Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast where we are all about sound doctrine for everyday people. My name is Kosti Hinn and I'm your host for this episode. And on today's episode, I want to dig into the doctrine of election and help you better understand it and think through it. If you're familiar with it, this episode may offer some helpful ways to convey that truth. And if you're new to the doctrine of election, this episode will serve as a primer for it and answer some of the tough questions and objections surrounding it. Whatever your stage in your Christian growth, when we dig into key doctrines from the Bible, I want to remind you that it strengthens our view of God. And as a result, it ought to enhance our worship of God. So, reminder for you again: theology is for everyone. Doctrine is for everyone. There'll be a lot of people that might downplay doctrine. They downplay theology typically because they don't know their Bible, sometimes because they're just intimidated by the thought of studying doctrine. But many times simply because their favorite preacher doesn't do a lot of doctrinal teaching, doesn't know his or her Bible. And so they downplay it and say, ah, we don't need all that theology. That'll just puff you up. Jesus is perfect theology. Or, you know, I don't need an epistle. I want to be a living epistle, is one of the ones I heard recently from some wild preacher on a YouTube program. Bottom line is theology is God logic. The more you know about God, the more humble you should become because you're more aware of who you are, a sinner saved by grace. And so we want to dig into doctrine and realize that sound doctrine and theology is for everyone. And so let's talk about the doctrine of election. It basically is this that God chooses to save people. We do not save ourselves. That God has chosen to save a people unto himself. These are the quote elect of God. And this doctrinal truth is really all over the Bible. And we're going to walk through some of those passages. But two truths that I want you to be clear on when we're talking about the doctrine of election. Truth number one, God lovingly and rightly desires all men to be saved and takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That truth is from the Bible. I didn't make it up. 1 Timothy 2 4. Paul writes that God, who is our Savior, desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. The Bible teaches that. Conversely, in Ezekiel 18, verse 23, and in verse 32, God talking here through the prophet Ezekiel says, Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live. In other words, God's not up in heaven like an evil villain, having a real good time killing wicked people and deciding to just be cruel. No, God is good, and his ways are true, and his thoughts and his purposes and his decrees are true and right and good. And so you can hold that intention with the doctrine of election, that God lovingly and rightly desires all men to be saved. He doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked. So truth number one is that. Truth number two that I want you to understand and hold as well when we're talking about the doctrine of election is God lovingly and rightly chose whom he will save, and he takes great pleasure in giving them to Christ his Son. John chapter six, uh, verse thirty-seven to thirty-nine, and verse forty-three as well. Jesus says, All that the Father gives me will come to me. He's not talking about stuff, he's talking about saved people, the elect. 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 he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. He's talking about his people. Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves, because the people listening to him had a little problem with what he was saying. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. So the Bible teaches that second truth, that God lovingly and rightly chose whom he will save. So he can take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He can lovingly and rightly desire all men to be saved, but he's chosen whom he will save. And because he's God and his ways are perfect and true and right, none of that contradicts itself. A lot of other passages in the Bible speak to God's choosing of his people. Matthew 22, 14, for many are called, few are chosen. Ephesians 1, 4 through 6, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, not after, not when you decided to be good enough, not when you chose to be saved, but no, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, Paul says to the church at Ephesus in verse 5, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purposes of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. The Bible teaches this over and over. I'll give you a few more. Colossians 3:12. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Paul was commanding the church about righteous behavior, being kind, being humble, being meek, being patient, and he appealed to the fact that you're God's chosen, because your God's chosen and holy and beloved ones put on compassionate hearts because he chose you and he changed you. Act like one of his elect. Last one I want to give you, and then we'll jump into some more info here. First Peter 2, 9 through 10. Peter says to a bunch of suffering Christians that are going through a lot of trial and suffering, don't forget you are a chosen race. You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you're God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. He calls them a chosen race, this set apart group. Even though they were going through a sort of hell on earth, even though they were being persecuted, even though they were suffering immensely, he says, No, no, no, no. No matter what you're going through here on earth, guess what? You're still chosen, you're still set apart, and what you have waiting for you in eternity is far greater than any trouble you experience on earth. God has chosen his people. And there are some people who don't like this doctrine. They get angry about it for a few reasons, and we want to be understanding of those reasons. One of them being that they think it's unfair. But we need to be careful when we start saying, God, I don't think this is fair, or I don't really think that the Bible should teach that, or I don't really like how that makes me feel. We need to be careful making ourselves the judge and jury. We're not the judge of fair. If God is always good and he's always right, then what he decides is the very definition of good and right. And it is the action of good and right. We're watching good and right unfold when we see God's ways. The doctrine of election, the bottom line is it's beyond our scope of emotion, it's beyond our intellect because we didn't originate it. God did. Some people think that God chooses based on the choices that you know he knows the elect are gonna make. So he he sees down the tunnel of time and he goes, Oh, look, I see that, you know, Mark or Costi or Johnny or Joe or Mary, I see that they're gonna choose me and they're gonna come down to that altar and they're gonna raise their hand and they're gonna say, Jesus, I believe I choose you. And so because they're gonna do that, I'm gonna choose them. Well, that's putting the cart before the horse. That makes people the choosers. We're ultimately in control, and because God knew we were gonna choose him in our own free will, apparently he looked down the tunnel of time and was convinced to choose us because he knew we were gonna choose him. That doesn't make him God. That makes him the puppet and us the puppet master. We chose him, and so he decides to look down the tunnel of time and choose us. That doesn't make any sense. He's not God then. We're in the driver's seat, and God is just following our choices. The Bible does not teach that we are the trigger for salvation. It is so clear that God authors salvation. And if you go to the book of Romans and you go to chapter three and you look at verses 10 to 12, I want to read it to you right now. The Bible says, There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there's none who seeks God. All have turned aside together, they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one. You know what that means? It means exactly what it says in English. There's no one good. There's no one seeking God. You're not choosing him because you are good and you see him for who he is. No. God chooses, God opens your eyes, he triggers it. No one's good. All have sinned, all fall short of his glory, no one is going after God. Like I'm really gonna pursue you, God. No, you only do that after he has already pursued you. You don't choose God, he chooses you. That is mercy. His choice is foundational. Without God's electing call, no one would ever turn to him. And so if you do struggle, or if any of us ever struggle with the doctrine of election, let me summarize two realities that we can grasp here. Reality number one, we struggle with the doctrine of election because first it's a divine concept. Isaiah 55, 9, his ways are above our ways, his thoughts are above our thoughts. Another reason we struggle with the doctrine of election because we think our way is best, we don't like it. Or this one, which for the gospel wants to help with, you have a low view of God. You view God as the guy who is on the infomercials at three in the morning with that oven, you know, set it and forget it. Like God is up in heaven and he's turned the timer on and he's just got his fingers crossed, hoping this thing all comes out okay and that you choose him. Like the kid last in Dodgeball, going, please pick me, please pick me. That is a low view of God. God's not sitting there with a bleeding heart hoping that you choose him. Jesus didn't go to the cross going, man, I really hope this works. He is God, Yahweh. Jesus is King, He's the Master, He's Lord. So we got to change our view of God. It's not a low view of God, it's a high view of God. He chooses, he calls, he decrees, we respond, we obey, we are floored by his mercy. We got to be careful of our pride, demanding that God answer to us. And if you ever want a couple of chapters that'll knock you and I down a few notches, go to Job 38 and 40. Read it before bed tonight. And look at Job and the interaction with God as God says to him, Oh, tell me, Job, you who set the boundaries of the ocean, you who created it all. Tell me, tell me what I should do, Clay. Tell the potter how to mold you better. What a humbling, humbling moment for Job. And it's a humbling moment for all of us when we read scripture and realize God is God. We are not. Reality number two, we don't have to struggle with the doctrine of election. We can embrace it because the Bible teaches it. It actually helps us prove why some people reject obvious truth. You ever have those moments where you think, why in the world are people not following Christ? Do they not see it? How could they not accept it? Sometimes apologists will think this way. They they lay it all out. All the evidence is there. Look at the resurrection, look at the historicity of Christ, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this. Okay, you believe, and people go, nah, get lost. I'm still not convinced. Why? Because they need spiritual heart surgery, they don't need more apologetics. Apologetics can be very helpful, but even the greatest apologists will tell you without the powerful work of Christ through the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person who is of the elect, people will still reject obvious truth. That can help us realize why some people are just hard-headed. It doesn't change our mission on earth to evangelize everyone. You realize that? We don't know who the elect are. And so we got to remember God's mercy on us. I love what Romans 3 27. Remember, Paul says, What then is boasting? He's like, who's gonna say, Oh, yeah, look what I did. Look at how I chose God. Man, ever since I turned my life over to Christ, people say. And I have said the same thing, and everybody usually knows what we mean. But there are people who actually think, you know, I remember when I finally decided to choose to believe in Jesus or choose to follow Jesus. You know, my life was changed. You know how I changed my life? I changed my life by choosing Christ. No, that's not how we would describe it. We would say, I'll never forget the day that I decided to follow Jesus for the rest of my life. He opened my eyes, my mind completely changed, my heart's affections completely changed, and I decided I'm gonna follow him forever. And suddenly everything made sense. That decision, that choice has to be put in the right category. It is only because he first chose me and chose you that we in response can say, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back because he chose me. Key passage you should study Romans chapter nine. That is a great passage if you're looking to study the doctrine of election. Verse three, Paul basically says that he would trade his own self for the sake of his brethren to be saved. That's how much he loved the lost. So if anybody were to ever say, Oh, the doctrine of election is just cold orthodoxy, cold-hearted Christianity, saying God chooses, it's just it's just favoritism. Look, even Paul, who understood this doctrine and taught this doctrine, said you're allowed to long for lost people to be saved, he was he was thinking, I'll give up my own life for other people to have this. God, please save them is something that we can always pray. May it be that they are one of yours, is a prayer we can always pray. So be free when you read Romans 9 to be human and agonize the longing for salvation of souls, just like Paul does in Romans 9 3. Another key truth from Romans 9 is uh the choice of God to favor some, but not all. Paul says there's no injustice with God. He literally says that. Don't you dare say that God isn't just, that God isn't good, that he's not fair. Basically, that Greek word means wrong. He God's not wrong. There's nothing wrong with God's choices. And so when people think, man, the doctrine of election, that's just wrong. Why would God, or how dare God, or the God I believe in, would never. Well, the God we are describing when we talk like that is not the God of the Bible. He is not unjust. He is the definition of justice. He's not wrong, ever. He's the definition of right. So at best, it's just our immaturity talking, and we've been untaught, and we've not been under good preaching that gives us clarity on doctrine. Or at worst, we are in rebellious arrogance against God as we say, you, Yahweh, you're wrong. And that's a slippery slope. That's why we do episodes like this is I don't want you to be confused about the doctrine of election. But that doesn't change how hard it can be for us emotionally, right? Yes, God is the one who chooses and saves. But if you've ever thought, well, well, what am I supposed to do then? Where does I just sit here and give up? No, he uses us to reach people, or you could say to save people, to win people. That's the language that Paul used in 1 Corinthians 9, 21 to 22. He says he's willing to do basically whatever's needed within the bounds of Scripture in order to win people, in order to save some. That's what he says. Romans 10, verses 14 to 17, one of my favorite stretches of scripture, basically lays out the fact that the feet of those who bring the good news are beautiful. So do you got some beautiful feet bringing the good news to people? You have beautiful feet if you do. And faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. How are they gonna hear if nobody goes and preaches? And so, even with the doctrine of election, there's some people that'll say, oh, that's just a bunch of hyper-Calvinism, which basically is, you know, God is sovereign, so we do nothing. Just sit around in your holy huddle until he returns. No, may it never be. He's gonna use you. So get out there. You don't know who the elect are, but you know that God is gonna save and share the gospel, preach the gospel, call people to repentance and faith in Christ. And no matter how you feel about truth, go live what God has called you to do. I love the pastoral heart in the summary of this doctrine by a friend of mine named John Sampson. He's a pastor here in Arizona. He was a pastor in the Word of Faith movement for years and years. He got saved years ago, and he now leads a reformed church. He says this in a book that he wrote about this exact topic. The scripture tells us the Lord knows who are his. The identity of the elect is known only to God, not to us. Only upon seeing someone defy God until their last breath in this world should we assume someone is non-elect. Though the salvation of our children or loved ones is always in God's hands, it should be immense comfort to us knowing that if an individual's conversion is so much upon our hearts, this in itself is a very strong indication that it is God Himself who is behind the whole thing, and He's laid this burden upon us in order that He would use us and this burden to pray as a means to accomplish His will. God can open any heart. Salvation in the timing of conversion is of the Lord. And he quotes Jonah 2 9. Do you realize that when you have a burden for people, God doesn't want you sitting there thinking, well, uh God's sovereign, though, I guess I don't know what to do. I mean, if they're the elect, they'll figure it out, I guess. No, he puts a burden on your heart for the lost because he wants to use you as his Romans 10 17 vessel, so faith would come by hearing and hearing through you declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a great reminder. A great reminder that we're to be busy about the Father's business, not sitting around nitpicking over what doctrines we like and what ones don't make us feel as good. And the last thing I'll say on this topic is this people who believe in the doctrine of election should not ever be labeled as angry Calvinists, they should never be known as those who are harsh and overly aggressive and insensitive and lacking grace. No. People who know they are saved, the elect of God, should be the most thankful, humble, merciful, and hopeful people. Thankful because God has chosen to open your eyes and save you. Humble because you did nothing to deserve his unconditional mercy. Merciful because you've been shown mercy. And hopefully because if God could save you and I, he can save anybody, can't he? That is his grace, that is his mercy, and that is the doctrine of election and why you and I can go boldly to share the gospel with people in the hopes that God would call them to salvation. If you're looking for a deeper dive into God's sovereignty and evangelism, I want you to listen to my interview with uh one of my really good friends and a contributor here for the gospel, Pastor Jesse Randolph. He pastors at Mission Bible Church in Orange County, California. He took a deep dive into questions about God's sovereignty and evangelism uh a few episodes back. And so go check us out on Apple and scroll. You'll see Jesse Randolph and that episode. Uh, he holds to the doctrine of election and is one of the most passionate, I'm gonna even call him crazy, crazy evangelists I know. Um they just got an ice cream truck at Mission Bible because uh Jesse's gonna go out there with the ice cream truck and give out ice cream to kids and share the gospel with them. I mean, this is a Calvinistic, if you will, doctrine of election believing guy who is gonna go find lost sheep. It's a beautiful thing. Reminds us that those who hold to the doctrine of election ought to be the greatest, most passionate evangelists, knowing God is going to guaranteed He's gonna save people. So I hope this episode has challenged or encouraged you to a greater level of understanding for the doctrine of election. And obviously, volumes have been written on it. So uh my hope is this gets you rolling, and we'll have an article dropping on our blog in the near future on it. Thank you for listening today to the Further Gospel podcast. Don't forget, free video teachings and short gospel clips are available on our F the Gospel YouTube channel. So subscribe and go check us out there. And to give or for articles and more about our ministry and our team, go to furthegospel.org, our website. And otherwise, we'll see on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. And we'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.