Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Ten Reasons You Need Unconditional Election

Transcript

Ten Reasons You Need Unconditional Election · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Unconditional election. Isn't this just a dry doctrine for eggheads to discuss and debate.
• 0:10
  No, it's not. We all need this doctrine unconditional election. And
• 0:15
  that's why unconditional election is a theme we've studied a dozen times on the podcast
• 0:19
  over the years. It's this precious fact that God's choice of one person and
• 0:24
  not others is not based on any good deeds or any bad deeds in the
• 0:30
  persons themselves. Let me say that again, God's choice of one person and
• 0:36
  not others is not based on any good deeds or any bad deeds in the
• 0:41
  persons themselves. God chooses his children unconditionally. That's unconditional election. But what
• 0:50
  practical value does such a doctrine hold for my life? That's chases question today.
• 0:55
  Pastor John, Hello and thank you for this podcast. My question is
• 0:58
  this, Can you tell me why believing in unconditional election matters? Isn't this
• 1:03
  doctrine nitpicking and divisive more than edifying? Yes it matters. No, it
• 1:11
  is not nitpicking. Yes, it could be divisive, but that's not the
• 1:18
  fault of the doctrine. It's the fault of the human heart. And yes,
• 1:23
  it is edifying. So let me give ten reasons to answer Chase's question.
• 1:30
  Doesn't matter now what we mean by unconditional election. You could use the
• 1:38
  words see election if election has political sounds to you. Is God's free,
• 1:48
  gracious choice before creation of who it is that He will give faith and repentance
• 1:57
  to, and thus pardon their sin adopt them into His everlasting family. An
• 2:06
  election or a selection not based on anything. Not anything in us, not
• 2:15
  foreseen faith, not good works, not parentage, not national origin or race
• 2:22
  or ethnicity, religious ritual like baptism or the Lord's supper. God's selection is
• 2:30
  unconditional, based only on his all wise good pleasure, or, as Ephesian
• 2:37
  says, the counsel of his will. So, just like you can pack
• 2:43
  an adam bomb into a very small missile, let me pack ten reasons that
• 2:51
  unconditional election matters into ten minutes. Number one, it matters because it's true.
• 3:00
  It's what the Bible teaches Roman's nine eleven. Though Jacob and he Saw
• 3:04
  were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, they admit
• 3:08
  no conditions in order that God's purpose of election might stand unconditionally. I added
• 3:15
  that word, but that's implied not because of works. But because of God
• 3:22
  who calls Rebecca was told the older will serve the younger if he's in Schapter
• 3:27
  one, verse four. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
• 3:31
  world. Jesus said, all that the Father gives me will come to me.
• 3:38
  Yours they were, and you gave them to me John seventeen. They
• 3:45
  were the fathers, and he gave them to Jesus. Number two, It
• 3:50
  matters because the aim of unconditional election is that we are destined for eternal joy
• 3:57
  and praise of the glory of the grace of God. That's our destiny.
• 4:02
  Grace is the very meaning of unconditional election. God's free, gracious choice,
• 4:11
  not our qualifications, and the whole design of election is to get joy for
• 4:19
  our souls and praise for God's grace. If he's one six, he chose
• 4:26
  us in him before the foundation of the world, unto the praise of the
• 4:31
  glory of His grace. That's the whole design of unconditional election. Grace,
• 4:40
  grace, glorious grace will be praised forever. Number three, It matters because
• 4:46
  it humbles our proud hearts. First Corinthians one twenty seven. God chose what
• 4:51
  is foolish in the world. God chose what is weak in the world.
• 4:56
  God chose what is low and despised in the world, that no human being
• 5:01
  might boast in the presence of God. God gets praise. We get humbled
• 5:09
  by unconditional election. Number four. It matters because it makes clear that our
• 5:15
  faith is a gift of God, a gift of grace that follows election rather
• 5:20
  than grounding its thirteen forty eight. The Gentiles began rejoicing and glorifying the word
• 5:28
  of the Lord. And as many as were appointed, that is chosen,
• 5:32
  elected, as many as were appointed to eternal life believed they believed because they
• 5:39
  were appointed, no one can boast that he originated his own believing, and
• 5:45
  so one his election. No as many as were chosen, as many as
• 5:50
  were chosen, appointed, elected, believed they believed. Faith is a gift
• 5:57
  rooted in the eternal unconditional election of God. Number five. It matters because
• 6:03
  it secures the reality that no one can successfully bring any charge against us Romans
• 6:10
  eight thirty one, What then shall we say to these things? If God
• 6:14
  is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare
• 6:17
  his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he
• 6:21
  not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge
• 6:28
  against God's elect Let me say that again, who shall bring any charge against
• 6:34
  God's elect? And the answer is nobody. God's chosen are secure from all
• 6:42
  accusation. Number six, It matters because it is the deepest ground of our
• 6:47
  own compassion for other people. Paul calls for compassion from Christians like this in
• 6:56
  Collossians three twelve. Put on then as God's chosen, once elect, once
• 7:03
  holy and loved, compassionate hearts. Precisely because we are aware of being freely,
• 7:13
  graciously, undeservedly chosen, owing to nothing in ourselves, are we moved
• 7:20
  to treat others the way we've been treated. Number seven. Despair at being
• 7:28
  unsavable is torpedoed by the doctrine of unconditional election. If a person says to
• 7:35
  me in my office as a pastor, pastor, I'm just too evil to
• 7:41
  be saved. God could never never set his favor on me. You don't
• 7:46
  know what I've done. What I have done is also terrible to that person.
• 7:51
  We can say God did not choose anybody because of what they had done
• 7:59
  or not done. Your history of sin is absolutely irrelevant for the question whether
• 8:07
  you can be one of God's chosen ones. God's choice was unconditional. Absolutely
• 8:15
  The only question is will you believe. If you will believe, you will
• 8:20
  be saved and you will confirm your election before the foundation of the world.
• 8:28
  Number eight. Unconditional election matters because it puts an end to racism among God's
• 8:35
  people when they grasp what it means. Racism is rooted in a sense of
• 8:41
  ethnic or racial superiority. God ignores all such conditions and chooses his people from
• 8:48
  every ethnicity, and unconditionally he chooses them. Peter wrote, you are a
• 8:54
  chosen race, a holy nation. Christianity is a new race of people.
• 9:03
  No others, no other races, no other ethnicities, are the basis of
• 9:07
  belonging. He ransom people from every tribe, every tongue, every people,
• 9:13
  every nation. He stops the mouth of all ethnic boasting by choosing unconditionally.
• 9:20
  Number nine, It matters because we can know we are chosen with all the
• 9:26
  blessings that implies. First Thessalonians one four. We know brothers, We know
• 9:33
  brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you because our gospel came to
• 9:39
  you, not only in word, but also in power and the Holy Spirit,
• 9:43
  and with full conviction and number ten. Finally, it matters because God
• 9:48
  shapes all of history for the sake of his elect to make sure that we
• 9:56
  come safely home into His presence. He controls the world. Jesus said about
• 10:01
  the end of history. Now I think it applies to all of history in
• 10:07
  principle. He said this, If those days had not been cut short,
• 10:13
  no human being would be saved. But for the sake of his elect those
• 10:20
  days will be cut short. Matthew twenty two. So Chase, in answer
• 10:26
  to your question, yes it matters. It matters a lot, and the
• 10:33
  church would be stronger if pastors fed their people on this rich food for our
• 10:41
  faith. And then yes, it's meant to strengthen the saints. Think of
• 10:45
  bestor John and speaking of God choosing the foolish. God gets the praise,
• 10:50
  we get humbled by unconditional election. Amen, But why does he choose the
• 10:54
  foolish when he could get a lot more done in this world if he saved
• 10:58
  the brilliant and the innovative and the famous. Remember that was apj nineteen sixty
• 11:03
  five, two weeks back. It's related to this one If you miss that,
• 11:07
  you can go back and find it in your podcast feed. APJ nineteen
• 11:11
  sixty five on why God uses the foolish in this world. Thank you,
• 11:16
  Pastor John, and thank you for joining us today. If you want to
• 11:20
  ask Pastor John, email your question to us that asks Pastor John at Desiring
• 11:24
  God dot org. I'm your host, Sunny Rankie. We'll see you Thursday,