If you would, please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 1. As I stated to you earlier, for the next eight weeks at least, are delving into this series that is going towards my preaching project. And the series is the influence of the biblical doctrine of election on the sanctification of the believer. Now, here's the things that we are wanting to talk about to go over is that what you believe about the doctrine of election has great effect on your sanctification. Sometimes we relegate the doctrine of election to just something that is left up to theologians or whatever, something that is not necessary for us to really delve into. But the doctrine of election is extremely important in the life of the Christian. So we're going to spend some time for the next several weeks. Some of the things that I hope to accomplish in this is that we because of understanding the doctrine of election, having a right understanding. That we would be comforted in our time of need to a greater extent. That we are given a reason to praise God specifically for understanding this correctly. that we have encouragement in our evangelism and a boldness in our evangelism, that we live humbly before our God and before others, that we have stability during our hardship, that we have a zeal for holy living, and we have a great motivation for obedience. These are the things that the Scriptures tie into the doctrine of election. When it comes to the passages that specifically speak of this doctrine, they are tied to something pertaining to obedience or sanctification or holy living. It is not usually left by itself. It is always God chose us to be holy and blameless before Him. So as those chosen of God put on a heart of humility, of humbleness, of kindness, For those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that we are chosen by the foreknowledge of God and the sprinkling of the sanctification of the Spirit to obey Christ. There are a number of passages that connect our doctrine of election to our sanctification. And so it is necessary that we indeed go over this doctrine. What we're going to do today is more like an introduction into this. Because there are various views of the doctrine of election, we want to look at a few of them, some of the more common ones that believers adhere to, because we need to understand which one is right. And we may say to ourselves, well, it's not a salvation issue. But friends, we have to understand this, that anything that is within the Scripture, it is our responsibility to have a right understanding of it. It's not good enough to say, well, that's just something less important than I'm going to focus on this. It is in the Word of God. It is taught throughout the Word of God, and therefore we need to know this right. So we're going to delve into Ephesians 1. And we're going to come back to this passage in the weeks to come as well. But what I would like to do for this morning is to read verses 1 to 14. And if you would, please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. This is the inspired and fallible Word of God. Let us hear the Word of the living God. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him, in love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed on 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 on us in all wisdom and insight. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth, In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. Let's pray together. Gracious God and our Father, how we thank You so much for this passage of Scripture. Thank You for what it teaches us about Your sovereignty, about Your holiness, about Your grace and mercy that You have shown to us who are sinners. Thank You, Father, that You did decide to have mercy and grace on sinners. Thank You for calling us. Thank You for regenerating our hearts and enabling us to believe. For we formerly walked in darkness, being children of wrath, but at the proper time, at Your appointed time, You called us with a holy calling, an effectual calling. gave us the faith to believe, and justified us in Your sight. How we thank You so much. Father, to You be the praise, the honor, the glory. Guide our thoughts this day. Let us focus them upon You. Let our minds be engaged to understand this correctly, that we would grow in our sanctification. Father, thank You once more for all things in Christ. It's in His name we ask and pray all these things and all that God's children said. Amen. Please be seated. In Ephesians chapter 1 here, it is this passage of Scripture that is most often quoted when referring to the doctrine of election because it's just so plainly stated here. Now, interestingly, there are various ideas and interpretations of this, and that we're going to discuss some a little bit more quicker than others, because some of the more dominant views of election are between those in the Armenian camp, and we'll explain that, and the Reform camp. The amazing thing about this passage of Scripture, as we are beginning to look at it, is that Paul is writing this epistle And he introduces it just as he normally does, with grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is as if Paul cannot wait to get to the main thrust of his epistle. In the Greek text, verses 3 to 14 is one long, continual sentence. There is no punctuations here. There's no periods. It is one long, continuous sentence, as if Paul himself just couldn't wait to blurt it out. And notice how he began with speaking of the spiritual blessings. In verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And then the first thing that he mentions, the first thing that he begins to speak of is our God-choosing, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. Now, we have to understand this. Every believer has a doctrine of election. You cannot get around it because it is in the Scripture, and therefore you have to have at least some idea or some view of the doctrine of election. There are a few different views. One in particular is what's called the corporate view of election. It is that God didn't choose anybody in particular unto salvation, but rather He chose Christ, who is the elect one, and for all those that are in Christ are in this corporate body. God did not choose who would be in that body, but he chose Christ. And therefore, if you are in Christ, you are referred to as the elect as a result. You have another view, which is the individual conditional election view, which is held by the Armenians. This view says that, yes, God did choose people unto salvation, but he chose based on his foreknowledge. He chose based on what He knew they would do. God has all knowledge of all future events. And therefore, God, looking down the corridor of time, seeing all who would believe and accept Christ, on the basis of that, He elected them to faith. So in that view, it is conditional. Then you have the other view. Unconditional election. Unconditional individual election. Which states that God's choosing of individuals unto salvation was not based on any foreknowledge as far as being foresight. Because that's the way the other camp is interpreting foreknowledge. They are saying it's foresight. This view says no. God did not choose based on what He knew anybody would do, but He chose solely based on His grace and mercy, period. He chose unconditionally, not in view of anything that they would do or could do or any of that. He chose according to His purpose and pleasure from all eternity. And it is this latter view here, the one that I am presenting to you as being the one that is grounded in Scripture. Let's look here at just a few things about the corporate view of election. Again, we have to understand election rightly. We have to understand what does the Bible actually teach about election and predestination that we can rightly understand it. Because once we grasp it, then it has a tremendous effect. Now one writer said, his name is William Klein, who espouses the corporate election view. He says this, God's will does not determine the specific individuals who will receive that salvation. The language of willing, referring to 2 Peter 3.9, that God is not willing that any should perish. The language of willing embraces all, not a select number. God's will is not restrictive. He wills all to be saved. Yet people can procure salvation only on God's terms. Though Jesus desires to reveal God to all, only those who come to Him in faith find God and the salvation that He offers." This is William Kline. Now, when he looks at this passage of Scripture here in Ephesians 1 and others who espouse this view, when it says in verse 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, they would say that the only elect one is Christ Jesus Himself. For it was in Matthew 12, verse 18, where the Lord says, Behold, My servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in whom My soul is well pleased. And in Luke 9, Luke 9, verse 35, the Scripture says, Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to Him. So they would say that the only elect one is Christ Jesus. He is the only one who is elect, who is referred to as elect. And it is everybody else who freely chooses to come to Him, left to themselves, who are now part of the elect because they are in Him. It's, in one sense, a little difficult to understand because there's a lot of dancing around when it comes to this view. But it is a corporate view. It is an entire body, an entire group that is referred to as the elect because they are in the elect one, Christ Jesus. Now, nobody is going to dispute, I'm sure, that Jesus is elect in that sense. He is the elect one, the chosen one. the one that the father sent into the world to accomplish redemption. There is no disputing that. But does the scripture only refer to the elect in those terms? That's the question. Is this view valid? And if we just look at the text itself, You can't get around the idea that is being presented here of individual election. Because the text says, now they appeal to this text and others, but the text does not say, God chose Christ and we are in Him. The text says, He chose us. He chose us. individuals. The passage itself just absolutely obliterates the idea that the only elect one is Christ and everybody else is just some unnamed hypothetical group that may be in Christ. The text says He chose us. When you look in Romans 8, for those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. for those He foreknew. Those, again, referring to individuals. For those He foreknew, these He predestined. And then verse 30, and those whom He predestined, He called. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He glorified. You can't get around the idea of individual election being presented here in any of these texts. Because if you espouse the corporate view, you are simply referring to an unnamed hypothetical group that may come to Christ or may not. The only elect one is Christ. Now, as an offshoot of that, because they believe what they do, they have to do something with the other passages of Scripture that would refer to. Election unto salvation. For instance. they present the view of election to service, that those specific ones that are mentioned in the Scripture were not chosen by God unto salvation, but were chosen by God for service, to do something. Abraham was chosen unto service, what they say, to be the father of the Jewish people. Moses was chosen not unto salvation, but to service in order to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. The twelve apostles were chosen not unto salvation, but to be the foundation of the church and to go out preaching the gospel. No one was chosen unto salvation. Those specifically named are chosen for service. And so when you come to Romans 9, for example, When they look at Romans nine. In verse. Eleven, this is referring to. Rebecca. And her children, Jacob and Esau. For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Now they look at that particular verse and they interpret it in the language of service. God did not actually hate Esau, but he simply chose Jacob for service over Esau. Not into salvation, but for service. He chose Jacob to give His covenant to, to enter into covenant to, rather than Esau. But this isn't a salvation issue here. It is one of service, according to them. And what they will say is there's a passage in Luke where Jesus says that if you don't hate your father and mother, you're not worthy to be My disciples. And so they would appeal to that text to say, well, see, Jesus isn't actually saying for you to hate your mother and father, but He's just simply saying that you need to prefer Him above your mother and father. In one sense, that seems kind of plausible, because indeed, in the text of Luke, that is the idea. But everywhere else in the New Testament where this Greek word is used, it is referred to loathing. The absence of love. Jesus didn't say, well actually when Jesus said they hated me without cause, did he say they preferred somebody else over me? Or did he actually mean they loathed him? They despised him? Everywhere else that this word is used in the New Testament, it is referring to hate, absence of love, loathing. So taking the common interpretation, the common meaning of that word, you cannot come to Romans 9 and say that Jacob was merely preferred over Esau because the writers of the general epistles will say that Esau was a wicked man. You can't get around that Jacob was chosen before any good works were done or anything else. Jacob was chosen over Esau unto salvation. render this idea of election to service, that some are chosen by God unto service, and remove from that that God had to choose them unto salvation in order to use them for service. You can't dance around that. If God is using someone for service, that implies that He is using them because He saved them. There are instances where God indeed used wicked people. God used Judas. God used Pharaoh. God has used various ones throughout history, like the king of Babylon and the Persian, all of that. Well, when it comes to doing something in service to the Lord, specifically to the Lord. You cannot get around that God has saved this person for this purpose. that is the logical outcome of it interestingly the armenian jack cut trail he is the one who believes in the conditional election he actually says that one cannot believe in predestination according to foreknowledge and at the same time deny individual predestination. Even the Armenian is saying you can't have corporate election and deny individual election. Now, some of the ones who do believe in corporate election are ones like Clark Pinnock. You need to know that name. Clark Pinnock. He is the one who teaches open theism. It seems as if for a lot of these men, what they're trying to do by coming up with these various views of the doctrine of election is they are trying to save God from any criticism. So in order to save God from any criticism, what Clark Pinnock says is that God actually doesn't know the future. He is only interacting with time as what we are. He doesn't know what's going to happen. And so that would remove from God any responsibility of choosing anybody individually. since he doesn't know who's going to be in this corporate body what he did do was to predestine that all who are in christ who are in this corporate body will receive the benefits of salvation and in that god is saved from any criticism the armenian jack cutrell says no you can't have that because you cannot deny individual election it is undeniable within the Scripture. What he does say is that the classical Arminian view says or affirms that election is conditional because it is based on God's foreknowledge of who will freely meet the conditions designated by God for receiving salvation. This is more common. among the people of God this particular view of the doctrine of election. This also is to save God from any criticism that God is choosing you based on what He's seen you freely do. According to your free will, He foresaw you choosing Christ, and on the basis of that knowledge, He elected you to faith. So it was conditional. You met the conditions, and therefore God elected you to faith. That is classical Arminianism. He actually says, interestingly, those who accept Christ through faith do so of their own free choice. Their choice of Jesus Christ is not predestined. That choice, however, is foreknown. And as a result, the choosing ones become the chosen ones. who are then predestined to receive the full blessings of salvation. The choosing ones become the chosen ones. God didn't choose them to be in this group or choose them to come to Christ. He merely chose them after they chose Christ. Now, there are some things that this is based on. Of course, back in Romans, Romans chapter 8, very familiar passage, quoted earlier here, verse 29. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called. And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified." So here's some things that are contained in this view. One, you have absolute libertarian free will. this is this is one of the great criticisms against the reform camp is that you guys are saying that people don't have free will that is nonsense but they believe that unless you have absolute libertarian free will that you can either choose the good or you can choose the opposite you have the ability to do both unless you have that you don't have free will and so they say that can't be right Therefore, when you come to Christ, you come to Christ based solely on your free choice to do so without any intervention of God. Now, what the Armenians do put forth is a doctrine called Provenient Grace. What Provenient Grace is, is it's like an enlightenment that every single person in existence receives. They receive at some point, perhaps during the preaching of the gospel, this enlightenment that they are now capable of either choosing Christ or not choosing Christ. After the time has passed, the Provenient Grace goes away. So based on this, there's some other things to speak of there. Of course, that anybody can come to Christ at any point. I want you to list these. I want you to file these away, OK? Your salvation is conditional based on what God foresaw you doing. Anybody at any time may come to Christ if they choose to. You can choose Christ. Left to yourself. According to your own ability. Faith is not a gift. It is something that you can exercise. Our Lord Jesus died for every single person in the world. Now, here's some things I want you to consider now. Actually, let me read this to you because it was so interesting to me that this man said this. I couldn't believe he actually said it. Speaking of God's sovereignty, they affirm God's sovereignty, but they say, like the Armenian Roger Olson says, God is sovereign by right. But he is not sovereign in actuality. Because he freely limits himself so as not to interfere with the free will of man. Here's what he says. that God has such sovereign control means that although the creation has been endowed with independence, such independence is only relative. True control does not require causation, predetermination, or foreordination of all things, but it does entail causative intervention when necessary. Free creatures are usually allowed to go their own way, but God can and will intervene when His purpose requires it. Now, this does a lot of dancing here. Consider this. If God foresaw what you would do when presented with Christ, He's seen you doing it, left to yourself. Why would there be any need for God to intervene in anything? He already saw you were going to believe. So why does He need to intervene in anything? He saw it play all out without His intervention. Why is it that they would still maintain that creatures have free will when they believe in God's foresight, that God saw everything happening consecutively from beginning to end, and therefore the creature cannot do anything other than what God foresaw them doing. So how can they have free will to choose anything opposite? Why is it then that God would have prevenient grace being given to every single person in the entire world when He foresaw only certain ones were going to believe? Why would He have sent Christ into the world to die for everybody in general, which means nobody in particular, when He foresaw only certain ones who would believe? Those are questions that need to be asked. Because when you look at this view that salvation is conditional based on what God foresaw you doing, it makes absolutely no sense. It doesn't line up with what Scripture says. And it doesn't even give the proper meaning, definition of what the word foreknowledge means. If salvation is conditional, think about this. If salvation is conditional based on what you did, where's the grace in that? If salvation is by grace alone, unmerited favor, How is it you're saved by grace if it was you that met the condition for God to choose you? Now, one guy said, whatever conditions God has sovereignly required are gracious conditions. So here's where they maintain salvation is still by grace because God didn't have to do any of this. So therefore, since He did allow sinners to come, that's a gracious act of God, though He put a condition on it. The fact that He's allowing it is a demonstration of His grace. Now even the Armenian Jack Cottrell acknowledges the criticism that comes toward the Armenian camp that if you believe in foreknowledge of God seeing everything happening, that it rules out free will. He tries to address that particular criticism, but again, it's a bunch of dancing around of things that make absolutely no sense. What does he say about man's depravity? Because another assumption is, is if God saw you believing in Him, the assumption is that you have the ability in and of yourself to do that. So here's what he says. Either way, the result is the same. When the moment of choice comes, sinners have a freedom of the will to meet or not meet the conditions of salvation. He does say this for Calvinists, Reformed. For Calvinists, total depravity dictates that the final decision of who is saved and who is not must be made by God. he's right on that for our minions the final decision belongs to each individual In the Armenian system, it does not really matter whether this free will ability to accept or reject the gospel is regarded as natural, as in Pelagianism, as restored for all at conception via original grace, or as restored for all at a later time through the Holy Spirit's intervention in an act of prevenient grace. What matters is that when the gospel message reaches the center, he is not in a state of unremitied total depravity and thus of total inability to believe in Jesus without an unconditional, selective, irresistible act of the Spirit. What really matters is that when the moment of truth comes, you need to know that it doesn't require any intervention of the Spirit for you to believe upon Christ, is what he's saying. Now, the question goes back to this. Is this the view of election and predestination that we find within the Scripture? Does God say, I foresaw what you would do and I elected you based on that? Well, if we go back to the whole passage of Scripture there with Jacob and Esau, Before the children were even born, before they could do any good or bad, God chose Jacob over Esau. The apostle Paul And 2 Timothy 1.9 says this, "...who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." So the Apostle Paul says that God saved us not on any work done. There's no conditions whereby God saved us. No conditions. Which means that it's unconditional. God saved you for no other reason other than He simply chose to out of His love for you. He chose to bestow His love upon you to make you the object of His gracious love and therefore chose you unto salvation. Now when we look back here, at Ephesians 1. Listen to the wording here. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us to adoption. He chose us before He ever made the first speck of dirt. In love, He predestined you unto adoption that you would become the children of God. He lists no conditions here. That's the first thing here. The language requires an unconditional view of election because there are no conditions that are being met. There is nothing that God foresaw Here in Ephesians as well, we learn something about the nature of man. In Ephesians 2, verse 1, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgression, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved." This is the spiritual condition of man apart from God. Apart from any intervention of God, you have man that is dead in trespasses and sin. He is by nature a child of wrath. That is his state. That is what he is naturally born in. Paul will say in 1 Corinthians 2 that the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. It's foolishness to those who are not saved. For they are walking in darkness. They are dead in their trespasses and sins. They are by nature children of wrath. That was our state. All of ours. But the text doesn't say that you had enough spark of good in you that when the time came for the gospel to be presented to you, that you were able to believe upon Christ. No, he says you were dead, but God, in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, made you alive in Christ. By grace, you have been saved. That's unconditional election. That is unconditional salvation. They maintain faith is not a gift. The text that we all love to quote, Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Now, for the Armenian camp, they would say, this text does not say that faith is the gift, because within the Greek language you have genders, very similar to what we have in English language. You have masculine, feminine, and neuter. Neuter is speaking of things, objects, that sort of thing. So what they say is that the word faith in the text is in the feminine gender. And the word that is in the neuter. He says that you cannot have an antecedent that are two different genders. Now interestingly, A.T. Robertson, who was one who would say that this cannot be what it is, also in his writings of Greek language and all of that, he even gives a rule. Now he's against this because he's not in the reform camp and he's basically an Arminian or whatever. But he even gives an exception to the rule. He says, generally speaking, this cannot be. But there are exceptions to the rule where a word that is in the neuter gender can refer back to an antecedent of a word that is in another gender. So when we take the exception of the rule that is not rare, mind you, When we look at the text, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. The only antecedent for the word that is faith. For by grace, you have been saved through faith and that faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Faith is a gift because left to ourselves, we don't have it. You don't have it. Now, some of the criticisms that will come our way from certain passages of Scripture, such as 2 Peter 3, 9. 2 Peter 3.9, the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. The gentleman that I had quoted at the very beginning, William Klein, he maintains that since God is not willing that any should perish, that this has a universal scope to it, that God is not willing for any at all to perish. And of course, the text also come to the forefront of John 3, 16 of the world. In First Timothy, chapter 2, verse 4, which is a text I want you to look at, actually, we'll briefly mention that one, then we'll come back to 2 Peter here. But there's a few passages in that epistle I want you to see. In First Timothy, chapter 2, verse 4, actually back up to verse 3, This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. In chapter 4, verse 10 of the same epistle, For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. These are the passages of Scripture that are brought to the forefront to say God does not choose anybody unconditionally unto salvation because he desires that all would come. And so he provides pervenient grace to all that they would all be enlightened at a certain point and be able to come if they choose to. That is why the death of Christ is for all, potentially, if they decide to come. In 2 Peter 3, Context is the key. As Peter opens up his epistle in chapter 1, listen to whom he is writing to. Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Throughout this epistle, He is writing to those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours. He's using those pronouns, ours, us, you, to refer to His audience, believers. Now interestingly, they would say, well, God isn't willing that any should perish, but perhaps we just need to read the first part of chapter 3 and see what is happening here. Let's jump into verse three. Listen to the pronouns here. Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the Word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His Word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. Now, verse 9, the Lord is not slow about His promises. Some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. He has just said in the verses prior to this that mockers are going to come with their mocking. It's going to escape their notice. He's using different pronouns here. They and their mockers ungodly. And he is already establishing the fact that God is going to bring destruction upon these. It's a done deal. It's already going to happen. But then he turns his attention back to his audience and even refers to them as beloved. God is patient toward you, His audience, those who are believers, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Translate this, not wishing for any of us to perish, but for all of us to come to repentance, because that's whom God is being patient towards. Believers. His people. 2 Peter 3.9 does not does not provide justification for the idea that God is not willing for any to perish in the idea of using it as a universal scope of that. In 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 2, Verse 4 says, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. We have to back up to verse 1 of chapter 2. First of all then, I urge that in treaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men. for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, for what these guys would say about the word all is that all means all, and that's all all means. Well, that's just a silly thing to say anyway. Because if I say all of us are going to eat afterwards, am I referring to every single person in the entire world, or am I referring to you? It's qualified by the context in which I say something, right? Now, it's used that way in the Scripture. It's qualified by the context. Now, in this context, it doesn't necessarily mean that. But what it does mean is that God desires all men, all kinds of men to be saved because He just said to Timothy, I want you to pray on behalf of all men. And then He qualifies that by saying for kings and all who are in authority. Don't just pray for common, low people. I want you to pray not just for them, but all kinds of men, for them and for kings and all who are in authority, because God desires that all kinds of men be saved. That's keeping with the context. Not all being unqualified, meaning every single person in the entire world, but all meaning all kinds, because that's who He's in reference to. That's the flow throughout 1 Timothy here. and John 3.16 and then we'll wrap it up here. John 3.16 Of course, we know this one by heart. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. There's a few things that are in this passage here to speak of. One is the word world. And the other is whoever, or some of your translations may say whosoever. See? God loves the world and every single person in the world. And he sent Christ to die for every single person in the world. Because world has to mean every single person in existence. Well, again. That's an error. The word world is always qualified by the context. We just flip over here. In verse 9 of John 1, there was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. Now, what is being presented here as far as the definition of the word world in this passage? Did it mean that Jesus came to every single person in the world and they didn't know him? No. Does it mean that he was in the world, meaning he was among every single person in existence? No. But what does it mean? He came into the world, into the human realm. And the human realm did not know him. Does that mean every single person in the world, or is it making a general statement about the human realm? The world did not know him. Did he present himself to every single person in the world, or did he just present himself to the people of Israel? So this text isn't referring to every single person in the world, is it? Qualified by the context. In John chapter 12, This is Jesus' triumphal entry, verse 17. So the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him because they heard that He had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, You see that you are not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after Him. Did everybody in existence follow after Christ at this point? No. What is he talking about? He's talking about the people who were present there in Jerusalem when Jesus comes in His triumphal entry. The word world, the word all, is qualified by the context. In fact, Jesus would say in John chapter 17, if we need to make it mean that every single person is in view, when this word is used, then this means that Jesus prayed for no one at all in the world. Because in John 17, in this high priestly prayer, Jesus says, I pray not for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Anytime we come across this word, it is qualified by the context. So when we're looking at this doctrine of election, we need to understand something that left to yourself you never would believe because you were dead in your trespasses and sin and were by nature children of wrath and you didn't accept the things of the Spirit of God because it was foolishness to you. You need to understand that your salvation was based not upon your works, but solely according to His purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. You need to know that God chose you out of love for you, because going back to Romans 8, when it says, For those whom He foreknew, He predestined, the word doesn't mean foresight, but it means those whom He loved intimately beforehand. those whom He loved intimately beforehand, He predestined. Your election is unconditional, grounded in the love of God because He chose to bestow His love upon you, not because of anything that you did. You need to know that when Christ Jesus came into the world, that He didn't die just a general death. a potential death that if people decide to, they can activate that salvation. Jesus died for his people. He said, I lay my life down for my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter five, Christ died for the church. Even in Isaiah 53, speaking of the great agony of our Savior, He says, He shall see His offspring. That is particular redemption. Jesus died a real death, an actual death for sin. We need to understand this doctrine rightly. And in the coming weeks, we will discuss even more, but we will stop there. We'll pick it up next Lord's Day. Let's stand if you would. Gracious God and our father, how we thank you so much. That our salvation is not conditional. There was no good in us. There was nothing that you foresaw in us that could have been good because those who are without faith cannot please God and we don't have faith in and of ourselves. You have granted us faith. It came from you. Through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Father. That our salvation from beginning to end is a work of yours. And only yours. We can take no credit. Let us not think so highly of ourselves as to think that we could have chosen you left to ourselves. Let us understand what state we were truly in. We weren't treading water when you came and threw us a life preserver. We were at the bottom of our own cesspool. and our Lord Jesus waded through all the muck and mire, dove in headfirst, brought us up, cleaned our mouths, and breathed into us the breath of life. That is our salvation. We give you all the credit for it. Teach us in the upcoming weeks the importance of this doctrine in our lives. Father, to You be the praise, the honor, the glory in all things. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.