Dennis Tuuri

We return to Ephesians chapter 1 for our sermon text today. As we did last week, we’ll read the first 14 verses of Ephesians chapter 1. Please stand for the reading of God’s word. Ephesians 1:1-14.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory let us pray Father, we thank you for your word and we pray your spirit by writing upon our hearts open our ears which in themselves are totally blocked up, Lord God.

And may your spirit remove those plugs. May we hear your word and may it become engrafted deep into our souls the truth whereof we have just read that we might praise you today and always. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen. May be seated.

Rest in the finished work of Christ in the early 1600s. Today our topic will be unconditional election specifically and you’ll notice on your outlines that I have the first point basically is review Dr. Bahnsen and others have used this terminology as well of course and in years gone by have given apologetics conferences entitled “Taking It to the Streets” in terms of the evangelization that we’re to perform in the apologetic for Christ in the streets. I have entitled our review which will be ongoing for this series “Taking It to the Living Room” because hopefully one of the effects of this series will be to buttress us up with truths from scripture that we can use in conversations within our families to teach our children the great truths of God’s sovereign election of his people and also to talk with our friends and Christian friends about this for it to influence the way we evangelize as well and our discussions with our neighbors.

And so hopefully the review particularly be aimed at primarily giving us a way to memorize these things and put them in our hearts so that we can effectively speak of them in our conversations we hold in living rooms etc. And so what we’ve done is and why we’ll be singing Romans 8, the last portion of that chapter repeatedly the next couple of weeks is to drive it home in our hearts. We began the series two weeks ago with talking about the golden chain of salvation for Romans 8:29 and 30.

And the important thing here as your outline indicates that I want you to remember for discussions in your living room is that the basis of this the first link of the chain so to speak is God’s foreknowledge of his people and I’ve listed some scriptures there you can maybe what you would be good for you to do is to try to select a couple that you’d like to commit to memory so that you can in conversations about the golden chain understand and remember and then teach people that foreknowledge here really refers to forelove in Psalm 1 verse 6 the opening psalm of the psalter says that God knows the way of the righteous but the way the ungodly shall perish.

So knowledge doesn’t indicate an intellectual knowledge, but rather a love and a concern for. In Amos, we read that you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. There’s a relationship between the knowledge of God and also his chastisements upon us. The important thing is that he has known us above or in contrast to all the nations of the earth.

The Lord Jesus Christ says that there’ll come a day in which people will say, “We did this. We did this for you.” And he’ll say they’ll depart from me. I never knew you. Knew you in the sense of love or to choose. And so we’ve listed some here from reasons from our first talk as to why this word foreknowledge means forelove and you can review those. But it’s important to understand these truths. You can talk about them with friends and relatives and neighbors.

And as I said in bringing up our children that God grants us in the context of our covenant households. If and one of the first apologetic reasons we’ve given here is that if foreknowledge actually means intellectual knowledge of a faith it’s going to be exercised by us even if that was true which it isn’t but even if it was the argument is still won by us because that faith itself the scriptures clearly teach from the scriptures we’ve enumerated here is a gift of God so even if it’s on the basis of that exercise of faith the exercise of faith is a gift from God in any event it’s not of our own works but then we’ve listed five reasons here why we don’t think that foreknowledge is an intellectual assessment but actually a foreknowledge of forelove of a particular people.

I said that it doesn’t say that he foreknew something. He foreknew someone and some particular someones those that he predestinates and calls and justifies and glorifies. Secondly, we’ve said that the proper exegesis of the text as compared to reading into the text what we want demands the simplest explanation and the simplest explanation is that this foreknowledge is a forelove of particular people.

You have to be complicated with the text to make it mean something other than that. Next, we’ve said that faith or good works or concurrence with him according to these three passages are all the effects of predestination. So, you can’t have at the beginning of the chain what the predestination that God gives us in Christ brings as the end in the middle of the chain in our lives. So, those texts indicate that those things really are the proper fruit of the root of predestination and forelove.

And then we’ve also said that the entire text in Romans 8 stresses God’s active work on behalf of his people and man’s relative passivity. It’s a foreknowledge that determines existence, not a foreknowledge that God responds to something in us. And we’ve also said that it’s not superfluous to predestination. Some people say, well, it can’t mean the same thing as predestined because then we’d have two things meaning the same thing.

But it is different. Foreknowledge talks of a forelove of God for us. Predestination is to be conformed to the image of Christ. So they are links in a chain. They’re not the same two links at the beginning. So we believe that this text is properly understood to be a foreknowledge of forelove of his people. And this is an important one for you to have under your belts both for assurance of your own salvation.

It’s not dependent upon yourself. It’s dependent upon the eternal counsel of God as well as to bring people to an understanding intellectually of this text. Because it’s still going to deny it in terms of moral rebellion. But we don’t want their failure to grasp and assert the truths of God’s sovereignty and election to be a result of our failure to profit be good stewards of this truth and to help to see the truth of what we’ve talked about here.

So, please commit these things to memory the best you can and begin to use them in the context of raising your children perhaps this week is a good way to memorize them as well. So, we believe that what’s being said here is the foreknowledge of this first link of the chain can be summed up in Jeremiah 31:3. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.” The great blessing to us of God’s foreknowing or foreloving us.

Well, secondly, last week we put the discussion of a consideration of God’s election of his people to salvation, his sovereignty and salvation in the context of God’s sovereignty over all things. And so here again, I’ve listed a lot of verses. Take a couple of those verses that you particularly find comforting that you understand well. Take those verses, try to commit them to memory so that you can put a discussion of Calvinistic view of salvation to a context of a worldview that says God is sovereign in all things.

The scriptures recite this over and over and over again. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Isaiah 46, remember the former things of old. For I am God and there is none else. I am God and there was none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not done yet, saying, “My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.” That’s the basis.

That’s the intellectual basis. The spiritual basis of God’s word for talking about the doctrine of God’s sovereignty relative to salvation is God’s sovereignty in all things and pointed out in your outline there the way it works itself down. So this week what we’re going to try to do then is focus particularly on this truth that has come to be known as unconditional election in the Canons of Dort are the historical basis for what’s become known as the five points of Calvinism that spell the acronym TULIP total depravity unconditional election limited atonement irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints.

The second of those unconditional election is really where the Canons of Dort start. The Canons of Dort start with a discussion of divine election and reprobation. And that because of the need for an acronym has come down to us as unconditional election, which is only partly true. Unconditional means there’s not conditions that God places upon the creature that makes him elect us. Again, it’s the idea that he doesn’t forelove us or foreknow us on the basis of some act of faith in our part, but rather there are no condition placed upon it.

And so unconditional election said there are no conditions to it. And I said that it’s only part true. It’s part true because really God’s election of us is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s in the covenant keeper our savior, the Lord Jesus, the beloved son. And he willfully came and took upon himself human flesh, which we begin to celebrate at this time of year in our particular culture. And he did that to the end that he might meet those conditions that really satisfy the righteousness of God in the demonstration of his love to us.

So, it’s not, you know, unconditional isn’t exactly true. It’s not as if God winks at our sin. In fact, it’s just the reverse. And we’ll see that as we go through this. But in any event, I want to talk today about unconditional election. And I want to talk about it specifically from Ephesians chapter 1 and specifically in Ephesians 1 verses 4-6. We’ll see as well as the entire section here. So, you get what I’m doing here.

Romans 8:29 and 30. Two weeks ago, last week, God’s overall sovereignty. This week, we’ve read last week and this week now, Ephesians 1, very important text of scripture for a proper understanding of these truths in our own heart. And then a way to communicate these truths to our friends and relatives and neighbors as we evangelize and as we disciple and as we teach our children. So, Ephesians 1, very important to get these things down.

And you can go to Ephesians 1 and demonstrate the truth of what the scriptures teach about unconditional election. Now, so what we’re going to do is we’re going to go to Ephesians 1 and we’re also going to be looking at the texts from the Canons of Dort as they refer to these things. And I don’t know if all of you got them or not, but you have an outline and as well you have a three-page handout hopefully that have the Canons of Dort listed the first articles 1 through 11 of the first head of doctrine and then also the rejection of errors 1 through six and number nine.

So there’s nine rejection of errors in the first head 18 positive statements and we’re going to break them We’re going to deal with the first 11 today and also some of the rejection of errors interspersed because the errors really when you get to the rejection of errors side of the Canons of Dort they really can be talked about in the flow of what they positively present as well which is what we’ve decided to do I’ve decided to do and you’ll notice if you have this particular page that article number seven which is the definition of election according to the Canons of Dort is in bigger type that’s kind of the central point of the whole thing 1 through six lead up to it and 8 through 11 kind of defend it but Seven is really the core, the first head of doctrine in terms of divine election.

Now, we’ll talk about assurance next week, the advent of assurance as we look at the advent of our savior. Following that, we’ll talk about reprobation. The first head concerns the doctrine of election divine election and also reprobation. We’ll deal with assurance of election next week and reprobation in two weeks. And then we’ll talk about the first head also as it relates to our covenant children in three weeks.

So, that’s kind of the flow as we move toward a celebration of the adoration of our savior in this particular holiday season.

Okay. So, as I said, the first six articles under the first head of doctrine from Dort, which we began last week, just review them quickly, really kind of lead up to a discussion of the specific definition of election in number seven. In the first head of doctrine, we read about the fact that men have fallen.

And they begin the Canons of Dort by saying that, you know, are you going to bring a charge against God? You know, the idea is that if you’re a Calvinist, then you’ve got a God who, you know, isn’t very nice because he doesn’t save some people. Well, we’re saying that God is not unjust. If he decided to leave all people in condemnation, the scriptures teach that all men are ethical rebels against God.

We’re all dead in trespasses and sins. None have done do right. We’re all We have mouths that are open pits, so to speak, according to Romans 3 and according to the Psalms. We’re terrible, nasty, wicked rebels against God. And God is not unjust if he leaves all of us to go to hell. Well, so there begins the defense of God’s character against the charge that he is unjust. And man, we are told that we are to shut people’s mouths when they would bring a charge against God.

We’re to we’re to tell them that is illicit. It is improper for them to bring a charge against Almighty God. We read in Romans 9, who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? Well, here we deal with people who bring a charge against God for not sending everybody to heaven. And of course, the Arminian by this doesn’t help himself at all because God is omnipotent. they would admit that. And so God is well able to bring everyone to heaven, but he still doesn’t do it.

Whether it’s by election, whatever it is, the fact is you can still charge God if you had such a rash impudent mindset to do so with being unjust because he doesn’t force all people to end up in heaven. But in any event, they start with the fall of man. And then the second article then deals with God’s love. And it says that God, however, in his great love sent his son to produce salvation for a particular group of people.

So now it’s important as we think about this chain leading up to a doctrine of election that God’s justice is being portrayed in his wrath against sinners and God’s love is being portrayed in his mercy for relative to the elect. What we do not want to do however on the basis of that is to pit God’s justice and love together. It is exactly the reverse or what the Canons will unwind or unfold here is that God’s justice and love are together.

God’s love never contravenes his justice. Now, the Armenians, as we’ll see here in a couple of minutes, they’re want to make other conditions for the fulfillment of righteousness. They’re going to say, “Well, God’s going to elect certain conditions as the way to make men right with him.” And so, it’s this faith thing, and God’s just going to kind of unilaterally declare, “Well, if men have faith, that’s going to be righteous in my sight.” But faith isn’t righteousness.

Whatever we exercise, the only righteousness that’s imputed to us is the act of righteousness, the act of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. See, and it’s his death is a woman on the cross that satisfies the just demands of God’s justice or righteousness. So while we talk about men’s sin, God is just in condemning him and God’s deliverance of some the demonstration of his love, we don’t want to pit justice and love against each other.

What’s pitted against each other, not pitted against each other, but described as being different one from another is the wrath of God abiding upon some, but the others being delivered from that wrath. So in John 3:36, we read that he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So the difference is the wrath abides on some, not on others.

But the basis for that really is that God’s love always, his mercy always is combined with his justice. His attributes are one. He is not to be broken up in the context of this. Well, then that leads to the question how God accomplishes this salvation. And the third article in the first head of doctrine talks about how God the means is the preaching of the gospel.

The means is God sending out men to take the word of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. The preaching of the gospel. Now, I’m going to reference here the ninth rejection of errors. And in the rejection of errors in number nine, this is what they reject in terms of the Armenians. We reject those who teach that the reason why God sends the gospel to one people rather than to another is not merely and solely the good pleasure of God, but rather the fact that one people is better and worthier than another, to which the gospel is not communicated.

For this Moses denies, addressing the people of Israel as follows. To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth, and everything in it. Yet the Lord set his affection on your forefathers, and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. That’s from Deuteronomy 10:14 and 15. And again, Christ Woe to you Chorazin. Woe to you Bethsaida.

If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. What’s the point of this? The point is that the Armenians said that the reason why the gospel gets to some people is because God foresees this faith in their part. They’re more worthy then to receive the gospel. But the scriptures say and the Canons of Dort here in the third article the first head that the reason why God sends his gospel to some people and not others is his sovereign good pleasure.

Even in the presentation of the gospel, the sovereignty of God is stressed in scripture. You remember Paul in the first missionary journey and he wants to go to a particular place and God says, “No, the spirit forbids him to go there.” So Paul wants to go evangelize these people. He’s got a heart for these people and God says, “No, my heart isn’t there right now. You’re going to go over to these people instead with the gospel.” Now eventually he gets to them, but we can assume some people have died over there, right?

We can assume there are people dying all over the earth who have not heard the message of the gospel. And here Jesus in the gospel says specifically, Tyre and Sidon, they’ve not heard this yet. People died over there, but I’ve chosen you to hear this message and still you’ve rejected the message. See, his point is that Jesus is saying again, as the Canons of Dort that, that God is sovereign in sending the gospel to whom he will.

See, you go nuts if you’re an Arminian who thinks that the word of God has got to go out there. It’s our responsibility somehow that God hasn’t sovereignly declared who the word’s going to go to and as a result we got to run around 24 hours a day and list all the people we can to get the gospel everywhere. I’m not saying we be slothful about it. We do want to take the gospel out but recognize that underneath all that activity is the sovereignty of God in preaching the gospel to whom he decides.

Now you’ve heard the gospel preached and it should be a great source of delight in you to know that God elected you to hear that gospel preached and more than that elected you to respond with the gift of faith that he gave you to that gospel. But the point is that even in the preaching of the gospel itself is a demonstration of the sovereignty of God and the choosing of some people, if you want to look at it that way, to hear that gospel message preached.

God’s sovereign will. Okay? And that rebutts the pride of men. The gospel goes out and the results of the gospel are then delineated for us. Two results as we said from John 3:36. On some men the wrath of God continues to abide. Other men believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and because of that belief are redeemed or rescued from that wrath or unbelief. And then in the fifth paragraph the Canons of Dort assert and the scriptures teach as well that the source of these differing results is not men themselves but rather it’s the gift of God.

In other words, if a person rejects the gospel then God says the wrath abides upon him because he has deliberately he has willfully rejected the gospel message. It’s his fault for failing to come to repentance for his sins. Now, if we do come to repentance for sins, God makes it clear that’s not to be attributed to us. That’s the grace of God. So, the reason for the one result of wrath abiding is the sin of man.

And the reason for the result of wrath being removed and of salvation being affected for us is the grace of God unto salvation. And the Canons assert that. Well, that leads all this is preparatory to a discussion of the decree of God. And in the sixth article of the first head of doctrine, we begin then to move toward it, but doesn’t quite say it yet.

You could scan down in your outline to the first head, article six. I’m going to read from that. That some receive the gift of faith from God and others do not receive it. Proceeds from God’s eternal decree. See, here we go. It’s getting now to a discussion of unconditional election, his eternal decree. For now, unknown unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Acts 15:18. Who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will from Ephesians 1:11.

According to which doctrine he graciously softens the heart of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect in his just judgment to their own wickedness and obstinacy. And herein is especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men equally involved in ruin. For the decree of election and reprobation revealed in the word of God, which though men of perverse, impure, and unstable minds rested to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls afford unspeakable consolation.

The Canons are not each very separate things. They all blend together. And here in number six, it’s leading up to the definition of election as the Father saw it. In number seven, we see mention the eternal decree of God as the reason why we have these two paths being trod by people who hear the preaching of the gospel and yet some respond and some don’t. What’s the reason for this? The reason is that God is demonstrating his wrath.

He’s demonstrating his justice in this way and he’s demonstrating his justice and love to these other people on this other path. And that’s a result of God’s eternal decree. And they bring up here the decree then the election to the decree of election and the decree of reprobation. And we’re going to talk about reprobation in a couple of weeks. This head of doctrine talks about it as the scriptures do as well.

And so we’re talking about the different paths that happen and the basis for this being the eternal counsel of God and it also brings in immediately then the consolation to the believer of knowing these things the consolation to the believer of knowing these things. So six really is an introduction to what will follow here and seven really is the focal point of what I want to talk about today in terms of Ephesians and demonstrate that the seventh article of the first head of doctrine is in total conformity to the scriptures and all we have to use is one text one set of verses from the Ephesians 1 to demonstrate the truths of this particular definition according to the Canons of Dort.

So there’s this introductory material and now there is then a discussion of election itself and it is defined. So you can turn again in your Canons handout to number seven. We’ll read through this definition and then we’ll go back and look at it a little more slowly and show how it comports well with the teaching of Ephesians chapter 1.

What is unconditional election? Then election is the unchangeable purpose of God. Whereby before the foundation of the world, he has out of mere grace according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will chosen from the whole human race which had fallen through their own fault rather from the primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ whom he from eternity appointed the mediator and head of the elect and the foundation of salvation.

This elect Remember, though by nature neither better or more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery, God has decreed to give to Christ to be saved by him, and effectually to call and draw them to his communion by his word and spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justification, and sanctification. And having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of his son, finally to glorify them for the demonstration of his mercy and for the praise of the riches of his glorious grace, as it is written, For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves. And elsewhere and those he predestined he also called. Those he called he also justified. And those he justified he also glorified. Citing from what we have referred to and others have as the golden chain.

Therein is the definition of unconditional election according to the Canons of Dort. Let’s take it a little bit slower now. Then first of all the Canons assert and the scriptures assert that this election is defined first of all as being absolutely unchangeable. Now in Ephesians in the text that we’ve read had. We read about the truths of God’s gracious redemption of sinners in the past tense. This is an accomplished fact.

Look at verse three. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to his good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accept it in the beloved.

Over and over and over again as you read through Ephesians 1:1-14, we have the great truth that these things are accomplished facts in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no changeability allowed for in these verses. Everything according to these verses is an accomplished fact in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have these listed in the Canons of Dort that comport with scripture as unchangeable truths that this election is not changeable.

It’s not open or malleable or change open to differences, but rather is an accomplished fact stated in the past tense in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 teaches us that this election occurs in eternity that it in terms of its time constraint, it occurs in the eternal councils of God. Verse four, he has appointed us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

Now, that really should shut the mouth of anyone who says there’s something that we’re going to do, something that we do that merits the selection of God because the election occurs before even the foundation of the world and all eternity. God sets his love and God chooses a particular people to select out for himself not based on any condition of them because they haven’t even come to pass yet. Romans 9 clear picture of that in that God sets his affection on people before they are born even in terms of making a differentiation.

not on the basis of who they are, but at his sovereign election to love some and to hate others. To some demonstrate his righteousness and love and others to demonstrate his righteousness and his wrath against them. So this happens in the context of eternity before the foundation of the world. Secondly, then the Canons assert and our text tells us that this is gracious on the part of God. These things are obvious, but it’s important to point these out.

Verse six says that this is to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. But you see the importance of all these things. If it can’t change, it means we can’t lose our salvation. If it’s in eternity, it’s not on the basis of our works. If it is the is if it’s demonstrated here to be explicitly be said to be a result of the grace of God, that God’s election is gracious, then it can’t be as a result of works either because even if it’s the work of faith, that’s a work that merits something to ourselves.

And grace is the unmerited favor of God. Grace is the basis for our election and it is not a result of works but rather it’s a result of God’s sovereign grace. Now here in this particular portion I want to include a rejection of the third error or the I’m excuse me the paragraph three in the rejection of errors from the Canons of Dort and they rejected and I will read from the Canons here those who teach that the good pleasure and purpose of God of which scripture makes mention of the doctrine of election does not consist in this that God chose certain persons rather than others but in this that he chose us out of all possible conditions among which are also the works of the law or out of the whole order of things that act of faith which from its very nature is undeserving as well as is incomplete as well as it is incomplete obedience as a condition of salvation and that he would graciously consider this in itself as a complete obedience and it worthy of the reward of eternal life.

For this, but by this injurious error, the pleasure of God and the merits of Christ are made of none effect, and men are drawn away by useless questions from the truth of gracious justification and from the simplicity of scripture. And this declaration of the apostle is charged as untrue, who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. 2 Timothy 1:9. So, what’s being rejected here is the error of men that say, “Well, what God really decided to do is not demand perfect obedience to the law or demand a just satisfaction for men that violate the law, but rather what God has elected to do is to have other conditions of the law work for this condition.” And I call this the stone error.

I’m going to have loaf connotations of these errors and this error is a stone. Instead of the loaf of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ given to us, his act of obedience and his death on the cross, his atonement for our sins instead of that some Armenians choose to posit instead the theory that God decided to change the conditions. So now we don’t have a loaf at all. We don’t have the covenant satisfaction being made through the merits of Christ.

And so the fathers correctly said that the merits of Christ are made of none effect. Then if God decides to use some kind of exercise of faith on our part as the basis for a right standing with him instead of the work of Christ, then there’s no loaf. There’s no covenant biblically defined at all left. And so the fathers rejected that error and we reject it as well because the scriptures teach that grace is the unmerited favor of God purchased through the price of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the result of his act of obedience in his body on our behalf in terms of our right standing with God.

If election is gracious, then it means that God doesn’t change the terms of the covenant. He doesn’t wink at sin. He doesn’t count something as righteous that is not totally righteous, our faith. Rather, he looks to seek the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and that alone. So, anyone that says it’s faith somehow is the thing God has now decided to substitute for our faith instead of the object of faith, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, you should be able to refute that because what they’re really doing is washing away the whole doctrine of God’s grace.

So, the gospel the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ’s election is unchangeable. It’s eternal. It is gracious. And its source is the sovereign good pleasure of his will. Verse 5 of Ephesians, he has predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Now Paul began this epistle by saying that he was an apostle by the will of God. He said, “I didn’t choose to be an apostle.

It wasn’t my will that made me an apostle. It was the will of God who made me be an apostle.” And here the adoption of sons The election, the choosing of us that’s talked about in verses four and 5 is said to have as its basis as its ultimate source the sovereignty of God. The that God does this according to the good pleasure of his will. Now the good pleasure of his will is a strengthened form of his will, isn’t it?

And what the indication here is that it isn’t just God’s will that he decides to adopt us and elect us before the foundation of the world to that adoption but rather it is the good pleasure of his will. God delights to do this thing. It is the pleasure of his will and it is indeed the good pleasure of his will to call a particular group of people unconditionally elect them in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The source of this again is not anything in us. It is sovereignly the good pleasure of God’s will. And at the end of it we can say no more than that. At the end of it we can say that it pleased God so to do this. And in fact it is the will of God to do this very thing to call some and to leave others in reprobation to have them be the recipients of his wrath. So the source of this election is the sovereign good pleasure of his will.

The object of this election is specific according to the Canons of Dort. The object of this election the scriptures teach is a specific group of people. It’s us in verse four according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. He doesn’t choose people outside of us. He’s talking about us, the church. the Lord Jesus Christ. those who are manifested as being part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are the recipients of the election of God.

There’s a specific number of people that are elect here. And here the Canons deny or refute another error of the Armenians. This error I refer to as the half a loaf error. In paragraph one of their rejections of errors, they say that they reject those who teach at the will of God to save those who would believe and would in faith and in the obedience of faith is the whole and entire decree of election that nothing else concerning these have been revealed in holy scripture.

For these decree, these deceive the simple and plainly contradict the scriptures which declare that God will not only save those who will believe, but that he has also from eternity chosen certain particular persons to whom above others he will grant in time both faith in Christ and perseverance. As it is written, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. John 17:6 the father the son talking to the father he gave the son particular people and Jesus says I revealed you to those particular people that you gave me out of the world and all who were appointed to eternal life believed in a historical account of acts 13:48 only those appointed to eternal life and every one of those appointed to eternal life were the ones who came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in response to that preaching of the gospel the preaching sovereignly determined to be where God determined it would be and Ephesians 1:4 he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

He chose a particular people. So this error is the half-loaf error. They say well election is okay but it only consists of this but he chose those who would indeed persevere and have faith. That’s the only thing we can say about election. No we can say more about that because our savior said more. Our savior said there’s a particular group of people a specific number here that god gave me out of the world and I am manifesting myself to those particular people.

And Paul says in Ephesians that it is to us that this adoption, this election pertains, not to everyone. In other words, it’s true that the election includes those who would indeed come to faith and would persevere in the faith. Those are not the root of the election. They’re the fruit of the election. But it’s true. But it’s not enough just to say that because God’s word goes God’s word goes further than that and asserts that he indeed has chosen a particular group of people, us, those that the father ordained unto life, those that were appointed unto eternal life.

Those are the ones specifically that believe. So when we talk about unconditional election, it is unchangeable. It’s eternal. It is gracious. The source is the sovereign good pleasure of God’s will. And it has as its objective a particular specific number of people that come to faith. The head of doctrine goes on to say that the people are this is a result of redemption. That this election is an election of redemption.

We are thoroughly unworthy. If he chose us He elected us. He chose us out of a particular state. And that particular state is the sin and misery to which we all men are justly condemned by God on the basis of their own works. And so in verse four again when it says that he has appointed us in him before the foundation. He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him before him in love having predestinated us.

What it says is that we are now chosen to be holy and without blame. The idea is that we weren’t holy and without blame apart from this choosing. And that those that we have been chosen out of, they’re not holy and without blame. So how do we get from the state of being unholy and blameful to the position of being holy and blameless? We do it through redemption or we do it through God paying the price, the wages of sin is death.

Paying that death through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this election is a redemptive election. This election has as its fountain of salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. the Canons say that all the benefits of God flow out from this one fountain head of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s because it’s through his act of obedience again on his death on the cross that the redemption has been made possible to bring the elect to holiness and righteousness.

And so we read that this is this is gracious because it includes Christ. In Ephesians 1, if you read Ephesians 1 to a friend you have in your living room talking about election and you as you Read through it, emphasize every time it says in Christ, in Christ, in him. And you’ll see that about 10 times in those opening verses, it declares that this election is in Christ, in him over and over and over.

The focal point of Ephesians 1:1-14 is first in the first six verses or so, the work of the father in eternity in calling us and then the work of the savior and bringing this to pass. But the focus of the whole thing is that the father has called us and elected us in Jesus Christ as our satisfaction. It’s not our own work. It’s not our own work. It’s the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this election is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the fountain of our salvation. This election originates in the eternal covenant. Again from Ephesians chapter 1 verse two says, “Grace to you and peace from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. See the emphasis according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

The father chose us in Christ. Christ in the eternal covenant in time in eternity rather Christ agrees to perform the work for the elect. He agrees to become incarnate to take upon himself human flesh to suffer in that flesh to obey the law perfectly in the flesh to suffer in the flesh for the sake of those that the father has called. The eternal covenant is behind these verses where it says that this grace is from God our father and the lord Jesus Christ.

The father is the one who elects us. Christ is the one who fulfills those terms of election in the context of the way Ephesians is presenting it to us. And so the eternal covenant, the eternal council of God, the arrangement between God the father, God the son of God the spirit who makes these things effectual to our lives is what’s behind all of this. Now in passing let me note here that it is apparently the will.

It’s not as if Jesus in the eternal council says yeah it’s going to be a tough job but I guess I’ll do it. I’ll step up and do this. No. we read in the Psalms that he says I delight to do thy will. Here am I. I delight to do the will of the father in the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. He willingly took upon himself the visible identification with the people of God in their sinfulness by being baptized by John’s baptism of repentance.

There’s more to it than that, but among other things, our savior is baptized as identification with you and with me and with the elect in Jesus Christ with the baptism of repentance. It is a picture, a visual signal, a sign rather of him willingly taking upon himself the sins of the world. There’s one thing going on there and what do we see? We see the father indicating to those who were observing this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

The father’s pleasure in the son is linked in the historical accounts given to us there and as one other source I’m going to mention just a minute that linkage is to the active desirous will of the son to save you and me. His willingness his delight to do the will of the father in terms of the eternal council by becoming incarnate obeying in the flesh and dying in the flesh. The other indication of this where the father with verbal approbation verbal acceptance of the lord Jesus Christ and appointing to him is on the mount of transfiguration where Jesus shuns turns aside willingly from the glorification properly due to him on the mount of transfiguration to go back and continue his task of going to the cross.

for the sake for the sake of his people. And again there the father says this is my son listen to him. The father indicates his delight for the son on the basis of the son’s willingness and his delight to do the will of the father in affecting your salvation. You know what can we say to that? What can we do? I mean these truths are astounding. amazing, incomprehensible in its fullest sense truths for us that the Lord Jesus Christ delighted to come and affect your salvation.

And the father delights in the son at least by way of emphasis the mount of transfiguration and his baptism in other places because the son delights through the will of the father in affecting your salvation. God’s election encompasses the eternal covenant and that is a truth that simply uh boggles the mind in its inability to comprehend the full love of the father and the love of the lord Jesus Christ in affecting our salvation.

These are wondrous truths. And then and then we also say the election of God unconditional election involves the chain the ends and the means. The Canons of Dort point that out in the article that I just read and we’ve talked about that before. And then it demonstrates his mercy in 2 Corinthians 1:3. Blessed be the God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is parallel language to the Ephesians text, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

The father of the Lord Jesus Christ is described as the father of mercies. And of course, mercy and grace go together here. And this eternal election is one of great mercy and grace, a demonstration of his mercy and grace. And then finally, it is a theocentric election. While we can revel in the great love of God the father and God the son to bring us to salvation, Understand that the end result of this is for a theocentric purpose.

It is for the pleasure of the riches of his glorious grace. Verse 6 of Ephesians 1. To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.