On Joy and Sanctification

Joy in God and sanctification go hand-in-hand.  When we enjoy God, we become more sanctified (more Christ-like).  Why?  The more we enjoy God, the more we become like him because God is the greatest enjoyer of God in the universe.  God is completely God-centered.  For him to be something-else-centered would make that thing God.  If God were enjoying something greater than himself, then we should strive to enjoy that thing. 

Brian McLaren and Willow Creek: A Match Made in…

Brian McLaren spoke at a youth conference at Willow Creek in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. For those who aren’t familiar, McLaren is the spearhead for the Emergent Church movement in America. Despite what he says, his theology is ultra liberal and simply non-biblical. At the conference, McLaren said that Christians should put less focus on eternity and more on achieving justice in the here and now. In fact, one writer says that McLaren’s message is “serpent-sensitive worship.”

Just one question I will ask as a commentary on this: Why in the world would Willow Creek invite Brian McLaren to speak at their conference? It just makes me wonder how committed to sound, biblical doctrine Willow Creek actually is.

Meditation on 1 Peter 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

- 1 Peter 1:3

Peter begins the body of his first letter with a shout of praise to God: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  The Greek word for “blessed” is eulogetos which is where we get our word “eulogy” from, and one of its definitions is ”praise.”  Peter is giving God a eulogy (a good one, to the living God).  Peter sandwiches this in between great theological truths.  High praise is due to God because he has foreknown us, elected us, sanctified us, and sprinkled us with Jesus’ blood (vv. 1-2).  And high praise is due to God because he has caused us to be born again to a living hope that gives so joy and fulfillment (vv. 4-9).

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.”  Again we see the doctrine of election.  How were we born again?  According to God’s great mercy (cf. Eph. 2:4; Tit. 3:5).  God has caused us to be born again.  R.C. Sproul writes, “This emphasizes that salvation is based entirely on God’s loving initiative.”  God has done the work; he makes people Christians; glory alone goes to him.  A human baby contributes nothing to make himself alive and it is the same way with the Christian.  The word used for “caused us to be born again” is anagennao and it is more active than simply gennao (which would be like an earthly father’s passive action in the birth of a physical child).  God, on the other hand, has actively pursued us, wooed us, called us, and caused us to have faith so that we would be born again (Matt. 11:27; Jn. 6:44; Acts 13:48; Eph. 2:8-9; 1 Thes. 1:4; Heb. 3:1). 

Christianity is about the loving, sovereign, holy, infinite God of the universe giving his people grace and faith to love and trust him.  Our response is faith to what God has initiated in us.  We have the ability to respond because he has caused us to be born again.  Could anything be more clear?  Religion, on the other hand, is man’s attempt to cause himself to be born again (or saved, etc).  There is nothing in our souls that desire God (see Romans 3).  In fact, by nature we are runaways and rebels. 

Lest we simply know the theology of the Bible with our minds (and 1 Peter 3:1) and have no heart connection, let us look at the practical application that Peter gives us.  What have we been born again to?  We are born again to a living hope.  It is not a dead hope.  It is not a corrupted or wicked hope.  It is life and peace and joy and fulfillment.  This is explained more in the verse 4, however we can be sure with our verse that this hope far outweighs anything this life can offer us.  This hope is a perfect hope that will never disappoint (cf. Rom. 5:5).  We have been given this hope “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  The word “through” is dia in Greek and it is the same word used in verse 23, “Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through (dia) the living and abiding word of God.” The living and abiding word of God is the whole redemptive plan of God: that he sent his Son to save sinners.  Dia modifies the phrase “born again” in verse 3.  Because of (through) Christ’s resurrection we now have a living hope that will one day bring us new bodies that are sown imperishable, that we may experience the inexpressible joy that comes with the salvation of our souls (vv. 8-9).

It’s clear that Jesus died to bring us great joy and satisfaction in him for his glory so that we might live with and worship him for eternity.  Christianity is not about rules, regulations, trying to get saved, and attempting to find God.  That is religion.  Christianity is about God coming to us by his mercy and causing us to be born again so that we might have the greatest happiness in our lives –  a happiness that is imperishable. 

Jesus Died for My Obedience

Jesus didn’t just purchase salvation for the elect on the cross.  He also bought all of the benefits of the gospel kingdom, one of the greatest being obedience.  Without obedience to the gospel, we would only have wrath waiting for us (2 Thess. 1:8).

Ezekiel 36:26-27,

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Hebrews 5:9,

And being made perfect, [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. 

Without God giving us a new heart of flesh, we would have no ability to obey him.  Praise God that he has purchased obedience for us through Jesus’ death so we can experience eternal salvation with him forever.

 

 

 

Ligon Duncan at T4G

Ligon Duncan talks about how Christ’s atonement relates to husbands loving their wives. 

Perseverance of the Saints

We are now at the last doctrine in the TULIP acronym: Perseverance of the Saints. If everything that has been written before this is true, that we are totally depraved, we are unconditionally elected apart from any works, that Christ atoned for a particular people, and that the Holy Spirit overcomes all resistance in order to call certain people to himself, then it holds that no one whom God elects will be lost. They will persevere. Perhaps a better name for this doctrine would be “Preservation of the Savior, Perseverance of the Saint.” For those people God keeps, they can never be lost. Romans 8:29-30 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Does this sound like someone can “lose their salvation”?

Furthermore, Romans 8:33-35, 38 says, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword…For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rules, nor things present nor things to come nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” People will then say, “But people can choose to not be a Christian.” When Paul writes, “nor anything in all creation,” what does that communicate? Are you not part of all creation? Surely, not even yourself can leave the salvation of the Lord. Jesus said in John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” No one includes Satan, demons, and yourself.

This is a great theme of Scripture-that God has redeemed his people and he keeps his promise! Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” John 6:39-40 says, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” And in Hebrews 10:14, the author says, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Whoever believes in Jesus is already being sanctified and Christ has already perfected them.

But what about passages that seem to teach otherwise? What about people who have professed faith then turn and renounce Christ? First of all, we must know that Scripture teaches that faith must endure in order for us to be saved. Hebrews 3:14 says, “For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” If faith stops finally, then that person is not a true believer. Second Timothy 2:11-12 says, “If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.” John teaches this in his first epistle. “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore who know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” This shows that those who do not hold to their confession of faith in Jesus are not true Christians. They are the rocky or thorny soil in the parable of the sower. The faith that causes us to persevere is grounded in the sovereign grace of God that preserves us. We can think of it this way: Imagine trying to hold onto a greased flag pole. It is impossible. Yet, you still cling with all your might. Without a more powerful person to hold you up, you will fall. In the same way, David cries in Psalm 63:8, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” The clinging is a demonstration of faith. God’s right hand is his preservation.

Hebrews 6:1-8 is the pillar text for those who believe one can lose salvation. It is hard for me to concede that this passage teaches that when other clearer, more direct passages teach that we cannot lose salvation. Hebrews is a very tough book to understand because of the author’s obscurity. When we examine the text closely, we see three things. One, the author never says that anyone actually does fall away. He simply describes what would happen if someone did. Two, he says that he is “sure of better things-things that belong to salvation” for his readers. So, he is positive they are really saved and can have assurance. Three, he points to God’s promise in salvation in verses 13-20, that “Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” (20) so that we can have “strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (18).

In Revelation 21:7-8, John shows what it would look like for someone to abandon faith in Christ. “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” These people very well may have been professors of Christ at one point. But they did not live by faith, so they shrunk back and God took no pleasure in them (Heb. 10:38).

Examine yourself. Are you in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5)? If you shrink back, you will not be saved. John Piper once said, “If this sounds Arminian, let it. Preach the word! The Bible says to endure in faith so you don’t fall away.” God is sovereign, but our responsibility is faith.  Trust that God is keeping you in the faith and that he will give you the ability to persevere. Be confident that if you are a confessor of sin and a worshiper of the Most High God that you are secure, because you have been elected and called to salvation. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, “Jesus Christ will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jesus will sustain you. Trust in him.

 

Irresistible Grace

The doctrine of irresistible grace can be confused to mean that Reformed theologians think the Holy Spirit’s influence cannot be resisted. That is clearly not taught in Scripture. In Acts 7:51, Steven said, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” Paul even says that people can quench the Spirit in Ephesians 4:30 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Certainly we can say no to the Holy Spirit. For someone who never knows Jesus, they are kept in sin all their life and continually say no to God by nature and choice. They are solely responsible for their eternity.Instead of saying the Holy Spirit’s influence cannot be resisted, this doctrine means that the Holy Spirit can overcome any resistance to make his grace irresistible in a person’s life. Irresistible grace means that, when God wills, he will overcome the sinful nature of man and draw people to himself. God is the only Sovereign in the universe and no one can do anything that would frustrate him or cause him angst. If the doctrine of total depravity is true, then we can do nothing to pursue God. Remember, that doctrine says we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1, 5); it says our default position is to be a rebel to righteousness. So, if total depravity is true, then we need an irresistible wooing by God to cause us to be born again.

It is true that God continually calls all people to himself to be saved. But, he does not do this in the same way for everyone. Common grace is what everyone gets from God. Common grace gives people the ability to hear the gospel call to repentance and faith. Not everyone believes though. What is the reason? It is because when God calls someone with saving grace he is putting in them a new heart, new mind, new spirit, and new desire. This idea is presented throughout the Bible.

John 6:44 says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” It is true that God draws all men, but not in the same way. The context of this passage is eternal life and being saved from sin, death, and hell. Jesus says in verse 47, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” Believing is contingent on drawing and the “coming to Jesus” in this passage is salvation. Later in the same chapter, it says, “‘But there are some of you who do not believe.’ (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” Notice two things here: Coming to Jesus is a gift. And Jesus explains why some people don’t come to him: because it wasn’t granted!

In Matthew 11:25-30, we see a similar teaching from Jesus. He said, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” We know that the Father reveals the Son to people who do not become Christians. So, we must say that is an entirely different revealing. This is a saving, irresistible grace revealing that causes people to be born again.

Someone might say to me, “Why do we preach the gospel to people then?” The reason we preach is two-fold. First, Jesus commands us to. Secondly, because of the good news of Jesus, everyone gets the free offer of the gospel because we do not know who is being influenced in an irresistible way by the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 1:23-25 shows this: “But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” There are two kinds of call in these verses. We see that some will stumble over the Christ and call him foolish-this is the first call, the general call in preaching. Yet, others who are being irresistibly influenced by God will call Christ the power and wisdom of God-this is the second call, the saving call of God in a person’s heart.

Paul expands on this in 2 Corinthians 4:4-6. “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Men and women are blind to the gospel and need a miraculous event to make them see Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is God who “has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge” of who Jesus is.

The last example comes from Acts 16:14 when Lydia became a Christian. Luke writes that “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” Paul gave the general call in preaching the gospel and God gave the saving grace call in Lydia’s heart so she would be born again. This passage makes no mistake: God gets the credit in salvation-from start to finish.

The theme of irresistible grace, as well as the other doctrines of grace in Reformed theology is the fact that Jesus is central and he deserves all the glory. I’ll leave you with an illustration that will hopefully point you to the glory of God in salvation.

Imagine that you cannot swim and you dive into the deep end of a pool. You cannot get to the ladder on the side of the pool and start to get nervous as you sink toward the bottom. You begin drifting downward; and now you are shouting, “HELP! HELP! HELP!” You flail your arms, hoping the lifeguard will see you. But in a moment, you are sinking toward the bottom, choking on the chlorine water. All the while, you are yelling under water for help and kicking your legs trying your hardest to get up. Then, out of nowhere, the lifeguard dives down and despite the depth and darkness of the water in the pool, despite your helplessness as someone who cannot swim, he holds you tight and swims to the surface. It was the lifeguard that saved you. Not your yelling and kicking. Those things simply got you connected to the lifeguard. It demonstrated faith that he would come save you. Now, imagine that after the lifeguard pulled you on the cement and you are breathing normally, you look at him and say, “Thanks for saving me, but my kicking and screaming for help saved me, too. I’m glad you were able to help me get above the water.”

Wouldn’t this be an utter travesty? Wouldn’t this be so defaming and insulting to the lifeguard? He did all the work! So it is with people who think that they were able to get to Jesus apart from a supernatural calling of the Holy Spirit in their life. The Spirit will overcome all resistance to save those who are called by God to salvation. Those who are irresistibly called are those who know they are drowning and demonstrate faith by believing Jesus and trusting that God will save them when the kick and scream for help.

Limited Atonement

Limited Atonement is perhaps the most controversial doctrine of Reformed theology.  The atonement is the work of God whereby he gave his Son to cancel the debt of our sin and purchase salvation as well as its benefits for those who believe in him.  The Atonement (Christ’s death) was necessary because, otherwise, God would have simply let sin slide without its due punishment.  God took out his wrath on his Son, Jesus.  As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  This is called substitutionary atonement. 

Arminians would say that Calvinists “limit” the atonement because Calvinists say Jesus only died for a select few–limiting Jesus’ power to save everyone.  By contrast, Arminians “limit” the atonement because they say that Jesus did not definitely purchase salvation for a select few, but that he only made it possible, so that people could come to faith in him.  “Particular Redemption” might be a better name for this doctrine because it shows that Jesus died to redeem a “particular” group of people, namely, his elect. 

The doctrine of limited atonement asks “Who did Jesus die for.”  Most Evangelicals would answer “Everyone.”  And that would not be wrong in one sense.  In another sense though, Jesus only died for the elect, those who believe in his name for salvation.  Does Jesus’ death mean the same thing for a person who goes to heaven and a person who goes to hell?  Of course not!  For one it means mercy and grace; for the other, judgment and wrath.  First Timothy 4:10 says, “We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially those who believe.”  We can see that there is some kind of saving given to everyone, but not eternal life to everyone.  John Piper helps clear this up: “All of God’s mercy toward unbeliever–from the rising sun (Matthew 5:45) to the worldwide preaching of the gospel (John 3:16)–is made possible because of the cross.”   Though Jesus’ death does bring some kind benefit to non-Christians, he brings an altogether different benefit to Christians–salvation.  We can sum this up with this statement: Christ’s death is sufficient to forgive all, but effective only for those who believe. 

There are many passages that plainly show that Christ died to obtain salvation for a certain group of people.  Here’s a few.

John 10:14-16, 26, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd…but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.”  Notice how Jesus said that he knows his own sheep and lays down his life for them.  He is bringing his flock together and when addressing the Jews here, he says, “You do not believe because you are not part of my flock.”  Notice that it is not the other way around.  Their disbelief is dependent on their not being part of the flock.  Jesus is making it clear: I am NOT laying my life down for you.

John 17:6, 9, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.  Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word…I am praying for them.  I am not praying for the world but for those who m you have given me, for they are yours.”  Jesus is about to undergo his painful suffering and death for his church and during this prayer, with his crucifixion in mind, he is praying only for his sheep. 

Revelation 5:9-10, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests of our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”  Jesus did not die for every person this way because every person is not saved.  Rather, John writes that people from “every tribe and language and people and nation” were ransomed. 

With passages like this–that say Jesus atoned for a certain people’s sins and ransomed their souls for God–we can understand harder passages like 1 John 2:2, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”  If “the whole world” really meant every person, then John would be arguing for universal salvation, which certainly isn’t true.  We would have to say this because the word “propitiation” refers to the removal of sin.  Someone who dies and goes to hell do not have their sins removed, therefore we can say, in one sense (the primary sense) that Jesus did not die for them. 

Mark 10:45 shows this as well, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Finally, Hebrews 9:28 says, “So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (cf. Is. 53:1; Matt. 20:28). 

Here’s a beautiful quote from John Owen explaining this doctrine:

[If Jesus died for all men]…why then, are not all freed from the punishment of all their sins? You will say, “Because of their unbelief; they will not believe.” But his unbelief, is it sin, or not? If not, why should they be punished for it? If it be sin, then Christ underwent the punishment due to it; If this is so, then why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which he died from partaking of the fruit of his death? If he did not, then he did not die for all their sins.

There are dozens of other Scriptures showing this wonderful truth.  May this not make you wander in your assurance.  If you confess Christ and hold to faith, your sins were atoned for.  Do not wander in your evangelism either.  Though this is an overwhelmingly clear teaching in Scripture, we must also preach the gospel because we also believe that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13).  If you call on Jesus, then most certainly, he died for your sins.

More reading on Limited Atonement

• A Dialogue Concerning Limited Atonement by Bob Thune
• Limited Atonement from A Puritan’s Mind
• Is it Possible to Deny Limited Atonement and Still Believe in Unconditional Election by John Hendryx

Unconditional Election

Though unconditional election is not second in the order of salvation for a believer, it is next on our list in TULIP.  It makes sense that if we are totally depraved and do no good thing on our own then we are completely dependent on an outside variable in determining our salvation.  We call this the doctrine of unconditional election and its definition is: ”Man’s salvation is conditioned on the variable of God’s grace alone since man can not obtain righteousness with God because of his sinful state.”  In other words, apart from God’s grace (def: unmerited favor), we would stay dead in our sins with no hope for eternity.

Unconditional election is not a popular doctrine among Christians.  Many Christians despise this belief.  But, the words “elect”, “election”, “chosen”, “predestined”, or “ordained” occur more than 175 times in the Bible.  By contrast, the phrase “free will” never occurs in the Bible.  We must note that this is not to say that man’s will is not “free” in a certain sense.  Man has a will, yes, but God never calls it “free”.  Man’s will is free in the sense that God has ordained it to be free insofar as it is free in the reality of the world we live in.  It is not autonomous, however (that is “completely free”).  This would be a better way to put it.  Our choices flow out of what God has already predestined to take place.  God is the ultimate source of reality and he is the only autonomous being in the universe.  If God says a choice that you or I make is free, then it is free!  We have the responsibility of choices in life, yes, but we must also affirm the cherished doctrine of unconditional election because the Bible teaches it.

Our salvation is contingent on God’s election, not our faith, as some propose.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”  Even our faith is a gift that comes from grace.  Piper puts it this way: “We are not saying that final salvation is unconditional.  It is not.  We must meet the condition of faith in Christ in order to inherit eternal life.  But faith is not a condition for election.  Just the reverse.  Election is a condition for faith” (my emphasis).  We see this most powerfully in Romans 9:11-13, “Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad–in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call–she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’  As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’”  Later in verses 16 and 18, Paul writes, “So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy…So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”  Some will argue that Romans 9 is not about individual salvation, but that does not fit the context.  The book of Romans teaches how someone can be saved.  Chapters 8 and 10 both teach about salvation.  The beginning of 9 is about Paul having sorrow for those Jews who are not saved.  And finally, God is speaking of individual people in chapter 9 (Jacob, Esau, Pharaoh) not a group of people.

The entire first chapter of Ephesians 1 affirms to us that we are chosen and adopted by God.  Paul says God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” and that “in love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will” (vv. 4, 5).  In verse 11, Paul says 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.”  And lest you think this is just a Pauline doctrine, Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:1, “To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion.”  Later in verse 3, he writes, “[God] has caused us to be born again to a living hope” showing that God is the ultimate cause of regeneration.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:4, Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica saying, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.”  Colossians 3:12 says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.”  These verses give final glory to God, that he has chosen us just as Christ chose his disciples (Jn. 15:16).  In Acts 13:48, we read a powerful verse after the conversion of many Gentiles.  Luke writes, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.“  Notice the order of words in this verse.  It does not say as many believed were chosen to eternal life.  It says that as many were chosen believed.  Believing was a sign that they were indeed chosen.

This is but a sampling of the passages that teach election.  I wish I could spend more space and time on this, but in the overview yesterday, I said I’d try to remain concise.  Let this doctrine not cause you to fear or see God in a bad light.  Rather, if you love Jesus, rejoice that God had mercy on you and gave you grace.  Rejoice that God adopted you and is a loving Father.  Obey him by spreading the gospel to all peoples, because though this is a biblical truth, you do not know who is chosen, only God does.  This doctrine gives us confidence that people will not be left in their flesh, rebellious against God, but that some will come to embrace him as Lord and Savior because God has unconditionally elected them to his family. 

Why More People are Becoming Reformed

Read a great post on why more and more people (espcially in my generation) are becoming Reformed.