the facts of election

The text is among the thorniest of all Scripture. I can tell you, we definitely didn’t memorize this verse in Bible memory camp.

The verse comes from Romans 9:12. “She was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’

It is a bitter pill to swallow. Does God really hate people? Does He really choose some people, and not others? But we must remember that God’s hatred is perfectly just. It is not like human hatred, full of emotion and self-preservation, anger and fear.

On the other hand, it is even more AMAZING that He loved Jacob.

Jacob…the deceiver.

Jacob, who was always trying to strike a bargain.

Jacob, who didn’t believe God’s promise to him and tried to wrestle him to get the blessing.

Charles Spurgeon has an excellent exposition on this, which everyone should read. My takeaways all come from this sermon.

1. Election is a fact, because God’s Word says it is so

2. God’s love of Jacob was a fact of free, unmerited grace

3. God’s hatred of Esau was based on Esau’s own sinful choices

But today I will just be talking about the first point, and that is the fact of election.

(Whew. Some of you are already done with me! We must all remember to have grace.)

But election is a fact. I don’t say that because it’s my own opinion. I say that because on every page of the Bible, God’s election is shouting at us from the rooftops. Let me give some other examples throughout history:

• God chose Abraham to be the patriarch of His family, even though Abraham was a pagan

• God chose Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, even though Moses was a murderer

• God chose many judges to judge His people and He didn’t choose others, even though some of them (like Sampson) did not have great track records

• He chose Saul to be the first king over Israel, even though Saul was from the least important clan of the least important tribe of Israel

• He chose David to make a covenant with, that a descendant of David would always be on the throne of Israel, even though David was a murder and an adulterer

These were all elected (chosen) by God to do good works that would bring Him the most glory.

We must also remember, when a person is chosen, that means by default that other people are not chosen. Abraham was chosen, not Lot. David was chosen, not any of his 7 brothers. Even Job was chosen to be the recipient of great evil that God allowed in his life. It wasn’t any of Job’s 3 friends that were chosen (and thank God for that!) but Job was chosen to bring God the most glory.

If we’re being honest, we can see the facts of election as reality in our everyday life. For one thing, you and I woke up this morning in different places. Is that our choice, or God’s doing? Yes. For another thing, you and I have different vocations. Is this because we went to different schools, or because God ordained and directed our lives that way? Yes. Both God’s election and man’s free will are facts. How can this be true? I don’t have an answer. All I know is what the Bible says, and those are facts I can stand on. And the facts are, that God chooses some people and not others.

But that doesn’t mean we wallow in nihilism, thinking “well, God has it all planned out already, so I don’t have to do anything” NO!!! It means we have GREAT freedoms to do all that God has called us to do, to walk in the works that He has prepared in advance for us to do! What a great privilege! We should all be AMAZED at the fact that we have been chosen, that God chose to set his love on us since before the foundations of the world were laid.

The beautiful mornings I get to spend with God remind me of these facts. I get to spend my mornings in prayer, meditation and reading of God’s Word. The desire to do this is a GIFT that God Himself has placed inside me.

Like David, I ask God to “Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61).

“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” Romans 9:14-16

The Prayer of Jehoshophat

There is a beautiful story in 2 Chronicles 20 about a king from Judah named Jehoshaphat.

The king and the people of Jerusalem are being invaded by an enemy army, a “great multitude from beyond the sea.”

2 Chronicles 20:3 says: “Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.”

He then goes into the temple and prays this prayer to God.

“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. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land. before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?…

“And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgement on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

After Jehoshaphat prays this beautiful, faith-filled prayer, one of the prophets of Judah says:

“Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them…You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’”

Verse 18 says: “Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, of the Koathites and the Korathites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.”

I just love that last little line. They praised God with a very loud voice!

This beautiful pattern of prayer is something that I think we can still look at as we pray today.

1. Glorify God for Who He Is, and what He has done.

2. Admit our need for Him. Admit the futility of our own efforts.

3. Wait for the Lord to act. Take courage. See the salvation of the Lord on our behalf!

4. Worship. Praise the Lord with a very loud voice!

Romans 8:26 says:

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do now know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

How beautiful it is that God’s people today have the Holy Spirit within us, who cries out to God the Father on our behalf! Even when we are facing the enemy of sin and darkness, the “great horde”, we can rest in the peace of knowing that the battle is the Lord’s. He fights for us on our behalf, and the victory over sin and death has already been won through the shed blood of Jesus!

As a result, we can sing to the Lord with a very loud voice, with great freedom because of the victory that has already been won as we “stand, and see the salvation of the Lord” on our behalf today!

horns of iron

“And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’ And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph. The LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”

It’s so cool how the Bible is always relevant to everyday life.

In 2 Chronicles 18, there is a story about the wicked King Ahab of Israel. He decides to go conquer the king of Syria, so he rallies 400 prophets to “seek the Lord” and ask whether he was will be successful in battle. Yes, yes, they all assure him. Yes, you will surely be successful! Go into battle, and God will give you the victory!

But there’s one prophet who stands alone. Micaiah tells King Ahab that if he goes into battle, he will die, and Israel will be scattered.

King Ahab scoffs at him. He says, basically, “Why do you have to be such a Debbie Downer? Why can’t you be positive and make my life easy, like everyone else? Why can’t you just be agreeable?”

You see, King Ahab really did not want to hear or discern what God was saying to him. That is why he consulted 400 false prophets, so that they could tell him exactly what he wanted to hear. He wanted God to bless his plans, rather than listening and discerning what God wanted him to do.

And don’t we do this all the time?

Instead of going to God’s Word for answers, I find myself consulting approximately 400 other people in my life. “Should I do this, or that? Am I being too much of this, or not enough of that?”

While there’s nothing wrong with getting wise counsel — the Bible actually commands us to do that (see Proverbs and wisdom literature) — there is something wrong when we look to other people to tell us who we are. The truth of God’s word says that if you are in Christ, your life is hidden with him! What an amazing promise. We don’t need to seek out the opinions of everybody we know. We can rest in Him, believe His promises, and walk in obedience to His word by faith.

Romans 8:16-17 says:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

A whole book could be written about this verse, but what I want to point out is that for those of us who are in Christ, we are fellow heirs with Jesus. We have received every spiritual blessing through Jesus Christ, and we are God’s adopted children! However, it’s interesting to note the rest of the verse: “…provided we suffer with him.” I think we are tempted, like King Ahab, to take the easy route; the people-pleasing route; to go along our comfortable way and choose the path of least resistance. And sometimes, maybe that works. But more often, I think we’re called to do the hard things. Obedience can be hard. Especially when it goes against something that YOU really want to do. Especially when it goes against what EVERYONE ELSE is telling you to do.

So what happened to King Ahab? I guess he did believe the one true prophet, at least a little bit, because when he went into battle, he disguised himself to look like a regular soldier instead of a king. (It’s funny how we think we can outrun God, isn’t it?)

But Micaiah, the one true prophet who went against the 400 false prophets, was right. The enemy, the king of Syria, won the battle, and a “stray arrow” pierced King Ahab between his armor. King Ahab died, and the Israelites were defeated. Because he listened to the false prophets, and because he went against the true Word of God, King Ahab paid the price with his life.

We can’t outrun God, and we can’t outrun His will for our lives. But I take great heart in knowing that as an adopted daughter of the King, I am an heiress to a fortune much, much greater than anything I can imagine. And I have something much more valuable than “horns of iron” to fight my everyday battles. I have the Holy Spirit of God in me, and the Word of God to guide me!

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:15

according to the Spirit

Is the Holy Spirit both more known, and yet more mysterious, than we can imagine? 

When I went to Casa Bernabe this year, it really moved me, emotionally and spiritually, to see the kids at the orphanage, and to see all that the staff at Casa Bernabe were doing to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, providing for their physical and spiritual needs. I was certain God wanted me to move to Guatemala and start working at the orphanage right away! I thought that my emotional reaction was the Holy Spirit was showing me the direction that my life should take. (It wasn’t.)

In Romans 8:1-2, Paul talks about the Holy Spirit.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

What is the “Spirit of life” that Paul is referencing? It’s the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who have been in perfect community since before the beginning of time (see Genesis 1:1).

But who is the Holy Spirit? Sometimes we think about the Holy Spirit as this mysterious, woo-woo being. In one sense, yes, He is totally supernatural, and works sometimes in mysterious ways. But in another sense, I think the Holy Spirit wants to do a work within us that is very known. Simply put, He exists to glorify Jesus and to make us more like Jesus. He wants to do a work of death and resurrection in every area of our lives (see Romans 6).

God says, in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (KJV) 

Because God is always working for our good and for his Glory (Romans 8:28), we can be certain of “what” the Holy Spirit is doing, though we may not always recognize the who, when and how. Sometimes, God doesn't reveal that to us until later — or sometimes He doesn’t reveal it at all. And that’s actually a gift, because in His mercy, He keeps us from the temptation to boast over what we’ve done.

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4

What is the gospel?

In our church, we have been going through the book of Romans this year. I have to admit that I struggle with the concept of alien imputed righteousness. A wise woman of the faith told me that the unfairness I feel about being disqualified to run the race, is the same amount of unfairness of my sin being imputed upon Jesus. That really made me think. If being disqualified from the race before it even started was unfair, then how much more Jesus felt, with alien sin being imputed upon Him from the whole world. :(

I recently went through our partnership class at church, which also gave me some much-needed material to answer some of my questions. This is from the Westminster Confession of Faith: 

“Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptations of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. They being the root of mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by original generation.”

From Psalm 51: 

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” 

After taking the partnership class at my church, I tried to write down the gospel in my own words. This is just my best (imperfect) effort.

I am a sinner who has deeply offended the One True God. Because He is Holy and Righteous and True, I cannot stand before Him on any merit of my own. The only way to be made right with God is through the alien imputed righteousness of Christ, which is the rightness and holiness and perfection of Jesus declared over me. Jesus Christ died on a cross, was buried in a tomb, and rose on the third day by the power of God, and now sits at the right hand of the Father always living to make intercession for me. 

I am clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and I am not my own; I was bought with a price. “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of me, and I have been given every spiritual blessing from above. 

I walk by faith, not by sight, yet knowing that someday I will see God. When I stand before Him to give an account of my life, the only thing I will have to say for myself is that Jesus paid it all for me. 

In this life and in the next, the only thing I have is Jesus.