Sovereign Election

(Article for publication week of 8-11-2010 AD)

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you..." (John 15:16a). In this text our Lord reminded His disciples that they had not chosen Him, but rather He had made choice of them. It is a good thing that God chose us, for we would never have chosen Him. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked and we cannot know them. No man has ever sought the Lord, until the Lord sought him.

That the Bible teaches the doctrine of election, no Bible reader can deny. A few of the many passages that teach the doctrine of election are Psalm 65:4; John 6:37; Romans 9:11; Romans 11:5; I Corinthians 1:27; I Thessalonians 1:4; II Thessalonians 2:13; Ephesians 1:4; I Peter 1:2; and I Peter 2:9. Lord willing, we will consider these passages in coming articles, but I just ask you, if you have never heard of the doctrine of election, or if you have refused to believe it, please look up, and prayerfully read these references.

Salvation is God's choice, not man's. God is absolutely sovereign, and He has the right and the power to do with His Own as wills. This is a fact that you need to face- you belong to a sovereign God Who is able to save and He is able to damn. You need to face the solemn fact that God is not obligated to you. You need to humble yourself under His mighty hand and acknowledge His sovereign power over you. You need to admit that you do not have any "rights". You have squandered your birthright by leaving the Father's house.

No one has any reason to be opposed to the truth of election. Christians have no reason to oppose this Biblical truth, for it was God's choice that made you one of His Own. You would never have chosen the Lord, had He not first chosen you. It is grace alone that causes the Christian to differ from other sinners. Each of us who now believe in Christ for our salvation was once lost, and we could never have found our way to God had He not rescued us by marvelous grace. We once were blind, but God opened our eyes to behold the King in His beauty and see the land that is very far off. And why did God open your eyes and not the eyes of others who are yet in spiritual blindness? Why, the only answer is, it was His sovereign pleasure so to do! God could have left you lost and blind, but by sovereign grace He sought you out, for He had from the beginning chosen you to salvation and ordained all the means to bring you to faith in His Son. If you are a Christian, it is all of grace.

Nor do the unsaved have any reason to oppose the truth of election. You say yourself that you do not want Christ. You love your sin and do not want to be holy. It is your own depravity and rebellion that keeps you from repenting of your sins and fleeing to Christ. You want God to leave you as you are, and that is exactly what He has done. So you who are lost have no reason to complain if God has not chosen you, for you do not want to be chosen of Him.

The doctrine of election exalts God and abases man. The doctrine of election is a Biblical truth that cannot be denied. The doctrine of election should be embraced by all, and should be preached from every pulpit. Thank God for His sovereign election.