Welcome to the Further Gospel Podcast where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple, Spotify, and those of you enjoying this on our video podcast on YouTube. If you haven't already, be sure to click that subscribe button and you'll get all of our content for free. Couple other reminders if you haven't already gotten the chance to order or read my latest book, Knowing the Spirit, we've been getting some feedback from folks and they've said it's been helpful, it's been practical. And one of the exciting things is for the gospel has a store now. So if you click on store on our webpage for thegospel.org and you look, you'll actually see the book. And I want you to know when you buy the book on Amazon or other retailers, that's great. That lets them know that they should keep carrying the book. And there's some weird false teachers on those platforms, so it's actually helpful when you buy there too. 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And I want to sharpen you, I want you to assess what I say through the Bible, but I want to dig into what is typically called the doctrine of election or the idea that God is actively involved in saving his people. And salvation is the single most important event that will ever take place in your life and my life as a believer. Everything else flows from that transformation after we believe the gospel. So we should understand or at least seek to know what the Bible has to say about God's will and salvation. None of this is meant to stir up debate. It's actually meant to encourage you, and I think it will. So to help you and I understand and relish this, I want to take us to Ephesians chapter one, and I'm gonna unpack verses three through six. Maybe you want to hit pause and grab your Bible, or I've got some notes here that I'm gonna walk you through. If you just want to listen and let these soak into your mind and your heart, that's great too. But Ephesians chapter one, verses three through six unpacks the will of God and the greatest blessing and really blessings, plural, that you will ever receive if you're a true Christian. To set this up, I want you to get Ephesians 1, 3 deep down into your soul. So let's start there. Ephesians 1, verse 3, the first part, 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. The word blessed, it's from a Greek word that we get our word eulogy from. It means to speak well of. And the Ephesians are to see that it's God who's worthy of praise, not because of the material blessings he gives, but most of all for the spiritual blessings that he gives. So when we're talking about God's will and salvation, this perspective is so key. Verse one of, or sorry, yeah, verse one or verse three of chapter one in Ephesians is so key that we have been blessed. That's important. At a time when the people of Ephesus lived in the shadow of the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world, the blessings of the goddess were evidenced by her jaw-dropping temple, the confidence of her cult. They thought if they worship her, they're going to be blessed. And it's not unreasonable to think that the Ephesian Christians, similar to people today, may have been intimidated at times or even tempted to insecurity because their blessings did not seem as impressive or as materialized as the world around them. Maybe you feel that way. We all can at times, kind of looking at the world and thinking, it seems like the way they live and the way they do things actually materializes more. And my blessings don't seem very tangible. So Paul references the heavenly places, and all of this is to get their eyes off material things that people possess in this world and point them towards what God has in store for them in heaven. You say, how does all this relate to God's will? Well, it's not just a few spiritual blessings. He says, every spiritual blessing. It's a phrase linked to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and it includes everything we need for what lasts beyond this life. God has blessed us according to his will. The word blessed means to bestow special favor upon something or someone. That means God looks at you as a believer with special favor. And that's a great comfort, not only to the original audience, the Ephesians, but to us today, who again would feel like outsiders in the world. The blessings we have in Christ remind us that we actually have what this world needs, not the other way around. So we're to be thinking that way. Our perspective should be higher, and we should be thinking about the blessings we have and God's will towards us as believers. Colossians 3, verses 1 to 3 says it this way. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is. He's seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So if you're a believer and maybe you find yourself distracted, not thinking about God's will, maybe you find yourself tempted with the lures of this world. The way to win the battle and the way to understand God's will is to change the way you think about his blessings from material to spiritual. You need to dwell on the heavenly above the earthly. And only then can you fully appreciate your identity in Christ and then you praise Christ that his will includes your spiritual blessings. Why do you think we start there? Because we need that perspective to know God, if I'm a believer, God has favored me, he has called me, he loves me, he is for me. That's not a gospel that's all about you. That's just the truth that you, even though you don't have the quote unquote things that this world does or appears to have, oh, you have everything you need. Some Christians will argue, you know, you don't understand. I'm frustrated and I'm having a hard time seeing God's will in my life, or knowing God's will, or I'm having a hard time praising God. You know, he's not giving me what I want. He's not doing what I need. Oh, you've got your eyes on the wrong things. Uh no, he may not be doing what you want according to the temptations or the patterns of this world, but he's given you what you need. So Christians with a praise problem, having a difficult time thanking God, Christians with an issue of appreciating or knowing God's will or thinking and dwelling on God's will have a perspective problem, you've got your eyes on all the wrong things. God's greatest blessings are spiritual, and it is his will that the believer receive and thrive in those spiritual blessings. Paul begins to list those spiritual blessings in this passage. He keeps it up all the way through verse 14. And to really help you understand God's will and salvation and the great blessing that it is and help your perspective shift heavenward, I want to focus on the blessing of being chosen. Or again, what's commonly described as the doctrine of election. You may not agree with this or be versed in it, but no matter what, I want you to hear me out here. God's will includes the active and intentional calling of his children to salvation. His will is 100% involved in that blessing. Paul begins with this in the letter because it gives the ultimate assurance to the Ephesians that they are seen, they are loved, they are known, and they are intentionally saved by God according to his will. So that's why we start there. The first primary point I want you to understand from the text is that God's love and kindness is made known through election. The doctrine of election should not be some heated debate. It actually should be something that causes all of us to think about his love and his kindness. In verses four and five, it says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. You cannot do a series on God's will. We cannot talk about God's will without talking about the doctrine of election. The word chose here, it means to select something with significant preference. God chose you before the world even began. He wasn't reluctant. You being saved is not accidental. You don't just get into his favor or into heaven by the skin of your teeth. That word kindness also translates good pleasure. So we could think it was God's pleasure to save me. It was his pleasure to make me and you blameless. The word means without blemish and holy, which is dedicated and consecrated and separated to live for him. So God doesn't just save you, it's his will also that you be sanctified. And that is a blessing. Why? Because I don't know about you, but I need all the help I can get. I need God to save me. I can't save myself. And I need his power to sanctify me because I can't sanctify myself. Now, the result of God choosing us is that we get saved and sanctified, but the heart behind it is that phrase, in love he predestined. I don't want you to miss that. God's love is manifested in his choosing ahead of time. He predestined. That means we were marked beforehand by God to be saved. And there's an implication here that God didn't look down the tunnel of time and see you choose him. So he decided, okay, I'll choose him or her. That actually makes you the initiator and you the one in control of his decision. And that contradicts this text. In contrast to the conditional favor of the finicky gods that were in the Ephesian culture. The one true God didn't love them and didn't choose them because of them, but despite them, he's the God who loves and saves believers unconditionally. And so I want you to understand that when we're thinking about God's will, what a humbling thing that he would predestine, that he would choose us. It is open theism. It's a very dangerous doctrine. It's a blasphemous idea to say that God looked and saw that I would choose him, so he chose me. It puts us in the driver's seat. And we aren't. We're, well, I don't even want to call us the passenger. We're in the back. We're dead in sin. And he says, Come on, I'm saving you, I'm putting you in, and I'm going to take you where I've purposed you to go. The doctrine of adoption as well comes into light here in that he predestined us to adoption as sons. You could say sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. Adopted children are chosen and loved. And legal adoption puts them on equal footing with any other child. That's what God has done. His will was to offer his son Jesus as the legal, satisfactory payment for sin. Jesus, according to the will of God, took the wrath and judgment of the Father to provide the righteousness needed for guilty and separated sinners to become sons and daughters. God knew exactly what he was doing. I want you to think about that today if you're a believer. That God's will in salvation isn't, you know, oh, I hope they pick me. No way. He picked you. He initiated the entire process. He planned the whole thing. The doctrine of election is taught across the whole of Scripture that God elects believers to be saved. It should not be controversial, but people tend to get caught up in hypotheticals. And so I want to unpack maybe two truths that God's word gives us that maybe help you or someone you know who gets caught up in the hypotheticals. Truth number one that helps us sift through some of the rebuttals. Number one, God lovingly and rightly desires all men to be saved, and he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Some people say, oh, so if God elected the believer to be saved, he just must love sending people to hell. No, 1 Timothy 2.4 says, God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. You have God's expression or God's will of desire. It's different than God's will of decree. In Ephesians, or in Ezekiel 18, 23, and then verse 32, we see that God actually has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The prophet Ezekiel declares, have I any pleasure? Of course, he's speaking for God, so it's Yahweh talking, in the death of the wicked. How have I any pleasure in that? declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live. God's will of desire is certainly that all men would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That doesn't mean that he has decreed all men to be saved. If he did, all men would be saved, because God's decree cannot be undone. Truth number two, God lovingly and rightly chose whom he will save, and he takes great pleasure in doing so through his son Jesus Christ. John chapter 6, verses 37 to 39, and then verse 43 says this, it's Jesus talking, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me, but raise it up on the last day. Can we just meditate on that for a second? And this is the will of him who sent me. That's Jesus. That's the will of God. The will of God that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me. Do you realize that when people believe that you can lose your salvation, they're in direct contradiction to what Jesus said in verse 39. This is the will of God, he says, that I will lose none of what he's given me. No one's will can supersede God's will. He is going to save his people, and he's going to keep his people saved. In verse 43, Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. He knew that they were having a hard time with this. He said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I'll raise him up on the last day. There are some realities that people wrestle with in light of this truth. Reality number one, some people may take time to understand the doctrine of election because it's a divine concept. Isaiah 55, 9 says, My ways are above your ways, my thoughts are above your thoughts. We as human beings are really wrestling with the doctrine of election at times because it is a divine concept. So understand, if you're wrestling, you're not alone. Second, we've never been taught. We've not been taught on the doctrine of election. Or someone misspoke or said, Oh, that's just some hyper-Calvinism, or they'll use some label. That's not helpful either. Third, we have a low view of the sovereignty of God. That's part of this reality. Some people just don't understand the doctrine of election because they have a very low view of the sovereignty of God. Like God would never be loving if he just chose. It's our choice. Well, no, you have a low view of the sovereignty of God. He's the ruler of all things, including those who will be saved. And then, you know, maybe we have a wrestling match with this because, like Job, we demand that God do what we think is best. In Job chapter 38 through 40, he offers his thoughts. Job does. God responds. I think at times we do that. Well, that's not fair. Well, why didn't God save this person? Or why doesn't he save this person right now? But reality, too, on the other side of that, is we can embrace the doctrine of election. Number one, because the Bible teaches it. Number two, because it proves why some reject obvious truth. Whenever you think, why won't that person accept the truth? Well, because the Lord hasn't opened their eyes. He is the God of salvation. Third, we can embrace the doctrine of election because it doesn't change our mission on earth to evangelize all. God is in charge of election. God is in charge, according to his will, of who will be saved. Listen, you and I don't decide who. You and I, we evangelize all. So I'm going to preach the gospel to everyone. I'm not going to sit around and say, well, God's sovereign, he's in charge of election, so I don't need to evangelize. No, we evangelize everyone. God determines the harvest. Also, you and I can embrace the doctrine of election because it doesn't change God's nature. He's loving, he's good, he's right, he's just in all of his decrees. And then 2 Timothy 2.19 reminds us only God knows who the elect are. So we can embrace that because he's in charge. What do we have a job to do? Evangelize. I want to give you seven implications of the doctrine of election. So if this is God's will, that he saves his people. First, an implication. We've looked at this already. I'll just mention it briefly. It is God's sovereign prerogative. That's one of the implications here. If we believe this doctrine to be true and we embrace what the Bible says, Romans 9, verses 14 to 24 is a great section. I would encourage you, I'll say it again. Romans 9, verses 14 to 24. Go read that. Maybe hit pause and look at it. It is God's sovereign prerogative. He declares that he is the right over the clay. The potter, he's got sovereign prerogative to do as he pleases. Number two, another implication means salvation is not merit-based. Nothing you do made you get saved, except for by grace through faith. But you didn't make God save you. You didn't do anything to be chosen. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not as a result of works. No one can boast. You didn't do anything to be chosen. Your merits are meaningless to save you from sin. Only Jesus, the perfect one, could accomplish the work of saving you and I as lost sinners. So that implication removes any idea that there is a merit-based system that can save you. Third, from Episode 1, humility, that's an implication. Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 5 says, But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. When you remember, and I remember that we were dead in sin, dead people can't raise themselves, and that we didn't save ourselves, now it's only by mercy that we're saved. How can we not be more humble? We aren't all that. And so people often say, well, you know, this doctrine of election is very prideful, very arrogant. You know, we think we're something because we've been chosen by God or we've been saved. No, no, no, no, you never think of it that way. In fact, people who believe the doctrines of grace, people who believe in the doctrine of election, being scriptural, and I believe it is, we should be the most evangelistic and the most humble. Why? Oh, if he could choose to save me and choose to save you, oh, he he could save anyone. Jesus said in John 10, I have more sheep, I must bring them. So we should be more humble than ever. Uh fourth, it's a comfort. Romans 8, verse 31 to 39. One of the implications of the doctrine of election is this comfort in that text where we see whom God has predestined to save will never be separated from his love. You can be comforted that he chose to save you. You're gonna stay saved. I've heard it said this way if you could lose your salvation, you would. God doesn't lose his sheep. Take comfort when he's called you, justified you, foreknown you, predestined you, made you one of his kids, his children, you're not going anywhere. Fifth, another implication motivation to preach the gospel. Matthew 22, verse 14 says, Many are called, few are chosen. So look, we call all to be saved. Even if few are chosen, even if it's a narrow road, I'm never gonna stop preaching the gospel. The gospel must go out to many. I think of this implication as well, motivation to preach the gospel. In light of 1 Peter 2, 9 through 10. Look at the contrast here. Listen to this contrast between election and evangelism, and how the two are actually in tandem. But you are a chosen race, Peter says. That's the doctrine of election all over the place. Why, though? That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into marvelous light. So is Is the doctrine of election the catalyst for our arrogance and spiritual pride? No way. You are a chosen race, you are a royal priesthood, you're a holy nation, you are a people for his own possession. Why? So you can go out and proclaim, he called me out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Notice where the focus goes. All on him. Once you were not a people, verse 10. Now you're God's people. Once you had not received mercy, now you have received mercy. Look, we know God is going to save his people, but we don't know who they are. We don't go around saying, like, hey, you look like a good one to share the gospel with, but you, you're kind of messy or you're sinful. You don't. You must be the elect. No way. We evangelize all, knowing that God will save some, knowing we'll be rejected, knowing at times we'll be persecuted, knowing that it's a narrow road. It's not a wide path that leads into glory. God is sovereign over salvation. I, I'm responsible to share the gospel. Romans 10 17 is helpful here. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. So how are people saved? If God is sovereign over salvation, well, the same way we all got saved. Somebody proclaims the gospel, we hear it, we are saved, and we realize, wow, you saved me. And then we go out and proclaim his excellencies to the world. Next, another implication, holiness. If we are the chosen people of God, if we have been saved, if we've been called, if he's the great initiator, well, think of Colossians 3, verses 12 to 13. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. So if you're loved and you're one of God's, put on arrogance, hyper-Calvinism, no way. Compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one is a complaint against another, forgive each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. The doctrine of election should not result in spiritual laziness or spiritual arrogance. Since God's power saved you and sanctifies you, we should think in his mercy, he saved me, he forgave me. What areas of my life need to be reassessed right now in light of belonging to him? If I'm one of his, I should be more holy, I should be more righteous in the sense that I should long for the things that God loves. So we reject sin not by way of legalism. We want to be more holy, not to be spiritually pompous, but because he's chosen us and called us. How can I not respond by wanting to love him all the more? Another implication of the doctrine of election is still man's responsibility to respond. Romans 10 9, believe in your heart, confess with your mouth. In Acts 2.38, uh to the response of the people there who heard the preaching, Peter says, repent and be baptized. So man has a responsibility to believe. There is a human choice, if you will, or a human response. God's sovereignty does not negate man's responsibility. God initiates, man must respond. No one is off the hook for rejecting God simply because of election. All sinners are held responsible for sin. And this is why we need Christ. Charles Spurgeon was once asked, How do you reconcile God's sovereignty and man's responsibility? Aren't they at odds? Spurgeon responded, My dear brethren, I never reconcile two friends, never. These two doctrines are friends with one another, for they are both in God's word, and I shall not attempt to reconcile them. To apply that, if God chooses the elect to manifest his love, then people who are saved should be the most thankful, humble, merciful, and hopeful, knowing that God graciously chose to open our eyes, he can do that for anyone. Also, we look at not just God's love and kindness through election, but God's glory is made known through election. His will puts his glory on display. All of this in verse six says to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. What is the ultimate goal for God choosing to save us according to his will? To showcase his glory. The fact that God predestined believers and has sovereign rule over every molecule, yet gives man responsibility, would give his son to save us, and that his power keeps us saved, that his love and kindness could change the most hardened sinner. You think, wow, no one else can do that. Glory to God. Look at his love, look at his kindness, look at how merciful he is. And that really is why you and I exist, to bring him glory. That is why we are saved, to bring him glory. Philippians 2.13, in speaking about working out your salvation with fear and trembling, this idea of sanctification, whether it's monergistic or synergistic, meaning God does it, or do we work with him and partner with it in all of those things which many people wrestle with? Paul finishes saying, For it is God who wills and works within us for his good pleasure. That's what he's doing all this for. He's saving you and sanctifying you. He's working in you for the purpose of you living for his glory. That's the goal. Many times people grow up in churches where they're just told it's all about you, it's all about you, it's all about you. And if you'll just pick Jesus, if you'll just choose Jesus today, oh, and like God is in heaven. Again, this idea, we've talked about this before in the series, that he's up in heaven, just fingers crossed, I hope they pick me. You know, I hope this killing of my son thing worked. I hope they like me. Oh, I just couldn't stand it for another day if they weren't in heaven with me. My love's gotta be reckless, you know. I've got to just recklessly run down everyone. Look, many seeker-driven preachers present a weak and insecure God who's like a frantic bull in a China shop, just running around trying to get you. Nope. He's lovingly, kindly predestined you to adoption as his child through Christ. So the glory and attention wouldn't be on you and all you did and how you chose him, but on him and how he chose you first. If you're a true believer, you may be the recipient of saving grace, but you are not the reason for God's saving grace. You needed saving because of original sin. And God has every right to leave you in your sin heading for hell, but he chose to save you, and that should make you say, Wow. And it should make you bring him glory and worship him all the more. The doctrine of election and God's will and salvation sometimes makes people say, Well, why hasn't he chosen to save my friend or my family member yet? I would say this, when we understand it truly biblically, we might say with awe, why would he even choose to save a sinner like me? Jesus, thank you. Glory to God. My prayer is that this episode has encouraged you and even challenged you to think deeply about God's will and your salvation. If you have questions, be sure to DM us on Instagram or drop them in the comments. I'm going to be doing a listener QA at the end of this series on God's will and would love to answer all your questions. Thanks as always for listening, for watching, and for supporting. If you haven't already, click subscribe or go to our YouTube channel if you're listening to this on Apple or Spotify for free videos there. And for thegospel.org has all of our resources and ways to partner with us financially as a gospel patron. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.