FreeTruth

I grew up singing this old hymn:

I was a wandering sheep,
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd's voice,
I would not be controlled.
I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home;
I did not love my Father's voice,
I loved afar to roam.

The Shepherd sought His sheep,
The Father sought His child;
They followed me o'er vale and hill,
O'er deserts waste and wild;
They found me nigh to death,
Famished and faint and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love,
They saved the wand'ring one.

They spoke in tender love,
They raised my drooping head,
They gently closed my bleeding wounds,
My fainting soul they fed;
They washed my filth away,
They made me clean and fair;
They brought me to my home in peace,
The long sought wanderer.

Jesus my Shepherd is:
'Twas He that loved my soul;
'Twas He that washed me in His blood,
'Twas He that made me whole.
'Twas He that sought the lost,
That found the wand'ring sheep,
'Twas He that brought me to the fold,
'Tis He that still doth keep.

No more a wandering sheep,
I love to be controlled;
I love my tender Shepherd's voice,
I love the peaceful fold.
No more a wayward child,
I seek no more to roam;
I love my heavenly Father's voice,
I love, I love His home!

All because of John 10:14, 15.

Labels: Death of Christ, Election, Gospel, Lent

As I draw this series to a close, I would not want to be misunderstood. In this discussion I have presented reasons for faith. I have done this because throughout the Bible God presents reasons for faith, evidence (to borrow someone's phrase) that demands a verdict. But the reason I believe is not that I am smart enough to see those reasons while others are not.

Let me be clear: I do not believe that God calls us to faith without reason. Faith without reason is superstition. Faith is not a leap into a darkness devoid of evidence, it is a reasonable conclusion drawn from the evidence. It is seeing where the evidence points, concluding that there is clear and sufficient evidence that something is true, and then commiting one's self to that conclusion.

Faith in God and in the Bible as God's Word is not a leap into a dark pit of irrationality. It is simply accepting the fact that there is clear and sufficient reason to believe it is God's Word and submitting accordingly.

But here's the deal: some people are willing to do that and some are not. The evidence can be seen by all willing to look (Romans 1 makes it clear that just nature alone gives enough reason to believe; people know that there is a God). But some believe it and some don't. Some submit; some do not. Some surrender to the facts; others resist them. Why?

I'm asking the question, "Why do I believe the Bible is God's Word?" from a different angle now. What I'm asking now is not what reasons do I have to surrender my life to the Word of God, but why am I willing to do so.

There is only one reason why I am willing to surrender to the evidence: it is the sovereign, electing, regenerating, faith-giving grace of God. It is because the Spirit of God has opened my eyes to see the truth and my heart to make me willing to receive it.

Man's mind can and does comprehend the reality of God and the divine quality of the Bible. But the only way Man's heart will be willing to receive and bow to the authority of that Word is if God gives a new heart by grace.

I believe because God enabled me to do so. There was a day on which my dead-like-Lazarus-soul was called from the grave of its hardened condition by the life-giving voice of God through His Word, and I walked from the tomb of my unbelief.

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off my heart was free
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

I am what I am, and believe what I believe, by the grace of God.
I am a debtor to mercy alone.
I stand amazed and weep for joy.

Labels: Apologetics, Bible, Election, Faith, Regeneration, The Word of God

In response to my message on Sunday from Philippians 3:19, 20 in which I called upon the church to have a heart for all those "many whose end is destruction" I received the following three questions via email; questions which were preceded by a tender expression of gratitude for the message and concern for the lost. I think I will take three days to answer them as best I can.

Question 1: How do I properly weep/pray/FEEL for unbelievers without it turning into a prolonged period of joylessness, depression, or despair?
Question 2: What do I do when doubt/unbelief springs forth, regarding God's inherent love and goodness?
Question 3: How do I approach prayer for unbelievers (and prayer in general) knowing that everything has been ordained before I even existed?


Question 1: How do I properly weep/pray/FEEL for unbelievers without it turning into a prolonged period of joylessness, depression, or despair?

Answer 1: First we must get to the place where we do properly weep for the lost. Few of us do and we need to or we will never lay down our lives for them.

Answer 2: There is a sense in which prolonged, indeed ceaseless grief for the lost is in fact what we need to seek from God (see Romans 9:1-3). As there are always those whose end is destruction and as they are falling into a Christless eternity at the rate of hundreds per hour, how can we not be constantly crying?

Answer 3: Paul knew what it was like to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:10). This means that while he wept over the lost and over the griefs of a sin-cursed and sorrow-filled world, he was able to experience simultaneous and surpassing joy in the Lord.

I'm guessing that he did this in the following ways:

1. He trusted absolutely in the sovereignty of God over all things, and the justice of God in all things. Nothing happens (including the end of the wicked) apart from God's plan, and nothing happens in that plan that is anything but perfectly and wholely just. As with Abraham near Sodom we may know that "the Judge of all the earth will do right."
2. Paul knew that in God's amazing love and compassion many, many, many will be saved through our prayers and witness--even many of whom we will not know until we get to heaven. He believed in the "power of the gospel which saves people" (Romans 1:16).
3. Paul believed in an unstoppable gospel, the Word of God that can not be restrained (2 Timothy 2:9). As Isaiah 55:10, 11 make clear God's Word of grace and truth will accomplish all His good and gracious purposes in human lives. This is joy!
4. Paul took note of (and we must too) the actual conversions going on in the world: dozens in our church alone in the past 2-3 years, and according to some reports many tens of thousands every day around the world!
5. I mentioned in passing on Sunday this thought too: there are those who argue that when you take all the biblical promises of revival, of national salvation (at least Israel, Egypt, and Assyria), of the gospel reaching every people group and tribe, and of multitudes which none can number--in the end the saved may well outnumber the unsaved by far. I'm not sure about this, but what I am sure of is that the numbers are going to be staggering which means that the gospel is gloriously powerful and effective, that our prayers and witness are awesomely effective and useful to God, and that we are a part of something that is astonishingly wonderful.

All these truths can not just off-set the tears we shed for the individuals lost, but can give us hope and joy for the many who will be found.

Remember--even Jesus wept over Jerusalem even though everything was going according to plan. Let us weep and weep and weep and weep--but then rejoice and hope and glory and boast and be bold in the gospel. God and His gospel grace and glory will win--and more than we will ever be able to count will live to sing about it!

Amen.

Labels: Election, Evangelism, Hell, Joy, Sovereignty of God

Please read: Romans 9:1-26; 11:33-36; Ephesians 1:1-14.

In wrapping up this series of posts wherein hopefully something spiritually profitable was conveyed regarding the practical implications of the Biblical doctrine of God’s sovereign electing grace, that it is not a cold, abstract, ivory tower theory, but rather that which is manifold in its life affecting significance, I leave you in this concluding post an excerpt from the exceptional When Grace Comes Home: How the Doctrines of Grace Change Your Life, by Terry L. Johnson (I highly commend the entire book for your reading and strengthening in God):

Where does a true comprehension of the doctrines of grace lead us? To our knees in worship. Perhaps one reason why so few are motivated to worship God with fervor is that we have reduced God to a slightly larger version of ourselves. He can be comprehended by our logic. He works within the bounds of our rules and reasons. He is so much like us that we see no real reason to worship Him. It is pathetic but true. What is the antidote? A God who is sovereign over the souls of wicked, undeserving sinners, including me.

This is the insight that was for me so life transforming. It inaugurated a Copernican revolution in my perspective--I realized I was displaced from the center of my universe and that God was enthroned there. It is a revolution which goes on.

What practical difference does Calvinism make?... It will make you into a worshipper. When you come to realize that the God who is there is not subject to your desires, that He is sovereign over your eternity, and when you realize the greatness of His mercy and grace, you will begin to long for genuine worship, worship that prostrates you and exalts God.

Moreover, you will begin to experience a divinely given discontent with worship that is not worship. Entertainment that poses as worship will become distasteful to you. Revival meetings that pose as worship will leave your soul unsatisfied. Superficial song services, preaching services, and fellowship services which fail to finally get around to worship will leave the soul longing for worship that worships. Your soul will crave and demand worship that is God-centered, that is filled with high praise and lowly confession, and characterized by a spirit of reverence and awe for the almighty Trinity. When once you grasp the greatness of the sovereign God, your worship will be transformed because you will be transformed, hereafter to have the perspective of one who lives on his knees. (pgs 27-28)

Soli Deo Gloria!

Labels: Doctrine, Election, Guest Post, Sanctification, Worship

In this next to last entry on the practical, heart affecting applications of the truth of God’s sovereign electing grace, I would like to share with you once again an excerpt from my reading in the very excellent book: Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, by Joel R. Beeke. In the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism we are asked: “What is the chief end of man?”, to which we are given the succinct Biblical answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” Joy in God is an essential part of what it means to glorify Him. And glorifying Him is our primary purpose for existing at all. And God’s electing grace in salvation is meant to elicit overflowing joy in response to this great sovereign, saving God. Here’s the way Living for God’s Glory puts it:

J.I. Packer calls the joy election brings to believers their "family secret." Believers have a joyful security that is incomprehensible to the world. For true believers, John Piper says, election is not "a doctrine to be argued about, but a doctrine to be enjoyed. It’s not designed for disputes; it’s designed for missions. It’s not meant to divide people (though it will); it’s meant to make them compassionate, kind, humble, meek, and forgiving," and to fill them with joy (Eph. 1:3-14).

Election glorifies God (Eph. 1:6,12). "The end of our election is that we might show forth the glory of God in every way," Calvin says. According to the Canons of Dort, the final glorification of the elect is for the demonstration of God’s mercy and for the praise of His glorious grace (I, 7). Election makes us praise God for our salvation. As Sinclair Ferguson writes, "Until we have come to the place where we can sing about election with a full heart, we have not grasped the spirit of the New Testament teaching." [italics mine] Election assures us that God is the seeker rather than the sought; thus, all the praise belongs to Him. As C.S. Lewis says: "Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about man’s search for God. For me, they might as well talk about the mouse’s search for a cat... God closed in on me." As Josiah Conder wrote in 1836:

"Tis not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me.

Thou from the sin that stained me hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old thou hast ordained me, that I should live to thee.

Twas sov’reign mercy called me and taught my op’ning mind;
The world had else enthralled me, to heav’nly glories blind.
My own heart owns none before thee, for thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love thee, thou must have loved me first."

Election is the Bible’s teaching, not man’s. It promotes humility, not pride; encouragement, not depression; confidence in evangelism, not paralyzing fear; holiness, not license; assurance, not presumption; God’s glory, not our own. Oh, that election would make us cry out with the apostle Paul, "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever" (Rom. 11:36). (pgs. 71-72)

Have we come to the place where we can sing about election with a full heart, grasping the spirit of the New Testament teaching? The Bible must be our guide here, and we must bring our thinking and our affections under it’s authority as God’s very word. As we reflect on these things, may we do so in preparation for corporate worship tomorrow, and so come into God’s awesome presence with hearts overflowing with joy for His totally undeserved sovereign mercy toward us--chosen in Christ before the worlds began!

Labels: Doctrine, Election, Guest Post, Joy, Sanctification

My entries for the past several weeks, as I have shared with you excerpts from my reading, have been focusing on some of the ways in which the truth of the Biblical doctrine of election practically applies to our lives. It is vital we see that all of the truths revealed to us by God in His word are meant not only to be believed, but also to have their sanctifying effects upon us. This is no less true regarding the doctrine of election. So, before leaving this subject there are a few additional implications of this truth, and how it should affect us, that we should note, and which I will point us to in this post and the next two.

The Reformed or Calvinistic position concerning God’s sovereignty in salvation is often criticized as undermining and being contrary to evangelism. Yet, the reality is just the opposite. The truths of God’s sovereignty and election unto salvation, rightly understood and genuinely embraced from the heart, actually serve as powerful motivators to evangelism. Listen to this very helpful statement:

Election compels evangelism, for all the elect must be saved by the Word brought to them. When Paul feared to go to Corinth, God sent a messenger to assure him: ‘Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city’ (Acts 18: 9b-10). What an encouragement this was for Paul and for us today to spread the gospel.

We do not know how many people God has elected in our cities. We trust there are many. But many or few, they are the Lord’s, and He has given us means to find them. So we must faithfully pray, speak, and visit people, always abounding in Christ’s work and always ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us to anyone who asks (1 Peter 3:15).

Election gave courage to the great Calvinist missionaries of the past to press on with the Lord’s work, even in danger and self-sacrifice, because they were confident that the Lord would bring in His chosen ones. Election gave courage to David Brainerd, William Carey, John Elias, Adoniram Judson, John Paton, and a host of missionaries who gave their lives for the gathering in of the elect. They believed, as Blanchard says, that "in the Bible, election and evangelism meet with joined hands, not clenched fists" (Acts 13:44-49).

What courage election still brings to evangelism today. It makes us bold for Christ, removing our fears, our shyness, and our indifference. It drives us to prayer, confident that the elect are in God’s hands, and He will use evangelism to draw them in. And it makes us patient, reminding us that while evangelism is an urgent work because sinners are dying and going to hell every, it is not a desperate work, for God, in His way and in His time, will gather in all of His elect. (Living for the God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, pgs. 70-71)

I think it might be helpful for us who are theologically Calvinistic in our understanding of the Bible to ask ourselves how deeply we are really believing these things. Are we believing them to the point that their radical God centered effects are becoming increasingly evident in our lives? In the area of evangelism, are we demonstrating courage because of our confidence in a saving God? Are we in fact, because God is sovereign, becoming bold for Christ, overcoming our fears, our shyness, our indifference, driven to prayer, confident that God will use evangelism to draw the elect to Himself?

Labels: Confidence, Election, Evangelism, Guest Post

Another way that the Biblical doctrine of election has very practical implications for our lives and should deeply affect us, is in the strong encouragement and comfort we can draw from it as those who belong to Jesus Christ, even when we sin. Again, from Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, Joel R. Beeke, pg.70:

Election is profoundly encouraging and comforting for believers. It tells us that God chose us rather than that we chose Him (John 15:16), and that He chose us even when He knew all about our sin. He knew our personalities, our flaws, our hypocrisy, our depression, and our coldness, and yet He loved us and determined to make us like Christ.

Think of Peter, whom Christ knew so intimately. Jesus knew that one night Peter would warm his hands by a fire and swear that he had never known Christ. He knew that one day Peter would stumble again in trying to compromise the gospel in Paul’s presence. He knew Peter would struggle with hypocrisy all his life. Yet Christ still chose Peter, setting His love on such a sinner.

Dear believer, Christ continues to choose sinners. That is good news. But the greatest news of all is that Christ chose you and me, knowing our entire life ahead of time and knowing how disobedient we would be. How encouraging this electing love is to help us press on and to be "steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58b). Election does not discourage us from well-doing, writes Calvin, but makes us "devote ourselves to the pursuit of good as the appointed goal of election" (Eph. 1:4).

I don’t know about you, but for me, the greatest sinner that I know-- though sin no longer reigns over me, it nevertheless does remain in me-- the fact that the infinite/personal God, fully knowing from eternity every one of my sins (even those I would commit after trusting the Savior) and all the ways that I (still) fall short of His glory, nevertheless set His love upon me to rescue me in Christ from my deserved doom and does not, indeed will not, give up on me--well, in the words of the apostle: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

How great is the encouragement and comfort that the implications of this great doctrine brings to us--and what an impetus to holy living!

Labels: Doctrine, Election, Encouragement, Guest Post

What are the practical implications of Calvinism, particularly the doctrine of election? God’s sovereign electing grace, like all Biblical truth properly understood and responded to, should and will have powerful applicatory sanctifying effects upon the heart and mind. The end of all Biblical instruction is the transformation of our lives, to the supreme end that God Himself is glorified. And one of the effects of unconditional election upon the life of those who have experienced it and realize its significance, is humility--it should humble us to the dust.

The following quote speaks pointedly to this:

Rather than promoting pride and elitism, election is a profoundly humbling doctrine for believers. It keeps us from trying to reverse roles with God (Rom. 9:6-23). It persuades us to let God be God by teaching us there are some things that God has not revealed to us because they are not good for us to know, such as who is elect and who is reprobate (Deut. 29:29) or what tomorrow might bring (James 4:14). Election teaches us not to occupy ourselves with matters too difficult for us (Ps. 131).

Election also humbles us by making us realize that we owe everything to God’s grace. If our eyes have been opened, we see that our salvation is entirely due to the sovereign love and pity of our God, and not to any merit of our own. Electing grace initiates our salvation, accomplishes it, and preserves it. Peter says in (1 Pet. 1) verse 5 that we are “kept by the power of God.” Thus, we can boast of nothing. "A proud Calvinist is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms," Robert Peterson notes.

Dear believer, in electing you, God has given you everything. He has given you His Son, and through Him a new heart, a new status, and a new life. Humble yourself quietly before your electing God, remembering that you owe everything to Him. (Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, pgs. 69-70)

Is humility a grace that we are genuinely pursuing, and in some real way exhibiting, both in response to God and in relation to each other? I don’t mean merely that we recognize it as a good idea. But rather, is the reality and awareness of God’s absolute and comprehensive sovereignty, a sovereignty that extends even to our personal destiny--both in this life and for eternity--having its prostrating, dust encountering effects in how we live each day? In what specific ways should this posture of humility be increasingly evident in our lives?

And remember, a proud Calvinist is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms.

Labels: Doctrine, Election, Guest Post, Humility

In continuing my focus on the theme of God’s sovereign and gracious election, and it’s warm, pastoral application to our lives, I think it will serve us well to reflect on the individual, personal nature of this expression of the love of God. An expression of love, I might add, to sinful people who are utterly undeserving of this mercy; in fact quite to the contrary, it is expressed to those who are positively deserving of nothing except perishing in the eternal burning as eternal monuments of God’s holy wrath (Eph. 2:1-3).

So, to help us think about this very individual, personal dimension of God’s electing love, here is an excerpt from my reading for our blessing and edification:

The personal nature of God’s election is warm, paternal, and relational. God treats His millions of children as if each were His only child. The minuteness of His loving, fatherly concern is staggering. The hairs of our heads are all numbered. Our names are engraved on the palms of Jehovah’s hands and carried in the heart of the Savior, the Lord Jesus. He whispers our blood-bought names into the ears of His Father in heaven as He makes intercession for us.

Personal election is an incredible comfort in today’s impersonal, computerized society. Many people feel lonely and insignificant, like creatures clinging desperately to a little planet in a vast universe. But the believing Calvinist finds his identity in the infinite God of this vast universe. He confesses with the psalmist, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (Ps. 23:1). He who has chosen us graciously will never abandon us. All things will work out for our good (Rom. 8:28-39).

No Calvinist who has a personal relationship with the God of unconditional election ever need say, "No one cares; I do not matter." Rather, God grants him to say, "God cares for me so much that He has given me His own Son. He loves me and gave Himself for me" (Gal.2:20). How wondrous to confess that "Christ gave Himself for me, meeting all the conditions of God’s justice for me. He obeyed the law perfectly on my behalf in active obedience, loving God above all and His neighbor as Himself for thirty-three years in this world; for me, He suffered immense agony and cruel rejection; for me, He did not come down from the cruel tree, because I was on His heart as He hung under the curse of God. He fully paid the penalty of my sin, even to death, in passive obedience. For me, He declared that salvation is complete (John 19:30). Now He who rose for me lives to make intercession for me" (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25).

How intensely personal is God’s election. It involves the great heart of the living God. (Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, Joel R. Beeke, Reformation Trust, 2008, pgs. 66-67).

How comforting to know that in this increasingly impersonal and cruel world we do not relate to the infinite-personal God as part of a nameless faceless mass of humanity. No, instead, the living God of the Bible has set His love upon us from eternity-- individually, personally, by name.

Labels: Doctrine, Election, Guest Post

Sometimes the Biblical doctrine of election is viewed as something austere, cold, capricious, or impersonal. In fact, this could not be further from the truth. The Bible teaches us that we are elect “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (I Pet. 1:1-2), and it is very important for us to see that for God to foreknow involves more than His bare intellect, omniscience, knowledge of the future, or awareness of who will believe; rather, it is a term speaking of knowledge, yes--but knowledge that involves deep, intimate affection--essentially, to fore love. It is God loving His people, knowing them affectionately before time, indeed from eternity--setting His love upon them and choosing them to belong to Him and to rescue them from their sin. In an excellent book I have been reading and enjoying, it is put this way:

God’s election of His people is His seal that He loves them. Because He elects them, He will cherish them in their Savior, Jesus Christ, who is so in love with them that He calls them His bride. Moreover, having gone to the cross to die for His bride, Jesus takes all of their liabilities upon Himself. God’s foreknowledge of His people, then, is like a man’s love for his wife. God’s foreknowledge means that He is so passionately and intimately in love with His people that He offers His own Son to go to Calvary for them.

Thus, God the Father elects His people on the basis of His eternal, overwhelming, sovereign affection for them. Why did He love them? Because He chose to do so. Sovereign, unchangeable love is the ultimate joy and reality of the universe. It is the rock of God’s redeeming grace. We cannot get beyond that sovereign love to something else. Love is the ultimate reality of God Himself. God is love.

God’s foreknowledge means that God has always been in love with His people. He has loved the elect from all eternity. Just as a Bible-believing Christian cannot conceive of God not existing, not being eternal, or not being triune, so he cannot conceive of God not being in love with His people and not exercising that love through His gracious plan of salvation. Henry Law says, ‘Eternal love devised the plan; eternal wisdom drew the model; eternal grace comes down to build it’.

God’s love is voluntary, discriminatory, and gracious. But oh, what glory to realize that this is the way God has always been! He has always loved His bride, the church, and has always been intensely passionate about her salvation. Dear believer, let this amazing truth sink deeply into your soul: God chose us because He has always foreknown us, meaning He has always loved us. (Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, Joel R. Beeke, Reformation Trust, 2008, pgs. 63-64)

In subsequent posts I would like us to see several specific ways in which the Biblical teaching concerning God’s gracious and sovereign electing of His people should affect our hearts and lives. In the meantime, I’d love to hear how this truth is affecting your heart even now. It is truly breathtaking, is it not? Should it not truly sweep us off our feet?

Labels: Doctrine, Election, Guest Post