have been stamping upon the Bible the meanings that perhaps I've gotten from my childhood. I was really doing an eisegesis, not an exegesis. I haven't really come to grips with what the scripture teaches, and that attitude which has led you to come to grips with the teaching of the scripture and other issues has led you now to come to grips with what it teaches on this glorious doctrine, the doctrine of election, and you find like with the doctrine of the trinity and the doctrine of justification and the doctrine of eternal judgment, I can do no less than embrace the scripture, for the scripture teaches it, and as a Christian I am subject to the words of the living God. My life is to be regulated by it. My conscience is held captive to it.
And so much then for the general use of the word, theological use of the word, the nation of Israel, Christ the chosen one, individual men and women to the blessings of salvation.
Thirdly, what are we warranted to say then by way of sort of a setting out clearly the meaning of this election as found in the scripture? May I very quickly share with you a few thoughts that I trust will be helpful tonight. Here are the few thoughts.
Number one, I'm going to state the obvious. It is God who does the choosing. God who does the choosing. In dealing with sinful humanity, it is God who puts forth the initiative. Mark 13:20 speaks of the elect whom He has chosen. The elect whom He has chosen. I mean, could words be more simple than that?
Let me illustrate. If I were to speak to you about a certain car that Mr. Smith, I'm being creative here, Mr. Smith has chosen, those words have a very obvious meaning. Mr. Smith either went to the showroom or went to the car lot. He looked around, inspected the cars, surveyed all the cars there, and after that he said, you know, I want that car. I want that car. And he chose that car. And as a result of it, he drove it off the lot and took it home.
If I were to say Mr. Smith chose a 2026 Toyota Land Cruiser I-Force Max hybrid powertrain, would you ever put on my words the meaning that as he sat in the showroom, all of a sudden a 26 Toyota Land Cruiser put itself in gear, drove up alongside of him and said, now Mr. Smith, I'd like to go home with you? Is that what you think? And Mr. Smith said, you know, all right, because you decided to go home with me, I will ratify your decision. I will choose you therefore as my car, take you home with me. Would you ever put that kind of meaning on my words? I mean if you would, I'll be very concerned, but if you would, then all meaningful communication will break down and we'd have it. There would be no meaningful communication whatsoever. And if I say Mr. Smith chose a 2026 Toyota Land Cruiser and you would twist my words to mean that the Land Cruiser chose Mr. Smith and he okayed its choice, well, we'd have a problem. All communication would be, I mean, it would be a breakdown of communication. And yet it's amazing what tricks people play with the Bible. Gymnastics. It says, Mark 13:20, "for the sake of the elect whom He chose,”— for the sake of the elect whom He chose. And they say, oh, but that doesn't mean God has chosen them. What this means is they chose Him and God saw that they would choose Him. And so in turn He chose them. That's what election means.
Beloved, that is butchering the word of God. That's substituting, to use the words of Brad Classen, the voice of God for the voice of man. That's unwarranted twisting of the obvious sense of scripture. And if we did it in the realm of normal communication, we'd say, well, how can we communicate if we're going to handle words like that? In the same way the word of God reveals, it's God who does the choosing. The illustration of David and his stones is a classic one here.
Secondly, it's God who chooses individual people. God's election, not sort of looking through a foggy glass and He just sees shapes and forms and He says, you know, I'll choose something called believers. No, no, no. It's a choice of individual people. Individual people. How do we know? Notice Romans 16 and verse 13. And this is what I mean when the doctrines of the word of God sometimes pop out in the most unusual places, really. They just, as you're reading something and it's a record that, and all of a sudden you have this doctrine, you know, popping up.
Here Paul is giving some directives to send greetings to a bunch of Christians in Rome and he's saying, salute so and so and so and so and so and so. And notice verse 13, Romans 16, "greet Rufus." Notice now the next word, "a choice man in the Lord and his mother and mine." He calls a particular individual one who was eklektos, chosen. Same word in the original, elected in the Lord. It's God who does the choosing. Secondly, it's God who chooses individual people.
And thirdly, God chooses unto salvation. He chooses unto salvation. Second Thessalonians 2:13, "but we should always give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." God's election has reference not just to privilege, not just to opportunity, as sometimes some commentator is trying to pull this gymnastic. In fact, one of them commenting, he says, all that Paul meant by this election, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, was that when the Spirit of God didn't let him go into Asia, turned him down, and so that the vision came, the man of Macedonia saying, come over here and help us, he was just telling them that they had an election to privilege of hearing the gospel. That's all.
You don't, I don't read my Bible right, do I, if I only read it that way or see that. This is butchering the Word of God. Beloved, "He has chosen you from the beginning,"— not just to hear the gospel, not just to be exposed to the gospel, but— "He has chosen you to salvation," 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
So then we conclude from the scriptures. First of all, that God does the choosing, Mark 13:20, "for the sake of the elect whom He chose." He chooses individual people, Romans 16:13. He chooses unto salvation, 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
Number four, He chooses in eternity. In eternity. Ephesians 1:4, "He, God, chose us in Him,"— when?— "Before the foundation of the world." Before the foundation of the world. And then, of course, Titus 1:1 and 2. "Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised,"— when?— "From all eternity." God's choice is not a choice in time, but one in eternity.
In the fifth place, God's choice always, always, always, always has reference to Christ. Always. We are chosen in Him. God cannot think of having sinners in a saving relationship with Himself apart from His Son. There's no way. Ephesians 1:4, "He chose us,"— where?— "In Him.”— In Him.— “before the foundation of the world." And I trust I'm not irreverent in saying that God cannot think of this. I believe it's an accurate expression of the truth of the Bible. God cannot think of having sinful man in a saving relationship with Himself apart from His Son. So when He chose, it was in Christ, and it was with reference to Christ, we are chosen in Him, in the beloved.
In the sixth place, God's choice is based on no other basis but His sovereign will. But His sovereign will. Romans 9, the great treaties on this. Ephesians 1:5 declares, according, it's all done “according to the good pleasure of His will.” "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world… according to the pleasure of His will." God has told us, Romans 9:15 and 16, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy."
And then in the last place, the seventh conclusion we make in the study of this word is that God's choice has as its end His own glory. Ephesians 1:6, He has chosen us in Christ. Verse 4, verse 5, He's predestined us to be like unto His Son. Verse 6, to what end? "To the praise of the glory of His grace which He graciously bestowed on us in the beloved."
If I'm saved, the scripture says I'm saved because I was chosen to be saved. Why was I chosen? Because it pleased God. Well, why did it please God? No answer comes from the scripture. You know what that means? In light of this, it's time now to put your hand on your mouth, put your face in the dust and worship. That's the only fitting response.
Those seven conclusions, we are compelled to them by the scripture, by an honest handling of the text. God does the choosing, He chooses individual people, He chooses unto salvation, He chooses in eternity, He chooses with reference to Christ, He chooses on no other basis but His sovereign will and He chooses to His own glory.
Well, a few more minutes by way of application, what does it say to us in closing? May I address a word to you, believers, the people of God, to us, the people of God, all of us. How can you know if you are the elect of God? How can you know? How can you know? You know we're going to see that in our next studies, how we know. You see, we're going to see that by looking at how Paul knew and that helps us. You see, Paul didn't say, "knowing brothers, your election of God because God allowed me to look into the secrets of His heart and His eternal counsels. That's how I knew." No, no. He said, "knowing brothers, beloved of God, your election," —and this is a good really intro to next study,— "how our gospel came not in word but in power." That's how we knew. That's how we knew.
He said, I read your election in the fruits of the salvation of God in your life. Isn't it amazing how the Lord connects morning and evening service, not planned, not planned by me, by Him. That's how you can know. That's how you can know if you're the elect of God, not by prying into the eternal counsels of God, which are shut to us, but by looking into your own life and seeing if you have the fruits of His salvation. Just to whet our appetite, has the word of God come to you in power? Has it come to you in power? Has it turned you from self and sin to the Lord Jesus Christ? Has it turned you from idols unto Him? You read the entire first chapter, 1 Thessalonians, and you see why Paul was convinced that these people were the elect of God. Because they were attached to Jesus. They were attached to Jesus. They had severed themselves from all their idols and turned to the living God.
And so I say to you who profess to be the children of God, do you have the marks of God's elect? We read our election not in the secret counsels of God, but in the open evidences of His transforming power in our lives, that radical difference. And if we can read those evidences, oh let us be found this evening at His feet in wonder, in love, in praise, in adoration, in thanksgiving. You see the problem many of us had is that we did not get what these Thessalonians got. And when I say we, I'm not using it editorially. God had wonderfully saved me by His grace 37 years ago, but for the first several years of that time I was trying to build much of my Christian life on the wrong foundation. I thought that I became a Christian because I finally decided it was time I ought to be a Christian. But it wasn't until several years later after my conversion, forced by the scripture, warring and wrestling for a period of time over some of these issues, when I finally was brought to the place where I realized, Lord, Your word is clear, I can't avoid it. I can't fight it, nor do I want to. I can't put my own meaning on Your word.
You said Mr. Smith chose a car, Lord. I don't have a right to say that the car chose Mr. Smith. And Lord, the reason I was saved back in my 19th year of age on the island of Cyprus was because You purposed to save me. And when you begin to establish as your foundation, beloved, free grace, free grace, sovereign grace, the whole superstructure becomes different. You'll find that your worship is different. You'll find your witness in measure is different. You find your praying in certain areas is different. And the problem with us in this day where everyone has built a monument to the sovereign will of man is that when we try to build any kind of superstructure of biblical piety, biblical evangelism on that foundation, everything goes what? Amuck. And Paul wanted this young church at its very foundation to have ingrained into their thinking that their salvation was attributed to the free, free, free grace of God.
And so I say to you as God's people, to all of us, including my own heart, let us pray that we shall have that foundation beneath us, solidly laid by God's Spirit in His word.
And what word do I have for anyone who is not joined to Christ this evening? What word is there to preach to those who are not His? Oh, this is filled with words of exhortation and comfort and warning to you who are not savingly attached to Jesus, not savingly joined to Jesus. Does God owe you anything? I ask. I ask. Does God owe you anything? Maybe you're sitting here saying, well, God owes me salvation. God owes me salvation. Well, it's in His hand. He owes it to me. If you talk that way, you're not ready to get saved. You've never seen yourself.
If you sit here this evening, not joined to Christ, not born of the Spirit, and you say it isn't right, why should God choose some and not others? Friend, you've never seen your heart. God doesn't owe salvation to anyone. There's only one thing God owes you and me. That's damnation. Damnation. The only thing that we can claim as our just recompense is punishment. Why? “For the wages of sin is” —what?— “death.” You know wages? Wages of sin? You know, you get your wages when you work for something. We deserve it. That's what we deserve. It's our wages. If we get anything else, it will be the sheer, free, sovereign grace of God.
And so if you sit here this evening fighting, arguing with the doctrine of election because you say it isn't fair, you've never seen your heart. Rather than argue with God, you need to fall on your face and say, oh God, oh God, show me, show me what an ill-deserving, hell-deserving sinner I am. And if you're in that place, you say, oh I see myself lost, undone. I see that God doesn't owe me anything and He can give and withhold salvation according to His sovereign, His own sovereign will. What hope is there for me? Ah, there's wonderful hope for you. For God says in His word and His word becomes the basis of our approach to Him. He says in His word, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." He says in His word, "him that comes to me, I will in no wise, no way, by no means cast out."
What are God's secret purposes? Including election? I don't know. But His promise is, I know, that they are yea and amen in Christ. "Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out." Do you see yourself ill-deserving? Do you see yourself as one who has no claim upon God, His mercy, His grace, undone, hopeless, helpless, doomed, damned? Is that the way you see yourself? Then hear the promise, hear it. "Come to me,” —come to me— “all you who are weary and heavy laden," Christ said, "and I will give you rest."
Your coming to Christ from the standpoint has nothing to do with knowing whether or not you are an elect. Your coming has to do with your consciousness of need and His promise to receive needy sinners. Did you hear that? Your coming has to do with your consciousness of need and His promise to receive needy sinners. If you leave this place complaining and whining, then you see you're not conscious of your need and there is no salvation for you. He didn't come to call the righteous who think that they're righteous, who think they've got a claim upon Him. He came to call sinners who know they have no claim, no claim whatsoever. He receives such.
And so I trust as Paul could write to this young church and thank God for them when He remembered their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope, and when He could say, "knowing brothers beloved of God, your election," they did not fight the fact that they were chosen by Him. They were the chosen ones. No doubt, no doubt, I like to think that they fell down and worshiped Him. And would to God that you and I should be found in that posture, would be found in that posture, and from that posture of humility and brokenness and an attitude of utter reliance and dependency upon the free sovereign grace of God.
But we should be able to say with the Apostle Paul, "therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may obtain salvation which is in Christ Jesus," that this should fill us with a sense of obligation to proclaim the mercy of our great and sovereign God to all who desperately need Him.
Let's pray.
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