Brothers and sisters in the Lord, as you know, we live in a very man centered world as we live. Amidst the culture and a world where people seek themselves and deny their creator. But we must also confess this morning that that man centeredness infects us, too, as the church, and we often think in terms of ourselves as the main thing, ourselves, the first thing. We wonder, we ask questions, what do I like? What makes me feel good? How is this relevant to my life? We sometimes approach worship that way, right? What do I like? What's this sermon got to do with my life? We sometimes approach prayers that way. Concerned only for ourselves, we sometimes approach work that way. It's about me and my life. We forget about God and our purpose to serve. And we approach relationships that way, our marriages and relationships with children. Perhaps we think about ourselves, first of all. But this morning, God comes crashing through all that me centeredness with the revelation of himself. As he reminds us that even salvation, which we're so used to thinking about us, us being saved, even salvation is not, first of all, or ultimately about us, but it's about the glory of God is about God manifesting himself such as he is merciful and just. This morning, we come to this doctrine known as predestination or for ordination. that God has sovereignly elected or chosen some to be saved and that God has sovereignly chosen to pass others by, to leave them in their sin and to condemn them for that. Those two sides of predestination. But perhaps no other doctrine in Scripture does more to humble the pride of man and to exalt the greatness of God than this reality. That before we were even born, Already God from eternity past had chosen whom he would save and had chosen who he would not save. Perhaps no doctrine does more to show the majestic greatness of God and the small tininess of man than to contemplate this, that there is a sovereign, almighty God who has already determined who will be in the new heavens and the new earth and who will not be there. God reveals himself as the God that he is, a God of mercy and a God of justice. And in Article 16, we confess that God's mercy is especially revealed in election and his justice is especially revealed in reprobation. Well, Article 16 of the Belgium picks up where we left off last time, where that story had left off, we move, remember, In the previous articles from the fall of Adam to Article 15 to the. The extension of Adam's sin and corruption, we saw last time that when Adam sinned, we all sinned and became guilty, and when Adam died and became corrupted, all of his children from that point on were conceived and born in sin with hearts that were corrupt. But then the question comes, what will God do with such a corrupted and guilty humanity? What will God do with this pile of of of humankind dead in their sins? And the answer is found throughout the history of the Bible. God will show himself to be merciful and to be just. Think of something like the flood. God revealed his strict justice as he wiped out mankind. And yet God revealed his mercy as he in that arc saved Noah and his family. But this morning, we confess that the mercy and justice of God are rooted in eternity. Where God from eternity past chose to save some and chose not to save others. And so we see these two sides of the doctrine of predestination or for ordination. And first of all, we're considering then election election, which is defined in Article 16 this way, that that God shows himself merciful since he delivers and preserves from this perdition, this damnation, all whom he in his eternal and unchangeable counsel of mere goodness has elected in Christ Jesus, our Lord, without any respect to their work. Boys and girls, the doctrine of election is this, that God chose out of all sinners, God chose some whom he would save in Christ Jesus. And there are at least four things we should take note of in the definition of election. The first one is this, that God's choice is sovereignly free. God's choice is sovereignly free. God does the choosing. It is God's choice. Before we ever around before the creation of the world, when all there was was God, God chose to save a particular people unto himself. Ephesians one verse five. He God predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Now, we live in a culture that That expects most things to be decided through conversation, negotiation and compromise. But for the almighty God, it is not so. God chose. God independently, self-directedly chose. The Lord of the universe doesn't negotiate. He doesn't compromise. But he chooses, as Nebuchadnezzar confessed, after God humbled him, Nebuchadnezzar said of the Lord, he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done or Psalm 115? But our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. God chose. He freely, he sovereignly chose whom he would save out of all these centers, none of them deserving God, foreseeing the rebellion and the damnation all deserved. God shows, according to his own good pleasure, according to his own sovereign love, whom he would say. Romans nine, verse 15, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. No one can lay a claim upon God's mercy. No one can demand of God compassion. But God chooses to have mercy upon some election is God's free choice, but notice, secondly, this choice of God is an eternal choice. It's an eternal choice. Ephesians one verse for he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. A remarkable thing, certainly that humbles our hearts to think that from eternity God's works are known to him. Before God created the world, God had already written the names of those whom he would save, as Henry Beets wrote 80 years ago, God does not choose men in the course of time and from time to time, as some seem to think. God is not in the process of choosing. God is not this morning trying to figure out whom he will save. God knows God has already chose his decree is eternal. Thirdly, this choice of God is not only sovereignly free and not only eternal, but thirdly, this choice of God is unchangeable. It is immutable. It is unchanging as God in his own essence is unchanging. God does not change His decrees from time to time, but they are written from eternity past. Isaiah 46, I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. That's a sovereign God, huh? My counsel will stand. I will accomplish my purpose. God is not find that his purposes are thwarted and needs to now negotiate with his enemies. He will accomplish as well, and God is not fickle or capricious, he's not changing his mind and thinking, well, I guess not. You've got a lot more problems in your life than I suspect I'm going to have to unchoose you now. He who chose you from eternity maintains his choice, carries out his choice, accomplishes his will so that we can sing safe in the arms of sovereign love. We ever shall remain, nor shall the rage of earth or hell make thy sure counsel vain. Not one of all the chosen race, but shall to heaven attain. Here they will share a bounding grace and there with Jesus reign. God's choice and election is freely sovereign. It is eternal. It is unchangeable. And finally or fourthly, we could say it is gracious. Least last but not least, it is gracious. Of mere goodness, God chose us in Christ Jesus, our Lord, without any respect. To their work. At that point is made in bold letters in Romans nine verses 10 and following when the apostle here is explaining that God's promises and purpose have not failed, even though not all Israel, not all the Jews are saved. He he speaks in Romans nine, verse 10 and following this way. He says, not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac. Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. She was told the older will serve the younger as it is written. Jacob, I loved, but Esau, I hated. The apostle holds it up as this prime illustration. Twins in the womb of Rebecca, so far as humanly speaking, they're they're equals, twins. They haven't been born yet. They haven't yet done anything good or bad already. God has decreed that he loves Jacob. And in fact, the slight difference there is between these two, the one slightly older than the other. God reverses that distinction, choosing not the older, but the younger, the older will serve the younger, he says, as it is written, Jacob, I love, but he saw the older. I hate it. The Lord God reveals in the midst of that that. It's not a man. Verse 16, so then it depends not on human will, not on a human choice, not on human exertion. He who does the most things for God, but on God who has mercy. The choice is not of human merit. The choice is not of our planning. Our salvation is not that we have chosen for God, but it's that God has chosen out of those equally depraved, equally deserving of hell. Jacob and Esau, both damn worthy. God chooses to save one. What a marvelous thing. We must guard this truth against those who would say, well, God's choice was based on my choice. God looked down the corridors of time and he saw that that I was going to believe. And so he chose me. No, Paul says in Romans nine, it does not depend on human will or human exertion, but on God who has mercy. And we should know That the whole of the cans of door and the Senate of doors were called in response to Article 16 of the Belgian Confession, because it was this that that Jacob Arminius and his followers took issue with. It was this. that God has chosen without any respect to their works. And Arminius said, no, it was not without any respect to their works. It was with respect to their works, with respect to what they were going to do. God chose those who would believe and who would persevere in the faith. That's whom God chose. And by God's grace, our spiritual parents at the center of Dort said, no, the word says God chose without respect to work. He chose not because they were holy and blameless, but he chose to make them holy and blameless. He chose not because they were going to have faith, but his choice was to give them faith they would not otherwise have. Faith and perseverance, good works are not what lead God to choose us, but they are the fruit of God's choice of us. marvelous thing and how it humbles human pride and reveals the absolute majesty and sovereignty of God that he chose out of the midst of a people who all equally deserved hell. And not a single person who was chosen can say, aha, I know why I was chosen. I was going to do this. I have a good attitude. I believe I got ready for God to meet me. Not of human will, not of human exertion, but of God who has mercy. God chose us without respect to our works. As without respect to our good works, but you know what God chose us in full view of our evil works, he chose us seeing completely every wicked thing we'd ever think or say or do. Your life has no surprises for God. How could God choose us sinners? The Bible is clear. He chose us in Christ Jesus. Of mere goodness has elected in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Article 16, Ephesians 1 verse 4. He chose us in him, in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world. The only thing more marvelous than the reality that God chose us before the creation of the world is that God chose his own son to be the Christ, to be the mediator, to be the redeemer before the foundation of the world. He foreordained his own son to hang in our place and to bear the curse we deserve before God even made the world. He has already appointed Jesus Christ to be slaughtered on the cross. for the sake of your sins and my sins. What a marvelous and incomprehensible mercy. Truly, election is all of grace because it's all of God's choice in Christ Jesus. And without Christ Jesus, we could not be chosen. God, in the midst of this, reveals His mercy in a glorious way, doesn't He? And if we say, well, why has God done this? Why has God sent his own son to bear the penalty of us sinners? Why has God chosen me out of the mass of sinful people? The answer to the Bible is plain. Ephesians one, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. To the praise of his glorious grace. to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. I chose us in his beloved son to the praise of his grace. God's revelation of his mercy in the saving of sinners magnifies his name because it manifests himself such as he is the God of mercy. God did not become merciful when he chose us. God is, has forever been mercy. But in the midst of that choice of election and in the working out of that choice in time, as he sent his son and called us by his spirit and brings us to heaven, God reveals himself. He is the God of mercy. We might fall down before him and sing his praise. A marvelous revelation of mercy. that before we had done anything good, God chose us. Reverend Danny Hyde, a URC pastor in Oceanside, California, did not grow up in a Reformed church in which he was taught the doctrine of election. But in his recently published commentary on the Belgic Confession, which I was reading this past week, He speaks of that time when he finally came to know the doctrine. And he, talking about Ephesians chapter one, he says, I can remember hearing those words for the hundredth time, yet for the first time hearing what it said about me, my God and my salvation. Paul's words knock me to my knees as I beheld the glory of God as he reveals it so clearly in the purpose of election. For those who grew up on the Reformed faith, the biblical faith, and perhaps our familiarity has caused us to lose something of the wonder of this. But here a brother who, having read Ephesians 1 a hundred times, finally hears it, finally sees it, the wonder of what it's saying. That God, for the foundation of the world, chose me in Christ Jesus. Knocked to his knees. Then Reverend Hyde writes, hearing these words, how can we do anything but burst forth in the praise? How can we not get passionate about the God who chose worthless worms? See, speaking of the apostles words, the apostle was passionate about God. He burst forth into praise Ephesians one. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Paul burst forth into praise from from the word go Ephesians one verse three. Blessed be glory to God, the Lord of mercy. If the revelation of God's mercy in election does not make our hearts join this chorus, then then we need to hear the words of Ephesians one for the first time. Or if we've heard them before, but our hearts have grown dull, then we need we need those clouds stripped away and to behold again the wonder of this. Before my life, There's a blip on the radar screen. Already, the eternal God had written my name down, had foreloved me, had chosen me in Christ to be holy and blameless. It's an amazing thing that we can say that this morning. A sovereign God of mercy. And we think with our failings and our fallings into sin that we're going to somehow reverse and mess everything up. We think our lives sometimes are so uncertain as we get tossed this way and that way. But until you see the foundation of your life, oh, you little man, before you ever were, God knew your name. and chose you, not because you were going to be holy and blameless, but chose you in Christ Jesus to wash you clean, to give you His Spirit and to make you holy and blameless. What glorious, glorious mercy. God did not need to do any of this. He could have rightly wiped out the planet and started over. And many days, every day, We think that might have been a whole lot easier. We must stand in reverential fear and wonder because we cannot wrap our minds around this. Who can comprehend this amazing mercy and grace and love of God that He would send His beloved, His cherished, His prized, His begotten Son to stand in your place Would you give your Son to stand in my place? But the holy and righteous Eternal One, sending His Son to die for us sinners. For us who had nothing to offer Him. For us who did not want Him or seek Him. For us who He perceived as only offensive to Him. He sent his son. And he chose us before the foundation of the world to send his son for us. It's that glorious grace of God that causes us to praise him, and it's that glorious mercy of God that makes us the church want to proclaim Christ Jesus to a lost in the dying world, not simply that they might get saved, but that they might worship. John Piper writes, evangelism exists because worship doesn't. Evangelism exists because worship doesn't. The point of evangelism is to gather worshipers who fall down before God and give him praise for his mercy. That's what we want evangelism for the sake of God's glory, God's mercy revealed in election. But there's another side to predestination, isn't there? And it's the side of reprobation where God's justice is revealed. And notice that secondly here. Not only does God have mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, but the apostle says that he hardens whom he wants to harden. Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. If on the one hand, God before time, out of that whole mass of sinful people, chose some to be saved, men, women and children, a church for himself in Christ, then God also chose to pass others by, to leave them in their sin and to condemn them for that sin. He chose not to give them faith, not to bring them to himself, not to give them new hearts. the doctrine, the decree of reprobation. First Peter to verse eight, they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. Jude, verse four, certain people who long ago were designated for this condemnation. If we speak of election on the one side, we must speak of reprobation on the other side. And here again, it's the glory of God that is at stake. Before they were even born, they were destined for hell. God's justice is revealed in that. Now, many would allege that such a doctrine cannot possibly be true, that God, before somebody is born, has already decreed that they will end up in hell. Many will insist that is not true, and if that were true, it would prove the opposite of justice. It would prove that God is unjust, that God is unfair. But you see, those who argue that way have skipped over the essential starting point. Article 16, we believe that all the posterity of Adam being thus fallen into damnation and ruined by the sin of our first parents. That's the crucial starting point. All men in Adam guilty and worthy of hell. No one deserves heaven. No one deserves a second chance. No one deserves mercy. No one has a claim upon God. We have all every one of us forfeited everything good. The wages of sin is death and justice is when people get the wages they deserve. If God shows mercy to some, that is amazing. If God would stoop to send his own son to die for sinners, that is incomprehensible. But let no one think that anyone deserves that. If God justly leaves others to the sin that they willingly chose, if God justly leaves others to the rebellion that they cling to, If God justly condemns to hell those who have stood opposed to God, have eaten of the fruit, have refused to come to God and turn back to God, that is justice. That is absolute justice. Romans 9, verse 21, has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? A potter has his lump of clay and he is free to take of that lump some to make a beautiful vase and some to make a common bowl or something altogether dishonorable. It's his lump of clay. And God looks upon humanity not just as what he has made, but as that corrupted, rebellious, God-hating people, all of them worthy of hell. This lump of clay, all of it deserves to be cast away. And if God chooses to take some and to form vessels of mercy for whom he will give his own son, that is his pleasure. And if he chooses to take other of that lump and to cast into hell, that is his right. He is the potter, he is the Lord, and we are the sinners deserving of death. Israel is delivered from slavery, but Pharaoh faces God's wrath. Israel deserved God's wrath, but God gave to his people mercy. But Pharaoh, he gave over to the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. He did not harden an innocent heart, but he gave Pharaoh to the corruption of his own heart. He raised up Pharaoh for the very purpose that in Pharaoh's opposition to God, God might manifest his justice in sending the plagues and destroying Pharaoh's troops in the Red Sea, that God might manifest his mercy in delivering Israel, might manifest his justice in destroying Egypt, that God might show himself to be the God of righteousness. And it's for this justice that we praise God as well. We praise him not just for his mercy, but we praise him for his justice, that he is the God who dwells in an approachable light, that he is a God of holiness and purity with eyes too pure to look upon sin. He cannot laugh at sin, he cannot tolerate sin. He is a God of transcendent holiness. And so we confess the perfect righteousness of God, which leaves others in the fall and perdition wherein they have involved themselves. And that is something to praise God for. You look at Psalm 97 and it rejoices in the Lord's justice. Psalm 97, the opening words there, the Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness are all around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world, the earth sees and trembles. The heavens proclaim his righteousness and all the people see his glory. You see the glory of God and his righteous judgment, that he maintains his standard, he maintains his holiness, he keeps his word that in the day you eat of the fruit, you will die. The doctrine of reprobation has been called a dreadful decree, a horrible decree in the sense that it is rightly terrifying to know one so sovereign and almighty that before the sinner is even born, God has decreed that one will end up in hell because of their sin and rebellion. The canons of Dort Following the article on reprobation recorded there, it gives encouragement and comfort for those who. Who tremble at hearing that doctrine, but who seriously desire to to live for the Lord, to turn to God, it gives them encouragement to continue in the means of grace and to know God is merciful, but then it gives a warning for the careless. However, those who have forgotten God, their savior, Jesus Christ. and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of flesh. Such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching as long as they do not seriously turn to God. For the one who walks in the ways of sinful flesh without repentance, that one should tremble. To think this is not a small deal. I'm not dealing with a human court of opinion. I'm not dealing with another man. I'm dealing with a sovereign almighty king who before I was born has decreed my destiny. The severe wrath of God should make the proud heart to tremble. And for that reason, God has revealed his justice to make sinners tremble. It is an overwhelming reality to speak of hell. And for that reason, many churches and many pulpits have given up proclaiming the eternity of hell. But we must all deal with God. The young pastor, 150 years ago, Robert Murray McShane. Young and yet himself soon to die, wrote these words, as I was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with almost overwhelming power. that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven or hell. Oh, how I wish that I had a tongue of thunder that I might make all here or that I had a frame like iron that I might visit everyone and say, escape for your life. We must stand in awe before the absolute justice of the eternal King. He's not a human judge, swayed by the thoughts and arguments of men. He is one who knows his standard of righteousness and knows our sinfulness. And those things must be proclaimed. As Sinclair Ferguson put it, every member of fallen humanity needs to have thrust in front of him the radical and total inexcusability of sin. and the absolute justice of God's condemnation. Only then will he can he take hell seriously. The preaching of these truths is intended to tear away the blindness to arouse and pierce the slumbering conscience. Otherwise, we persist in our assumption that whatever fate befalls others like hero or Hitler, like Nero or Hitler, we ourselves are safe from divine condemnation. And how many in the world today don't think that, oh, there is a hell for Nero. There is a hell for Hitler. But for me, I'm doing OK. I'm not such a bad person. But it is the preaching, the declaration of the sinfulness of our sin and the righteousness of God's justice that breaks the heart by God's grace. Causes the sinner to flee to Jesus Christ. Because as surely as we sit here this morning, Every single one of us will be very shortly in heaven or in hell. As surely as we sit here this morning, the destiny of every single one of us is determined. We will be in heaven forever and ever or in hell forever and ever. Mercy and justice side by side and the proclamation of the gospel saying, the sinners come and know the mercy of the Lord in Christ Jesus, that you might raise your voices and praise God forever with all the saints. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we bow in humility before you. Oh, how we exaggerate our importance and our size and our ability. What little ants we are before the face of the living God. Oh, Lord, we pray that you would humble us by the doctrine of election and reprobation. That we might fall on our faces before you and give you praise for the glory of your mercy in Jesus and for the glory of your justice. Not only in the cross, but even in hell. The father, as much as our heart rejoices and is overwhelmed by your love and mercy, so father, our hearts also tremble. At the eternal destruction that awaits many. We pray that you would arouse us to be a worshiping church, from the heart call upon you. Who give to you glory, who adore you. For father, only when we behold your majesty are we fitted for the cause of missions and evangelism. Only father, when we know your majesty, are we ready to serve you upon the earth. Open our eyes, we pray, and open our lips to sing forth your praise. Blessed be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.