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[0:00] Please stand together with me for this reading from God's Word beginning in Romans 9 and verse 1. The covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

[0:35] Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised. Amen. It is not as though God's Word had failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children.

[0:54] On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.

[1:07] For this was how the promise was stated, at the appointed time I will return and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.

[1:19] Yet before the twins were born, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls.

[1:31] She was told, the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What then shall we say? Is God unjust?

[1:42] Not at all. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

[1:58] For the scripture says to Pharaoh, I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

[2:13] One of you will say to me, Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will? But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me like this?

[2:29] Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes, and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath, and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction?

[2:46] What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory, even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?

[3:04] Once upon a time there lived a king, a king who was as good as he was great. And yet, though he was so good, all of his subjects in one area of his realm rebelled against him.

[3:21] Together they conspired to overthrow him and to set up another king in his place. But their attempt failed. They were all found out and captured.

[3:34] Now the punishment for rebellion against the king was the death penalty. They all clearly deserved to die.

[3:46] But on the day of execution, the king decided to show mercy on some, and so he let them live. While he decided to show his wrath on the rest and had them put to death.

[4:04] And no one cried foul, for after all, he was the king and had the right to do whatever he wanted with them.

[4:16] And so, God the king has chosen to save some lost sinners and not others. And we cannot cry foul, for after all, he is the king.

[4:34] And we all deserve death. And we should be amazed that he shows mercy to Annie. Now about a month ago in our study of God, we're wanting to know God, what he's like.

[4:49] Who is he? What are his attributes? We came to the Bible's repeated claims that God is sovereign. Sovereign. If you believe the Bible, you believe the sovereignty of God.

[5:02] But what does the Bible mean by that? It means that God alone is king. He has absolute authority over all that he's made.

[5:13] And as king, he does what pleases him. Now the Bible reveals that God is sovereign in three spheres. He's sovereign in creation. He's sovereign in providence and in salvation.

[5:27] We looked at the first two. The last time we dealt with this topic, God is sovereign in creation. Why does the flamingo stand on one leg? Why does an octopus have eight legs?

[5:40] Why does a skunk smell so bad? I wouldn't have made it that way. But then I am not king. I am not creator. He did so because he pleased.

[5:52] It pleased him to do so. He was sovereign in creation. He's sovereign in providence. That is in the governing and controlling of all that he has created.

[6:05] Why does the rain fall on this field and not on that field? Why does the tornado destroy this house and leave the neighbor's house completely untouched? Why is this ruler brought down and this one raised up?

[6:19] Why does this person live and that person die? And the answer, of course, is because God is king and he does in his world exactly what pleases him.

[6:31] He does whatever pleases him with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him, what have you done? He's accountable to none.

[6:43] He's answerable to no one but himself. He's the king of the universe. Now, the Bible doesn't stop there in its claims for God's sovereignty.

[6:55] It goes on to say that God is sovereign as well in salvation. He is the one who determines which of all this world of sinners will be saved.

[7:10] Why is Peter saved and Judas Iscariot is not when they were both disciples of Christ? Why is Saul of Tarsus saved and his many Pharisee friends were not?

[7:25] Why are you saved and many of your relatives are not? Well, we say because God is king and he does in salvation whatever pleases him.

[7:38] Now, it's at this point that many would draw a line and refuse to let God be king. Willing to have God sovereign in creation, he can do there what he wants and perhaps even in providence, but surely not in salvation.

[7:56] Definitely not in determining who will be eternally saved and who will not. No, this must be left up to man's will. Man's will must be sovereign, not God's.

[8:09] This is one area where God's hands are tied, where he cannot do as he pleases, where he must take off the crown and step off the throne and stand as a spectator with the rest of us to see which man will and will not be saved in his universe.

[8:25] Which people will become members of his family after all? Now, this is a distortion of God and it's a diminishing of his glory.

[8:38] It's not the God revealed in Scripture and so we must come back to God's own word as always. We must let him tell us what he is like. We go astray when we say, I think God ought to be like this or I think of God as this.

[8:54] Frankly, I don't trust myself to think about God. I have a fallen mind. And I don't see clearly. I need God to tell me point blank in his word, in words that are set upon a page inspired by the Holy Spirit.

[9:12] This is what I am like. Believe it, John. Well, blessed be God, we've been praising him for his word. That's what we have. A book from heaven where he tells us what he's like.

[9:26] And when we listen to God tell us what he's like, he tells us, I am king over all. I am sovereign, yes, in creation, yes, in providence. And yes, I'm sovereign in salvation, especially in salvation.

[9:44] Second Thessalonians, chapter two and verse 13. When we talk about the sovereignty of God in salvation, we must speak about election, about God's choice.

[9:56] Because God speaks about it. Here in Second Thessalonians 2, 13, the Apostle Paul says to these believers at Thessalonica, we ought always to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because from the beginning, God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

[10:20] God is sovereign in salvation. He chose who would be saved and how. He chose you, he says to these believers at Thessalonica, and he chose to save you through the sanctifying of his Spirit and through the word of truth.

[10:38] Ephesians 1, 4 and 5. Paul's counting his spiritual blessings and he names right at the top. The first, the foundational, spiritual blessing that is mine in Christ.

[10:49] He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will.

[11:09] So if God saved you, he did it on purpose. It wasn't an accident. He planned it. He chose to save you. He predestined you to be his son and he did it before the creation of the world and it was all according to his pleasure and will.

[11:29] He chose according to his pleasure. Folks, that's the definition of sovereign. He does what he pleases and so he chooses based upon his pleasure.

[11:42] But some object saying, no, he chose us because he looked down through time and he saw that we would choose him and so therefore he chose us.

[11:57] Well, that's really not choosing at all then, is it? Did God choose or didn't he? It says he chose us. If he just looked down through time and saw who would choose him, that is not him choosing them to be saved.

[12:11] That is simply ratifying their choice. That's man choosing as being the all determining issue. But our Bibles say over and over, he chose us.

[12:23] He chose us. The text makes clear who chose who and in choosing he did it as he pleased. Not according to our choice, but as he chose.

[12:38] You went to the closet today, every one of you, and you chose what clothes you would wear. Perhaps some of you had your parents set them out for you. Talk to your parents then.

[12:49] You went to the closet and you chose what clothes you would wear. They didn't choose you. They didn't jump off the hangers and say, choose me because I chose you.

[13:00] No, you chose what you would wear. You go to the restaurant and you choose out of all the things on the menu. You choose what you're going to have to eat. And so David went down to the brook and he chose five smooth stones.

[13:15] He selected them out of all the other stones in the brook. He didn't take those. He didn't take those. He took these five. He chose them. And that's the very word that is taken from the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

[13:31] It is found for us here in Ephesians 1. It's found for us in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. God chose us. He selected us out of the rest.

[13:42] He selected to save us. There's no difficulty. We use this word choose all the time. We don't have any problem understanding what it means. It's only when we come to read it in our Bibles that God chose us that we suddenly have to go through different gymnastics in our mind to come up with some idea that He just chose us because we chose Him.

[14:05] No, that's not what the word means. The word means He chose us. He selected us. Why is it so difficult? Well, there's this prejudice in us.

[14:18] We don't want God to be the one in control of our eternal salvation. salvation. We don't like the idea of God choosing which sinners He will save.

[14:31] But why not? If God is King, if God is sovereign over all that He has made, that's exactly what it means to be sovereign.

[14:42] He does what pleases Him in all His works and especially in His greatest work of all, His work of salvation. salvation. So the Bible is clear in its language and it's not just an isolated text here and there.

[14:57] The Bible is full of this discussion of chosen. We are a chosen people, 1 Peter 2.9. God's elect, 1 Timothy 1.1.

[15:08] All sorts of places were called the elect, the elect of God, the chosen ones. Now the view that God chose us because He looked down through time and saw that we would choose Him has another problem going for it.

[15:24] And it's simply this, that we are so sinful that left to ourselves we never would choose Him. We're born sinners, the Bible tells us. We're born with a sinful heart, a heart that cannot and will not submit to God's laws.

[15:39] We're born with this hostility against God. We don't like Him telling us what to do. We're born with a bias towards sin and self and away from God and Christ and the gospel.

[15:51] And in our natural state we would never choose to turn from our beloved sin and to turn to God whom we hate in Jesus Christ. Now that would never happen.

[16:03] So God would be looking down through the annals of history and He would see nothing. He would see no one choosing Him if left to ourselves.

[16:13] You can offer a fish a home on the dry land and you can make it as pleasing as you want. You can tell Him it has a big screen TV in it and He will choose water over dry land every time.

[16:30] Why? Because that's its nature. Its nature is suited and is biased and predisposed to water and against living on dry land.

[16:42] And the sinner's heart as we're born into this world is biased and suited to sin and is against and hostile toward God.

[16:54] Romans 8, 7 Many other texts could be cited. We don't have time. We're looking at the fact that God is sovereign in salvation. Paul you tell us how is it that you are a Christian?

[17:10] Saul of Tarsus Christian Testimony time Galatians 1 15 and 16 He's talking about how in his lost condition he persecuted the church He tried to destroy the church of God with great zeal he was going after it but he says but when God who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles I did not consult any man and on he goes when God who was pleased to reveal His Son in me Paul why are you a Christian?

[17:53] Why are you saying because God was pleased to reveal His Son in me? That's the definition of sovereign He does what He pleases and God was pleased it pleased Him to look down on this Christ hating persecute church persecuting Saul of Tarsus and it pleased Him for reasons only known to Himself to take such a rotten filthy sinner and to reveal Christ to him to bring to His darkness the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ and Paul when were you saved?

[18:29] When God was pleased to reveal His Son in me not before and not after God is the one who determines which sinners are saved and when they will be saved and Saul of Tarsus' conversion shows us so clearly the sovereignty of God and salvation you know that Saul was not seeking the Lord that's not why he was going to Damascus there was a great evangelistic rally there and he had been burdened about his sin and wanted to hear more of Jesus no he was going there to kill the followers of Jesus he hated Jesus of Nazareth he was out to erase his name from the earth and on his way to do so he's met by this Jesus and his heart is changed so that the one he hated he now trusts in and loves and embraces and spends the rest of his life proclaiming his wondrous grace now why is Saul of Tarsus a Christian it's not because he decided to choose God one day he never would have it's because

[19:40] Jesus Christ when Saul of Tarsus was not seeking him Jesus Christ sought him God chose to save him and went after him and changed his heart and so his testimony is that God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions one moment we were dead in our sins we were dead toward God we were completely content to live our lives without any reference to God and some of you are living that way today you tip the hat to him on Sunday and then you go on and live the rest of your life without reference to God dead toward God no love for God no service to God no heart of humility and reverence to God dead but God who is rich in mercy when we were dead in our sins made us alive with Christ dead one moment alive the next why alive not because he chose no he didn't have any desire to choose him because God chose him and sent his spirit to make him alive

[20:51] God is sovereign in salvation we have to run over without looking at many other texts today I want to take you to the key text and that's Romans 9 there's no single chapter in the Bible that sets forth more clearly the sovereignty of God in salvation than Romans chapter 9 so turn to this passage and remember it's God the Holy Spirit inspiring every jot and tittle that Paul writes and Paul is dealing with an apparent problem here in chapter 9 God had made many wonderful promises to Israel and yet as a nation the nation as a whole had rejected God and God had rejected them did this mean that God went back on his promises to Israel did this mean that his word had failed that God had promised something and yet was not going to fulfill it of course not is the answer but here's the key to unraveling the whole problem verse 6 not all who are descended from Israel are Israel the key to the whole apparent problem is the definition of Israel just whom did God give the promises to who was the

[22:21] Israel to whom God gave the promises and in whom those promises would be fulfilled we must know right up front not all who descended from Israel are Israel not all the earthly Israel belong to the true Israel of God who we see at the very end in verse 24 are made up not only of Jews but also of Gentiles even us not all the earthly Israel were the true Israel it was the true Israel to whom the promises were made and in whom they'll be fulfilled well then what determines whether a person is a part of Israel what determines whether one is in this favored people of God and Paul says it's not your genealogy it's not tracing your bloodline back to Abraham nor is it anything that you have done any good deeds you've done it is rather those whom God has sovereignly chosen that's his thesis that's that's the problem he goes to unraveling it and he gives several examples from the old testament who are the

[23:29] Israel of God well it's not all Abraham's physical descendants he says in 7 through 9 not all of his physical descendants Abraham had two sons remember and not even both of them were part of the Israel of God God made a choice between them and he chose Isaac and his descendants and not Ishmael and his descendants children born in a supernatural way not in the natural way of the flesh but still he didn't choose all the descendants of Isaac either God made a choice between Isaac's two sons and his choice between Isaac's two sons emphasizes all the more the sovereignty of the choice that he made for though they were twins Jacob and Esau though they had the same father and the same mother he chose Jacob and not Esau even though Esau was the firstborn and in the culture of the day he would have been the one to be chosen but instead

[24:37] God sovereignly chose and said no the elder will serve the younger and even though Jacob the younger was a deceiver he still said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated and all of this choosing was made and announced before they were born before they had done anything good or bad why is that he tells us why in verses 11 and 12 in order that God's purpose in election might stand not by works but by him who calls God is absolutely sovereign in whom he chooses to be a part of his favored people it's determined only by his purpose not by their works it's by him who calls not by works of the person either done or imagined to be done in the future his choice had nothing to do with man's performance it's unconditional election it's

[25:42] God doing as he pleases in selecting which sinners he will call to be a part of his family now it's that sovereignty of God in choosing that causes some to object and Paul anticipates their objections in verses 14 what then shall we say because some of you are thinking this he says is God unjust some of you think that God is not fair that God is being unrighteous unjust to choose one and not another now if election was nothing more than God looking down through time to see who would choose him there would be no charge of God being unjust because every man just chose according to what they wanted no reason to charge God with injustice no but if God's choice is sovereign and he chooses who will be saved and who won't then you might understand why someone will say but wait a minute isn't that unfair you see that's the view that

[26:47] Paul is teaching God is absolutely sovereign in choosing who will be saved and therefore shall we conclude from that that God is unjust his answer is not at all it's the strongest language he can conjure God forbid never notice Paul's answer is not to say oh you've misunderstood me did you think that I meant that God is actually the one who determines who will be safe and who will be lost let me no no it's not he doesn't correct them no he means to say that God chooses who will be saved he meant what he said and now he says and he's not unfair to do so God forbid not at all and now he quotes God's own word to support it for he says to Moses verse 15 I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have we notice right away that being chosen by God is a mercy to be chosen by

[27:50] God it's a compassionate thing and he is absolutely sovereign in dispensing his mercy as he pleases after all it's mercy mercy by very definition by very definition is undeserved favor!

[28:06] Every last one of us has forfeited God's favor! We've sinned against God we don't deserve to be saved by God to have him smile upon us with his favor! No one has a right to his mercy no one has a claim God you must be merciful to me so the sovereign king who owes no man mercy chooses which rebels he will give mercy to and which he will withhold it from based simply according to what pleases him nothing in us and in doing so he's not unjust you know if he chose to give mercy to none he could not be charged with injustice because we deserve hell every one of us forever and ever and if God said that's it you know that's what he did with the angels there was another part of God's realm!

[29:00] rebelled against him there was a group of angels that fell with Satan and Lucifer do you know that God saved none out of those fallen angels but reserves for them the deepest darkness of hell and judgment God could have done the same with this realm of rebels not going to offer mercy to any of you and he would have been just in doing so nobody complains that God didn't save any of the fallen angels do they it's his prerogative he's God he's sovereign he's king so if he chose to save none he would not be unjust and if he chose to save all he would not be unjust it would just be God's choice if he wants to save every single rebel in his realm he could do so that's what pleases him but he hasn't chosen to do either of those and he is not unjust for doing so he's not sinned against those that he hasn't chosen to save and he's not sinned against those whom he has chosen to save and have mercy on and so

[30:15] Paul sums up so far in verse 16 it does not therefore depend on man's desire and effort but on God's mercy who gets into God's family doesn't depend on man's desire or effort anything inward or outward in man it all depends on God's mercy for the scripture says to Pharaoh and he quotes Pharaoh as another example I raised you up for this very purpose that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth here's Pharaoh he's a real man he really lived over in Egypt why did God raise him up on the theater of this world why did he bring him to the stage for that segment of history where he was Pharaoh well God tells him why I've raised you up for this very purpose that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth do you know that's exactly what happened he raised up

[31:19] Pharaoh and Pharaoh hardens himself against he rolls up his sleeves and he creates ten great disasters we call them plagues and it showed how powerful God is and at the Red Sea he divides the waters and lets his people go through and swallows up all the Egyptians he's making a name for himself and everyone far and wide heard about what God had done for his people Israel he raised Pharaoh up for that very purpose he didn't raise him up to display his mercy in Pharaoh he raised him up to show his power and to make a name for himself therefore Paul says in verse 18 therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden that's the definition of sovereignty he does what he wants with all his creatures and again

[32:27] Paul anticipates an objection to God's sovereignty in salvation one of you will say to me he says in verse 19 I can just hear you there's Paul writing this letter he just hears the objections now oh I just mentioned that God raised up Pharaoh to show forth his power not to show mercy to him I can just hear you then one of you will say then why does if everything that happens is according to God's sovereign decree and choice even Pharaoh continuing in his stubborn hardness of heart and sin then how can God hold man responsible how can God blame us we all just do what he has decreed Paul's answer who are you to talk back to God we step back a moment we realize wait a minute that objection that seemed perhaps so innocent is really rebellion against

[33:36] God being sovereign you don't want God to be king in his universe you don't want God to have the say in salvation you want him to be less than king in this matter who are you to talk back to God who are you oh man do you see oh man remember who you are and remember who he is who are you oh man to talk back to God you sinful man to talk back to the holy God you don't talk back to your parents do you kids the only time I had my mouth washed out with soap was when I talked back to my mother once I don't know that I ever did after that you don't talk back to those in authority who are you oh man to talk back to God remember your place he's king you're just a man and it's what

[34:46] God does that is the standard for right and wrong not what you think and feel he ought to do shall what is formed say to him who formed it why have you made me like this does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use people and so so practical here the potter was perhaps a daily sight in the marketplace and you could see the potter at his wheel and there's a lump of clay sitting there and kids he takes a part of that lump of clay that's so gooey and fashionable and he plops it out comes this vase and then he takes the rest of the lump of clay same lump of clay and he plops it on his wheel and he starts to shape it and spin it and he's making a dog bowl that

[35:54] Fido will eat out of and lick and that stuff will sit in there for days perhaps and common use not noble purposes common purposes and no one charges the potter and cries foul he has the right to take some of the lump and make it into the fine vessel for noble use and to take the other part and to make it for common use and Paul says God is the potter and God has chosen to take from the same lump of fallen sinful humanity some sinners and to shape them and to form and to make them vessels in which he displays his mercy so that when you see them you will stand back and say wow isn't God merciful God and he he has chosen to take others of that lump of sinful rebellious humanity and to make them into vessels of wrath so that when you see them at the end of time you will say wow isn't

[37:19] God a God of wrath his wrath is as great as the fear that is due him the psalmist says and God has the potter's rights to take from the rotten lump of sinners and to make whatever vessel he pleases he sovereign he's God what if God choosing to show his wrath and to make his power known bore with great patience the objects of his wrath prepared for destruction what if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy whom he prepared in advance for glory even us whom he also called not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles this whole chapter is not just talking about some Old Testament history about some Jews no it's talking about the church the Israel of God those whom

[38:20] God has chosen not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles all the promises are to be fulfilled in the chosen ones that God has chosen sovereignly as he wills it's talking about us and how we get into the family of God trace it back to its source and you'll find it's the choice of God that's at the bottom the very first cause of all and so God wants to display all aspects of his character God is a great God We've just studied what six seven attributes of God we've got a whole bunch more to go would we just want God to show some of his glory to us should we stop our study of God we really don't care to see the rest no we want to know him we want to know all there is to know about God all that he's revealed to us should the king not have the right to show us justice as well as his grace and love of course he has that right he's

[39:30] God and he's chosen to magnify his mercy by also showing us his wrath you know what makes a diamond sparkle extra bright is when it's set on a black backdrop ever noticed that about jewelry stores there's that dark velvet behind the diamonds there's a reason for that it makes the diamonds shine brighter when it's set against a black dark backdrop God wants the glory of his mercy to be seen for what it is so he doesn't just show mercy alone he shows mercy to some and then he shows his wrath to others so that those who have received mercy will see the glory of his mercy as they see what they deserve do you know that when I stand one day before Jesus Christ and I stand on his right and hear him pronounce to me come you who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world and

[40:34] I look over at folks on his left and I hear him say to them depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels there will be the demonstration of mercy and all of my life my sins against God had me in that crowd only one thing put me in this crowd God was pleased to choose me to send his son to die for me to send his spirit to my heart to give me faith and repentance to flee to Christ and live and mercy will shine brighter in that day against the backdrop of his wrath what if God has so chosen he is sovereign and he's out to make a name for himself and to show how glorious he is well what's your response to the Bible's view of God what is your response then this morning to to this

[41:37] God his sovereignty in salvation perhaps it's a very scary thing to realize for the first time that you're not in control of your eternal salvation that you're not the captain of your destiny that salvation is not in your hip pocket just for the pulling out of any time you please he is an awesome God you ought to stand in awe and fear and tremble before him those are the words of the scripture those are the words of the psalmist tremble before him all the earth why because he's not a puny little God he's the sovereign God of the universe several remarks God's sovereignty and salvation first of all does nothing to undermine man's responsibility to be converted let me state it as clear as I know how if you are lost and go to hell it will be all your fault if you are ever saved and go to heaven it will be all

[42:41] God's fault none can blame God for their damnation your sins your sins are what damn you none can take credit for their salvation salvation is of the Lord who chose to save you no sinner at the judgment will ever say I wanted to be saved but you didn't choose me it's your fault no the reason a sinner wasn't saved is because he didn't want to be saved there's no such thing as a sinner that wants to be saved and God won't let him God didn't choose him you know why you won't be saved my sinner friend it's because you love your sin and you don't want to be saved from your sin!

[43:57] ! run to to to to to Jesus to turn from your sin and to trust in Christ and if you don't do that right now you're rebelling further you're heaping up greater wrath upon yourself you're responsible you're responsible for loving your sin and for showing contempt for God's Savior rather if you've come to see that salvation is of the Lord you must come to him and throw yourself upon him and confess your puny thoughts of him and how you've shown contempt for him as if he's not worthy to live for as if you had a better idea on life confess your sin cry out to him for him to save you it's all my fault that I was lost and it's all God's fault that I'm saved so that's the first thing we need to say about the sovereignty of God and salvation it in no way undermines the responsibility of man to be converted but nor does it undermine the responsibility of man to evangelize the lost it doesn't undermine our responsibility of the saved to tell others how to be saved some say if you believe in the sovereignty of

[45:15] God and salvation well you just won't care a whit about missions and evangelism because God's going to save he'll do it without me or with me doesn't matter well that's not what we hold to and that's not what the Bible teaches!

[45:36] Now maybe you can hold to these doctrines in such a way that your heart is left cold to the lost and you do nothing if so that's a perversion from the doctrine it's not the natural consequence of the doctrine nobody believed in the sovereignty of God and salvation more than the apostle Paul listen to him give his testimony listen to him write theology but what do you have at any sinner about the death of

[46:37] Christ and welcomes them to come to him knowing that if they are one of God's elect they will come but he doesn't know who they are so he preaches to all and offers the gospel that Jesus offers to all come to me all you who are weary much suffering and trial and he says to us in second timothy 2 9 I endure everything for the sake of God's elect that they may to obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory and that's why I'm out here beating the bushes with the gospel that the elect may obtain the salvation that is in Christ with eternal glory well those are the two negatives don't ever let the doctrine of

[47:39] God's sovereignty and salvation make you be passive toward your own salvation or toward that of others but what difference positively should this truth about God make in my life well we must be very brief first of all it should make worshippers out of us it should make us worshippers!

[48:04] you take away awe awe and you've eaten out the heart and core of worship and few things inspire awe as much as the sovereignty of God in salvation does this not give you big thoughts of God do you not stand before this God and treat him as more than a trifle and say this God shatters all the boxes that we could put him in he is beyond us or is it all old hat nothing here to amaze you if you realize the sovereignty of God and salvation one of the seven wonders of the world for you all of your life will be that you're a Christian you're amazed that you're a believer in Jesus Christ that you're safe that you're going to heaven all your sins are forgiven you're pinching yourself can this be true it's me I'm a Christian God who is rich in mercy chose to save me oh it creates awe in worship those who deny this doctrine have no problem with why they're a

[49:21] Christian they know why they're a Christian they exercise their will to choose God and others haven't figured it out or haven't done so yet little wonder little awe in the fact that they're Christians they made a wise decision oh but if we understand the sovereignty of God and salvation we never get over the fact that we're Christian why are you saved my friend you say because I repented of my sin and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and whoever!

[49:52] does that will not perish but have everlasting life and I believed yes you did and why did you ever hear the gospel there are untold millions who are born and live their lives and die without ever hearing of how to be saved!

[50:09] God chose for you to be born in a family in a nation where you would hear the gospel he chose you didn't deserve it it just pleased him to make it so and why when you did hear the gospel did you repent of your sin and believe you loved your sin you loved it more than Christ like the rich young ruler you went away sad every time the gospel was preached because you loved your sin more than Christ how is it that now you've turned from your sin and embraced this Christ you say well guess I was born again the Holy Spirit gave me a new heart and why did the Holy Spirit give you a new heart when many people go through life with the same old Christ rejecting heart well I guess he chose to give me a new heart and why did he choose to give you a new heart and here we must just fall prostrate and worship why for nothing in me his purpose in election must stand not of him that wills but of

[51:34] God that shows mercy I don't know why and so there's this why me in the worship of every believer that understands the sovereignty of God and salvation it puts wonder back into worship where it belongs why was I a guest at the gospel feast why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come why me oh if we understand this doctrine we'll be made worshipers for life we'll we'll praise God that's why these texts on on the sovereignty of God and election and so on are often found in the context of praise and worship and thanksgiving Paul's counting his blessings for which he praises God in the very first thing as he chose me he's giving thanks for the

[52:34] Thessalonians faith why because God chose to save you Romans chapter nine is part of three chapters nine ten and eleven that ends with that doxology now to from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory in Christ Jesus amen you see it's part of praise and doxology and worship this is meant to raise us dear brethren to the heights of praise and thanks it means that on my worst day whatever else is happening to me I always have reason to be thankful when's the last time you said to God your father thank you for choosing me before the creation of the world choosing to send your son to die for my sins to send your spirit to my heart to renew it to give me faith we ought to be having thanksgiving all year long if for nothing else that he chose to save us secondly it should give us great assurance of our final salvation you know my salvation does not rest upon a whimsical decision of the moment that

[53:44] I made and may undo at some time in the future no my final salvation rests upon the sovereign choice of God from all eternity here's a sure foundation for our assurance of salvation that's the very base and the foundation at Paul's assurance in Romans chapter 8 how is he so sure that nothing will be able to separate him from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus because who will bring any charge against God's elect who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen it is God who justifies yes tremendous assurance for those that are the Lord's that they will be saved your salvation rests on God's choice of you from eternity past and thirdly it should make us the humblest people on the planet we shouldn't have to say that but we do don't we our pride rears up even because we understand this doctrine that's a an oxymoron or something that's a no that we should be proud that that he chose us to proud

[55:03] Corinthian believers exalting themselves over one another Paul writes brothers think you stop thinking that's your problem brothers think of what you were when you were called not many of you were wise by human standards not many were influential not many were of noble birth but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong he chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things and it worship only awe only amazement at the mercy of

[56:12]  God in Jesus Christ here's a pride killing doctrine the sovereignty of God in election we must think upon it more until we're lowly and humble in heart even as our Savior Lord thank you for the word of God that corrects our small thoughts of you forgive us Lord that we've ever thought you to be less than what you are that we would ever object to the revelation of yourself that you've been kind to make of us we do confess that we do not sing your praises as we ought if we do not understand the wonder of your grace and mercy so strike our hearts afresh with the wonder of sovereign saving love and draw others to taste and to see just how gracious you are do amen