Undeserved Favor (Gen. 12:1-9)

Sylvania College and Career (4/3/2011)

Intro:

We’re still in Gen. 12:1-9 this week. As we travel through Genesis, we’ve been asking: What does it tell us about God? What does it tell us about man? What is it calling on us to do?

Today we’re going to look at the question of why God called Abram and not Terah? Why Abram and not Nahor, his brother, or Lot? We’ve seen this issue before, but the question is crystallized for really the first time in stark contrast here.

What was different about Abram so that God chose him instead of Terah?

If you were to ask the average Christian what he thought of election, you would receive replies such as; “I believe in it”, “that is not taught in the Bible”, “What election are you talking about?” and “I always vote Republican.” By all accounts it is one of the most controversial doctrines in the repertory of theology. It is fervently loved by some and hated by others. (Dr. Curt Daniel)

This is not some ivory tower egg-head issue that guys who like to show how smart they are debate over wine and cheese. This issue has real-world application. [How I came to wrestle with the doctrine of election]

Every Christian believes in some sort of election. The Bible speaks of it very clearly, so we have to deal with it.

I. Only Evil Continually

Assessment of the heart of man before the flood?

⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)

Assessment of the heart of man after the flood?

²¹ And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. (Genesis 8:21)

It would have been perfectly just for God to leave man in his sin and to have shown no mercy to any of us. God was under no obligation to save anyone. We see a clear example of this with fallen angels. Did Jesus die to save any of the fallen angels? Can the Devil be saved from his enmity with God?

¹⁶ For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:16)

God could have chosen to save all men. He has the power and authority to do so. God could have chosen to save none. He saved none of the fallen angels. Instead He chose to save some and pass over others, leaving them to the thoughts of their hearts that are only evil continually.

II. The Doctrine Defined

The doctrine of election declares that God, before the foundation of the world, chose certain individuals from among the fallen members of Adam’s race to be the objects of His undeserved favor. A portion out of the whole lump of clay.

III. The Fact of God’s Sovereignty

We start with the biblical understanding that God is sovereign. What does that mean? We say that often, but have you thought about what that means?

¹⁸ The Lord will reign forever and ever.” (Exodus 15:18)

¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. ¹² Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12)

⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶ and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. (2 Chronicles 20:5-6)

²⁸ For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. (Psalm 22:28)

Scripture tells us that God exercises His sovereignty in actively planning and executing everything.

¹¹ The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:11)

³ Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)

²⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, (Isaiah 14:24)

⁷ I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

³⁹ “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. (Deuteronomy 32:39)

Now, how many of us focused on “I kill…I wound…” and not “I make alive…I heal…”?

How often do we gripe about where was God when the plane went down, or the accident happened that killed an entire family, and fail to thank Him for the millions of times that the plane lands safely and the car arrives to its destination? Who are we to judge God’s use of His sovereignty?

IV. The Language of God’s Freedom

We can’t escape the language of God’s freedom of choice when words like “elect”, “chooses”, “predestines”, “foreordains” are used.

Angels

²¹ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. (1 Timothy 5:21)

His special people, Israel

¹⁴ Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. (Deuteronomy 10:14-15)

Each individual who ultimately believes in Christ

¹³ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

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 abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:16)

Each individual who rejects Christ

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21)

When was this hardening? Before Moses ever went to Egypt. And here is where the rub is – that doesn’t seem fair. By charging God with unfairness in this, we fail to see that all men deserve to be cast aside and judged. But, that’s what mercy is – giving someone that which they do not deserve. Is God unjust in not saving Satan? Of course not. Then He was certainly just in not choosing all men.

John Bunyan once said, “The least of mercies are not deserved by the best of sinners.”

V. Election Applied

So what are some effects of this doctrine? What should be the effect?

Assurance. Your salvation does not depend on you ultimately. The idea that God writes your name in the Book of Life, but you can blot it out is nonsense. The gifts and callings of God are without revocation or repentance.

¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (2 Peter 1:10)

You don’t have to wait until you get to heaven to know that you are predestined to be saved. Not every Christian has this assurance. Some of us have to fight for it quite regularly. But it is possible to gain it and is a high blessing when received. How can we know?

a. Nobody is elect of God who does not believe the Gospel. All those who believe are saved. (2 Thess. 2:13 links faith in the truth with election) Look to the good news of Christ crucified for your assurance.

b. Has your life changed? Do you find yourself increasingly growing in the fruit of the Spirit? (John 13:35 – know you’re my disciples if you have love for one another)

c. Internal testimony of the Spirit.

¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13)

¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:16)

⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

Humility.

Tendency to look on those who don’t hold to a reformed understanding of this doctrine with contempt. What is wrong with them that they can’t see what is plainly written in Scripture?

Seriously? If that is your attitude then you don’t get this doctrine. Knowledge that our salvation is solely by the grace of God humbles our pride. (Eph. 2:8-9) “No man may boast”, even those who get it intellectually. We’re not saved by our deep understanding of reformed theology. We’re saved by trusting in Christ alone. If we’re asked about this doctrine, we better approach it and present it with broken humility or just pass on talking about it because we don’t get it yet.

We should not judge the depth of another’s Christianity by how many pedals of the TULIP they have dangling above their heads. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are not bucks to be measured by whether they are a 4-pointer or a 5-pointer. We’re all in process here, trying to come to a clearer understanding of the great God we serve.

VI. God does not view election in a sterile, cold light and neither should we

[Eph. 1:3-14, 2:1-10] Why Abram instead of Terah? Because He loved Abram, to the praise of His glorious grace.