The Invited and the Chosen

Weddings are wonderful events. A marriage is celebrated. Family and friends of the bride and groom are introduced to one another. The hopes and dreams of matrimonial bliss are anticipated. Married couples have the opportunity to be reminded of their own wedding vows made once upon a time. But in order to join in on all the festivities you have to be invited. Jesus used an invitation to a wedding as a critical point of truth in a parable He told a few days before His crucifixion. It was a story about a king who made arrangements for the marriage of his son. Invitations were extended to many to come and enjoy the festivities, but they refused to come. It was an insult. So others were invited and they accepted the offer. Jesus then famously concluded the parable with the words, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:1-14). But what did He mean? He was teaching the truth that God issues a general invitation for sinners to receive His salvation, but comparatively speaking only a few accept it. And those few are the ones who have been chosen by God to enter into His kingdom.

The biblical doctrine of election has, unfortunately, been a stumbling block to many Christians. Many think that it is not fair for God to choose who will be saved. So, in order to create what they believe to be a theologically level playing field, they teach that God elects on the basis of faith. This is done by interpreting Scripture verses that connect foreknowledge to election to mean that God in eternity past saw who was going to believe on Christ and chose them (Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 1:1-2). But this is a failure to understand the significance of “foreknow.” To say that God “foreknew” is not foreseeing that certain people will produce faith by their own self-determining power and therefore be chosen by God. The real truth is that the election of the believer by God harmonizes with the foreknowledge of God (“who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God”) which means to set His favor upon certain ones. It is something to the effect of “whom he fore-loved in a special way.” There are many Bible texts that demonstrate this use of the word “know” (Amos 3:2; Gal. 4:9; Matt. 7:23; Rom. 11:1-2). The sinner’s belief is not the basis of God’s election. That would place man at the center of the redemptive story rather than God’s sovereignty.

Election is unconditional because it is not based on any condition required of man before God chooses him. God’s choice was His own sovereign decision made in eternity past to grant salvation with all its accompanying blessings and obligations (Eph. 1:4-7; Jn. 17:2; 2 Thess. 2:13). Why did God do this? The answer is locked away in God’s secret counsel. But we know this much. Our election in Christ is unmerited (by grace alone). It is Jesus Christ who is the ground and cause and guarantee of the election of every saint of God (2 Tim. 1:9). Rejoice in this, dear believer. Let this wonderful truth be like honey on your spiritual taste-buds. Savor it and praise God. But know this. The unconditional election of the believer will demonstrate itself through the fruit born in a changed life (1 Thess. 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:10). Christ’s sheep will hear His voice and follow Him (Jn. 10:27). It is not enough to merely give lip service to being a Christian. If you are one of the elect of God you will bear fruit, somehow, sometime. It is God’s Spirit who will make this possible. It is amazing grace all the way from election to glorification (Rom. 8:29-30).

A critic of the truth of unconditional election may say that it violates human responsibility. Or that it is unfair. Both of these objections founder on the shoals of the perfections of God. When we say that “God is unfair in electing some and not others,” we imply that we want justice. Well, if it is justice that we want, then who would then be saved? No one could escape the everlasting flames of judgment. Who are we to assume that God has to do what we think is fair? Does election contradict human responsibility? The Bible teaches both the truth of God’s sovereignty in election and human responsibility to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In some sense it is paradoxical (a statement that seems to say two opposite things). God’s Word is no less true or trustworthy because of such seeming contradictions. There is the paradox of prayer (if God has already sovereignly determined the outcome of all things, then why pray? Lk. 18:1; Isa. 46:10). Christ’s death is a study in divine paradox. Did God kill Christ, or did the Jews, or the Romans, or humanity in general (Acts 2:23)? God willed the death of His Son and godless men put Him to death. Is this a contradiction? It is not. The problem is with our finite minds. This humbles us, as it should. We must leave the inscrutable in the hands of an infinitely wise God. Romans 9 settles the case for the justification of God in His rights as the Potter over the clay (“does not the potter (God) have a right over the clay (sinful, fallen humanity), to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?”). We do not know enough to question God. In explaining the massive unbelief of the Jewish people regarding Jesus Christ, Paul declares that God has not failed (9:6-14). God is free to do as He wishes. He chooses whom He will choose. God has selected some out of the nation of Israel for salvation (“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy”). And to all this, the only appropriate response is, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Rom. 11:33).

Someone may say, “What if I am not one of the elect? Is there any hope for me?” The invitation has been extended. God says, “Whoever believes may in Him have eternal life,” “For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved,” “Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest,” and “Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” If you, my friend, want the joy of God’s forgiveness in Christ, rely on Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then read Acts 13:48, which says, “and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” There is an R.S.V.P. (please answer) with God’s invitation. Those who respond, by God’s grace, will give proof they are among the chosen.

That God has chosen some for salvation out of a sea of lost humanity is a call to God-exalting worship. It is the foundation for our comfort, encouragement, and stability through pain and suffering (Rom. 8:28). It ought to move us to carry the gospel to all men everywhere (Jn. 10:16). Oh Christian, do you not want to be God’s instrument in bringing His “other sheep” to Himself? This glorious goal drove David Livingstone to the distant regions of Africa with the gospel of Christ. Upon his tomb in Westminster Abbey is the inscription, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also will I bring.” We are responsible for carrying the invitation to the wedding feast of God’s coming kingdom. It is God’s work to see that the chosen answer the invitation.

Dr. Howard E. Dial
Berachah Bible Church

Totaled

Our 1986 gray Chevrolet Caprice had served us well. It had been Beth’s father’s car and was given to us when he died. Beth traveled back and forth to Nashville for four years to visit her mother who had had a stroke and was dying with cancer. We were sentimentally attached to what had been a reliable vehicle. One windy March day a tall pine fell across the rear of the car. It was declared as “totaled” by the insurance company. It was considered beyond repair. We watched rather sadly as the wrecker came and towed “old gray” out of our lives. But it was just a car. Something far more serious has happened to the human race. It all started with a tree thousands of years ago. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and plunged themselves and all their descendents into the dark abyss of sin and separation from God. Man became unable to please God. We as Adam’s children are not able, by any strength of our own, to turn ourselves to God, or even prepare ourselves to turn to God. This is what the apostle Paul declares in Romans 3:10-12; “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.”

There was once a television commercial which focused on a lamentable condition where a disabled person pleaded, “I have fallen and I can’t get up.” This is the condition of every human being. All humanity is dead in trespasses and sin and is totally unable to save himself (Eph. 2:1-2). But this is not all. Man’s total being is affected by sin as well. Body, soul, spirit, heart, intellect, conscience, will, and affections have all been wrecked by sin. In our natural selves we humans can do no good which can satisfy God. Any effort to gain God’s favor by our righteousness is like monopoly money (It doesn’t work in the real world). We lack spiritual perception. Like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that is not there, we don’t see things as they really are. Our wills are set against God. We are very religious, but we don’t want God. Our hearts are deceitful (Jer. 17:9). How easily we can make ourselves believe what is not true. Even our affections are contaminated by sin. Instead of being sad and broken over our sin, we wallow in sorrow and pout when we don’t get what we want. And the greatest disaster of all is that by nature we are subject to God’s wrath (Eph. 2:3).

This is all not very flattering and runs against man’s view of himself as innately good. But this does not change the fact that man hates God and, without the restraints of God’s government over the world, would go from bad to worse. We should be thankful for human government, the presence of Christians in our world, and conscience which work together to restrain sin and its effects. All this is not to say that mankind can’t do good to his fellow man. Doctors, nurses, firemen, police, hospice workers, philanthropists, and countless other people do merciful and helpful things for their fellow human beings. This is because we are made in the image of God, and even though that image has been disfigured by sin, we can be kind, merciful, and generous. But no amount of human good can get anyone to heaven. A canoe is best used on rivers and lakes (calm waters), but it is not suitable to cross the ocean. So it is with our goodness. It can get us through life and benefit others, but it can’t make us acceptable to God.

All men are sinners and are in open rebellion against God, but that doesn’t mean everyone is as bad as they can become or that all have made the same progress in sinning. It has been correctly said that we are not as bad as we can be, but we are as bad off as we can be. It is also not true that we don’t know what we ought to do (Rom. 2:14-15). The human conscience, though unreliable because of sin, can like a broken clock be right at least twice a day. Neither does the Bible teach that unsaved people commit every form of sin. That we are by nature depraved and have taken up arms against God does not mean that we indulge in every form of sin or that we take any sin to the greatest possible extent (e.g. all have hated, but not all have murdered).

Where does all this not-so-good news about the nature of man lead us? If there is to be any movement toward God, any delight in His holiness, and any submission to His authority, God must do the drawing (Jn. 6:44, 65 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father, who sent Me draws Him . . . no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.”). Man the sinner must have divine enablement to be saved. The Holy Spirit must show the unbeliever his need for the gospel (Jn. 16:8-11). He does this “by revealing sin, directing the way to righteousness, and warning of impending judgment” (Robert A. Pyne). But this is still not enough. The Holy Spirit must carry out the divine work of calling (Rom. 8:30). Faith is commanded of the sinner (Jn. 3:16). The Spirit of God makes that possible (Matt. 11:27; Acts 16:14). At that same moment of time when the sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ he is regenerated (born again, Jn. 3:3; Tit. 3:5). New life is imparted by the Holy Spirit. All this takes place in a fraction of a second. It is a miraculous work of God. Out of the tomb of spiritual death comes a new creature in Christ. For it was He who said, “He who believes has eternal life” (Jn. 6:47).

Dear reader, have you come to know Christ and the eternal life that He gives? If you have not, why would you read on as if this were merely a piece of theological information that doesn’t apply to you? Why would you go on with the smell of death all about you? If you die in your sins there will be an eternity to pay for having refused God’s gracious offer of life in Christ. The payment for your sins was made on the cross of Jesus Christ. He suffered God’s wrath for you and was raised from the dead so that death’s claims upon you might be broken. From the wreckage of being totally unable to enjoy fellowship with God, you can be transformed to be what God made you to be, a worshiper of Him.

Dr. Howard E. Dial
Berachah Bible Church