Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 14, as we consider Belgic Confession, article 16, beginning in verse 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, even 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 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, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purposes which he set forth in Christ. As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. We also are gonna turn to Belgic Confession, Article 16, that's found on page 860 of the hymnals before you. Belgic Confession, Article 16. What do you confess, people of God? We believe that all Adam's descendants, having thus fallen into perdition and ruin by the sin of the first man, God showed himself to be as he is, merciful and just. He is merciful in withdrawing and saving from this perdition those whom he, in his eternal and unchangeable counsel, has elected and chosen in Jesus Christ our Lord, by his pure goodness, without any consideration of their works. He is just in leaving the others in their ruin and fall, into which they plunged themselves. Will you pray with me? Our great God and Father, truly it is a blessing that we know of your electing and your saving power before the foundation of the world. That is something that only you have revealed to us and we ask now as we consider such a beautiful and yet complex truth that you would give us clarity of mind and encourage our hearts with it. For we ask in Jesus' name, amen. If you look down at the outline before you, you have the introductory statement, which my hope is that it's a succinct summary of the whole of this article in the Belgic. God is extraordinarily gracious and just, choosing those whom he would save before the foundations of the world that he might pour out on them incomprehensible blessing. If all you get from that is that he chose you before the foundations of the world, according to his wisdom, we're in good shape. So as we consider that this evening, we're going to move then to number one, the context of election. When we think about election, we must begin with God's plan for the theater of history, the glorifying of his name and the revealing of his nature. Here's what we mean by that. Election and all of these things reveal what we don't and cannot otherwise know about God. The whole thing, all of creation, his whole plan, the way that God has designed the course of redemptive history reveal to us who God is and what he is like. We would not know God, in other words, we would not know God as just or as merciful if he had not decreed the fall and if he had not decreed to elect us in Christ. It is only in the context of these things, it is only in the context of our corruption, of man's fall in Adam and of God's justice for it and electing grace that we come to know him as gracious and that we come to know him as merciful and that we come to know him as a just God in the particular way that redemptive history reveals him to be so. If it were not for the fall, if it were not for the course of redemptive history, we wouldn't know these things about God in the way that we do. And that fulfills his grand scheme in redemption, that his name would be glorified and that his people would know who he is. So then the question is raised, how do we know about God? Letter A. God's justice is revealed in response to the guilt and impurity of man's sins. Now there's a particular nuanced point that we want to make here and a particular wisdom of the Belgic Confession in the way that it treats this topic. They think about election in the context of men having already fallen into sin. Now, if you're familiar at all with perhaps some of the more complex theological debates, you'll recognize that this is dealing with a debate within reform theology between infralapsarianism and superlapsarianism. And those are very complex terms. And what they mean is, as we think about the way that God decreed, the order of God's decrees for both election and the fall, it's asking which came first. The infra position says that the decree of the fall came first and then the decree to elect, and super has that switched. It is the decree to elect and then the decree to the fall. And the point that the Belgic is making is at least it infers from the way that it treats this subject is that We approach this topic thinking first about the fallen. It's a particular wisdom of theirs. And at the same time, if you don't understand any of that, it's okay. It's a complex debate. Don't worry. The important thing for us to know as we approach this topic is that God has always had in mind Irregardless of where the fall, where the decree of the fall falls, God has always had in mind his saving plan. It has always been his intention to save his people. Now, to simplify all of that, what that really means is that we can't really think about election without thinking about God's justice and without thinking about man's sins. We can't think about election without thinking about God's justice and man's sin. Otherwise, what we're doing is we're begging the question. Now, to beg the question is actually to assume the conclusion. If we begin with election, what we're doing is we're assuming that election needs to happen. We're assuming God's justice. We're assuming man's guilt. And you see this reflected in the way that the Belgic Confession opens this article. It begins by, a brief introduction to election, and then a long comment on the guilt and the impurity of Adam's sin before it declares that we know God as he is, both merciful and just. Now, once we recognize that our first and our biggest, this is actually a very helpful perspective for the Christian life. It's something that's important for us to think about, because if we start in this place of our recognition of our sin and God's justice, we're doing ourself a favor. Our biggest problem is that by nature we are children of wrath. We are deserving of God's justice and his eternal condemnation. Our biggest problem is not that life is difficult. Our biggest problem is not that we are lonely. Our biggest problem is not a financial crisis. Our biggest problem is that we were once children of wrath. Once we've come to terms with that reality, then we're in a context to consider the doctrine, the beauty and the goodness and the graciousness of God's election. Now we can talk about mercy. So letter B, it's only in the context of God's justice and our sinfulness that we, only in the context of God's justice and our sinfulness can God's mercy and grace be revealed. Mercy requires punishment for mercy to exist. You can't have mercy without punishment. It also requires a just God. Both of these things are now on the table. Both of these things are now established. So we are in a space to talk about them. Now, there are some who would say that there is mercy and there is grace, at least when we look at the actual unfolding of events in history, there is mercy and grace before the fall. And part of the reason that they might come to this conclusion is that instead of classifying the covenant of works, that covenant that God made with Adam before the, that covenant of works that God made with Adam to do this, to obey all of his commandments and thus earn eternal life, they would classify that not as a works covenant, but as a gracious covenant, insisting instead that God graciously condescends to enter into relationship with Adam. We want to disagree with that. We only know grace and mercy after the fall, after man has already put himself in a place where he is deserving of God's justice and yet receives mercy and an undeserved gift in light of that. We see this reflected, for instance, in 1 John chapter 4. 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. Again, Romans 5, 8, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. What's being reflected here? When we look at these passages, they're reflecting the wrath of God against sin poured out on Christ as it speaks about the mercy that we have received. It's in the context of God's justice and our sinfulness that God's mercy, his extravagant mercy, his extravagant grace is revealed. Instead, he elects us and pours out wrath on Christ. Letter C, the fact that God is as he is, both merciful and just, is good news. He'll glance over at Ephesians 1, verses 11 to 14 with me. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Do you notice there have how both verse 12 and 14 end? To the praise of his glory, as the apostle Paul speaks about this great inheritance that we have, of our knowledge of this word of truth, of the saving mercies of God in Christ. First and foremost, he says, it's to the praise of his glory. Thinking back to the purpose of this whole thing, of this whole story. To the praise of his glory, that his people might know him. But also, in this context, we come to see God as both just and merciful. Now, Herod, we want to pause and we'd want to say the giving of mercy does not mean that God ceases to be just. He's both. And that's important because it teaches us that God is reliable. It teaches us that God does not change willy-nilly to suit his own passions. And what that means, if he is reliable, is that if he is also merciful, While remaining just, then he will ensure that mercy is accomplished for his people. You know, if justice ceases as he gives and accomplishes election for you, you could not trust his decree of election. If God suspends his principles of justice in order that he might make mercy available, you can't really trust that that decree to elect is confident and it's sure. This is something I think that people do regularly in our day and age. They suspend God's justice at the expense of his love, and we don't want to do that. It's good news that God is both just and merciful, and it reveals to us that he has extravagant grace. It reveals to us that God will do whatever is necessary to satisfy his justice in order that you might have mercy. And we see that most brilliantly displayed on the cross in Romans 5, 8 and 1 John chapter 4. God's punishment upon Christ shows what your election actually means and how blessed you are to possess it. Now you know this penalty was reserved for you. is now poured out on the only begotten son of God. And he had to do so. He had to pour it out. Both had to be true. God is as he is so that your election, your status before him and his commitment to give you mercy is sure and unquestionable. Number two, the mercy of election. He shows himself merciful by the fact that he chooses to save at all. So we've seen in number one that God has a plan in history that his people would come to know him and magnify and glorify his name. Now we move to consider more specifically election, that being that God predestines before the foundations of the world those whom he would save. This is not something that he owes to everyone. It is merciful, and he shows this by the fact that he chooses to save at all. God does not owe election and grace to anybody. Nobody deserves this. The Belgic says that we receive this irrespective of our work. It does not take into account what kind of person you are before he draws you to himself. Letter A. he elects or chooses us in Christ. Look down now at Ephesians chapter one, verses nine to 10. Well look, actually we'll begin in verse seven. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespass according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, that is in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. This is the purpose he set forth in Christ. He is uniting things in heaven and on earth in him, that is Christ. So the plan is made in Christ. You are chosen in light of Christ's work. You are not chosen apart from Christ's work. What is that plan? the plan to unite you to him. So election does not occur, it does not happen apart from the saving and redemptive work of Christ. And Paul is making the argument here, he's presenting to us the reality that this is a plan that was set forth before the foundations of the world. So to say that we, this is a plan that was set forth before the foundations of the world, to say that we were chosen according to his purpose that's set forth in Christ is what I wanna call a reference to or code language for the covenant of redemption. If you're new to Reformed theology or you don't know what the covenant of redemption refers to, it is that covenant that God made with the covenant that God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son made before the foundations of the world. Before time itself, before creation itself, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit took counsel together. And there we see that the Son submits himself to do the will of the Father to accomplish the work of redemption. And it's in light of that redemptive work of Christ that you are chosen We see this reflected all over the book of John. I did not come to do the way that John speaks of his relationship with the father. I did not come to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Of all those that the father gave to me, I will not lose one of them. And he prays in John chapter 17 for those that the father had given to him out of the world. You are chosen in Christ. and because of the redemptive work that he agreed to in that covenant of redemption before the foundations of the world. And that covenant of redemption in eternity past is the basis for the historical outworking of the covenant of grace. You can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved because the son swore to do so for the father. Letter B. He elects or chooses according to his wisdom, Ephesians 1, 8, and 11. He lavishes upon us in all wisdom and insight, and in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. There would be some who protest, you know, the doctrine of election is not fair. What about human free will? Think you really even need to get into that? You can. But the place that you really want to start is the wisdom of God. That's kind of the pocket aces, if you will. The wisdom of God. He's wise. I'm not. I think back to one of my favorite books is called The Marrow of Modern Divinity. And Thomas Boston, who wrote a commentary on it, if you will, and annotated it, he wrote a preface to this book. And as he opened the book, he said, if all the wisest counselors, if all the smartest men and the philosophers and most knowledgeable people of our day, the scientists, everybody, if they all got together and tried to name how God and come up with how God was going to save fallen mankind, They would never hit upon that which the divine wisdom has elected to do, namely that God would send his son to give his life as a ransom for your own. His wisdom is not even comprehensible to us. His wisdom is actually so good that it saves you. So Isaiah can rightly write, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Rather, God can say through the voice of Isaiah, my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. He is God, he is wise. See, he elects according to his goodness. Ephesians 1 verses 3 to 10. I actually, what I want to do here is have you just pay attention and listen to the way that Paul describes the gift that we have in verse 3 to 10. This is not a gift that he owes to anyone. It's not a gift that you deserve. It's not a gift that you've merited. You are not good enough to earn this gift. No amount of work that you do would retain it, earn it, keep it, make you worthy of it. And this is the gift that you've received. 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. In love he predestined us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy. 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. Look at the extravagant grace. Lavish is not a term that we use to describe kind of like There's a way that we sprinkle salt. It's not very lavish. It's a pinch. He picks a scoop and he, don't do this with your food, but he dumps it. He is not reserved as he pours out his blessings on us. He lavishes it upon us in all wisdom and insight. And he does so according to his goodness. Number three, the justice of election. God remains just and merciful even when he passes over some and leaves them to their ruin and damnation. He remains just and merciful even when he passes over some and leaves them to their own ruin and damnation. Just because God chooses one does not, and not the other, does not mean God is capricious or unkind. He is not stingy. He does not owe it to anybody. It is his gift to give. He remains as he is, both just and merciful. So how's that work? Letter A. When God elects, he also determines to pass over some who will remain under his wrath for their guilt. When God elects, he also determines to pass over some who will remain under his wrath for their guilt. We want to distinguish here, as we consider this point, the way that God passes over some. We want to distinguish between God's election to save and his election to pass over. These are not the same thing. He decrees, what he's decreeing is to leave them in what is their default state, their state of corruption and guilt. where they are deserving of his wrath. Moreover, it's also, it's not just that the decree itself is different, but the kind of decree is different. There's a difference between the way that God decrees. He has his prescriptive and his decretive will. What is important to recognize there is that the way that God makes things to pass, the way that God makes choices is not the same that we make choices and decree things or determine that we're going to do things. It's for that reason, you know, as we recognize the complexity of God's and the infinitude of God's being as we approach such a subject and the way that he brings things to pass and determines them to happen, when we recognize that complexity and we don't presuppose that God operates in the same way that we do, we can then conclude letter B. God remains wise, good, fair, free, and just, even though he does not save each and every person. Why? Because he doesn't owe it to anybody. He doesn't owe it to anybody. I have no claim, no authority, no deed, no right, no title apart from his election. It's his to give. It's not just, though, that he does not owe it to anybody. It is that he has done everything that is necessary to lead them to saving faith in the ordinary course of his providence. Romans 120 says this. His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so that they, that is, unbelievers, are without excuse. In other words, when you look to the mountains, When you watch the trees fall or the leaves fall, when you watch the seasons change or when you watch maybe for your first time a very dense snow falling out of the sky, you can perceive that there is a God who is all-powerful and almighty and before whom you are not worthy. But it's not just that he's revealed himself in nature. At the same time that God has given them enough to leave them without its excuse, He's good, fair, and free because of the free, promiscuous, and well-meant offer of the gospel. The free, promiscuous, and well-meant offer of the gospel. It is free, it doesn't cost anything. It costs you nothing. It is promiscuous. It is proclaimed without distinction to each and every person. And it is well meant in that it is not disingenuine. It's not like, as we might tease somebody, holding out a piece of candy only to snatch it away the moment they try to grab it. It's there, it's held out. Please, come get it. We see this, of course, in Isaiah 55 again. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat that which is good and delight yourselves in rich food. That is an earnest cry for the gospel. A free, promiscuous, well-meant offer to come and participate in the life of God's kingdom. And where can you get a salvation like this? If we wanted to, if we were frustrated with the ways that God does things, if we wanted to impugn Him, or if we met with somebody that wanted to impugn Him for the way that He does things. Well, to that I say there is no other religion like this. This point was made to me abundantly clear, especially as I thought on this sermon. I was reminded of a classmate in one of my sermon classes in seminary who, as he was giving the sermon, in seeking to distinguish the gospel from other religions, referred to, he was a Chinaman, he referred to his experience growing up with Buddhism. And the way that the beggar, he described, could not go up to the temple On the mountain, for he was too poor and lowly. But Jesus offers this to the poorest of the poor, without distinction. The gift is theirs to refuse. He gives that offer to each and every person. Letter C. The fact that God does not save each and every person creates the environment in which the elect know the extent of his mercy for them. The fact that God does not save each and every person but instead leaves some to their wrath teaches us just how blessed we are to be those whom he has elected to save. You are blessed. Romans 9 teaches this clearly. What if God desiring to show his wrath and 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. You know, I think it's always a struggle in the Christian life to remember how blessed we are, how gracious it is that God would choose us, that he would pluck us out of the world. I think each and every person here has that struggle. And it's one of the most important things in the Christian life. I could distinctly remember times in my life where it was more clear to me, it was more, pinched my conscience as it were, that God had chosen me, wretched man that I am. He gives his mercy irrespective of my work. What do I have that He did not give to me, for every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights in whom there is no shadow or variation due to change. I think it's important to recognize how, I don't think the word lucky is the right word. That's why I keep referring to blessed. It's important to realize how blessed we are in this regard because we're also called to make this election sure. And recognizing our blessedness as the elect is one of the essential components of how we go about making that election sure. That's 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 10. And for the sake of time, I won't read the rest of that passage. But Peter discusses the development of godliness that leads to the confirmation of these gifts. And he concludes saying, if these gifts are yours and increasing in abundance, the entrance into that kingdom will be so rich for you. It's like a feast after a long day of work that you've labored all day for. And all you've thought about that entire day is that wonderful feast and that delicious meal. And having worked the whole day and gotten to that feast, it tastes all that much better. Confirm your election. Now, not to leave you with law. I want to remind you that you cannot confirm your election unless you recognize just how beautiful it is that God has chosen you. So Gerhardus Voss concluded, the surest proof that God will never cease to love you is that he never began. The surest proof that God will never stop loving you is that there was Never a moment in time where he began to exercise his love for you. That is how good, that is how free, that is how blessed we are.