Peace for the Persecuted, Part 1b

Justice is an essential attribute of God. It's part of his very essence. He is infinitely and perfectly just. In him, of him, for him, by him, through him. God is just. And therefore, God is the standard for justice.

One 17th-century church leader, James Usher, said these words about God's justice. He says that the source of God's justice is his own free will and nothing else. "For whatsoever he willeth is just. And because he willeth it, therefore it is just. Not because it is just, therefore, he willeth it." Did you get that? A thing is just because God wills it so. That's why it's just. He does not will it because it is just by human standards. Important to understand that.

But if justice were the only issue in salvation, every one of us would go to hell. Grace is the issue in salvation. The Creator owes us nothing. Owes us absolutely nothing. And yet, because our God is gracious and merciful and kind, He chooses certain people to be saved. And while we might think that is unjust, the reality of it is that everyone deserves to go to hell. No one deserves to go to heaven. And by God's own gracious choosing, he selects some for heaven. And others, he passes by.

Now, if you're here tonight and you have an unsaved spouse or an unsaved family member, this is very difficult to digest because you're thinking, "wait a minute, what if my family member isn't chosen? What if my family member isn't one of the elect? What if God didn't choose them? Then what?" Folks, listen. No one knows the will of God. And that's why Peter writes the epistle. In fact, in 1 Peter 3, he specifically addresses women who are married to unsaved men and men who are married to unsaved women. To show them their behavior and their lifestyle, and how, as a woman, particularly who can win her husband without even a word just because of her lifestyle. And therefore, because we don't know the plan of God, we do know that we are to live the life of God before our unsaved friends and family members.

Let me give you a little journey to the Bible to help you understand some things. Because I think this is important. And I want to take you back to Acts chapter 13 for a moment. And look at verse number 44. We'll begin with verse number 44. "And the next Sabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first, since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For thus the Lord has commanded us, I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the end of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed."

Here was Paul preaching the gospel. These Jews were upset. And Paul tells them, "listen, you don't want to have anything to do with the truth of God. And God has sent us to the Gentile nations." And as they began to preach, there were some of these Gentiles who gave their life to Jesus Christ. Why? Because they had been appointed to eternal life. Remember we told you on Sunday, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." How does man receive the truth? How does he receive this faith? It's through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And these people had been appointed to eternal life.

So read with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul says this in verse number 9: "God is faithful. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Because of the faithfulness of God, you, he's talking to those in Corinth, are called into the fellowship of God.

Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1:3. "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 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." Paul again writing to those in Ephesus that God had chosen them. And they were predestined in the eternity past.

Look over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. First Thessalonians chapter 1:3, Paul says this. Pick up the narrative in verse number 2. "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren, beloved by God, his choice of you." God chose you.

Then again, over in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:13. "But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." God has chosen you.

2 Timothy 1:8-9. "Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." Or literally before time began.

Then over in Titus chapter 1:2. It says, "in the hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie, promised long ages ago." Verse number 1, "for the faith of those chosen of God." When were they chosen of God? They were chosen long ages ago, literally before times eternal, in eternity past. Those are just a few verses that you need to understand because they talk to you about divine election and choosing.

Now listen, turn with me to the Gospel of Luke for a moment, chapter 4. Christ begins his public ministry. And I want you to notice what he says in his public ministry. He goes to the synagogue. And the very first thing he talks about is the doctrine of election. Listen to what he says. Verse 16. "He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the book and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing, and all were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips, and they were saying, Is this not Joseph's son?"

Can you imagine? This is Joseph's son, the carpenter. He was raised here in Nazareth. He's come into the synagogue. He's opened the book. He's told us that today this is fulfilled in our hearing. And they marveled at the graciousness of his words. And it says they all spoke well of him. And then it says he said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. And he said to them, Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you, in truth, there were," listen, "many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land, and yet Elijah was sent to none of them. But only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed. But only Naaman the Syrian."

Now listen to the next phrase. "And all in the synagogue were filled with" what? "Rage as they heard these things, and they rose up and cast him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went his way."

You see, in a span of less than two minutes, they went from speaking well of this son of a carpenter. This is Jesus of Nazareth. And they loved what he was going to say until he said that there were certain people, certain people that were not elected to hear and they were filled with rage. You know why? Because they weren't the elect. That's why. They were angered. Angered so much so they wanted to kill him. That's amazing to me.

These religious leaders despised the doctrine of election. Especially when he pointed out that they themselves were not the elect. That's important, isn't it? He was letting them know from the very outset that he had come to his own town, and a prophet's not even welcome in his own town. But just because you're in the town doesn't mean you're going to get saved. Just because you're in the town doesn't mean this is for you. It's only for the chosen. It's only for the elect. And that's why they were so angry. And that anger continued for three years until they finally killed him. Didn't stop anything though, because God's plan ran on course just as he wanted to.

And I know some of you are wondering when are you going to get to Romans chapter 9? I'm going to get to Romans chapter 9 right now. "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there?" Paul says. "May it never be! For he has said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." Now he says that right after he says, "Jacob I have loved, and Esau I have hated." He says, "listen, are we going to now tell God that he is not just because he loved Jacob and hated Esau?" Paul says this, as he quotes Moses, what God said to Moses, how he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and compassion on whom he will have compassion. "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy."

You see, salvation doesn't depend upon man no matter how much he wills it. It all depends upon God and his mercy. It says down in verse number 19, "You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?" You know what Paul says? How dare you even think you can question God on the issue of election? You know what happens? People are always questioning God on this issue. So much so they become enraged. And maybe they're like the Pharisees in Luke 4. Did you ever think about that? They're none of the elect. And that's why they're filled with rage. And Paul says, "how dare you think you could even question God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?"

"What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. And he did so in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from among Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles."

Now, listen. This is important for you to understand. Because there's going to come people who say, "okay. God elects some, God selects some, God chooses some. What about those who aren't chosen? What about those who are not elected? What about those who are not called by God. What are you going to do with them?" The Bible has an answer. I'm going to read it to you. "He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God," John 3:18.

Listen carefully to what I'm going to say, because this will mold and shape your theological thinking. The words "foreordained," the word "chosen," the word "predestined" are never used of the unbeliever in the Bible. Those are words designed particularly for the believer only in the Bible. So you can never say, absolutely never say - let me say it one more time. You are not allowed ever to say, and be biblically right, that God predestined and chose and elected some to hell. That is a heresy right out of hell.

Because the Bible says, let me read you another verse: 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. These words: "for after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He comes to be glorified in his saints on that day."

The reason someone goes to hell is not because they weren't elected. The biblical answer is the only reason somebody goes to hell is because they refuse to believe the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says. It doesn't say anything else.

Now listen. Go back to Romans chapter 9 for a moment. Because this always comes up. And I just read it, so because I just read it, I better explain it. It says in verse number 22, "What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction." Now, people are going to say, and I've heard this argument many times, that God prepares people for destruction. Just like verse number 23, "he prepared beforehand us for glory." So there, you see, the Bible says that man has been prepared for destruction. Some have. Others have been prepared for glory.

The problem with that is that the word in verse number 22 is in the passive tense. And the word in verse number 23 is in the active tense, meaning this. That God was not involved in preparing these vessels for destruction. He was only involved actively in preparing vessels who have been chosen for his glory. You see, because it's in the passive tense, it is specifically stating that these people prepared themselves for their destruction. Now, how did they do that? By not believing in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, on the other hand, in order for you to get saved, God has to actively prepare you beforehand to get saved. So God's involved. See how simple that is? See how clear that is?

The word in verse number 22 is completely different than the word in verse number 23. Katartizo is a word that means to be equipped, to be made ready for. And these people prepared themselves for destruction. Let me tell you something. Hell was only prepared for Satan and his angels. Matthew 25:41. It was not prepared for unbelieving people. That's what the Bible says. Hell was prepared for Satan and his angels. And the only reason an unbeliever goes to hell is because they will not believe in the gospel. That's what the Bible says. We can't say anything other than that. Or we might think something other than that, but that doesn't make it right just because we think it. What makes it right is because God said it. And if God said it, it's true. He's just. He's right in what he does.

A.W. Pink wrote these words: "In Revelation 19:6, we are told, The Lord God omnipotent reigneth in heaven and earth. He is the controller and disposer of all creatures. As the Most High, he ruleth in the midst of the armies of the heavens, and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou? He is the Almighty who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. He is the heavenly Father who takes hold of our fallen humanity like a lump of clay and out of it fashioneth one as a vessel unto honor and another as a vessel unto dishonor. In short, He is the decider and determiner of every man's destiny and the controller of every detail in each individual's life, which is the only another way of saying that God is God."

He concluded, "the only reason why anyone believes in election is because he finds it clearly taught in God's Word. No man or number of men ever originated this doctrine. Like the teaching of eternal punishment, it conflicts with the dictates of the carnal mind and is repugnant to the sentiments of the unregenerate heart. And like the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the miraculous birth of our Savior, the truth of election must be received with simple, unquestioning faith."

See, people didn't sit down and think about the doctrine of election. Who would come up with that? Man wouldn't, but God did. And Peter just dives headfirst into that which is so critical and crucial to our understanding. Listen. Peace amidst persecution. The very fact that God has chosen me and that God has called me sets my heart at ease. The very fact that God is involved so much in all that's going on in my life. That he would allow this to happen, this persecution to happen, would mean that somehow God is doing something in my life to ready me for greater purposes on this planet. The doctrine of election is not meant to confuse us. It's meant to devastate our pride and elicit our praise.