Ephesians; 1:4 – Election of church age believer, part 9. Endurance is being sold-outTuesday November 20, 2018
3) Passages where election is applied to believers in this age:
3e. The elect endure all things for the sake of one another, which pleases God.
2Ti 2:1 You therefore [referring to Paul’s call to faithfulness in chapter 1], my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Faithfulness is a result of really being sold-out for new nature and new position as God’s elected person in Christ.
2Ti 1:6 And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh [Vines: keep in full flame; Robertson: keep blazing] the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
2Ti 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,
2Ti 1:9 who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
There has been a good deal of anxiety in Christianity over the issue of election (“according to His own purpose;” “from the beginning for salvation;” “according to His purpose;” “according to the kind intention of His will;” and the fact that “whosoever” may come by faith.” Both are true. It is the threshold of time and eternity.
2Th 2:13-14 God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Eph 1:4-5 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will
Pastors and theologians seem to fall into two camps of admitting that they don’t know or claiming to know. Those who claim to know are either strict Calvinists or Arminianists or some modification of one or the other. I’m going with “I don’t know.” The “I don’t know” camp usually write of the glory of God and the justice of God. The “I know” camp usually write in a more argumentative tone, trying to defend their view.
Calvin wrote: When God’s gets silent, we stop trying to be wise.
Chafer wrote: When standing that the threshold of time and eternity we must admit that there are some things that we just don’t understand.
C.S. Lewis: “Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have. So let us leave behind all these boys’ philosophies – these over simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.”
Ironside wrote: “He chose every individual who was to be a member of that Church, to be one with Christ for eternity. You say, “I don’t understand that.” I don’t either. Whenever I come to a subject like this, God’s electing grace and predestinating love, I remind myself that the Word says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, saith the Lord.”
I think it would be edifying to dwell on Ironside’s final thoughts in that chapter.
“How this truth of election and predestination and of sonship emphasizes the preciousness of our Lord Jesus Christ! Say it over and over to your soul until your whole being is thrilled, “Lord Jesus, I owe it all to Thee.” Then you will begin to understand why one enraptured with His love could sing:
“Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far Thy face to see, And in Thy presence rest.”
Every blessing for time and eternity we owe to Him. Is it according to our thoughts? Oh, no. According to our apprehensions, according to the strength of our faith, according to our devotedness? Not that. What then? “According to the good pleasure of His will.” You know some people are afraid of the will of God, really afraid of it. And yet it is the will of God that you and I who put our trust in the Lord Jesus should share the Savior’s glory for all eternity; and in revealing His will to us step by step along the way He would have us become more and more conformed to Him down here. Oh, to be able to say from the heart, “I welcome They sweet will, O God.” The greatest mistake any Christian can make is to substitute his own will for the will of God.”
That last line makes me realize that every unbeliever has substituted his own will for the will of his Creator, who desires all men to be saved.
Those who believe in Christ fall right under “the good pleasure of His will,” and they are not forced to do so. There is no need to fear election. Your faith is your own and God’s good pleasure is His own, and the two have come together and become one.
There was nothing good in us that enabled that union of wills. God is clear about this. I imagine the entire thing is impossible for Him to describe to us and so He clearly says: Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [the whole salvation package] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. And He also clearly says: Eph 1:11 having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.
2Ti 1:6 And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh [Vines: keep in full flame; Robertson: keep blazing] the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
2Ti 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,
2Ti 1:9 who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
2Ti 1:10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus [His purpose and grace], who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Remember, it is the gospel through which you have been called, and that gospel is given to the whole world.
2Th 2:13-14 God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Ti 1:11 for which [gospel] I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.
2Ti 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
2Ti 1:13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 1:14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
Eph5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
Eph5:2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
Eph5:3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
Eph5:4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
Eph5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Eph5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Eph5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;
Eph5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
Eph5:9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
Eph5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Eph5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
Eph5:12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
Eph5:13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
Eph5:14 For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you."
Eph5:15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
Eph5:16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
Eph5:17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Eph5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Eph5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
Eph5:20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
Eph 5:21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
2Ti 2:1 You therefore [referring to Paul’s call to faithfulness in chapter 1], my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 2:2 And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
2Ti 2:3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
All the elect will face some hardship. Those who grab hold of election will suffer more things undeservedly. The entreaty is to endure it with Paul.
Paul is going to use three metaphors. He uses the military metaphor of a soldier. The Roman legionnaires suffered hardship in the service of the Emperor. Why not the Christian in the service of the King of kings? The soldier endures hardship. He doesn’t quit, go AWOL, or scheme to find a more comfortable way. The Lord will deliver us as we remain silent.
2Ti 2:4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
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