To set the background for the message, I wish you to turn in your Bibles to the 2nd epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. We will begin reading with verse 11 and read through verse 14. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We began last week on the general subject of the five points of Calvinism. which points are known in general as the doctrines of grace. They are known as the doctrines of grace because all the emphasis is upon God, upon His will, upon His favor in the matter of salvation, with a de-emphasis of the will of man and the value of his works in attaining to the favor of the Lord God Almighty. Having now spoken on the subject of man's total depravity, we logically come to a discussion of the subject of unconditional election. When the word election is used, generally there is the raising of an eyebrow here or there. Nevertheless, to understand this doctrine is to enter into a great spirit of joy, and to have in one's possession great assurance of God's mercy and of God's favor. For it is something rather than to be scorned, to be rejoiced in, to know that I, or to know that you, who by nature are deserving of the wrath of God, who by nature cannot save themselves, who by nature have no desire to be saved, have been specially marked out by the Father's love, chosen and separated by Him and redeemed through the Lord Jesus Christ, which guarantees the certainty of that salvation. In order to give a good foundation to the subject, I ask you to indulge with me as I read several articles to you from the Canons of Dort. The Canons of Dort resulted from the Council of Dort in Holland, which was held in the years of 1618-1619. in order to state what the Reformed Church believed in matter to God's grace and salvation as over against the Pelagian heresy. Now, Pelagius had already been put down by Augustine, and now the Pelagian heresy was beginning to show itself in one of his later disciples, Jacob Arminius. The five points of Arminianism were drawn up by this Jacob Arminius in order to contradict the teachings of Calvinism or the teachings of the Canon of Dort. In this we have a statement of the faith of the Church, that which was interpreted as having been set forth in Scripture and by the Church Fathers from the beginning. more fully as time progressed. And anyone who has any knowledge, as even a limited knowledge of Church histories I have, know that Pelagianism and Arminianism, which are one and the same, are considered heresy. However, what we term Arminianism today, that plagues even Baptist churches, many Presbyterian churches and some Reformed churches, most all other churches outside that pale, would not even be acknowledged by Jacob Arminius himself. For Jacob Arminius himself would not accept many of the implications of man's autonomy, of man's power to pull himself up by his own bootstraps as is propounded from pulpits in this day. I begin with Article Section of Part One of the Canons of Dort with a definition. Please listen carefully because these words say it far better than I ever could. Election, and I read this in order to show you that it's not a new doctrine. A group, a cult, had a meeting here in Birmingham many years ago. One of the sons who was then in high school, one of the men in this church, had a bulletin from that meeting, and one of the evenings was to be devoted to a discussion of the doctrine of predestination, in parenthesis, a damnable heresy invented by Pharaoh Griswold. Now, that's not so. I had nothing to do with the doctrine of sovereignty, nothing to do with the doctrine of predestination. Paul set it forth in Scripture, and long before him God declared it through his prophets. Then in the 1600s the fathers of the Church in Council drew up these Articles of Faith. Article 7. Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby before the foundation of the world he hath out of mere grace according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault, from their primitive state of resitude, into sin and destruction. A certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed the mediator and head of the elect, and the foundation of salvation. The elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery, God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be saved by him, and effectually to call and draw them to his communion, by His Word and Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justification, and sanctification. And having powerfully preserved them for the demonstration of His mercy, and for the praise of His glorious grace, as it is written in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 4 through 6, according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. made us accepted in the Beloved. And elsewhere in Romans 8.30, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Article 9. This election was not founded upon foreseen faith and the obedience of faith, holiness or any other good quality or disposition in man as the prerequisite, cause, or condition on which it depended, but men are chosen to faith and to the obedience of faith, holiness, etc. Therefore election is the fountain of every saving good from which proceed faith, holiness, and the other gifts of salvation. And finally, eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects, according to that of the apostles. In Ephesians 1, verse 4, he hath chosen us, not because we were, but that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Article 10. reads, the good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious election. And then it goes on to state in Article 13 that the sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God additional matter for daily humiliation before Him, for adoring the depth of His mercies, for cleansing themselves and rendering grateful returns of ardent love to him who first manifested so great love towards them. The consideration of this doctrine of election is so far from encouraging remissness in the observance of the divine commands, or from seeking men in carnal security, that these in the just judgment of God are the usual effects of rash presumption or of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of election in those who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect. And then Article 15 points out that election is made up of two parts, a positive election and a negative reprobation. But in all this, in no wise is God ever to be thought of as the author of sin. With this, then, let us note, first of all, a definition of some terms. What do we mean by election? If we are to understand this doctrine from a biblical perspective, we must also understand the meaning of some terms that are set forth in Holy Scripture. For example, the Bible speaks of God's foreordination, God's foreordination. Now what do we mean by foreordination? This means the broader sense of divine sovereignty, which embraces God's sovereign plan, whereby He over all, in all things, decides all that is to happen in the entire universe. from the falling of a sparrow, to the numbering of the hairs upon a person's head, to the events of conflict between nations, to the matter of man's salvation. Therefore nothing happens by chance. And we read in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11, that God works all things, not some things, but all things, not the good things. All things, not many things, but God works all things after the counsel of His own will. And so I put in my notes, God is back of everything. And then a hyphen in which I have said, even the mistake on a typewriter. For that I had made. Even the mistake on a typewriter. Nothing happens by chance. Is that too big for you? Is that placing too much power in God? Does that exalt God to too great an independence? Nothing happens by chance. But all things come to pass according to the eternal will and decree and purpose of God, the secret decree of God being revealed in time, and the revealed will of God as set forth in Scripture. Then, secondly, there is the word predestination, which cannot be avoided, for it appears in the Bible, and we must, therefore, eventually confront it. It is the translation of the Greek word prohorizo, and the word horizo is the word we get the word horizon from. And prohorizo means a horizon beforehand, and it means a boundary marker that God puts out beforehand, and therefore predestination. But predestination, as it is applied to God's grace in the matter of salvation, is a part of overall coordination and has reference to man's eternal destiny. Therefore predestination is treated in two parts. election, which is God's positive choice of a people to benefit from the redeeming work of Jesus Christ and His grace, and reprobation, which must be taken with election as that act of God in passing over others of the human race, leaving them in their sins, allowing them to believe the lie and to perish for the lack of love for the truth. However, when men perish, it is because of their own sins. It is because of these sins and these only that they are judged. Now, under fordination we have predestination, and under predestination, election and reprobation. However, when we speak of election, we speak of unconditional election. For you see, all major systems of theology believe in election. but not all believe in unconditional election. Oh, I'm aware of the fact that we have some in our churches today who don't believe in any kind of divine election, but it only reveals their total ignorance of the Word of God. If a man reads the scripture, he's got to accept some kind of election, and he's either shut up to accepting an unconditional election or a conditional election, one or the other. So let us look at the word election, first of all. Elect, everyone understands that, at that time of the year when we are choosing certain candidates to fill certain political public offices. It means that we make a choice, that we select from among men. Well, this is exactly what election means. It means to choose. It means to elect. It means to select from out of. In other words, when I got up this morning, I went to my tie rack, and I selected a tie from out of the ties, but it was not an unconditional election. There were several things that governed the election of that tie, though there were many that would have blended in somewhat with the general colorings of the one I wear. Now, I thought I was doing it totally of free will, but I know even that was not by chance. When I began choosing the ties, I conditioned the choice on the color of the suit, the type of shirt that would be worn, and the color blends inside of that shirt. And so the tie was chosen and the others were left. But there were conditions to that, you see. There were conditions. However, election means that God chooses some men, not all men, from out among mankind for eternal life. Without this choice, there would be no salvation. Therefore, we believe in an unconditional election. Political elections are based upon conditions. Just as we have heard the definitions a number of times, for example, when I was in university and college, I was told that election simply meant that God looked down through the ages and saw who it was that would believe, and on the grounds of foreknowledge, He made His choice. We'll examine that as we go along. Someone else so stupidly said that the devil votes for you and God votes for you, and you cast the deciding vote. But as our dear brother E. W. Johnson in Pine Bluff, Arkansas said, there's something wrong with that. First of all, the devil is not a qualified voter, and secondly, you weren't old enough. So that leaves you out, and it leaves the devil out, and it leaves only God as the voter. And God has chosen unconditionally. His choice is an election of total grace toward the undeserving. What man is there in the sound of my voice that would dare stand and say that he has ever done one thing that deserves unconditionally on his part God's favor, that God owes him salvation. Now, if you stay within the context of the Bible, you know that all have sinned and keep on falling short of God's mark of righteousness. There is none righteous, no, not one. We are all dead in trespasses and in sin. Now the informed, the theological Arminian, does not deny divine election. Rather, what he denies is an unconditional election. He will say, oh yes, I believe in election. The Bible talks about election, but I believe that election is conditional. basically that God's election is based upon God's foreknowledge. But my dear friends, if election is based upon God's foreknowledge, then it is God acting as a senior citizen in the universe who simply looks at man and sees what man is going to do, and then bases his choice upon what man has already decided. In reality, there is no election there. It is man who does the choosing, and we may say that God chose us because we first chose Him. But as you begin to speak those words, they sound just a little bit bordering on the edge of blasphemy, that God would have to do anything simply because we have done something. Now, the Calvinists teach an unconditional election. We say that there is no cause within man. The only cause is to be found within God and within His will and within His purpose, that He would choose us because He would choose us, that He would save us because He would save us. The cause is found in Him. Now, with that as a definition of some of the terms, let us note the biblical basis of unconditional election. Now, there is one thing that we need to get into our thinking. Whether we accept this truth or whether we reject it, whether we are Calvinists or whether we are Arminians, we need to get it into our thinking that the five points of Calvinism stand together. You cannot have one and deny four. You cannot have four and deny one and consistently put them into a framework. I know there are many who love the final point of Calvinism, the preservation of the saint, that is, the fact that the saint will persevere in faith and will never be lost once he is saved, but they do not want anything else. But I am telling you that if man's will puts him in salvation, man's will can take him out of salvation. As one popular preacher said, that he believed that man was totally free to make his own decision in the matter of salvation, and then turned right around and stated that once he had made a decision for Christ to be saved, to come into salvation, he could never get out. Well, then he lost his free will. If I am free and able of myself to put myself into the favor of God in salvation, I can take myself out. I'll tell you one thing. Those who deny Calvinism and advocate that one can lose the salvation of the more consistent of the whole lot. Now this stands and falls together. And if we accept one point, we must consistently go on, even to accept limited atonement, as it is called by the world. We're going to look at some other terms next Lord's Day that will be more fitting than the word limited atonement, because I'm here to tell you that if Jesus Christ died on the behalf of all men, without exception, you don't have any substitution. Substitution means to stand in the place of, and you've got to have somebody to stand in the place of. And that goes back to election. And that's why the atonement does not go before or precede the doctrine of election. Now, unconditional election necessarily follows total depravity. I gave to you last Lord's Day a word to help you remember these five points, the word TULIP. T, TOTAL DEPRAVITY, U, UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION, L, LIMITED ATONEMENT, I, IRRESISTIBLE GRACE, and P, THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS, TULIP. Now, if men are totally depraved, as we saw from the word of God, if men are in that greater If men are that deep-dyed a sinner, if that is the plight of man, then it is foolish to talk about man choosing God. Man is at enmity with God. Man wants nothing to do with God. So if man is totally depraved, God must take the initiative, or he will never, never be saved. All men will remain lost if God is not the first and prime mover in the matter of salvation. And in this matter of salvation, God's prime moving does not rest on anything that man is or does. Now let's look at the biblical basis. I'm going to read some scriptures that are extremely familiar to most of you in this congregation, but I pray will reassure you in the faith and will be of great value to those that have not been taught in these matters. First of all, in John chapter 6, verse 37, We have a biblical basis for the doctrine of election. John 6, verse 37. We read, "...all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Look at verse 39, "...and this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." Now this tells us that those who are raised up at the last days are the believers in Christ. And we are told that these believers are given to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were given to Him in the covenant of grace. They were given to Him as the mediator. They were given to him as the surety of that covenant before the foundation of the world in the Father's election. Therefore the Son says, all that the Father has given me shall come. They shall come to me. There is no doubt about it. There is no happenstance salvation involved here. And those that come to me can rest assured the reason they came is because the Father gave them to me, and I assure them that they will not be rejected. They will be brought in, they will be secured to the extent that in the last day I will raise them up. I will raise them up into blessing. Now, in John's Gospel, chapter 15, and we cannot examine all the scriptures, but John's Gospel, chapter 15, being very selective, Verse 16, because these are the usual conditions that are placed upon man's salvation, coming to Christ, but why does he come? Choosing Christ, but why does he choose? And so in verse 16, the Lord Jesus Christ says, and you know I believe what Christ says, don't you? I believe He has more sense than all these free willers running all over the country. Now the Lord Jesus Christ said, look at it, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And then as a result, I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit in evidence of that choice, in evidence of that salvation." I don't think it could be any clearer than that. I don't believe that it could be any more emphatic and dogmatic than that, that God must first make the choice, and then we will make a choice of the Lord Jesus. Oh yes, I believe that every sinner makes a choice of the Lord Jesus Christ to be a Savior. But I believe when he makes that choice, it's because Christ has already made a choice of him, you see. All right, now I want you to turn to the book of Acts, chapter 13. The book of Acts, chapter 13, verse 38. I want you to read this carefully as I read it to you, and underline the words. Acts, chapter 13, and verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. That is, they heard about this salvation, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord. Now watch it. And as many as were ordained, literally predestinated, as many as were ordained or predestinated to eternal life. Did what? Believed. Believed. Socinus, who lived from 1539 to 1604, and who was the forerunner of Unitarianism, who was branded for heresy by the Church, Socinus translated this verse in the reversed order. In his translation, he made it read this way, and as many as believed were ordained to eternal life. He did it willfully and deliberately. And people willfully and deliberately reverse the order today. And to do so is to reject and despise the Word of God. Then in 2 Thessalonians, the scripture we read In the introduction, the Apostle Paul says several things about election. First of all, that it is grounded in electing love. In verse 13 he says of chapter 2, Beloved of the Lord are those who are loved of the Lord. So election is rooted and grounded in love. This is the cause of election. God having an everlasting love for his people. But by the very fact that Paul says, from the beginning he has chosen you to salvation, presupposes that God passed over others. If it were a universal election, this verse would be meaningless in light of what is said in verses 11 and 12. Look at them carefully. And for this cause, this is reprobation whether you want it or not, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Now, did God choose man based upon conditions? Look at the scripture. It says, God has, from the beginning, chosen you. And that means eternity, from eternity. Go back where you will in eternity and say, here is the beginning. Here's the beginning. Here's the beginning. Here's the beginning. When you get there and say, this is the beginning, God has already made a choice. He has already chosen. Now, my dear friends, it further points out that this choice is not undeservice. Some say, oh, but election means we're chosen to service. It doesn't say any such thing. It says He has chosen from the beginning you to salvation. To salvation. You are chosen to salvation, and then that salvation is applied through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, because every person who has been chosen, who reaches an intelligible, rational age, will believe. They will believe. Furthermore, in Ephesians chapter 1, the Apostle says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, according as he hath chosen us. before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. He did not choose us because of ourselves. He chose us because of Christ, chose us in Christ. He did not choose us for anything in ourselves, but in verse 5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according dominated by Kata, the dominating force, according to the good pleasure of his will. And it was his own good pleasure and his will that dominated him in this choice, not man and his will. Therefore it is not even based upon faith, but upon Christ. For you see, faith and holiness cannot be separated one from the other. Because without faith, no man can please God, and without holiness, no man shall see the Lord, and both these things result from election. Then in Romans 8, verses 29 and 30, we have the one scripture that the Arminian uses most strongly for his foreknowledge, to the ignoring of all the other scriptures we've read. Romans chapter 8, verse 29, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now this is the only verse that seems to support the Arminian view of foreknowledge in the sense they use it. But it must be taken isolated from all scripture and from the meaning, the basic radical meaning of the word foreknowledge. First of all, if we take the word foreknowledge merely to mean pre-science or knowledge in advance of some event happening, you cannot even have that kind of pre-science or knowledge in advance without a preceding plan. In other words, if you were to say to me, how do you like this house I am going to build? I'll say, well, I don't know yet. Let me see the plans. Well, I don't have any plans drawn up, but I assure you it's a beautiful thing. Well, do you have any mental picture of what it's going to be? Not yet. You see, I don't want to violate that house. I want to just let it kind of develop on its own. If I were to impose a pre-plan as to what every detail should be about that house, I would violate that house. I'm just going to kind of let it emerge. But don't you think it's beautiful? Why, no, I think you're nuts, because you can't have any concept of a house without a plan. And a plan precedes any knowledge of the house and of the details of the structure. Therefore, if God has a knowledge of events in advance of their coming to pass, it's because there's some plan somewhere, either the devil's plan or man's plan or God's plan. Now, which one do you want it to be? I'll stay with God's plan. God knows, yes, who's going to believe. Why? Because He's planned for them to believe. God knows, yes, who is going to repent. Why? Because He has planned for them to repent. God knows in advance who is going to continue in the faith. Why? Because God has planned that they continue in the faith. But basically, the word foreknowledge, or foreknow, means to love beforehand. You see, when the Bible says that Adam knew His wife Eve, it doesn't mean that Adam went over and sat down with Eve and said to her, good morning miss, my name is Mr. Adam, who are you? Oh no, he went to her and named her by her nature, said she'll be called woman because she came out of man and will find her essence in man, and he named her Eve because she'd be the mother of all living. He knew her. He knew her by her nature. He knew her from her essence. What does it mean that he knew her then? It means that he loved her. He entered into communion with her. And so when we read, Whom he did for love, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he did for love. Now, while your Bible is open, let us look at the book of Romans, chapter 9. Please don't try to segment this into another dispensation just to get around the truth of it. It's here. It's here. And we read in verse 8, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Verse 10, and not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil," now that's not infralapsarian there, they hadn't done any good or evil, there's no fall in consideration here, "...that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Is that too strong for you? Verse 15, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Verse 16, So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Verse 18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Verse 21, hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? I believe some of the most effective comments on this passage of Scripture have been made by Dr. Edwin Palmer. He says the chief problem of Romans 9 through 11 is this. How can the Israelites, who had all the blessings of God in the past, be spiritually lost. Has God forgotten His promise to Israel? Paul answers with a firm, No, the word of God has not failed, in verse 6. Then he goes on in the rest of the chapter to show that salvation does not come because one is a physical descendant of Abraham, but that it is given by the sovereign grace of God. And that is what we want to show. The first indication is found, the first indication that salvation is by the sovereign grace of God, is found in the fact that in verse 7 Paul speaks of the sovereign choice of Isaac over against Ishmael. God spoke out sovereignly and selectively when he said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now that's election, like it or not. Then Paul points to the same sovereign choice in the case of Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau had the same parents and were even born at the same time. They were twins. Yet God sovereignly chose Jacob and passed Esau by. To show that God's choice was not based on foreknowledge, Paul writes that God made His choice to Rebekah before her twins were born and before they had done anything good or bad, in verse 11. Skipping down, he says, to clinch the sovereignty of this choice, God states, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Then Dr. Palmer further says, as humans, we feel like asking, but why, God? God simply answers with a reiteration of the fact. Jacob I loved, but Esau I hate it and gives no reason that satisfies a searching human mind. God doesn't have to. To say so is to bring him under our obligation. Now, if you haven't gotten anything else I've said, please get these next words, because I think that if these dawn upon you, you'll see what we're driving at. Paul feels the sense of dissatisfaction that will undoubtedly rise in the minds of those who will hear his letter. He senses they will very naturally think, what kind of God is that? He isn't fair. Loving one and hating the other, even before they were born and before they had a chance to prove themselves. So in the next verse, verse 14, Paul asks the question, is God unjust? That's the nub of it. Unconditional election. seems to imply an unjust God, get it now, and therefore it cannot be so man reasons. Now you'll never have anyone to retort an Arminian with a statement, but your God is unjust. So if the subject of unconditional election is not taught In Romans chapter 9, why then that retort, why that question, why that reply, is God unjust? Now let me go on, you'll see this. Before we go on to see Paul's answer to this charge, reflect for a moment that this very question Paul asks presupposes unconditional election. If God's unjust, it must be based upon the fact that he chose some and didn't choose the others. Because if God chose everybody, or if God chose people on the merit of their own works and deservedness, nobody would ever say he's unjust. You see what we're talking about? Because God has made a choice, not based upon man's fitness, not based upon man's goodness, but based upon his own grace. That man can even raise the question. There is no unconditional election. The question cannot even be raised. So watch what is said. The question of injustice in God never, never arises in the Arminian theory. For according to the Arminian, God is not arbitrary in His election, since He foresees who will be good or bad, or who will have faith. God's choice is based on something that man does or believes. His coordination is entirely fair. It is decided upon the merits of men. The charge of injustice in God can arise only on the basis of unconditional election. For to man it seems foolish to speak of a good, fair God who simply chooses Jacob and passes Esau by, especially when Jacob is no better or deserving than Esau. It is foolishness, he thinks. God must be unjust. Therefore the very fact that Paul raises the question of unfairness presupposes that he is speaking about unconditional election. On the Arminian theory of unconditional election, there is no possibility of raising the question of injustice. But Paul does, showing that he is teaching an unconditional election. The answer of the infallible Word of God to Paul's question is not to retract the sovereignty of God's election, or to try to give a rational explanation to doubting men, Paul simply states, God forbid. Do not ever say or think that God is unjust. He certainly is not. He is good, He is holy, and not unjust for a moment. Paul even goes on to state God's Unconditional choice in another way by quoting the Old Testament. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy Therefore he has demonstrated conclusively that salvation is not of him that works But of God that calls and that election is unconditional and as Palmer says It seemed as if Paul had the Armenian in mind when he wrote verse 16, where he says, So then it does not depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Well, let us point very hurriedly to some clarifications of the doctrine of election. Has the Arminian escaped his problem? You say, what problem? The problem he seeks to escape is man's freedom. He attempts to save man's freedom. Therefore he is willing to deny the biblical teaching of the doctrine of election to try and save man's freedom. But now let's see exactly what he does say. If he is a theological or learned Arminian, he will say that God has from all eternity had a pre-science or a foreknowledge of everything that was ever going to come to pass in the world. As a result of this knowledge, he has adjusted his plan accordingly. There can be no alternative, not even by God Himself, that whatever has been known from all eternity, and what is known from eternity cannot be altered. Now we agree one hundred percent that what God knows from all eternity is going to come to pass, and it cannot be altered. But we disagree on the cause. We say God controls the events. The Arminian thinks that man controls them. But how God could have looked down and could have rested assured that these events would come to pass? It would be like playing Russian roulette. What if man changed his mind? What if he backed out? Then God's plan is all messed up, you see. Now, they will allow man to mess up God, but they won't allow God to mess up man. Well, I'm here to tell you, dear ones, I stand on the side of God. And I'm here to tell you that the Arminian does not settle the problem of man's freedom. Because, you see, man is still just as bound to what they believe to be unalterable events. Only they themselves make the choice, ruling out God's plan. Now I will accept your teaching about the freedom of man if you will capstone that with his limited ability. Man is free to follow his own nature. His nature is depraved, just as a dog is free to be a dog, and a bird is free to be a bird, and a cow is free to be a cow. Man is free to be a covenant-breaking man. but he doesn't have any ability to bring any change about. Therefore it is God who must Himself bring the change about in man. Man is not free to make an equal choice between good and evil, but every time will make a choice according to his own nature, always by his own nature. And then I would conclude with this, predestination and divine election. are not awful, terrible, horrendous doctrines to be shunned, because actually in predestination everybody gets exactly what they want. Now those who are saved don't get what they deserve, they get mercy, but those who perish get what they deserve, but everybody gets what they want. Now who has any right to complain? If you love your sin and live in your sin, and you don't want Jesus Christ, and you don't want to be saved, you don't want to bow down to His Lordship, then who in the world are we to complain if God does not force that upon us, but lets us have what we want? On the other hand, if I want to be saved, and God does save me because He saves everybody who wants to be saved because He makes them willing in the day of His power, then why complain if God gives to them what they want? He gives us what we want in the matter of salvation. Everybody gets what he wants in predestination because the man who dies and goes to hell would be far more miserable in heaven than he would be in hell in the presence of Christ in his sin rather than being saved, and he gets exactly what he wants. Why, then, must we register a complaint against the Lord God Almighty. And so we have the truth of election. And I hope you fall in love with it, and you see here a grounds for the assurance of salvation, for the security of salvation, and for the hope of salvation for the greatest of sinners. Because if God conditions salvation on something that's in you, you might never measure up to it. But if God gives salvation freely to undeserving, hell-deserving sinners, then there is hope of salvation for you who take your place as sinners before Him. Let us stand for prayer. Our Father, we pray that Thy Spirit will bear witness with our spirits of the truth of Thy Word. Enable us to rejoice in this great truth for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. We bow our stubborn wills to Thee, for we seek glory in ourselves, to give all the glory of salvation unto Thee. We pray that Thou wilt see fit to manifest Thy word to our hearts, strengthen Thy people, and bring sinners to the end of their way, that they might be saved through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, Thank you by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.