The last message we talk through the sovereign gospel.  What it means for the gospel of God to be wholly the work of our Creator, established and purposed in Him from eternity past.  Today we answer the question of motivation.  Why would God ordain things as they are?  What is the driving force behind God to ordain all things, including the creation, the fall of man, and redemption through Jesus?  The answer is love.  God’s love is not flawed by selfish needs of personal affirmation or reciprocation, it is full in itself.  The love of God overflows from His nature into all things.

The last message we looked at how the gospel was God’s sovereign plan for all time, yet in the same passage, we are told where that plan comes from.  Ephesians 1:3-5 – “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, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

1 John 4:8-10 – “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.“

There are many parts of the mind and purposes of God which will remain a mystery to me.  I am a finite, fallen man, and He is infinite and holy.  Deuteronomy 29:29 – “The secret things belong to the Lord our God”  I don’t have a great answer for why God chooses to save some and not others.  I don’t have a great answer for why a bad person lives to be 90, and a good person gets cancer at 28 and dies, or another person loses a child.  I don’t have a great answer for why God allows people to be abused, or any of the evil in the world when it’s in His power to stop it in an instant.  Yet, I have perfect peace with God, because while I don’t know all the why’s to those questions, I do know the answer has been given in Christ.  God’s love towards us in Christ is greater than all my unanswered questions.  I don’t know all those things, but I know God is good and loving because of Jesus.  The love of God has been made manifest to us in Christ, that in Him we would be reconciled to God and find our peace.

Some people believe that God simply “knows” who will choose to believe on Jesus and be saved.  They believe that God does not force anyone to believe, but perhaps gives them grace enough to be in a morally neutral position where they can either choose to believe or not believe.  The Bible does not talk about salvation this way.  Salvation in Jesus Christ is not merited through my “good” choice of belief, salvation, and everything necessary for salvation, is a gift of God.

Ephesians 1:3-10 – “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, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” 

I’m going to make a large jump here.  My purpose is not to turn this into a message on the doctrine of predestination, the difference between autonomy and free choice, or any myriad of doctrinal / philosophical side roads.  I’m simply going to say that God sovereignly chose to save us.  Why is the sovereign gospel, good news?

As Christians, we bring nothing to the table with God.  Nothing.  Not our works, not our faith – we are saved by the grace and mercy of God in Christ alone.  Acts 17:24-25 – “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”  Ephesians 2:8-10 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

If we bring nothing to the table with God, then are hope in Christ is secure, not in our own ability to maintain a certain level of morality, or our ability to maintain a certain level of faith, but in Christ alone.  We can rest not in ourselves, but in God who does not change.  Malachi 3:6 – “For I the Lord do not change;”  Every one of us as Christians will face times when we completely blow it morally or find ourselves in a period where we struggle with doubts and our faith.  We can rest in knowing that none of that came as a surprise to God.  God knows our weakness, and simply wants us to come to Him in our weakness and failings, resting in Christ.  Psalm 51:17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

It’s because our gospel does not rest in our own broken selves, but in God, that we can have peace day to day, secure in the love of God towards us.  If this is still a struggle for you, my encouragement is to seek God’s Truth from His Word.  Someone once told me that the sovereignty of God might be difficult at first, but would eventually be like a warm blanket that you wrap yourself in.  That was true for me.  That God has been faithful when I was faithless is without question.  God will never leave us or forsake us because His love for us is rooted in Christ in eternity.  Philippians 1:6 – “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

If today, you are near to the Lord, praise God for guiding your steps and sustaining your faith.  If today, you are far from the Lord, be encouraged in God’s sovereign choice to give you faith and His Holy Spirit, and return to the Lord.  He is near, He has purpose for your pain, purpose for redeeming you from sin, and purpose for you to walk with Him in righteousness.  He is sovereign.  He can never love you more, and will never love you less.  Root that Truth into your heart, and it will set you free.

Grace and Peace,
Adam