Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Titus 1:2 | Date: March 8, 2020 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Open your Bibles with me if you will, please. Turn to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. Last week we began this part of the series now. I had done a long series on Sunday mornings on the Bible story of salvation, and now we begin the second part of the series, which itself will be rather lengthy—a huge topic—and that is on the Bible teaching of salvation.

And we saw last time that, well, we began with the question, “What does it mean to be saved? What is salvation?” And of course, there’s a short answer, and there’s a long answer. The short answer, well, salvation is rescue, of course. And that’s right. Then we find in the Bible that salvation is described in a host of different terms. There’s an extensive vocabulary that’s used to describe it, and there are seemingly endless descriptions of all that God has done for us in saving us.

We saw last time that we started with Ephesians chapter 1, and we saw that we can view salvation from a variety of perspectives. Salvation viewed from a Trinitarian perspective—that is, we can analyze salvation from the works of each of the persons of the Godhead: the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We can look at it in terms of just its Christological focus, what Christ has done for us in his saving work. We can look at it in terms of the work of the Spirit. We can look at it in chronological perspective: back at what God has done in the past, what he has accomplished in the present, the present application of it by the Spirit in our experience, and then the future experience of salvation in its culmination.

We saw even that salvation can be spoken of in three different tenses. The biblical writers can say, “I have been saved.” They can also say, “I am being saved.” They can also say, “We shall be saved.” And of course, in each of those expressions, there’s a different sense being emphasized. It is true that we can say with confidence that we have been saved, but in another sense, we have to say we are not yet saved in its culminating aspects, that there’s a future to it that will come in a climactic way in the end at the return of Jesus.

And then we saw then that we can divide that up, I think, most helpfully by looking at these three broad topics that we’ll explore now for the rest of this series. And that is salvation planned, salvation accomplished, and salvation applied.

Salvation Planned

Salvation planned, primarily we read now in the Scriptures the work of God the Father purposing salvation for us.

Salvation Accomplished

Salvation accomplished, primarily speaking now of the work of God the Son, the work of Christ and his death and resurrection, and how he secured our salvation for us.

Salvation Applied

And then finally, salvation applied, primarily the work of the Spirit, applying the work of Christ to us individually and bringing us individually, one by one, into the experience of salvation. Salvation planned. Salvation accomplished. Salvation applied. And then even in its application, salvation applied, there’s a present tense, and there’s a future tense as well. Those are the kinds of things we’ll be looking at.

Today, then, we begin to explore the subject: salvation planned. And to begin with that, I would like—and we’ll be looking at several passages, you’ll want to keep your Bibles handy—but let’s begin with Titus chapter 1, verses 1 and 2.

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we are grateful for this marvelous topic, a topic of central importance in your Word and in our own experience. We pray that you would give us a clearer grasp of it through our studies together. Through that, we pray that you’ll give us a greater appreciation of it, a greater appreciation for your grace to us through Jesus Christ. Make us through this better worshipers and better servants. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Okay then, so we come to the subject of salvation planned. The idea there then is that salvation was not an afterthought. Your salvation, my salvation, your coming to Christ was not an accident. It was not an afterthought. It, in fact, was planned by God himself. That’s what we’ll be looking at.

Now, you’ll want to keep in mind, before we look at several different passages here, some of the leading vocabulary that’s used in this regard. Sometimes we will find the word “promise,” like we have here in verse 2. Sometimes the word is “purpose.” God’s purpose, God’s decree, God’s will. Sometimes you’ll see the technical expressions “elect” or “predestined.” Sometimes we’ll have to deal with this word, “to foreknow,” and what are the implications of that. But all of that is the kinds of vocabulary we’ll be looking at.

But notice how he says it here, first of all, in Titus chapter 1. Verse 2: “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” Notice there’s a promise of salvation, and it was a promise that was made before the ages began. Your salvation and mine is the outworking of a promise that was made by God and it came about in our own experience. Now, many in the Reformed tradition like to look at this and then call it the covenant of redemption. Whether or not it’s a covenant or not, that is the idea that Titus is expressing here, that there is a promise of eternal life before we ever came around. God promised that we would be saved.

Now that, in a nutshell, says it all. But of course, because I’m a preacher, it’s going to take me longer to say it than just that. So let’s look at some other passages. Here we have it that there’s a promise made in eternity past, and that promise came to fulfillment when we were saved. Look back at Romans chapter 8. And this is a passage I’m sure we’ll be back to several times in this series, because Paul deals with so much of it there. Verses 28 to 30:

“We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Notice that expression, called. Now we’re gonna have to deal with the doctrine of divine calling later on in the series, but when God, to use Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians 1, called us into the fellowship of his son, that calling us into the experience of salvation, he tells us here, was the outworking of his purpose. For those who are called according to his purpose, for those”—and here he explains further—”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. Those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified.”

So we have here, as it’s been called so many times, a chain of five different links. What is the purpose of God in its outworking in our experience? Well, one, he foreknew. Two, he predestined. Three, he called. Four, he justified. Five, he glorified. All of this is the outworking of God’s purpose for us. In a nutshell, what is God’s saving purpose? From eternity past to eternity future, he foreknew, he predestined, in time he called us into the fellowship with Christ, calling us to faith, we believe, we’re justified, and having been justified, eventually we’ll experience glorification at all in its fullness. So here we have again the idea of God’s purpose, that salvation is the outworking of a divine purpose.

Now we’ll be doing some more in Romans chapter eight later on another time, so let’s move on. 2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9: “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” Okay, so again we have the calling language here, the initial step of our experience of salvation. God calls us and his calling of us was not the result of anything about us. He specifies here that our calling was because of his own purpose and grace. Now this is jumping ahead of ourselves a little bit, but already you can see this puts a lie to the idea that God looks ahead and sees who’s going to believe and on that basis he chooses and so on. That’s not what he says here. He says the opposite. He says all of this experience of salvation is because of his own purpose and grace. And in fact, it was a purpose that was given us in Christ before we were ever around, before the ages.

All right, again, 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter 1 beginning with verse 18: “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.” Again, we have here speaking of the work of Christ. The saving work of Christ was something foreknown before the foundation of the world. So the creation of the world had something to do with the outworking of God’s eternal purpose to save a people for himself through this death of Jesus. All of that’s bound up here. Salvation is the outworking of a divine purpose.

Then again, Ephesians chapter 1 that I mentioned earlier. Ephesians chapter 1. Now since I’m hurrying through many verses, let’s just look at verses 3 to 6, and then 9 through 11. Ephesians 1, 3 through 6, and then 9 through 11:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.” And then he begins to enumerate those blessings. “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in heaven and things in earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

Now the idea of purpose here, God’s saving purpose, just dominates in this passage. In verse 5, verse 9, and verse 11 as well, you have the idea of purpose stated explicitly. Verse 5: “predestined according to the purpose of his will.” Verse 9: “making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose.” And then verse 11: “predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” So this idea of purpose is just dominant in this passage that salvation is the outworking of a divine plan. Verse 10 speaks of the plan for the fullness of times, or in some of your translations, the “dispensation of the fullness of times,” or something like that. The idea is that God has a plan of salvation that will culminate in the end in Christ with a great gathering of redeemed, just as it was purposed and planned, fulfilled in the end as the climactic purpose of the ages.

Verse 4, this was a plan that was devised before the foundation of the world. And here, one of the contributions of this passage is that this purpose language is explicitly linked to the technical terminology of election and predestination. Verse 4: “chosen before the foundation of the world”—there’s elect before the foundation of the world, which is the same as verse 5—”predestined according to the purpose of his will.” You see the parallel of thought. So we’re chosen before the foundation of the world, repeating the same kind of idea, verse 5, predestined according to the purpose of his will. So God has a purpose that he is working out, and it results in the salvation of those who are saved.

Now, that helps us at this point already then to define what is the doctrine of election. We’ll get into that more fully another time, but already we can see salvation is linked to the outworking of God’s purpose to save. I think I’ve told you this before. It’s been a long time, but maybe some of you will remember it. If you do, please be patient. I have a pastor friend who came home from church one Sunday afternoon. He lived in the South. Neighbors were believers. They went to a different church. Coming home from church one Sunday afternoon, the neighbor stopped him out in the driveway and said, “Heard that you guys preach the doctrine of election at that church.” “Yes, we do.” “What does it mean? What’s the doctrine of election?” Okay, you’ve got, you know, 30 seconds here in the driveway. How do you get into this? I thought his answer was brilliant. He said, “Well, are you saved?” And the woman said, “Yes.” He said, “When you got saved, do you think that was an accident? Or do you think God did that on purpose?” She thought for a second, “Well, I guess he did that on purpose.” He said, “That’s the doctrine of election.” That’s exactly it. He saves, and he saves on purpose. And that’s exactly what these passages are telling us, that our salvation is an outworking of a divine purpose. He chose whom he would save in time. He brings them to faith, and he saves them. Or, in the language of Titus chapter 1 that we read earlier, “eternal life promised before the world began.”

There’s another expression of this. Let’s back up again now. Romans chapter 11. Now in Romans 9 through 11, Paul is taking up this grand theme of God’s purpose of the ages and whom he will save, what it will look like in the end, and so on. And I don’t want to get into all of that, but notice the expression in verse 5: “So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” At this point he’s dealing with the question of what about Israel? This is a big question for the Apostle Paul. He has just gotten through telling us that God saves and you can rely on his promise to save and all of that. The question comes up, what about Israel? It was promised that Israel would be saved and here they’re losing out and the gospel is going to the Gentiles and Israel largely is on unbelief. What about that? That’s a problem. And Paul answers that in several different ways through this passage. But notice what he says here. His answer is, in part, there’s a remnant. So he hasn’t abandoned Israel altogether. There’s a remnant who believe. But notice how he describes that remnant. It is a remnant chosen by grace. Or, if you have other translations, I think that actually the King James is closest to the original that I can find here of any of the modern translations, “according to the election of grace,” a remnant according to the election of grace. So why is there a remnant of believers in Israel? Why isn’t all of Israel an unbelief? Why are there some? Answer: because God chose. And in keeping with his election of grace, they are saved.

All right, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 4 and 5: “For we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you.” Now that’s an interesting statement. “We know that you’re the elect. We know that God has chosen you.” How do you know that, Paul? Verse 5: “because our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” I know you’re the elect because when the gospel was preached to you, it came powerfully by the Spirit of God bringing you to faith. And there’s the mark of your election. But again here you see this is the outworking of God’s purpose. And here the language used is that of election. “We know that you’re chosen.” How do I know you’re chosen? There’s an E stamped on my forehead? “Elect”? No, I know you’re chosen because in fact when the gospel was preached you believed.

Look at 2 Thessalonians, just over a couple of pages. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14: “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you.” Let me just stop and make a comment there. Has that ever informed your prayer life? An interesting little sidelight here. We notice something about Paul’s prayer life. When he prays for the Thessalonian believers, he says, “Lord, thank you for choosing them.” Well, he says, “God, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, beloved, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth. To this salvation he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here he wraps up so much in just a tiny verse. God chose you and I give thanks for that. And he tells us then that he made that election come to fruition by the sanctifying work of the Spirit setting you apart to him so that as a result you believe—that’s belief of the truth—and he calls you to all of that by means of the gospel that was preached to you so that in the end you will obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of this is the outworking of God’s purpose.

Now you can see what I’m doing here is I’m giving you the background of the doctrine of election and predestination without much having to use that terminology. It’s just that salvation is the outworking of a divine purpose. Or if you want to speak in terms of election, God chose you and he brought it powerfully to realization in your conversion when you heard the gospel.

Let’s look at another one here. Look at James chapter 2. James chapter 2 verse 5: “Listen, my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?” Notice that phrase at the beginning: “God chose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith.” Those who are saved, are saved as the result of God’s choice. He chose them. And the fact that, broadly speaking, most Christians are not among the world’s elite, but poor, is due to the fact that that’s whom God chose. Now, we’ll see that again in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where Paul makes a big deal out of that, where he says, in effect, God didn’t want this thing muddied up and confused. If God chose a bunch of rich people and influential and mighty government leaders and all of it—if he chose a lot of people like that—well, then this thing would get a little murky. People would think in order to be a Christian, you got to be somebody. And God doesn’t want to share his glory like that. And so he chooses the weak and the poor and the nobodies as a rule so that in the end everyone has to say he’s the one who did it. And all of that, he says here, is the outworking of God’s choice.

All right, now let’s look and see how Luke narrates that in the first spread of the gospel in Acts. Here we have Luke’s record for us, a narrative of the initial spread of the gospel after Jesus’ ascension. Now here, I’ll not take time to look up a number of these verses, but let me give you the broad setting in this regard in the book of Acts. He narrates for us, particularly in the latter part of the book, especially Paul’s missionary work, as the gospel spread from region to region. And I think if you’ve read Acts even a couple of times, this will ring a bell for you, that often Luke will stop and give kind of a summary of what’s been happening. 3,000 souls believed. 2,000 people. Many people came to faith. And we have those kinds of groupings at the end of a certain part of a missionary journey. Luke will stop and say, “This many people came and were saved. This many people heard the word. And the word of God grew and was multiplied.” And you hear these kind of summary statements narrating for us the advance of the gospel through the book of Acts.

Now and then in the book of Acts, we find the same thing said, but in these times, it’s from this heaven perspective. That is from this broad perspective of God working out his purpose. So look at Acts chapter 13. Here Paul and Barnabas have come from Antioch in Pisidia. Many have been saved, but notice how Luke says it in verse 48: “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.” You see how Luke sees this advance of the gospel? That God’s purpose is right on schedule. Every one of them that God chose, as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Not one was left behind. God’s purpose is being fulfilled in the salvation of all of these individuals, in this case the Gentiles, hearing the gospel, and it is the outworking of a divine purpose.

Now we have that again in Acts chapter 18. Now we have some background to this given to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 2, where Paul tells us when he went to Corinth he went with fear and trembling. You can imagine this is a wicked pagan city. This isn’t just your average wicked pagan city. This is Corinth, and it’s known for its wickedness. And Paul says, “I came with fear and trembling, bringing the gospel. Who am I to come to a city like this? What can I accomplish?” It’s that kind of thought. What in the world am I supposed to accomplish coming here, bringing the gospel for the first time? Well, he goes and he preaches, and that’s the early verses of Acts chapter 18. But then look at verses 9 and 10: “The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but go in, speaking, and do not be silent. Why? Why should you not be afraid? Go in confidently. Why? Because I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you. Why? Because I have many in this city who are my people.'”

Now keep in mind, there’s not a believer in Corinth yet. The gospel hasn’t gone there yet. And yet God says to Paul, “Go in there, and I’m going to make sure that you’re kept safe.” And can I just paraphrase it this way? “I have a lot of elect in that city that have still yet to come to faith, and they have to hear the gospel that you have to preach. I have many people in that city. Go preach and bring them in.” Well, that is in effect what Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 2, I think in verse 10, where he says, “I endure all things for the elect’s sake.” I go in with the gospel and expect it to work because God has a saving purpose that will be accomplished.

Now, one more bulk of passages to look at. Look at the Gospel of John. One of the really dominant themes in the Gospel of John is the saving mission of the Son. That Christ came to save and in fact his coming to save was a mission of the Son that was given to the Son by the Father. The Father sends the Son, he comes on the saving mission and accomplishes it. So what we have in a nutshell—I’ll give you this up front and then we’ll look at some passages that bear this out—the Father chooses a people whom he will save. “I have many people in this city.” He chooses a people whom he will save. “My sheep.” We’ll see that language. He chooses a people whom he will save. He gives those people to his Son. “Here, they’re yours.” He sends the Son on the saving mission, “Go save them.” The Son accepts the mission willingly and says, “I’ll go save them.” And he comes on this mission to save them and accomplishes their redemption.

Now, let’s see if what I’ve just said is what we find in the Gospel of John. Look at John chapter 6. Let’s look at verses 37 and following. This is a marvelous passage. Jesus has fed the 5,000 with a boy’s lunch. They’re doing the math. “Let’s make him king.” If he can do that with some loaves and fishes and multiply it that much, let’s give him a spear, a couple of swords and shields, and he can equip an army. And they want to make him king. And Jesus has to argue with him, “You’re completely misunderstanding why I came. Let’s deal with first things first.” And he says—let’s pick it up with verse 35:

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 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.'”

So the Jews grumbled about him because he said, “I’m the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 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 written in the prophets, ‘and they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.”

Well, here we have Jesus saying, in the face of complete rejection—seemingly complete rejection—as he offers himself as the bread of life, he says in verses 36 and 37, “You won’t come, but my gospel mission will not meet with failure.” Why? Verse 37: “because all that the Father gives me will come.” The Father has given me a people and they might not come, they will come. No one else can—and we’re going to get into the doctrine of depravity next week to see the background of this—no one can come to me except the Father draw him, but that’s exactly what he will do. All that he has given me will come because the Father will do just that. He will teach them and bring them in faith to Christ.

I think that’s just as explicit as it can possibly be, but Jesus in chapter 10 does the same thing again. John 10, look at verses 11 and following:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Now keep a note on the sheep here and ask yourself, who are the sheep? I’ll start again. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not the shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he’s the hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 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’ll be one flock and one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Now skip down to verse 24. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you’re the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me. But you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

Okay, here he speaks of those who are given to him, but here he calls them his sheep. And “my sheep will come. You won’t. Tell us if you’re the Christ. I’ve told you. You’ve seen my miracles. There’s plenty of evidence. You won’t believe.” But he says, verse 27, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” Notice, we are not sheep, according to this passage—we are not sheep because we’re saved. We’re saved because we’re sheep. You see that? The sheep were given. Precisely because they’re his sheep, they will hear his voice and they will come. Now, “I have other sheep,” he says, “that are not of this Jewish fold. I’ve got Gentiles to come gather worldwide and they’ll all come and there’ll be one flock, one shepherd.” But it’s my sheep that I have come to save. Again, we see it. Our salvation, every one of us individually, is the outworking of a divine purpose. If you are a believer, it is because the Father gave you to his Son and the Son came and accomplished your redemption and in time you heard and followed and believed.

One more, John chapter 17. It’s almost wrong to spend only a couple of minutes like this on some of these passages. But I want you to see how pervasive this idea of God’s saving purpose is. John chapter 17. Let’s look at verse—well, this is Christ’s high priestly prayer just the night before his crucifixion. Let’s begin with verse one:

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life’—to whom?—’to all you have given to him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.'”

Look at verse 6: “I have manifested your name to the people you have given me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” Verse 8: “I have given them the words that you gave me. They have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I’m not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” Drop down to verse 20: “I do not ask for these only, but for those who will believe in me through their word.” And then verse 24: “Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Again, there’s a people for whom Jesus has come. He has come to accomplish their salvation, and here in his high priestly prayer, he even prays explicitly, exclusively, not for the world, but for those whom the Father had given him. And Jesus goes to the cross with his chosen ones on his mind, and goes to bear the curse of their sin. The whole point of all of this is that the saving mission of the Son was accomplished initially at the bidding of the Father, and the Son comes as an outworking of that eternal purpose. And so we find expressions like: they are the ones who are loved. They are the ones who were chosen. They are the ones who were given. And so to them and for them, Jesus was sent. And they are the ones who then in turn are called. They are the ones in turn who are saved. And they are the ones who are preserved. And in verse 24, they are the ones who will be with him in his glory in the end.

If you would like just one other verse, turn back a page. John chapter 15 and verse 16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” Now how do we understand that? Did you choose Jesus? This—alert—this is a trick question. Did you choose Jesus? Well, on one level, you have to say, “Well, yeah, I surrendered to Jesus. I asked him to save me in some sense.” That’s my choosing. Did the disciples choose Jesus? Well, on some level, you have to say, yes, of course they did. And what we have here then is what’s sometimes called a comparative negative. It’s not absolute denial. It’s a comparative negative. And what he’s saying here then, obviously, is: it is not your choice of me that resulted in my choice of you. It is my choice of you that determined your choice of me. If you said yes, if you said “I surrender,” if you said “Lord save me,” all of that traces back to the fact that he chose you first.

Now there’s a downside to the doctrine of election, verse 19: “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but you’re not of the world. But I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” There’s a downside to election. I’ve made you mine because you’re mine. They think of you just like they think of me. But you see again, the determining difference between you and the person of the world is a choice that God made. Christ has made us his.

Well, all of this then to give these, in the broadest scope, some clarity to this idea in the Bible that is so prominent: that salvation is ultimately due to a plan of God. We were not saved by accident. Your conversion may have been—and I suspect with most every one of you, if not every one of you—your conversion may have been a surprising thing to you. What I assure you is no surprise to God. This is the outworking of his purpose from eternity past, bringing it to our experience individually, one by one. And this whole age then is marked by that, that Christ has ascended, he has poured out his Spirit, and his Spirit has come to bear witness of Christ to convict of sin, to unite us with Christ, to bring us to faith, and to make us his. And all of that is the outworking of his eternal purpose. And this ought to mark our prayer life every day. God, thank you not just for saving me. Thank you when you looked ahead and saw me in my rebellion. Despite myself, you chose to save me. Amen.

Let’s stand and be dismissed in prayer. Pastor Greg, would you pray for us, please?

We do pray that you would make this a simple worship, a devotion to God, an intention, a kind of literary knowing that you have surrounded us with people like my children, as we are, and yet not yet joined. We are using our richness and our point in time to present to them the gospel and to strengthen their hearts. We pray that you will continue to reflect this series as we meet day one. I’d also be grateful to you, Mitch, and the instructors of the World Guide concerning higher salvation and its cause. Our plan of salvation is now designed to bring forth the good side and great blessings to us. We ask this of you.