Prayer Service 4-10-24

Supplication

William Castaldi (Phillips’ Friend): Sepsis

Kathleen Icenhower: Arterial Blockages

The Family of Dan Larsen and in their bereavement

The Family of Glen Carver in their bereavement

Jim Tierney (Trey’s Uncle): Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

Keith Rogers: Recovery from Infection

Tammy Orr (Ashlyn’s Grandma): Colon Cancer

Luke Thacker: Second Cancer Diagnosis

Jackson Norris: Recovery from Concussion

Becky Morris: Significant health concerns.

Hope Sanders (Jason): Liver Disease

Iva Lee, Allen, Tony, Peggy, Ty, Amber Jr., Amber Sr.

Imprecations against Abortion and the Broader Sexual Revolution in the West.

The Provision of Righteous leaders for our Nation.

Doctrines of Grace

Unconditional Election

We’ll begin with this statement from GotQuestions.org

The debate over unconditional election is not whether or not God elects or predestines people to salvation but upon what basis He elects them.

Is that election based upon foreknowledge that those individuals will have faith in Christ, or is it based upon God’s sovereign choice to save them?

As the word “unconditional” implies, this view believes that God’s election of people to salvation is done “with no conditions attached, either foreseen or otherwise.” — Got Questions.org

They then define it like this:

God, before the foundation of the world, chose to make certain individuals the objects of His unmerited favor or special grace (Mark 13:20; Ephesians 1:4-5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8).

These individuals from every tribe, tongue and nation were chosen by God for adoption, not because of anything they would do but because of His sovereign will (Romans 9:11-13; Romans 9:16; Romans 10:20; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; 2 Timothy 1:9).

God could have chosen to save all men (He certainly has the power and authority to do so), and He could have chosen to save no one (He is under no obligation to save anyone).

He instead chose to save some and leave others to the consequences of their sin (Exodus 33:19; Deuteronomy 7:6-7; Romans 9:10-24; Acts 13:48; 1 Peter 2:8). — Got Questions.org

-We’ve been studying this doctrine categorically:

1. A Chosen People

2. Election NOT Based on Foreseen Responses

A. God did the choosing:

B. God Chose BEFORE Creating Man:

C. God Chose Particular Individuals (By Name):

D. God’s Choice was NOT based on foreseen merit or choice by men:

E. Good works are the fruit of Election, Not the grounds for it.

F. Faith is the result of Election, not the cause of it.

G. Faith and good works confirm one’s calling and election

3. Election Precedes Salvation.

A quote from the book whose outline I am following:

Election is not salvation, but is for salvation.

Just as the president-elect does not become the president of the United States until he is inaugurated, so those chosen for salvation are not saved until they are regenerated by the Spirit and justified by faith in Christ. — Steele, Thomas, and Quinn (Emphasis Mine)

What says the Word of God?

Romans 11:1–7 (ESV)

1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”

4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,

2 Timothy 2:8–10 (ESV)

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!

10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

We’ve already looked at:

Acts 13:48 ESV

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

1 Thessalonians 1:4–5 (ESV)

4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,

5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction....

2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 (ESV)

13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Watch this harmonizing of two texts:

Ephesians 1:3–4 (ESV)

3 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,

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Men were chosen “In Christ” before time began.

Romans 16:7 (ESV)

7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

How can those two be harmonized?

Election is not salvation, but is for salvation.

...those chosen for salvation are not saved until they are regenerated by the Spirit and justified by faith in Christ. — Steele, Thomas, and Quinn (Emphasis Mine)

4. God’s Mercy is His Sovereign Prerogative

Exodus 33:19 (ESV)

19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Deuteronomy 7:6–7 (ESV)

6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,

Ephesians 1:5 (ESV)

5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Matthew 20:1–15 (ESV)

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’

5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.

6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’

7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’

9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.

10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house,

12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’

13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.

15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’

Romans 9:11–23 (ESV)

11 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—

12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!

15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

17 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.”

18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

20 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?”

21 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?

22 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,

23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

Here’s the appropriate response:

Romans 11:33–36 (ESV)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (Election: God Chooses His Own)

The doctrine of election . . . is a pastoral doctrine, brought in to help Christians see how great is the grace that saves them, and to move them to humility, confidence, joy, praise, faithfulness, and holiness in response.

It is the family secret of the children of God. We do not know who else he has chosen among those who do not yet believe, nor why it was his good pleasure to choose us in particular.

What we do know is, first, that had we not been chosen for life we would not be believers now, . . . and, second, that as elect believers we may rely on God to finish in us the good work that he started (1 Cor. 1:8–9; Phil. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:23–24; 2 Tim. 1:12; 4:18).

Knowledge of one’s election thus brings comfort and joy.

Ought to humble us

Ought to fill our hearts with...

Gratitude

Adoration

Let’s voice those things now!