John 6:37-39: The Good News of Unconditional Election

Scripture Reading

1 John 4:9–10 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Intro

What makes the Doctrine of Unconditional Election such good news?

Its sometimes called the Doctrine of Predestination and what it basically says is that before the foundation of the world...

Before time began in eternity past God elected or chose who He would save not based on any good or merit in themselves but according to the good pleasure of His own sovereign purpose and will.

But what’s sad is that this doctrine that is meant to exalt and glorify God’s grace so often denigrates into arguments with Christians rejecting this plain teaching of Scripture.

It’s not fair.

How could a good and loving God create people just to send them to hell?

How could God pick and choose who He would save?

If election is true, then why do we even evangelize or pray for God to save the lost?

But God did not tell us about the Doctrine of Election before the foundation of the world so that we would question His goodness.

He told us so that we would know His goodness and in knowing His goodness exalt Him and worship His grace.

That’s my goal this morning.

We are going to look at the Doctrine of Election, and yes we are going to work through arguments and objections...

But what I really want you to see is God’s grace in salvation.

His love…His goodness towards you and all who believe when we did nothing to deserve it so that we might worship Him for all that He’s worth.

Here’s the Big Idea:

We are saved and come to faith in Christ because God chose us to be saved before the foundation of the world based on nothing but the good pleasure of His will.

You can see why this doctrine is so offensive.

It attacks our pride.

It says mankind is so sinful...so utterly lost and evil…so dead in our sins that we would never choose Christ, indeed we could never choose Christ were God not so gracious to us to choose us first and give us to Christ before the foundation of the world.

So what’s so amazing about God’s grace?

What does the Doctrine of Unconditional Election tell us about God’s amazing, unfathomable, and undeserved grace towards unworthy sinners who would never and could never choose Christ left to themselves?

This sermon is going to have 3 parts.

First: we are going to look at the doctrine starting in John 6:37-39.

Where is it taught in Scripture? What does the Bible say?

Because it doesn’t matter what we think about the Doctrine of Election.

What matters is what God says and when we bump up against Scripture…it is we who bend and break not God’s Word.

We submit to God’s Word and give Him glory.

Then, in the second part o the sermon, we are going to look at 4 common objections to the Doctrine of Unconditional Election and how Paul answers those objections in Romans 9.

And finally, what often gets lost when talking about the Doctrine of Election...

What practical implications and application does this doctrine have for our everyday life focusing in on what makes the Doctrine of Election such good news in the first place.

Let’s start with point number 1...

I. The Doctrine of Unconditional Election

John 6:37-39 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Let me catch you up where we are.

Jesus is talking to a bunch of people who do not believe in Him.

They are following Him because He did a great miracle - He fed a great multitude of 15-20,000 people with 2 fishes and 5 loaves.

But when Jesus calls them to believe in Him so that they might have eternal life and not just full bellies, they ask for another sign.

Verse 30: What sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?

Which eventually leads Jesus to say in verse 36: But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

And that raises a huge theological question.

What is the difference between those who believe in Christ and those who don’t?

Of those who see Him…of those who hear the gospel and put their faith and Christ…and those who reject Christ and stay dead in their sins?

And verse 37 and 39 give us an answer.

It is God’s own sovereign will and grace.

God’s Sovereignty in salvation.

Look what Jesus says: All that the Father gives to me will come to me.

That word All in the Greek is a singular word. Its not plural.

Its a collective word for All the elect.

All those God chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say all who come to me the Father will give me that’s how people usually take it but it’s the other way around. The ones who come to Christ are the ones the Father has given to Him and this giving took place before the foundation of the world.

2 Timothy 1:8-9 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Before the ages began. Your salvation did not start at conversion.

When you came to believe in Christ.

Your salvation began before the foundation of the world.

It is rooted in the sovereign plan and decree of God: Not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace.

Here’s the idea: in eternity past, before anything was made that was made God chose who He would save in Christ.

Who would receive His divine mercy and grace.

And this group of people, the Bible calls the Elect - those chosen by God and appointed to believe, by His sovereign decree, in Jesus Christ.

Revelation 13 tells us He wrote our names in the book of Life before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8)

Which is why Jesus is able to say All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

God will save all of His elect, and not a single one of them will be lost.

And notice God’s giving precedes or comes before anyone coming to Christ.

Yes God gives people to the Son in time, in history.

That’s what we call conversion.

There is a moment where someone is dead in their trespasses and sins and the next made alive together with Christ and come to Him in saving faith.

But the reason they come to Christ is because God has given them to Christ and eternity past and ratifies or brings to fulfillment that election in time and human history when someone puts their faith in Christ.

Notice Jesus doesn’t say all who come to me the Father will give to me.

That’s how most people see salvation.

We come, we decide and the Father gives us to His Son.

But that’s not what Jesus says. The ones that the Father has given me, they are the ones to come to me.

And all that He has given me, I will save every single one.

And this sovereign choice is rooted in God’s sovereign will.

Look at verse 38 and 39: For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

So salvation is rooted in God’s sovereign will.

Its the working out of the will of God to save all those the Father has given and entrusted to Jesus Christ.

Jesus says I lay down my life for my sheep (John 10:15).

And I love what Jesus says. This is a great comfort to the Christian.

Earlier He said all that the Father gives me will come to me.

All the elect as a body in general.

And here He says I will lose nothing of all that He has given me.

Has given me is in the perfect tense.

Meaning it is past in fulfillment but the effects or working out of it are still continuing today.

This is a clear reference to our election in eternity past.

And where the elect was one unified body in verse 37, one all, in verse 39 Jesus says He will not lose one part of that all.

Not one thing.

So the idea is according to the Sovereign Will of God is that God will save all His people in Christ and every single one of His people in Christ.

Not one single person will be lost, because Christ promises that He will raise them up on the last day…

He will find them and He will keep them. to bring them the fullness of their salvation.

Our salvation is secure because God’s eternal decree is secure.

Isaiah 46:9-10 I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.

Standing behind these verses is the Doctrine of Divine, Sovereign, Unconditional Election.

That God is sovereign in our salvation.

All that God has given to Christ will come to Christ and they will come to Christ by God’s own grace and power because God has chosen them before the foundation of the world to do so.

That is the Doctrine of Election in a nutshell.

And this is not the first time we’ve seen this in John’s gospel.

Go to John 1:12-13.

John 1:12-13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

That is man’s side. Man’s perspective of the free and gracious offer of the gospel.

All those who will come to Christ will be saved.

Verse 13 is God’s side. How is someone saved? How does someone come to Christ and become a child of God?

who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Not of blood…meaning not of human descent.

It doesn’t matter if you grew up in a Christian home or your Grandad was a Pastor.

Children this is important for you.

It doesn’t matter if your parents are Christian. That’s not what saves you.

You need personal, saving faith in Jesus Christ.

To make your parents faith your own faith and trust in Him.

Nor of the will of the flesh…meaning not by your own efforts.

Your striving or good works.

Nor of the will of man…that’s the killer.

That is saying that our salvation and our conversion…our believing in Christ does not originate in our own will.

That we don’t believe in Christ because we wake up one day and decide it would be a good idea to do so.

Now yes, we do choose and freely come to Christ but only because God chose us first and gave us the gift of faith taking out our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh.

That’s why it says but of God.

The new birth is of God and it is rooted in the sovereign will of God.

We are not saved because we are born into a Christian family.

We are saved because God adopts us into His family by grace through faith.

We are not saved by our own efforts or good works.

We are saved by God’s power and the working out of His grace in Christ.

And we are not saved by our own will. Our own choice.

We are saved by God’s sovereign choice and divine election that we would be saved.

As Steven Lawson says, God’s choice is the root, our choice is the fruit.

We believe and come to faith in Christ because God chose us to believe and come to faith in before the foundation of the world and He brings that election to fulfillment when He draws us to Christ and we put our faith in Him.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Our salvation from beginning to end, , even all the way passed the beginning in eternity past, is all of God’s grace.

A sovereign work of God’s grace to save all those He has chosen to save.

And we need to be clear…that choice...God’s sovereign election of individuals before the foundation of the world is absolutely unconditional.

This is the difference between someone who is Reformed and someone who’s not.

Let’s go to Ephesians 1. The last passage before we get to common objections.

Ephesians 1:3-8 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Notice Paul talks about the doctrine of election: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…and what are Paul’s first words.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Biblical response to the doctrine of Election is not arguing or questioning, its worship.

Verse 5...

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.

Notice again the worship. To the praise of His glorious grace…the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us.

You should see the Doctrine of Election and see a flood of God’s amazing grace.

He chose you. He elected you. He loved you when you had done nothing to deserve it.

Because that’s what Paul says.

In love he predestined us.

It was not an arbitrary picking or choosing.

God chose you because He loved you.

Now of course God loves all of His creatures. We call this common grace.

He sends the rain on just and the unjust alike.

But He has a particular saving love for His elect.

God chose us because He loved us.

He saved us because He loved us.

He forgave us because He loved us.

He adopted us because He loved us.

He sent His only beloved Son to make us sinners beloved.

God redeemed you and adopted you as His own beloved son or daughter in Christ for no other reason than God loved your before the foundation of the world.

And we might ask why? Why did God choose us? Why did God love us?

In love he predestined us…according to the purpose of his will.

The word translated as purpose can also be translated as good pleasure.

So why did God love you? Why did God choose to save you?

It was because it was His good pleasure to do so.

It pleased God to save you to the praise of His glorious grace.

It was not because of any good in you or anything foreseen in you.

There was nothing in us that made God choose us.

If anything, everything in us screamed that God should not choose us but passover us.

But in His sovereign grace according to the good pleasure of His will God chose us because it was His sovereign will to do so.

What this makes clear is that our election is absolutely unconditional.

Its not based on any good or merit in us and its not based on any foreseen faith.

Corridor of Time

Here’s how the argument usually goes.

In eternity past, God looked down the corridor of time and saw who would choose Him. Who would put their faith in Christ.

And on that basis, He chose who he would save.

But there are multiple and crucial theological problems with that argument.

Grace Upside Down

First it would say there was some good in us.

Why do we believe and someone else doesn’t?

Maybe we are smarter.

Wiser.

More spiritually inclined to Christ.

Maybe we were more open to Christ because we were not quite as sinful as the next person.

If God’s election of us was based on some foreseen faith then by necessity there would need to be some good in us that would warrant that grace turning God’s grace on its head turning it into a wage or reward and not a gift.

Doctrine of God

Secondly, that understanding of foreknowledge, of God looking forward down the corridors of time and seeing who would choose Him and electing them in response, would, by necessity, fundamentally change your doctrine of God.

For one, you would lose the doctrine of God as the eternal Sovereign Lord of the entire universe because you would have a time bound God who is dependent on the world he has made and the will and actions of human beings He creates to make decisions.

He would not be sovereign over all things, He would be subject to both time and His own creatures.

It would also say that God looks forward down the corridors of time to learn something He did not already know making you also lose the doctrine of God’s omniscience - that God knows all things.

God doesn’t need to look down the tunnel of time because He knows. And He knows because He decreed.

God’s foreknowledge has to do with His Sovereign plan, not just knowing things beforehand.

That’s why Acts 2:23 is able to say Jesus, [was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

God is sovereign over salvation or He is not the God of the Bible.

No. The Doctrine of Unconditional Election says God saves us according to the good purpose of His will.

Not on the basis of any merit or good in us, or even any foreseen faith we might have as if that were even possible when we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

God chose us out of His free and sovereign will.

Besides, even if this were how God works, the Bible says we are so dead in our trespasses in sins sins that if God were to look down the corridor of time, he would not see some sorry sinners who would turn and choose Him. He would see a graveyard of lost and dead souls who would rather die than worship Him. No one would choose God.

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.

We are saved because God was gracious to save and in love chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Number 2...

II. Common Objections to the Doctrine of Unconditional Election

As you can imagine people do not like the Doctrine of Election.

Sometimes they hate it because it crushes their pride.

The Doctrine of Election says you really are so sinful that you would never choose God if God were not so gracious choose you...

And that you are so dead in your sin, you don’t even contribute the will to believe.

That is God’s work in you because the only thing you contribute to your salvation except for the sin that ultimately warrants it.

But sometimes people have objections to the Doctrine of Election because they just don’t understand it.

They don’t know how to make it work with other clear truths in the Bible.

So its not stubborn unbelief, its genuine questions.

But no matter what the reasons, these objections are nothing new.

They were around in Romans 9.

In Romans 9 Paul answers various objections to the Doctrine of Election.

Which should go to show you that the objections Paul was answering tells you the precise doctrine He was teaching.

So what are these objections and how does Paul answer them?

Objection 1: Its not fair for God to choose to save some people and not others.

Romans 9:10-15 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Here’s what’s going on. You have Isaac the son of Abraham, and his wife, Rebekah is pregnant with two sons.

Two twins as close to the same person as any two people can be just like any two sinners before a holy and righteous God...

And while they are still in the womb, before they had done anything whether good or bad, that’s the unconditional part, God chose which son would inherit His promise and blessing…which son He would save.

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

And then Paul asks the question:

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

We do not want fair.

If God gave us what’s fair, we would all be damned.

We are all sinners justly condemned under His wrath.

God would be just and good to elect and save no one.

So no injustice is done when someone is condemned in their sin. They are getting exactly what their sin deserves.

Election is not an issue of justice but one of mercy.

God saves sinners.

God does not owe mercy to any human being. If He did we would not call it mercy we would call it justice.

The question is not, why didn’t God choose everyone…the question is why did God choose anyone?

Let alone why would God send HIs own Son to die for His enemies?

The answer is God’s mercy.

God is not unjust in election.

No one receives any punishment for sin they do not deserve.

But some of us receive grace we do not deserve because God will have mercy on whom He has mercy and compassion on whom He has compassion.

And even in forgiving sinners, there is no injustice on God’s part, because God does not just sweep our sin under the rug.

He lays it all on Christ and pours out all the wrath our sin deserves on Him as our substitute.

Every single one of our sins is paid because Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life and died on the cross in our place for our sin.

Objection 2: What about free will? Doesn’t election just make us robots?

Romans 9:16-18 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

There’s that idea again. Salvation is not dependent on our will or our efforts but on God who has mercy.

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Paul uses Pharoah as an example of those whom God hardens.

And when God hardens someone He simply gives them what they want.

He does not coerce them or tempt them to sin, He merely leaves them to themselves to have their own lusts and desires.

So we do have a free will, its just that our free will is a slave to sin.

We choose according to our nature.

This is why the new birth is so important.

When we come to Christ we are not saved against our will.

We are drawn to Christ with a renewed will.

One that loves God and despises our sin.

God doesn’t save us kicking and screaming. He changes our affections so that when we come to Christ we willfully and joyfully come to Christ by our own decision.

Its just that that faith is the fruit of a new heart and God’s grace.

Objection 3: How can God still judge sinners when they could not choose otherwise?

Romans 9:19-21 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

How is it fair for God to judge anyone for not putting their faith in Christ when it is impossible for them to do so without God electing them and drawing them in the first place?

And Paul’s answer is God is God and we are not.

Who are we to question God?

God still judges sinners because they chose sin.

They don’t come to God because John 3:19-20, they love the darkness and do not want their evil works to be exposed.

They love their sin.

And sometimes people will say, well what about the free offer of the gospel?

It is a free offer of the gospel and it is a genuine offer.

If they would come they would be saved.

And more than that they have a responsibility to come and believe the gospel.

The only problem is they won’t come, and they will never come because they are slaves who are dead in their trespasses and sins.

But that in no way makes God unjust for condemning sinners.

Has the potter no right over the clay?

It belongs to God’s own sovereignty of who He will save and who He will pass over.

Objection 4: A good and loving God would not create people just to send them to Hell.

Romans 9:20-23 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

This is a difficult passage of Scripture and here’s basically Paul’s argument.

Out of the same lump of clay from verse 21, sinful humanity, God chose some to make vessels of wrath and some to make vessels of mercy.

And both vessels were made to show God’s glory.

Vessels of wrath show His power, wrath, and holiness against sin, and vessels of mercy show His love, mercy, and grace.

That contrary to this objection, election doesn’t call into question the goodness and love of God...it magnifies it.

How else would we know the true glory of all that God is?

Without knowing what God has saved us from how would we worship Him for all that He’s worth.

That’s why Paul says in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy.

Hell is the black velvet that allows the saints to see the whole glorious diamond of God’s amazing grace.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

All of us deserve to suffer the just condemnation for our sins.

But in the riches of His grace, God chose to save some.

Salvation and election are all about God’s glory.

Remember God would have still been good and still been loving whether or not he had saved any one of us.

None of us deserved His grace.

But to make known the glory of His grace, God chose to save some.

And you want to know just how loving and good this God is?

When none of us deserved salvation and all of us deserved to suffer eternal punishment for all our sins...

God didn’t just save some. He didn’t just save a few.

Heaven’s not going to be 30 Calvinists and 1 bummed out Arminian.

Out of the good pleasure of His will, God chose to save a great multitude that no one could number from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation - that’s Revelation 7:9.

Who can question God’s love when He so richly poured out His grace on unworthy sinners by even sending His own Son to die in our place for our sins.

Our definition of God’s goodness and love cannot be man-centered. It must be God-centered.

What most exalts His glory.

And when we realize, truly realize that every single one of us deserved to be a vessel of God’s wrath prepared for destruction, God’s grace gets so much bigger.

It stops being just a little bit of grace. Just a little help to clean up some of our sins.

It becomes a flood of God’s grace.

An overwhelming flood that stops our mouths except to say, Blessed be the name of the Lord.

And that takes us to point number 3...

III. The Good News of Unconditional Election

How do we apply this doctrine? What difference does it make.

These will be fast.

1. Holiness

We saw in...

Ephesians 1:4 He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Holiness and a life lived for Christ is the fruit of our election.

And after encouraging Christians to turn from sin and live for Christ, Peter says Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

Holiness and continued growth in holiness is one of the signs that we truly have been saved.

And that takes us to the application number 2.

2. Assurance

Election gives us assurance two ways.

First, God’s love.

God set His love on us and chose us before the foundation of the world.

He knew all our sin, all our flaws, all our weaknesses, and He still chose us.

God doesn’t have B team children.

We stumble and fall, but God has set His love on us and will never revoke that love and will never say, You’re not elect now because...

Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

And that leads to the second way election gives us great assurance.

God will fulfill His plan and purposes He has set in eternity past.

Your salvation is sure.

Nothing can thwart God’s decree.

All the elect will be saved.

None will be lost or fall away.

That might lead to the question, how do you know if you are elect?

Remember what Jesus said All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. (John 6:37).

If you believe in Christ and trust in Him alone for salvation, you are elect.

Only the elect come to the Son and worship Him as Lord and Savior.

And that’s application number 3...

3. Overwhelmed, Awe-filled, White-hot Worship

This is good news.

This is what I want you walking away with from this sermon.

A greater love for God and all His grace in Jesus Christ.

For me personally, the Doctrine of Election is one of the sweetest doctrines of our faith.

The one that most often brings me to tears.

Why would God choose me?

All my sin, all my failings.

And then to think of eternity in Hell under the just judgment of His wrath...

God chose me, when He could have just as easily passed over me.

He set His love on me and called me out of sin, not for any good in me or anything I would do, but only because He was gracious to me...

I could have been lost, and I should have been lost but God in His mercy was kind to save me.

And that’s true for every single one of us.

We were lost, hopeless, helpless absolutely destitute in our sin, and God brought us out.

He loved us. Delivered us. And saved us by His grace.

And the weakness of preaching is I can’t make you feel it. I can’t make you know it.

I can’t put that dagger in your heart of God’s grace.

So here’s what I want you to do.

Sometime after this sermon, just take a moment to consider God’s sovereign grace.

That God did not have to save you.

That He could have just as easily left you a vessel of wrath to suffer an eternity of wrath for all of your sins.

And yet before the foundation of the world God loved you and set His grace on you.

He gave you to Christ.

And then gave Christ, His only beloved Son, to make you His own beloved son or daughter.

Jesus came to fulfill the will of the Father.

To save all those God had given Him before the foundation of the world, by laying down His life for them.

By becoming a vessel of God’s wrath so that all who put their faith in Him would become vessels of God’s mercy.

The Doctrine of Election should drive us to worship.

To say with Paul...

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Let’s Pray