old man joe
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 Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:44 pm Post subject: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world... Ep |
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the wonderful doctrine of Sovereign grace as God's only means to
saving sinners through Jesus Christ is explained by Paul in a way that
only the hardened hearts of Christianity can miss.
in just 3 simple words the Apostle begins his discourse on what he
means when he says " Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ " .... " who has blessed us "... in the preceding verse.
Paul knew quite well that " salvation is of the Lord " ( Ps. 3:8 )
as the Psalmist so aptly put it, and by personal revelation to Paul as
Apostle to the Gentiles, he dissects the doctrine of Sovereign grace
so that his hearers for all generations present and future would give
praise unto God, just as the Apostle has in verse 3, and not praise
themselves through ' will worship '.
Paul explains succinctly ( verse 4 ) that " He chose us " which
mirror's the words of Jesus who says " You did not choose Me, but I
chose you " Joh. 15:16
that there can never be a boast in the mouth of those who think they
are saved by their ' free will ' as they chose Christ... Paul explains
that God not only did the choosing, but He did it before He ever
framed the universe.
this speaks to God's foreknowledge as well as to His magnificent
power to predestine all of history to the good of His elect and to the
praise of His glory.
foreknowledge is not post-knowledge as the Arminian Universalist
Evangelical's suppose. such is the result of exegesis based on the
boast of free will... taking credit from God and heaping it on self
instead.
God's choosing who will be saved resides solely in " His purpose "
( verse 11 ) to show His " kind intention " towards those whom He
chose to save, and not on some good work foreseen in the creature as a
cause moving Him there onto.
that would be salvation by works... which excludes grace...
" salvation is of the Lord "... " He chose us "... " you have not
chosen Me, but I chose you "
that Christ is the " Author " of the salvation of His elect ones
( Heb. 12:2 ) excludes the notion that " there's a lot of blood out
there... Christ died for everyone...all you have to do is accept Him "
this idea stems from a Gnostic belief that Christ died for all men
even though not all are saved... as though unbelief is the only
condemning sin, which is not... Rev. 21:8 for example.
this idea also seeks to say that God is not Sovereign nor omnipotent
and that Christs sacrifice has no power to save unless man applies his
magic free will to it... man, as co-redeemer. It's not hard to see
where this doctrine of demons comes from... nor those who follow it.
this choice of God resides in the secret council of His own
purpose. it is not given to man to save man because " salvation is of
the Lord "... God does the choosing, apart from works... " He chose us
in Himself "... so that the thankfulness which follows genuine
pardoning of sin would go to the Lord God and not be found in the
mouth of boastful men who've masterminded their own salvation through
will worship.
as the Apostle teaches " I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave
the increase. " 1Co 3:6
' free will ', to be something necessary to salvation, would
consistently have to be shown in Scripture when sinners are being
saved by God. but it is not.
rather, God has so framed every salvation event illustrated in
Scripture to show that " salvation is of the Lord "...
at least these 4 Bible men were described to have been called to
Christ for the express purpose of God to be the objects of His love
and Sovereign grace in salvation :
these are Jacob; David; Jeremiah and John the Baptist.
all 4 were fetuses in their mothers womb when God applied the
atoning blood of Christ to them and pardoned their sin... they were
all elected without ' free will ' to accept or reject... no boast
possible... no forcing man to do something he doesn't want to do.
why ? because there is no such thing as free will. being in the
snare of the devil at his will means all of unsaved man is his slaves.
and will remain so unless God, of His free will, chooses to grace them
with pardon and eternal life.
the dead human spirit hears only the god of the spiritually dead.
he does not hear the things of God, for such is foolishness to him.
but when the Living God gives him a living human spirit, indwelling
him with His Holy Spirit, he is translated from the kingdom of Satan
to the Kingdom of His dear Son.
the choice to save him is God's choice... not man's. " He chose us "
Eph. 1:4
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