The Doctrines of Grace
Part Five
by
Dr. Jay Worth Allen
Salvation can be viewed from many angles and scrutinized under various aspects, but from whatever side we look, we must remember that “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). Salvation was planned by the Father for His elect before the foundation of the world; purchased for them by the Holy life and Vicarious death of His incarnate Son; applied to and fashioned in them by His Holy Spirit. “Salvation is of the Lord.”
Salvation is far more than an edict for sinners to receive Christ as Savior. Salvation is God’s own Sovereignty and all-powerful work of Grace toward and in those who are entirely destitute of merit; those who are so depraved in themselves that they will not, nor cannot, take the first step to be saved. Salvation is God saving His people. “Salvation is of the Lord.” And this is the point of truth where so many preachers fail in their understanding. While they affirm that Christ is the only Savior for sinners, they also teach that He saves only by the sinner’s consent. While they allow the fact that conviction of sin is the Holy Spirit’s work, they insist that the decisive factor in Salvation is man’s own Free Will. But, “salvation is of the Lord,” so nothing of the creature can enter into it at any point. God is pleased only with that which He has produced by Himself. “By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
The Word of God does demand our responsibility and accountable; yet it is also true that none of us have ever met that demand. We are all miserable failures. It is this truth, which constitutes the deep need for God to work in us, and to do for us what we are unable to do for ourselves. We are “without strength and without God in the world” (Romans 5:6). Apart from the Lord, we “can do nothing” (John 15:5). Our Salvation must be from, and by, God alone. Our “Salvation is of the Lord.”
The Gospel issues a call and a command to all who hear it, but we all disregard that call and disobey that command. And this is where we commit our greatest sin and manifest our vile enmity against God and His Christ: when a Savior, suited to our needs, is presented to us, we “despise and reject” Him (Isa. 53:3). This is where we show what irredeemable rebels we really are, and demonstrate that we are deserving only of eternal torments. But it is at this point that God manifests His sovereign and wondrous Grace to His Elect. He not only planned and provided salvation, but he actually bestows it upon those whom He unconditionally Elects.
God, in His most Holy Grace, and entirely without any merit on His Elect’s part, chose and elected, out of the mass of fallen humanity, some from every tongue, tribe, people and nation to be called the Sons of God. He chose to save those few, not with the view of anything good or worthy that He foresaw within those creatures. For there was nothing good, nor worthy, to be seen in them. But by His grace, for His own Glory, for His own Pleasure, and for His own Purpose, which He determined within Himself, did He choose to save whom He would save. This is God’s unconditional Choice. This is Unconditional Election.
We have seen by the Total Depravity of man, that there is no condition that we, being dead in our sins, could meet, or conditions that we would meet, if we could meet, that would bring us to God, because we (as fallen creatures) stand in rebellion and enmity towards God. Thus, our Election is Unconditional and is not respected of any faith, of any repentance, of any holiness or of any good work, or of any perseverance on our part. All of these, faith, repentance, good works, holiness etc. are the fruit and effects of God’s Electing grace; not the condition or the cause of that grace.
The doctrine of Unconditional Election, basically states that: we did not choose to accept or reject God (which sounds ridiculous), God chose us; we had nothing to do with the Spirit drawing us to the Father; we had nothing to do with our names being written down before the foundations of the world; we had nothing to do with any of the process of God saving us (no matter what the preachers or the numerous evangelical tracts say) and we have nothing to do with keeping or letting go of our salvation. It’s “Election!” God has a majority vote of One.
Election is not a half-hearted attempt on the part of God. Election does not mean that God is anxiously awaiting the final ballet boxes to see who gets in to His heaven, and who doesn’t. Election does not mean that God has no idea how many Mansions to build. Election means that God has foreordained that the Elect will be Saved. The Elect are not those whom God hopes will be saved. The elect are those whom God will Save. And He will save them to the Uttermost! “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God” (1 Peter 1:2).
God first gives life to His Elect sinner (John 6:63). Then, repentance (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25). Then, faith (Ephesians 2:8). Then, spiritual understanding (1 John 5:20). Then, perseverance (1 Peter 1:5). Then, fruit (Hosea 14:8; Galatians 5:22). “Lord, You will ordain peace for us: for You also have fashioned all our works in us” (Isaiah 26:12).
In Romans 9, the Lord declares, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” You may ask, “How could God have hated Esau?” My answer, “How could God have loved Jacob?” Thanks be to God for His Unconditional Election. “Salvation is of the Lord.”
Next week we’ll look into another Grace, which causes much more disturbance than necessary: Limited Atonement.
written December 20, 2010. Published The County Journal 27 Jan. 2011
© dr. jay & miss diana ministries, inc
