A Little More Theory: Election and Therefore Assurance

We looked at some theory last week. And as I thought and prayed about it this week, it seemed good to do a little more of that. So, this morning we’re going to look at the doctrine of election. It’s important to understand that every theological tradition has some sort of teaching about election. And the reason for that is obvious. The Bible talks about it, sometimes by using the word ‘election’ or other words just like it, and sometimes by talking about the concept. So, whatever kind of theology a person has, he or she needs to have something to say about election. So, to be clearer let me restate what we’re going to be doing this morning. We’re going to look at the Reformed understanding of the Bible’s teaching on election.

This morning’s sermon will be a little different in structure from last week’s sermon. Today, I’m going to tell you up front how I’m going to apply this bit of theory. I’m going to relate election to assurance. It is really important to be assured of your salvation. And to have a solid assurance, you need to have a solid basis for assurance. The Reformed doctrine of election explains from Scripture a part of that basis.

So, let’s start. And once again we start with a definition. Before there was a creation, and completely independent of anything outside of Himself, God decided to choose some people to be freed from the pollution of their sin so that they could believe the Gospel. That’s a basic definition of election.

Here is some Scripture that teaches this.

This is Paul laying out the basic idea of election.

…[God] chose us in [Jesus] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will …  Ephesians 1.4-5

This is James applying this idea of election.

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? James 2.5

And this is Luke explaining conversion in terms of election.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13.48

It’s important to note that this decision by God guarantees that these whom He has decided to free from their sins will certainly arrive in the age to come. They will be glorified.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8.29-30

That’s a basic summary of what the Bible has to say about election. And now for a few of the common objections.

Here’s one. ‘So, we’re robots with God making important decisions for us or forcing us to decide His way?’ This objection illustrates why good definitions are so important. Let me repeat the definition that I started with.

Before there was a creation, and completely independent of anything outside of Himself, God decided to choose some people to be freed from the pollution of their sin so that they could believe the Gospel.

In that definition God makes some decisions. But it’s important to notice that we also make decisions. We decide to believe the Gospel. God doesn’t do that for us or force us to do that. His decision is to simply free us from the pollution of our sin.

Remember how I explained that pollution last week. Because of how sin has poisoned us - our minds, our affections and our wills - we were all twisted up. As a result, we never chose wisely. We certainly still chose to do this or that, but our sin messed us up so much that all of our choices were antagonistic to God and His ways.

So, in election, God freed us from that. Our minds understood reality. Our affections desired what is good and right. And, as a result, we were able to choose wisely. Because we were freed from that pollution, we could choose to believe the Gospel. And that is what we, and all other Christians, have done. God freed us so that we could choose. There are no robots.

Next objection. ‘But election is so unfair. God only chooses some.’ Well, it’s true that He doesn’t elect everyone. But, let’s wait a minute. Is He obligated to choose everyone? Is He even obligated to choose anyone? Remember, the problem is sin. By nature, people choose to hate God. It would be entirely fair - or to use a much better word - it would be entirely just for God to choose no one. That He chooses any is an act of tremendous grace. And those whom He has chosen should be amazed that He chose them.

Next objection. ‘If election is true, there is no need to do evangelism. After all, the elect are going to be saved regardless of what anyone does.’ Once again, remember the definition. God frees some so that they can believe the Gospel. But how can they believe the Gospel if no one tells them the Gospel? Actually, because of election, evangelism makes sense. God will free some from the poison of their sin. We know that there will be those who will believe. What a great motivation to tell others about what Jesus has done. Some of them will certainly believe.

Last objection. ‘If election is true, then those whom God has chosen can just coast into heaven. After all, they have been guaranteed to get there.’ And this gets us to talking about assurance. A good understanding of Gospel assurance will answer this objection. So, let’s spend a little time working on that.

Once again, we start with a definition. Assurance is knowing that, because of God, you’re going to make it through this life and into Jesus’ arms in the next.

Assurance used to be a big problem for Christians. It isn’t as big these days, but not because people have arrived at a biblical assurance. One reason for this is that questions about being assured just aren’t asked so much anymore. Or to say that more bluntly, many Christians today just assume that they are on their way to heaven. After all, if God is simply a God of love, what is there to worry about? This is not assurance but presumption, a great danger to people’s souls.

But some Christians still struggle with being assured that they actually are saved. Why? One big reason is that they are asking the wrong question. Troubles with assurance often boil down to these kinds of questions. Am I doing a good enough job at being a Christian so that I will make it? Do I really believe? Am I being faithful enough? Am I producing the right kind of good works? These are the wrong questions.

There is one thing that these sorts of questions have in common. They are all focusing on me. They are asking, in various ways, about the quality of what I am doing and wondering if what I am doing will pass the test, God’s test. But all of those kinds of questions are easily answered. No. No, I am not doing a good enough job to pass God’s test. People who struggle with being assured, whether they say it out loud or not, know that that’s the case. They are not good enough. And down deep, they seriously doubt that they will ever be good enough.

And that’s where understanding the Reformed doctrine of election is so helpful. It makes clear what the right question should be. The right question isn’t about what I am doing. The right question is about what God is doing. Is God doing a good enough job so that I’m going to make it? That’s the right question.

Let me, once again, repeat my definition of election and then use it to make this clear.

Before there was a creation, and completely independent of anything outside of Himself, God decided to choose some people to be freed from the pollution of their sin so that they could believe the Gospel.

Let’s take this in two parts.

Consider the first part of that definition. Who takes the initiative? Who starts the ball rolling so that we can be saved? It’s God. He acted to free us. Apart from that, we could not - we would not! - choose wisely to believe the Gospel. And we could not change ourselves so that we would choose wisely to believe the Gospel. God made that happen. And He did that completely independent of anything outside of Himself, including anything we did, would do or even might do.

Here’s a good question for each of you to ponder. Why did God bother to choose you? And if you come up with anything other than stunned silence leading to heartfelt worship, you’re not getting it. Anything else is just damnable pride. What I’ve described is the powerful grace of God for powerless sinners like us.

So, we can take this from the first part of the definition: God acted. He took the initiative. Powerfully and graciously, He acted and did what we could not and would not do.

But then, there’s the second part: ‘so that they could believe the Gospel’. The first thing to notice - and to be amazed at - is that there even is a Gospel to believe. That there is a Gospel, that there is a Jesus to believe in, by itself, is an astounding expression of the grace of God. He didn’t have to do that, not a bit of it. But He did.

But then, think about what it means to believe this Gospel. What is faith? It is the opposite of doing. It is coming to the point of recognizing that there is absolutely nothing that we can do to rescue ourselves from the mess we have made of our lives. Absolutely nothing. That is where faith has to start. Faith stops trying. But then, it moves on to the next step. Faith accepts Jesus’ amazing and merciful offer of doing whatever is necessary for that rescue to happen to us. And just take a minute to consider what is included in that ‘whatever is necessary’. Sometimes when I recite the Apostles’ Creed at home I linger over ‘was crucified dead and buried’ as well as ‘He descended into hell’. He did whatever was necessary. That’s from the second part of the definition.

Let’s put these two parts together. From start - that is, God’s decision before creation - to finish - what Jesus did - it’s all about grace. It’s all about what God does to rescue us. The Father chose to free us from our sin. Then, Jesus became the savior to whom we could entrust ourselves to do whatever was needed. It’s all about the grace of God. That’s the Gospel and it is the basis for assurance.

Those who reject the Reformed teaching about election remove so much of the grace of God in the Gospel. In one way or other, they assume that they are able, on their own, to push back the pollution of their sin enough so that they can choose wisely and believe the Gospel. And then, so very often, still depending on their own ability, faith becomes something that they do, something that they are to do well enough so that Jesus will save them on the Last Day. It is no wonder that they struggle with assurance. There is so much dependence on themselves. That sets them up for thinking that they need to be sure that they are doing enough to make it. But they aren’t sure.

It is the Reformed teaching on election that makes real assurance possible.

And now, we’re ready for that last objection. ‘If election is true, then those whom God has chosen can just coast into heaven. After all, they have been guaranteed to get there.’

God’s election gets us to the place where we see reality clearly enough to collapse on Jesus. To try to do more than that is impossible. It’s collapse or nothing. That’s what faith is. But we don’t coast once that happens. And the reason why is obvious. It’s because we believe the Gospel. That is, we continue to believe the Gospel of the grace of God. We continue to collapse on Jesus. The Gospel isn’t about how we get in, and then it’s up to us to make it the rest of the way. What foolishness! For the rest of our lives we believe the Gospel, and we do that in all the little nooks and crannies of life. That involves repenting of sin so that we can believe whatever it was about the Gospel that we weren’t believing. And that is certainly not coasting. That is work. It’s the work of faith.

But here’s the thing. We don’t work at this believing the Gospel to be sure that we are doing enough to be assured. There is no ‘doing enough’. Remember, we would fail. Our assurance isn’t about all the good things we are supposed to be doing. Assurance is about what God has done and continues to do. It’s about the God who decided to choose us to be freed from the pollution of our sin so that we could believe the Gospel of Jesus, and believe that Gospel every day. Assurance is about depending on the grace of God to get you home. It’s continually coming to the point of admitting that there is no way you can make it on your own. No way! But Jesus has promised to get us there. So, we continually look to Him to keep that promise. We continually believe the Gospel. There is no coasting. And in response to this lively and ongoing faith, the Spirit grants us a comforting sense of assurance.

Now, last thought. Why is this important? To be sure, there are benefits here for us. But our benefit is never the primary goal of any doctrine. Of first importance is always God.

Assurance is about being confident. The key to living well is being confident, but being confident in the right things. Most people are confident in themselves - until they aren’t. They focus on something they are good at and think that life will be okay because, well, look at what I can do - until they can’t do that anymore. And then life falls apart, sometimes just a little but sometimes quite a lot.

Real confidence, lasting confidence, is based on Jesus. And at the heart of that is this thought: Because of the Father’s choice, Jesus has saved me. He guarantees that I will be kept safe in this life and on into the next, and I believe Him. When that is a settled matter, there are so many hard things that a Christian can face and deal with. We can live well.

And that gets us to the real benefit of this doctrine, what God receives from this. It’s as we are assured of our hope that we can live well. That is the purpose of every true biblical theory: that we would live well. And living well in this way always makes God look good. That is what being a Christian is all about: making God look as good as He actually is. Election and assurance have that as their goal. And that’s why we need to understand these doctrines and believe them.