Sermon Tone Analysis

The Mystery of Election - Part 1

For thousands of years, the doctrine of predestination has been a hotly debated topic among Christians and has fractured churches into numerous denominations, and here is the bottom line question.

Can anyone come to faith in Christ or only those whom God has chosen?

Well, today we're looking at Romans 9 through Romans 11 for clarity on this confounding riddle.

My message is titled "The Mystery of Election" on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Somebody once said, "Try to explain predestination and you may lose your mind.

Try to explain it away and you may lose your soul".

The fact that predestination is taught in scripture, that God has chosen some for salvation.

And yet, even though that truth is clearly taught in scripture, some Christians have a violent reaction against that truth.

Some people get all red faced and they say, "How can you say such a thing"?

Well, didn't our forefathers tell us that God has given everybody an equal shot at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

What's wrong with God? Hasn't he read the constitution?

Other people, they say, "Oh you can't teach predestination because that discourages evangelism".

I mean, after all, if God has already decided whom is going to be saved, why should we witness anybody?

It's a fixed game, the outcome has already been determined.

Still other people say, "Well, no, that can't be true, because that violates free will.

I mean, aren't we free to do whatever we want to do"? It's true, we have choices, but think about it.

Isn't it interesting that the most important things about your life you had nothing to do with?

Where you were born, the time period you were born in, the country you were born in, your physical makeup.

Did you have any choice about those things?

Yet people react about the idea of God choosing people to salvation.

Yet the most common response among Christians to the doctrine of election is the don't ask don't tell policy.

Let's just not mention or talk about this subject and maybe it will go away.

And yet you can't study the Bible without running into this thing of predestination.

We certainly see it in the book of Romans as we come to chapter 9.

Today we're going to begin looking at what I call the mystery of election, and I want you to put out of your mind for the next 30 or so minutes every preconception you have about this doctrine and let's look and see what the Bible says and what it doesn't say about this subject.

Romans 9, we have come in our study of Romans to the fourth major division in the book of Romans.

Do you remember, it's been a while since we looked at the theme of Romans, but it's very clear.

This letter to the Romans is about the righteousness of God, and Paul is saying to all of us the righteousness God, that is a right standing with God, is available to everyone who trusts in God as Savior.

That's the theme of the book of Romans.

And so beginning in chapter 1 Paul talks about the problem of righteousness.

What is the problem of righteousness?

We don't have any of it, that's the problem.

None of us is in a right standing with God.

In Romans 3:9, Paul says, "Both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, for, as it is written, there is none righteous among us".

There is no such thing as a good person in God's eyes.

We've all sinned, we've all fallen short of God's plan.

So that's the problem with righteousness.

But with the good news begins in 3:21 through chapter 5, and that is God's provision of righteousness.

That's the second major theme of Romans and subsection of Romans, the provision by God for righteousness.

Even though we don't have any righteousness, God has plenty of it.

God offers to give us his righteousness through his son Jesus Christ.

And when we trust in Christ as our Savior, God wraps us in the righteousness of his son.

Romans 4:5 says, "But to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as counted as righteousness".

And then we come to the third major section of the book of Romans, and that's found in chapter 6-8.

The power of righteousness.

When you wrap yourself in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, it doesn't just help you after you die.

There is a special power that comes in your life right now to say no to sin and yes to God.

In Romans 8:2, Paul says, "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death".

If you're a Christian today and you are weighted down by habits and by addictions and by wrong relationships, don't fall for this idea that you're a prisoner of sin and you have to live that way, no.

The word of God says God has set you free, now live like it, the apostle Paul says.

That's the power of righteousness.

And then when we come to chapter 12 in Romans through 16 we'll look at the practice of righteousness.

How should being a Christian relate to our everyday life?

But when we come to chapter 9, and that's where we are today, Paul is going to talk about the program of righteousness.

That is how God has offered his righteousness to both Jews and gentiles alike.

Now let me show you the connection of this section of Romans, chapters 9-11, to the rest of the book of Romans.

First of all, there is a thematic connection.

You may think, why are we going to spend three chapters talking about God's plan for Israel?

Well, there's a thematic connection.

Do you remember in Romans 1:16, Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the," who? "To the Jew first and then to the gentile".

God's promise was given first to the Jew.

The Jews were his covenant people.

Remember when Jesus came?

He presented himself first to the Jews and only after they rejected him did he present himself to the gentiles.

When God commanded or Jesus commanded the disciples to go out, he said, "Go first to the lost sheep of Israel and then go to the gentiles".

The apostles, they took the Gospel first of all to the Jews and then only after that rejection did they go to the gentiles.

Even Paul himself, who was a minister to the gentiles, also had a word in acts 9:5 to be a messenger to the sons of Israel.

So what I'm saying to you is this idea of God's plan for Israel is not just some theological detour Paul is taking here.

It's been a part of the theme of Romans from the beginning.

The Gospel is for the Jew as well as for the gentile.

But there's also a contextual connection between chapter 9 and chapter 8. Look at Romans 8:29-30.

Remember this is that great climax to Romans 8. There's no condemnation waiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.

And remember in verse 29 Paul says, "For whom God foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son".

There's that word, predestined.

"For whom God predestined, these he also called, and those who he called, these he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified".

Somebody has called this the five golden links in the chain of salvation.

How did God's relationship with you start?

He says in verse 29, first of all, he foreknew you.

"For whom God foreknew, he predestined".

That is before you ever drew your first breath, before you ever existed, God foreknew you.

That means he entered into a relationship with you.

And not only did he foreknow you, then secondly he predestined you.

That is he marked out the boundaries of your life.

He made every determination about the course of your life.

And after he predestined you, he called you to salvation.

And after he called you to salvation and you responded, he justified you, he declared you righteous.

And the same God who foreknew you, who predestined you, who called you, who justified you, Paul says one day he's going to glorify you.

That is you can be assured that when you die and God raises you, he's going to give you that brand new glorified body that he's promised you.

Nothing is going to keep God's plan from being accomplished in your life.

And that's why Paul concludes Romans 8 by saying, "For nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord".

Ladies and gentlemen, you know what all of this means?

God's elected purpose for you means God will accomplish his plan for your life.

If you were called, elected, predestined by God, he will fulfill his plan for your life.

Isn't that an encouraging truth?

But you know the thinking person might ask the question about predestination.

They might ask the question, well, wait a minute.

What about the Jewish people?

I mean, after all, didn't God predestine the Jews as well?

Well, the answer is yes.