For His Good Pleasure

I was moved to teach on the doxology and the benedictions first of all because of what they mean to me in my own devotional life.

I turned to them in my own private meditations for refocus for worship for self-examination for building up of faith and then as a result of that, I've been looking for opportunities to teach them to our church because I believe they aid to people of God in looking up and seeing the greatness of God in the succinct statements of blessing and/or doxology that are memorable and meaningful. We take them for granted but they are there for blessing, blessing and praise by HB Charles Junior visit Lincoln here.org/teaching series to learn more today on Renewing Your Mind. If God chooses some people to be objects of his saving grace does not give that same blessing. That same favor to other people. Doesn't that just screen the idea that somehow God is arbitrary or capricious or whimsical.

Many Christians will say they believe in the sovereignty of God, but unwillingly they deny it by refusing to see God's sovereignty and salvation. The objections are new. The apostle Paul addressed them head on. In his letters as we continue Dr. RC Sproul series on predestination today we will learn why God gives grace to some and not to others.

When we began our study of the doctrine of predestination and election. You will recall that I started by turning to the pages of Paul's letter to the Ephesians because the word predestination is used, thereby the apostle and I explained at that time that if we are going to take the Bible seriously. We have to have some doctrine of predestination because the idea of predestination was invented by Calvin or Luther Augustine. It's a New Testament word and it's a New Testament concept but as we been struggling with the question why does God select certain people and not others.

Why is it that some people receive his grace, while other people are receiving his justice we've seen. I hope that nobody in this format receives injustice at the hands of God and that God's mercy or grace is always his sovereign privilege to bestow.

According to however he sees fit, or for whatever reason he's inclined to do, but I want to move back now.

To that beginning chapter of Ephesians. To explore this idea of why God gives grace to some and not others. What's the reason for Paul's already told us that it's not based on anything that we do. It's not based on our running or are willing or are doing anything, but it is based purely on the purpose of God, and let's see what Paul says again in the first chapter of Ephesians. Let's look again at verse three of chapter 1 of Ephesians. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined, there's the world, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved again. What's the purpose of this is to demonstrate the glory of the graciousness of God that what is being made manifest because it was by this grace that he made us accepted in the beloved. And then we read on verse seven in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will, again according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself and in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are nurse in him and then finally in him.

Also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory and our friends. I really don't see how the apostle could make this any more clear. I am really befuddled by why controversies over the sovereignty of grace continue on and on and on in the history of the church that I have to go back to my own experience my own life where I thought this for so many years, but I don't think that this is an obscure idea.

See how Paul could spell it out with any greater clarity than he does here in Ephesians and later in Romans. But again, the question is, God chooses some people to be objects of his saving grace does not give that same blessing. That same favor to other people and if the reason for his selecting some to receive this tremendous benefit, and others not to get it to be excluded from it. Doesn't that just screen the idea that somehow God is arbitrary or capricious or whimsical they may be not unjust, but he certainly seems to be arbitrary here. No, let me address that question and I don't want to just play word games with you. Let's take a moment to define what we mean by the term arbitrary for capriciousness for being whimsical. A person who is arbitrary does what they do without any reason. I just do it.

Yes and why did some no reason prison did it on a whim's matter of caprice that we don't have a lot of respect for capricious people who do things for no reason.

Effectively really do it for no reason. They belong in the institution because that would be a kind of insanity now are we going to attribute to God that kind of un-virtuous or vicious behavior that he is arbitrary and capricious. All sums they will you have to scroll because you have been laboring the point that God chooses people for no reasons, foreseen or otherwise and then. And that's true.

We are laboring to say that the reason why you are chosen by God in no way rests in you. There's no reason that God could find.

Looking in me to save me as her unless he finds some kind of merit or righteousness in me that I have in greater abundance and other people in our right back to salvation by works and back to legalism. Mona we say clearly that his grace is given not for any reason in us, but the fact that there is no reason in me does not mean there is no reason behind God's action in what the Bible is saying as loudly. On the one hand is that it says that the reason for our election is not in us does not mean that God is being whimsical and capricious and arbitrary because it repeats over and over again that God has a reason for doing this.

Then there are couple of words that recur in this regard, one is not counsel of God's will know this is not CO UNC IL that is a counsel that is a group of people that deliberate in a meeting is a panel discussion but COU and asked EL which has to do with the wisdom or plan or thought processes of God. The very word counsel suggests intelligence and an intelligent reason for acting. God never wills apart from his own counsel. A person who is completely arbitrary has no counsel. Thanks. No counsel listens to know counsel does it. So the very word counsel should alert us that the biblical idea here of God's sovereign grace is rooted in the wisdom of God in his own thought which is perfect is not irrational, but it is eminently rational, far from arbitrary. Another word that is used again and again with respect to predestination and election in the Bible is the word purpose the word purpose in the Greek we use the word tell us some of you may be students of philosophy and know that philosophy studies several different subdivisions of thought. One is metaphysics. One is cosmology. Another one is epistemology. Another was ethics.

One of the subdivisions of the study philosophy is the science of teleology.

Teleology comes from the Greek word, tell us which means and purpose or goal. Some of you heard of the various arguments for the existence of God. The cosmological argument reasons from the world the cosmos back to its creator to God. One of the persistent classical arguments for the existence of God was called the teleological argument for the existence of God, namely, that the universe as we know it exhibits a certain orderliness a certain design a certain symmetry to it that suggests an intelligent planner to it and so on, so that the word tell. Loss has to do with ends for goals for if you will purpose somebody that does something completely arbitrarily does it for no purpose now far from God's election being purpose lasts.

The New Testament makes it clear that there is a divine purpose in God's electing grace and the purposes that are mentioned are first of all to make manifest the riches of his grace to display his mercy.

That is to reveal something about his marvelous character, which his grace certainly does that makes manifest his awesome marvelous beautiful mercy. There's also another purpose and that is the purpose of honoring Christ.

Remember the promise to Christ that he would see the travail of his soul and be satisfied the old Palladian view. Had Jesus dying on the cross, hoping that somebody would take advantage of it and be saved. I said I'll do the work of atonement, but it's up to you to determine your destiny and in that schema, it would be theoretically possible that Christ could have died completely in vain that no one would ever have responded positively to the gospel and Christ would've died, and not been the firstborn of many brethren. But according to the determinant counsel of God. God determine from the foundation of the world that the cross of Jesus Christ would yield its appointed fruit, and that Christ would see the travail of his pain and suffering of his death and be satisfied. Notice that when the New Testament speaks of election and of predestination. It always speaks of our being electric for chosen in the beloved in Christ. People asked me or say why are you saved and somebody else isn't again will explore the question later on even more fully when I look into my own heart my own soul and look at my own life.

I cannot give any satisfying answer as to why God would bother to save a wretch like me. I wish we really believe the words of amazing grace. I wish we would properly be amazed by the grace of God. But what really amazes us is his justice. We take his grace for granite so I say we we changed Henry Higgins song just a little bit and something I've grown accustomed to his grace that had we assume it and after we assume it would begin to presume upon it and as I said the bill needs to go off in her head. When we think that we deserve grace I can't think of any reason NRC scroll while RC Sproul has been as a brand snatched from the fire God determined to treat me simply according to his justice. As David said if the Lord marked iniquities who would stand. I wouldn't stand. The only way I can ever in the kingdom or anybody get in the kingdom is through the sovereign grace of God and by that grace alone. Soul Grazie. It was the theme of the Reformation by grace and by grace alone. Now the only reason that I can find in the New Testament for anybody's being a Christian is. So God the father can bestow his glory and his love and affection on God the son only reason were redeemed, ultimately, is not because of our value because of the value of Christ and that God is gracious to me in order to reward one who does deserve a reward. Even his only begotten son so you see the strange intersection. There are grace and justice. It is just that Christ should receive an inheritance and we are that inheritance that we are that inheritance is grace for us justice for Christ. Now that's the purpose and the new peasants is why does God elect why does he choose us that the purpose of God according to grace might stand, but we do everything in our power to knock that standing grace over and get rid of this doctrine from our thinking. But it was God's purpose that we understand the graciousness of grace and that we allow it to stand in the word bowl to proclaim it in the life of the church among God's people melt. The other thing I want to call attention to that. I read over rather quickly. Here in Ephesians is in verse five, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to me just stop there.

According to what does that phrase mean according to it means on the basis of this, not according to our foreseeing work for our merit or our righteousness or are running or are willing or are believing or are anything the basis of election is according to this text according to the good pleasure of his will, which he purposed in himself. Now let's talk about that phrase for mom back to arbitrariness. I do something that seems to be arbitrary and capricious and say why did you do that lesson well hello I just did it because I like it. Well, that's a reason for doing it is not to do it because you like it, but we would call that a kind of capriciousness when sickle is when people to do what they want to do without any regard for what is right there doing their own pleasure, doing it because it's pleasing to the no this is one answer.

The Bible gives to the why of election that the why of election is according to the pleasure of God. God chooses to be gracious to some people because he takes pleasure in being gracious to some people and not to everybody and that God finds election pleasing to himself that's okay. Now the cats out of the bag now God is more to a diabolically capricious and arbitrary because this bowl game that he plays choosing some and rejecting others, saving some and damning others is just a divine comedy for God. It is getting his jollies no and again we have a tendency to darken counsel without knowledge and come perilously close to blasphemy. The Holy Spirit at this point if we missed one word in the text that God does this. Choosing and electing according to what kind of pleasure.

According to the good pleasure of his will that word makes all the difference in the world folks because there's no such thing as bad pleasure of God's will. God does not take pleasure in evil.

We take pleasure in evil fact, that's why we sin because it's so pleasurable to us for more pleasurable, we wouldn't be enticed to it or tempted by it, but there is no evil will and God. The only thing that is ever please God's goodness and the only pleasure that he's ever had is a good pleasure. And the only purpose of these overhead is a good purpose.

So let us never ever suggest that in the mystery of his grace that he is whimsical, capricious, or arbitrary in the just because the reason for our salvation does not rest in us does not mean it's unreasonable. Irrational for that God is without purpose. Counsel for goodness what a wonderful thought, God is not arbitrary. He was quite intentional and setting his love on us ungrateful that that my salvation does not rest and be rests on God alone the message we just heard is from Dr. RC Sproul series on predestination.

We think it's a series that will help you grow in your knowledge of God's sovereignty and as a result help you grow in your worship of God wearing just a portion of the series this week but we be happy to send you all 10 lessons, one for CDs for your donation of any amount to look at her ministries.

This is an online offer only today so go to Renewing Your Mind.org theologian Laure Beckner wrote about this doctrine of election.

He said there is in fact no single member of this fallen race who is not treated by his maker better than he deserves. And since Grace's favor shown to the undeserving. God has the sovereign right to bestow more grace upon one subject, then upon another RC series this week is helping us gain perspective on this much debated topic. I hope you'll contact us and request his full series that is titled simply predestination. You can request it with your gift of any amount by going to Renewing Your Mind.org well before we go today. Here is Dr. Strohl with a final thought for us. Sometimes this difficult doctrine of election. It's very easy doesn't. How hard is it for us to imagine that what is pleasing to God is always good and that his purposes are always good and for whatever reason he grants mercy to some and not others has to be good. That's not hard is it what is hard is to conceive of an evil pleasure in God or in arbitrary action of God to imagine your sovereign creator doing anything without purpose or doing anything without taking into account his own omniscience. His own infinite knowledge his own perfect understanding of all things.

Sure, sure, mystery remains, then it will be there as we look through a glass darkly, but this isn't a mystery at this point we know, and I think we understand that God is not arbitrary and that God does not act without a purpose or that God does anything and just for on righteous.

It's just that we don't always like God's decisions. We don't always agree with the counsel of God, and sometimes I caught myself saying to myself self, if I were God I would do this or that and not to stop myself in my tracks and say wait a minute what arrogant thought, and on the other hand isn't a good thing that I'm not things would be a lot worse of it may seem to be now in this world. Well, when we talk about salvation in the church today. Many assume that God has done. 99% of the work and that even though the center's part is only 1%. That 1% is the decisive factor. I hope you'll join us tomorrow as RC explains that if God is responsible for 100% of the work, there's no salvation at all is Wednesday on Renewing Your Mind