Proverbs: The Fear of the Lord and Wisdom: The Doctrine of Election

The Doctrine of Election - 3

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2009-01-27

Synopsis: John Weaver continues his series on election by focusing on the person of election—Christ. He argues from Ephesians 1:4 that believers are chosen 'in Christ,' meaning Christ is God's first elect, the covenant head, and believers are chosen as members of His body. Weaver explores Christ's eternal appointment as mediator, His delight to the Father, and the Lamb's Book of Life, emphasizing that election is personal, secure, and rooted in God's eternal decree. Applications include the necessity of preaching Christ as elect and the marks of those written in the Book of Life.

[John Weaver] Ephesians 1, beginning with verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.

[John Weaver] That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him." in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom also that ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." who is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory."

[John Weaver] We have been studying for the two past Sundays on the biblical doctrine of election. You will remember that I told you several truths concerning election, how that number one, election is a foundational doctrine. Number two, election in one sense of the word is a very difficult doctrine. Thirdly, it is an important doctrine. Fourthly, it is a blessed doctrine. Fifthly, it is a distasteful doctrine. Sixthly, a separating doctrine. And seventhly, it is indeed an evangelical doctrine. And then secondly, we look in the second message at the first point, at the principle of election. I pointed out that as you study the word of God, every time you see an election, there is also implied and inherent in that a reprobation or a preterition, that is, a passing over or an omission. We pointed out the non-theological or the non-soteriological uses of the word chosen. in the word of God, how that David chose him out five smooth stones out of the riverbed.

[John Weaver] And so therefore he passed over those others. He selected only five. He chose those five. We pointed out also that as we studied the soteriological sense of election, that there were three great truths concerning this. The first one is this, that God has a sovereign right to bestow more grace upon one creature than another, since grace is unmerited and undeserved favor." God has the sovereign right to give more grace to one than he does another. The second great truth we saw is that God exercises that right in Holy Scripture. The Word of God tells us, our Lord Himself said in Matthew chapter 20, Is thine eye evil because I am good?

[John Weaver] Is it not lawful to do with mine own what I will?" And he exercises that right, and he does so.

[John Weaver] Thirdly, we found out from Holy Scripture that God has some other reason than that of saving as many as possible for the way in which he distributes his grace. And we pointed this out from Matthew 11 and other passages. And then as we looked at the principle of election, we found that there were four types of election in the Bible. There is that which is known as a theocratic election, or a national election. There is secondly that which is known as a vocational election, where God chose the tribe of Levi. Then out of that tribe, he chose certain men to be the high priest. There was Bezalel who was chosen, along with Aholiab, to make the certain fabrics of the tabernacle. You have, even today, a vocational election, how certain ones are chosen to be pastor-teachers and others are not. And then thirdly, there was a messianic election.

[John Weaver] Isaiah 42 speaks of Christ being the elect. 1 Peter 2 speaks of Christ being the elect. And then fourthly, there was the soteriological election, that is, election that relates to our salvation. Some have referred to it as ecclesiastical election, that is, the election of the church. But either way, it is a soteriological, it is a saving, It has reference to salvation.

[John Weaver] Now today I want to come just simply to the second point, and that is the person of election. Having pointed out in Scripture that there is a biblical principle, now if you'll look at Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, the Bible says, according as he hath chosen us, there's the principle, now here's the person, in him. We are chosen in Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, let me say this before I ever begin. What I'm going to say this morning, you're going to have to listen very carefully. I'm not going to say that much, but what I am going to say, you're going to have to think. I really thought several times before I came to the form and the format in which I present this truth. I came to the conclusion that I almost wanted to say that we are chosen in Christ, and close my Bible and dismiss it, because it is such a deep subject that it boggles the mind as you begin to try to think of it. Now, since we are chosen in Christ, it is evident that we were chosen out of ourselves. That means we were not chosen because of any merit or anything in ourselves.

[John Weaver] God did not look down through the ages and foresee that we would believe, and therefore chose us for our believing. For had God not given us the Spirit, and had God not given us his gift of faith, none would have ever believed. When it says that we were chosen in Christ, it necessarily implies that we were chosen out of ourselves. But secondly, it necessarily implies that Christ was chosen before us. We were chosen in Christ, therefore Christ was chosen before us. In other words, Christ is God's first elect. Christ is the head of God's elect. In the order of nature, Christ came first. In the order of time, we were chosen with him. You could say it like this, in the womb of election, he the head came out first, and then we the members.

[John Weaver] Which the truth then would be typified in every normal childbirth. The head, and then the members. Therefore, the word of God tells us that Christ is the firstborn of every creature.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will hold Ephesians chapter 1, but turn in your Bibles, first of all, to Isaiah chapter 42, and let's read verses 1 through 4. And then we'll turn and see these verses in the New Testament, how they are uniquely applied to Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 42, beginning with verse 1. Notice, the word of God declares, Behold my servant whom I uphold, in reference to Christ the Messiah, mine elect, in whom my soul delighted.

[John Weaver] I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the isle shall wait for his law."

[John Weaver] Now in Isaiah 42 verse 1, God calls the Messiah, My servant, My elect, in whom My soul delighteth. If you would turn now in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 12, Beginning with verse 15, you will see how this passage uniquely relates to Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from this, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.

[John Weaver] And he charged them that they should not make him numb. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen, that is, mine elect, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flack shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment into victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

[John Weaver] Now, the Word of God tells us that we are chosen in Christ. And the Word of God also tells us that Christ is God's elect. I have heard individuals say all my life, well, there is no reason dabbling in all of these doctrines. Some of them are so hard to understand and some are so difficult. Why do you want to go into all of these doctrines? Why not just simply and merely preach Christ? Well, that sounds very pious. But you see, beloved, you cannot preach Christ aright. unless you preach Him in His highest official character and glory. And according to the Word of God, Christ's highest official character and glory is that of being the covenant head of God's elect. He is the elect of God. Therefore, one cannot preach Christ aright without preaching the doctrine of election. For the Word of God tells us that we are chosen in Christ. The Word of God tells us that God loved Christ, and that God loved his own before the foundation of the world.

[John Weaver] Now, since God is love, and since there must be an object for his love, that object must have an existence in order for him to love. For you cannot love a non-entity. That is, you cannot love that which does not exist. in the mind, in the decree, in the counsel of God from all eternity, God chose and loved Christ, the man Jesus Christ, as the mediator, the head of the covenant, and in loving Christ he loved his people whom he gave to Christ.

[John Weaver] You could say, here is the bridegroom, here is the bride. Here is the head, here is the church. Here is the head, and here are the members. Christ was the first chosen, and then we, the members. And as God loved Christ, the head, so therefore He loved us, the members. If you would turn in your Bibles to two passages, The first one to Jeremiah, chapter 31, and verse 3. Jeremiah, chapter 31, and verse 3. This is one of my favorite verses, and yet it is one that boggles the mind of most individuals. In Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 3, the Word of God says, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Now, the word of God tells us that God's love to his own is an everlasting love, which means it had no beginning. And because it had no beginning, it has no ending.

[John Weaver] There's a little poem. Or a little jingle that goes like this, and yet it's so true. Yesterday he loved me, today he's just the same. How long will this continue? Forever, praise his name. But he loved us before yesterday.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will notice, our effectual calling, and I'll deal with this later, is the result of our election. He says, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, because he chose us, because he set his love upon us, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

[John Weaver] Now if you will look in your Bibles to John 17, you will see that our Lord in his high priestly prayer confesses the same identical truth. John 17. And look, if you would please, at verses 23 and 24. In verse 23, our Lord says, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Now, wait a minute. Our Lord prays that the world may know that Christ, or that God, loves His own as He loved Christ. Well, He loved Christ in eternity. Therefore, He loved us, His elect, His own, in eternity. Now verse 24,"...Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world." Now if Christ says, I pray that everyone may know that God loves his own as he loves me, then he goes right around and says, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

[John Weaver] So God's love for his own was before the foundation of the world, but it was in Christ as the head of the elect. The phrase that I'm trying to deal with this morning, and I'll deal with the period of our election just a little bit later on, but the phrase that I'm trying to deal with is that we were chosen in Him. Which means that in the council of eternity past, in the triune Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, the second person of the Trinity, was chosen, was singled out, and was predestinated to be united in the man Christ Jesus, two natures, a human nature and a divine nature, yet one person In eternity past, in the counsel and the mind of the triune God, it was Jesus Christ who was predestinated and ordained to be the God-man, the mediator, the head of God's covenant people, the very elect of God in whom God delighted.

[John Weaver] Now, we are so humanistically inclined that we like to think that the only reason that God sent Christ was for our benefit. Now, God did send Christ for our benefit, but that was not the only reason. You see, beloved, God is chiefly concerned with himself. Because God is the highest good, God is the chiefest good, God is God and God is perfect. And for God to be concerned with less than himself would ungodly. He is concerned with us in Christ. But may I give you scripturally three other reasons why Christ was predestinated other than the fact for the benefit of his people. And by the way, if you question that, look in your Bible to Acts chapter 2, and I will show you biblically that Christ was predestinated, foreordained, foredetermined to suffer for his people. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, Peter declares, him, that is Christ, And if you doubt that, just look at verse 22.

[John Weaver] Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him, that is, Jesus of Nazareth Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now Christ came according to the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God. And if you will look in your Bible to Acts chapter 4 beginning with verse 26, you will see the same truth concerning Christ again. Acts 4 verse 26, the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before thee doth." The only thing that happened to our Lord was the thing that God had determined before the world ever began.

[John Weaver] Christ was predestined to suffer exactly in the way that he suffered for the benefit of his people. For in Matthew 1 and verse 21, the Bible says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. But I'm saying that is not the only reason that Christ was set up as the God-man, as the mediator, as the head of the covenant.

[John Weaver] Here they are, let me give you three of them. Number one, he was chosen for God himself to delight in, for more so and infinitely above all creatures. Being united to the second person, the man Christ, Jesus was exalted to a closer union and communion with God. He was chosen, first of all, for God to delight in. And Jehovah God Himself, in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 7, says, Behold the man who is myself. The man, the man Christ Jesus, who is my fellow. Now the word fellow means equal. And God the Father says of the man Christ Jesus, the God-man, behold the man who is my equal. Behold the man who is very God of very God. Yea, God incarnate, God manifest in the flesh. And in Christ Jesus there was the intimate union and communion between He and the Father and the Spirit. You see, it is impossible to explain in one sense of the word, but the union between the Father and the man Christ Jesus was far greater than that between husband and wife.

[John Weaver] For husband and wife are merely one flesh. It's far greater than that even of the church and Christ, for that is one spirit. Yea, the man Christ Jesus was very God of very God, God incarnate, and He said of the Father that the Father was in Him and He was in the Father. Yea, He said, I and my Father are one. And so he was chosen, first of all, for God to delight in, God the Father.

[John Weaver] And that's why in Isaiah 42, verse 1, he said, Behold my elect in whom my soul delighteth. Secondly, Christ was chosen that God might behold the image of himself and all of his perfections in a creature, so that his excellencies are seen in Christ as in no other. If you would turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. Hebrews 1 and verse 3. And if you will remember, those of you that were here at the watch night service, I pointed out the fact that Christ did truly have a human nature. Everything that makes up a man was the man Christ Jesus. Everything that makes up God, he was as well, for he is God and man in one. But here it is, I said that Christ was chosen that God might behold his image of himself in all of his perfections in the God-man, Christ Jesus. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3.

[John Weaver] Speaking of Christ, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholdeth all things by his power, when he hath himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Notice, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, Someone says, but I want to know what God is like. I want to know how does God look. All I can say is with our Lord, Thomas, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. For Christ is the express image of the Father. And the brightness of His glories.

[John Weaver] There have been holy men on this earth. There have been godly men. There have been Brainerds and Edwards and Calvins and Whitefields, but all of the saintliest saints and all of the holiest of men could never equal to one of the excellencies and the perfections that are in Jesus Christ. And here all of the perfections of the Father were found in the God-man, Christ Jesus. By the union of the man Christ Jesus would be an everlasting Son of God, the whole fullness of the Godhead wants to dwell personally in Him, He being the very image of the invisible God.

[John Weaver] If you would turn in your Bibles, please, to the book of Colossians. And look at chapter 1, verse 15 and verse 19. I said, thirdly, the reason Christ was chosen by God was so that the union of the man Christ Jesus with the everlasting Son of God, the whole fullness of the Godhead would dwell in him personally, he being the image of the invisible God. Colossians 1 and verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature? Verse 19. For it pleased the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell." Chapter 2, verse 9,"...for in him," that is, in Christ,"...dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body." Christ was chosen by God not only for His own delights, not only so that the perfections and the beauties of God Himself might be manifest, They created nature, but that also that the very fullness of the Godhead might dwell in him. Now, beloved, if you will turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 8, we'll cover some ground which I deem to be most difficult and yet most beneficial to your soul and to mine if we would contemplate it in light of the fact that Christ is.

[John Weaver] the chief of God's elect. We were chosen in him. He was chosen before us.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make a statement. I hope you will follow it through with me. It is hard for you and I to use the language of Scripture at times. And the reason why it is hard is because we cannot think the way God thinks. For instance, I talk about the decrees of God. But you know an interesting thing, every time you read about the decrees of God in Scripture, it is decrees, singular.

[John Weaver] I will declare the decree! You see, God knows everything completely, totally, perfectly, instantaneously. And all God has to do is decree one decree, and in that one decree, everything that has ever happened and ever will happen is included. But you see, you and I think successively. We think in revolutions, we say this, and then this, and then this, and then this. God doesn't think like that. God doesn't have to think like that, for He's God. He has it all. He knows it all. And so there is one decree. Now, you and I must think successively. So let me show you that in the mind of God, Christ was set up as the head of his elect, and we were therefore chosen in him. You remember that one of the names in scripture for Christ is the wisdom of God. And in Proverbs chapter 8, you have wisdom personified. And here you have a plain passage referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, to his mediatorship, to his incarnation, to him being the covenant head of his elect people.

[John Weaver] In Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 22, he makes this statement. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old.

[John Weaver] Now let me point out several things. Number one, the word in, I-N, is not in the Hebrew. The word beginning should be, as you and I would understand it, as the word first or chief. And so literally what he's saying is the Lord possessed me, the beginning of his way, or the chief, or the first of his way, But it also teaches us of his eternal existence as the God-man in the mind, in the counsel, in the decree of the Father. In other words, our Redeemer came forth of the womb of a decree from eternity before he came out of the womb of the Virgin in time. He was hid in the will of God in secret, in a decree, before he was made manifest in flesh as Redeemer.

[John Weaver] He was a lamb slain decreedly before the foundation of the world, before he ever began, became a lamb slain in time historically in the world. He is saying that the Lord possessed me. I am the chief of his way. I am the firstborn. I am the beginning. And then he makes this statement in verse 23, I was sent up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was.

[John Weaver] Now the word sent up there means literally anointed and appointed. Christ is saying that I was appointed to be the mediator. I was appointed the head of God's elect. I was appointed the head of the covenant people before the world was. He goes on in verse 24, when there was no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. By the way, you do know what the highest part of the dust of the world is, and it's not Mount Everest. What are you and I made of? Dust. We're the highest part of the dust of the world. And so he's simply saying, before man was made, before the creation was made, I was set up, I was ordained, I was appointed.

[John Weaver] Now notice he says in verse 27, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he said, Accomplice upon the face of the deep, in other words, our mediator, the head of the covenant, is there. He's already established. He's been established from eternity. Verse 28, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him.

[John Weaver] As one brought up with him. You remember I told you first of all a while ago that Christ was chosen for the Father to delight in. Then was I by him as one that was brought up with him. I was daily his delight. Rejoicing always before him. Rejoicing in the inhabitable parts of the earth, and my delights were with the sons of men."

[John Weaver] Now, if you can get this picture, in eternity past, in the mind and the decree of God before God the Son ever became incarnate in time. He had an existence in the counsel and the decree of God. It was so sure. It was so perfect. It was so complete. It was so steadfast that God counted it as already as having happened. And Christ, the man, the perfect man, united with the very deity itself. Yea, the God-man had an existence in the mind of God, and Christ as the mediator, the head of his people, was daily, or we might say eternally, the delight of the Father. And Christ rejoiced before the Father. Yea, He was rejoicing that the Father chose Him to be the Head, chose Him to be incarnate, chose Him to suffer, chose Him to die, chose Him to be raised from the dead, chose Him to be exalted. He rejoiced before the Father.

[John Weaver] And then He said, And my delights were with the sons of men. That is, I was delighted and those that the Father gave me to be mine." And so here you have the Father being delighted in the Son, and the Son rejoicing before the Father, and the Father giving the Son of people, and the Son delighting in them. For in John 17 he says,"...they were thine, and thou gavest them to me."

[John Weaver] I want to quote you a paragraph written by Stephen Charnock, one of the old Puritans. Listen very closely. The reason I'm quoting it, I cannot say it any better or more concisely. I think it's very beautifully written. Christ was first elected as head and mediator and as the cornerstone to bear up the whole building. For the act of the Father's election in Christ supposeth him first chosen to this mediatory work, and to be the head of the elect part of the world. After this election of Christ, others were predestinated to be conformed unto his image. In other words, to Christ as mediator. And taking human nature, not to Christ barely considered as God, This conformity being specially intended in election, Christ was in the purpose of the Father, the first exemplar and copy of it. One foot of the compass of grace stood in Christ as the center, while the other walked about the circumference, pointing one here and another there, to draw a line, as it were, between every one of those points and Christ.

[John Weaver] The Father then being the prime cause of the election of some out of the mass of mankind was the prime cause of the election of Christ to bring them to the enjoyment to that which they were elected. Is it likely that God in founding an everlasting kingdom should consult about the members before he did about the head? Christ was registered at the top of the book of election and his members after him. It is called, therefore, the book of the Lamb." Now, he asked the question, is it possible or is it likely that God should consult concerning the members of the body before he did the head?

[John Weaver] Well, this is exactly what Ephesians 1 is telling us. He left it and chose the head first, and then the numbers. But that which I really liked was the very fact that he says, one foot of the compass of grace stood in Christ, and the other walked about the circumference, picking out one here and one there, and every one that it picked out, it drew a straight line to Jesus Christ. We were chosen in Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, he brought up an interesting statement. He says it is called, therefore, the Lamb's Book of Life. If you will turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8, you will see it is spoken of very plainly as such. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8. and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world." So here is where we get the Lamb's book of life. Now this expression, book of life, has its roots way back in Isaiah chapter 4 and verse 3. where the chosen remnant are referred to as everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem. Now God's eternal act of election is spoken of as writing the names of his chosen ones in the book of life.

[John Weaver] Now this figure teaches us several things. The book of life. Writing names in the book of life. I believe I've pointed this out before. If I have not, let me emphasize it again. There's an unscriptural song that is sung by many churches. There's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, oh yes, it's mine. There are no new names written down in glory. All of them have been written before the foundation of the What does this teach us? Well, it teaches us three things when it talks about the Lamb's Book of Life.

[John Weaver] First, the exact knowledge that God has of all His elect and His particular remembrance for them and His delight in them. Let me ask you a question. Does it not delight you when you meet someone and a week, two, three, four weeks later, maybe several months, They see you and they say, well, you're Dean Strickland. I'll remember you. And you're flattered. And you're pleased that they remember you. And sometimes when you want to be sure that you don't remember a name, you write it down. You make sure that you remember it. And so when it talks about the Lamb's Book of Life, it talks about the exact knowledge that the Lord has of every one of His own.

[John Weaver] Now, in case you've forgotten the scripture, and I pointed it out several weeks ago, flip in your Bibles to 2 Timothy, chapter 2, and look at verse 19, to make sure that you understand that I'm not making any of this up. In 2 Timothy, chapter 2, in verse 19, the Lamb's Book of Life speaks, the knowledge that God has of all of his elect. And in 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, we read this,"...nevertheless, the foundation of God's standard sure having this season, the Lord knowing them that are healed." And so the Lamb's Book of Life just simply points out the fact of this exact knowledge of God. Secondly, the Book of Life teaches us that God's eternal election is of particular persons, and that their names are definitely recorded by Him.

[John Weaver] Now, if that ought to grab you, I don't know if it ever affects you the way it does me or not, but you just stop and think before the world ever watches. Before a star was ever hung in space, before the sun ever shone, before the moon ever shined, before there was a particle of dust, before there was anything, God said, Bill Wolf, Bobby Smith, I mean, personally, put your name in a book.

[John Weaver] Now, to show you that, look in your Bibles, first of all, to Luke chapter 10. And look at what our Lord told these seven, Luke chapter 10 and verse 20. Of course they came back rejoicing that Satan was being destroyed before them and that they had power over all the enemies. And our Lord in Luke chapter 10 in verse 20 says, notwithstanding in this, rejoice not. In other words, don't rejoice just simply because you're having personal victory. Don't just simply rejoice because the enemies of God are being defeated.

[John Weaver] Now, it's alright to rejoice in some of these things, but he says the main thing that you're to rejoice in, he says, not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your name are written in heaven. And if you look in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 3, Paul says it, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 3, he says, I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labor with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are written in the book of life." And so there are particular names of particular people that are written in the Lamb's book of life. Thirdly, the book of life teaches us that those who are written there are absolutely sure, secure, and safe, and their names shall never be blotted out. In Revelation chapter 3 and verse 5, God says that I will not blot thy name out of the book of life. You see, this explanation that is usually given concerning election is so unbiblical that most folks say, well, everybody's name is written in the book of life.

[John Weaver] And then when you reject Christ, God blots it out. God doesn't blot out those in the book of life. No, those names are written in that book before the foundation of the world. Those are the ones that he gave to Christ. Those are the ones that Christ came and suffered and bled and died for. And Christ said Himself, and the prophet Isaiah penned it in Isaiah 53, he shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. For everyone for whom he died, he shall see them and be satisfied.

[John Weaver] And can you imagine what the Father would say to the Son? If the Son said, Father, here's one that I died for that's absolutely and eternally lost, where is he? Oh, the Father said, well, I blotted his name out. Oh, but the Son said, we had a covenant. You agreed to give me those for whom I suffered and bled and died. You agreed to pardon and forgive them.

[John Weaver] Can you see what blasphemous theology that would be? You would have a mutable God, not an immutable God. You would have an unholy and an unjust God, not a holy and a just God. So you see, beloved, the Lamb's Book of Life. Everyone's name who is written there is safe and secure. Now, it's called the Lamb's Book of Life for two reasons. Number one, because the Lamb's name heads it.

[John Weaver] And this was what the whole message was about, because he is the first of God's elect. I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not, especially in connection with this, but did you ever notice that the first name in the New Testament is Jesus Christ? Matthew 1.1, the beginning of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[John Weaver] Secondly, it's called the Lamb's Book of Life because Christ is the root, and the believers are the branches, and we receive our life and our substance from Him. Now, it is called the Lamb's Book of Life, and His name heads it.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you something. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7. quoting from the book of Psalms, then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God."

[John Weaver] Now, an interesting thing is this. In the Old Testament, in the book of Psalms, where this is quoted from, Psalm 40 and verse 7, the word for the Hebrew is indeed volume. But when you come to the Greek New Testament, The Greek word is not the word for volume. It is the word kephale which means head. 76 other times in the New Testament kephale is used and 76 times it is translated head. Our translators translated the word head for volume here. Literally what he is saying is, then said I, lo, I come in the head of the book.

[John Weaver] It is written of me to do thy will, O God. When Christ says he is the head of the book, he is confessing that he is God's first elect, that he is the covenant head of his people. And Christ the head knows whose names are written therein, for he is indeed at the head of that book.

[John Weaver] Now let me make a couple of applications this morning to what I've just said. When the Word of God teaches us that we are chosen in Christ, it means this. For anyone to despise the doctrine of election is to despise Christ. For Christ is God's elect. And for individuals whose attitude is, well, I don't want anything to do with election, they are literally saying, I don't want anything to do with Christ! For Christ is God's elect. And no one can preach Christ without preaching election. Someone will ask, well, you talked about the Lamb's Book of Life, and I will deal with this later on as we study the doctrine of election. But you say, how do I know whether or not my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Well, for one thing for sure, you cannot get a ladder and crawl to heaven and look and see. But there are ways that one can know whether or not his name is in the Book of Life. And I will not go into detail, but let me say this.

[John Weaver] All of those whose names have been written in the book of life, several things happen to them according to the word of God. Number one, they are brought to see their own inward corruption and pollution and vileness and utter cravity. They are brought literally to despair of themselves, realizing that their works and their righteousness and their merits and all their good deeds cannot in any wise justify them, that they are absolutely helpless. Secondly, they are brought to see that Christ is the only salvation, that He is to be the one that is foremost and first in their hearts. and in their life. Thirdly, they are brought to believe only in Christ, to trust only on Him, to rest their souls completely upon Christ.

[John Weaver] As in one man was asked concerning the doctrine of election, he said this, they said, Do you know that you are one of God's elect? He said, Most definitely. They said, well, how do you know that you're one of God's elect? Because, he said, in time and in history I was brought to despair of myself and to trust completely and totally in Jesus Christ. Ah, but the man said, suppose that you end up in hell. He said, if I end up in hell, I'll end up trusting completely and totally in Jesus Christ, and no man can go to hell doing that. Fourthly, those who are in the Lamb's Book of Life are brought to see the preciousness of Jesus Christ. You know, I like what Peter said in 1 Peter 2.

[John Weaver] He said, Therefore, unto you who believe, he is precious. He's not precious to everyone else. Let's face it, the world hates him, they despise him, they cast his name out, they take his name in vain, they curse him, they tread him under their feet. But to you who believe, He's precious. Yea, you've come to find out. He's the wisdom of God. And fifthly, those whose names are written therein are brought to the place that they wish to live for him and glorify him more than anything else in the world. So the apostle wrote, Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God. For we are chosen in Christ, that we might be holy and without blame in this world. Shall we pray?

[John Weaver] Father, we do ask now thy blessing upon this study. Help us to realize in some small, minute way the greatness of Jesus Christ, that he is the covenant head and we are the members, that we were chosen in him and without Christ there would be no salvation, without Christ there would be nothing of our own redemption. O Lord, we glory only in Christ. He is the God-Man. He is the Mediator. He is the Savior. His name is truly Jesus, and we call Him Wonderful. Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Lord of Glory, the Amen and the Amen, the Incarnate God, the Wisdom and the Righteousness of God, and we rest our souls in Him and upon Him. We confess all that we are and have is because of Christ our Lord. Bless us, we pray in Thy name.

[John Weaver] Save Thine elect, whoever and wherever they may be, and bring them to Thyself in Thine own time. Use us, Lord, to pray and to preach and proclaim Thy truth and to reach them by Thy grace, we ask. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Doctrine of Election - 3

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	127091423259
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs: The Fear of the Lord and Wisdom: The Doctrine of Election
Genre	Sermon
Date	2009-01-27
Dictation Name
Book	Book 118: The Doctrine of Election — Chapter 3
Source Timed Segments	66

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Review

Weaver reviews previous messages on election, summarizing seven truths about the doctrine and the principle of election, including God's sovereign right to bestow grace and the four types of election in Scripture.

Ephesians 1, beginning with verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:1-10

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself."

"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." We have been studying for the two past Sundays on the biblical doctrine of election. You will remember that I told you several truths concerning election, how that number one, election is a foundational doctrine. Number two, election in one sense of the word is a very difficult doctrine. Thirdly, it is an important doctrine. Fourthly, it is a blessed doctrine. Fifthly, it is a distasteful doctrine. Sixthly, a separating doctrine. And seventhly, it is indeed an evangelical doctrine. And then secondly, we looked in the second message at the first point, at the principle of election. I pointed out that as you study the word of God, every time you see an election, there is also implied and inherent in that a reprobation or a preterition, that is, a passing over or an omission. We pointed out the non-theological or the non-soteriological uses of the word "chosen" in the word of God, how that David chose him out five smooth stones out of the riverbed.

And so therefore he passed over those others. He selected only five. He chose those five. We pointed out also that as we studied the soteriological sense of election, that there were three great truths concerning this. The first one is this, that God has a sovereign right to bestow more grace upon one creature than another, since grace is unmerited and undeserved favor. God has the sovereign right to give more grace to one than he does another. The second great truth we saw is that God exercises that right in Holy Scripture. The Word of God tells us, our Lord Himself said in Matthew chapter 20, "Is thine eye evil because I am good?"

"Is it not lawful to do with mine own what I will?" And he exercises that right, and he does so. Thirdly, we found out from Holy Scripture that God has some other reason than that of saving as many as possible for the way in which he distributes his grace. And we pointed this out from Matthew 11 and other passages. And then as we looked at the principle of election, we found that there were four types of election in the Bible. There is that which is known as a theocratic election, or a national election. There is secondly that which is known as a vocational election, where God chose the tribe of Levi. Then out of that tribe, he chose certain men to be the high priest. There was Bezalel who was chosen, along with Aholiab, to make the certain fabrics of the tabernacle. You have, even today, a vocational election, how certain ones are chosen to be pastor-teachers and others are not. And then thirdly, there was a messianic election.

Isaiah 42 speaks of Christ being the elect. 1 Peter 2 speaks of Christ being the elect. And then fourthly, there was the soteriological election, that is, election that relates to our salvation. Some have referred to it as ecclesiastical election, that is, the election of the church. But either way, it is a soteriological, it is a saving election. It has reference to salvation.

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:4

"according as he hath chosen us"

—there's the principle, now here's the person—"in him." We are chosen in Christ.

The Person of Election: Chosen in Christ

Weaver introduces the second point: the person of election. Ephesians 1:4 teaches believers are chosen 'in Christ,' implying they are chosen out of themselves and that Christ was chosen before them as the head of God's elect.

Now today I want to come just simply to the second point, and that is the person of election. Having pointed out in Scripture that there is a biblical principle, now if you'll look at Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, the Bible says, "according as he hath chosen us"—there's the principle, now here's the person—"in him." We are chosen in Christ. Now, let me say this before I ever begin. What I'm going to say this morning, you're going to have to listen very carefully. I'm not going to say that much, but what I am going to say, you're going to have to think. I really thought several times before I came to the form and the format in which I present this truth. I came to the conclusion that I almost wanted to say that we are chosen in Christ, and close my Bible and dismiss it, because it is such a deep subject that it boggles the mind as you begin to try to think of it. Now, since we are chosen in Christ, it is evident that we were chosen out of ourselves. That means we were not chosen because of any merit or anything in ourselves.

God did not look down through the ages and foresee that we would believe, and therefore chose us for our believing. For had God not given us the Spirit, and had God not given us his gift of faith, none would have ever believed. When it says that we were chosen in Christ, it necessarily implies that we were chosen out of ourselves. But secondly, it necessarily implies that Christ was chosen before us. We were chosen in Christ, therefore Christ was chosen before us. In other words, Christ is God's first elect. Christ is the head of God's elect. In the order of nature, Christ came first. In the order of time, we were chosen with him. You could say it like this, in the womb of election, he the head came out first, and then we the members.

Which the truth then would be typified in every normal childbirth. The head, and then the members. Therefore, the word of God tells us that Christ is the firstborn of every creature.

Christ as God's Elect in Scripture

Weaver demonstrates from Isaiah 42 and Matthew 12 that Christ is called God's elect, emphasizing that preaching Christ rightly requires preaching Him as the covenant head of God's elect.

Now, if you will hold Ephesians chapter 1, but turn in your Bibles, first of all, to Isaiah chapter 42, and let's read verses 1 through 4. And then we'll turn and see these verses in the New Testament, how they are uniquely applied to Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 42, beginning with verse 1. Notice, the word of God declares,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 42:1-4

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law."

Now in Isaiah 42 verse 1, God calls the Messiah,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 12:15-21

"My servant, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth."

If you would turn now in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 15, you will see how this passage uniquely relates to Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 15.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 12:15-21

"But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;" "And charged them that they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

Now, the Word of God tells us that we are chosen in Christ. And the Word of God also tells us that Christ is God's elect. I have heard individuals say all my life, "Well, there is no reason dabbling in all of these doctrines. Some of them are so hard to understand and some are so difficult. Why do you want to go into all of these doctrines? Why not just simply and merely preach Christ?" Well, that sounds very pious. But you see, beloved, you cannot preach Christ aright unless you preach Him in His highest official character and glory. And according to the Word of God, Christ's highest official character and glory is that of being the covenant head of God's elect. He is the elect of God. Therefore, one cannot preach Christ aright without preaching the doctrine of election. For the Word of God tells us that we are chosen in Christ. The Word of God tells us that God loved Christ, and that God loved his own before the foundation of the world.

Now, since God is love, and since there must be an object for his love, that object must have an existence in order for him to love. For you cannot love a non-entity. That is, you cannot love that which does not exist. In the mind, in the decree, in the counsel of God from all eternity, God chose and loved Christ, the man Jesus Christ, as the mediator, the head of the covenant, and in loving Christ he loved his people whom he gave to Christ.

God's Everlasting Love in Christ

Weaver shows from Jeremiah 31:3 and John 17:23-24 that God's love for His people is everlasting and was set upon them in Christ before the foundation of the world.

You could say, here is the bridegroom, here is the bride. Here is the head, here is the church. Here is the head, and here are the members. Christ was the first chosen, and then we, the members. And as God loved Christ, the head, so therefore He loved us, the members. If you would turn in your Bibles to two passages, the first one to Jeremiah, chapter 31, and verse 3. Jeremiah, chapter 31, and verse 3. This is one of my favorite verses, and yet it is one that boggles the mind of most individuals. In Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 3, the Word of God says, "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Now, the word of God tells us that God's love to his own is an everlasting love, which means it had no beginning. And because it had no beginning, it has no ending.

There's a little poem, or a little jingle that goes like this, and yet it's so true: "Yesterday he loved me, today he's just the same. How long will this continue? Forever, praise his name." But he loved us before yesterday.

Now, if you will notice, our effectual calling, and I'll deal with this later, is the result of our election. He says, "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love," because he chose us, because he set his love upon us, "therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Now if you will look in your Bibles to John 17, you will see that our Lord in his high priestly prayer confesses the same identical truth. John 17. And look, if you would please, at verses 23 and 24. In verse 23, our Lord says,

Scripture Reading — John 17:23-24

"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."

Now, wait a minute. Our Lord prays that the world may know that God loves His own as He loved Christ. Well, He loved Christ in eternity. Therefore, He loved us, His elect, His own, in eternity. Now verse 24,

Scripture Reading — John 17:23-24

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

Now if Christ says, "I pray that everyone may know that God loves his own as he loves me," then he goes right around and says,

Scripture Reading — John 17:23-24

"because you loved me before the foundation of the world."

So God's love for his own was before the foundation of the world, but it was in Christ as the head of the elect. The phrase that I'm trying to deal with this morning, and I'll deal with the period of our election just a little bit later on, but the phrase that I'm trying to deal with is that we were chosen in Him. Which means that in the council of eternity past, in the triune Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, the second person of the Trinity was chosen, was singled out, and was predestinated to be united in the man Christ Jesus, two natures, a human nature and a divine nature, yet one person. In eternity past, in the counsel and the mind of the triune God, it was Jesus Christ who was predestinated and ordained to be the God-man, the mediator, the head of God's covenant people, the very elect of God in whom God delighted.

Reasons Christ Was Chosen

Weaver gives three reasons Christ was predestinated as the God-man: for God to delight in, to behold His own perfections in a creature, and for the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in Him bodily.

Now, we are so humanistically inclined that we like to think that the only reason that God sent Christ was for our benefit. Now, God did send Christ for our benefit, but that was not the only reason. You see, beloved, God is chiefly concerned with himself. Because God is the highest good, God is the chiefest good, God is God and God is perfect. And for God to be concerned with less than himself would be ungodly. He is concerned with us in Christ. But may I give you scripturally three other reasons why Christ was predestinated other than the fact for the benefit of his people. And by the way, if you question that, look in your Bible to Acts chapter 2, and I will show you biblically that Christ was predestinated, foreordained, foredetermined to suffer for his people. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, Peter declares, "Him, that is Christ"—and if you doubt that, just look at verse 22.

Scripture Reading — Acts 2:23

"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."

Now Christ came according to the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God. And if you will look in your Bible to Acts chapter 4 beginning with verse 26, you will see the same truth concerning Christ again. Acts 4 verse 26, "The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." The only thing that happened to our Lord was the thing that God had determined before the world ever began.

Christ was predestined to suffer exactly in the way that he suffered for the benefit of his people. For in Matthew 1 and verse 21, the Bible says, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." But I'm saying that is not the only reason that Christ was set up as the God-man, as the mediator, as the head of the covenant.

Scripture Reading — Zechariah 13:7

Here they are, let me give you three of them. Number one, he was chosen for God himself to delight in, for more so and infinitely above all creatures. Being united to the second person, the man Christ Jesus was exalted to a closer union and communion with God. He was chosen, first of all, for God to delight in. And Jehovah God Himself, in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 7, says, "Behold the man who is my fellow." Now the word fellow means equal. And God the Father says of the man Christ Jesus, the God-man, "Behold the man who is my equal." Behold the man who is very God of very God. Yea, God incarnate, God manifest in the flesh. And in Christ Jesus there was the intimate union and communion between He and the Father and the Spirit. You see, it is impossible to explain in one sense of the word, but the union between the Father and the man Christ Jesus was far greater than that between husband and wife.

For husband and wife are merely one flesh. It's far greater than that even of the church and Christ, for that is one spirit. Yea, the man Christ Jesus was very God of very God, God incarnate, and He said of the Father that the Father was in Him and He was in the Father. Yea, He said, "I and my Father are one." And so he was chosen, first of all, for God to delight in, God the Father.

And that's why in Isaiah 42, verse 1, he said, "Behold my elect in whom my soul delighteth." Secondly, Christ was chosen that God might behold the image of himself and all of his perfections in a creature, so that his excellencies are seen in Christ as in no other. If you would turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. Hebrews 1 and verse 3. And if you will remember, those of you that were here at the watch night service, I pointed out the fact that Christ did truly have a human nature. Everything that makes up a man was the man Christ Jesus. Everything that makes up God, he was as well, for he is God and man in one. But here it is, I said that Christ was chosen that God might behold his image of himself in all of his perfections in the God-man, Christ Jesus. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3.

Speaking of Christ, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Notice, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." Someone says, "But I want to know what God is like. I want to know how does God look." All I can say is with our Lord, "Thomas, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." For Christ is the express image of the Father, and the brightness of His glory.

There have been holy men on this earth. There have been godly men. There have been Brainerds and Edwards and Calvins and Whitefields, but all of the saintliest saints and all of the holiest of men could never equal to one of the excellencies and the perfections that are in Jesus Christ. And here all of the perfections of the Father were found in the God-man, Christ Jesus. By the union of the man Christ Jesus with the everlasting Son of God, the whole fullness of the Godhead would dwell personally in Him, He being the very image of the invisible God. If you would turn in your Bibles, please, to the book of Colossians. And look at chapter 1, verse 15 and verse 19. I said, thirdly, the reason Christ was chosen by God was so that the union of the man Christ Jesus with the everlasting Son of God, the whole fullness of the Godhead would dwell in him personally, he being the image of the invisible God. Colossians 1 and verse 15:

Scripture Reading — Colossians 1:15, 19; 2:9

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."

Verse 19: "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." Chapter 2, verse 9: "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Christ was chosen by God not only for His own delights, not only so that the perfections and the beauties of God Himself might be manifest in a created nature, but that also that the very fullness of the Godhead might dwell in him. Now, beloved, if you will turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 8, we'll cover some ground which I deem to be most difficult and yet most beneficial to your soul and to mine if we would contemplate it in light of the fact that Christ is

Christ's Eternal Appointment in Proverbs 8

Weaver expounds Proverbs 8:22-31, showing Christ as wisdom personified, set up from everlasting as mediator and head of the elect, rejoicing before the Father and delighting in the sons of men.

the chief of God's elect. We were chosen in him. He was chosen before us.

Now, let me make a statement. I hope you will follow it through with me. It is hard for you and I to use the language of Scripture at times. And the reason why it is hard is because we cannot think the way God thinks. For instance, I talk about the decrees of God. But you know an interesting thing, every time you read about the decrees of God in Scripture, it is decree, singular. "I will declare the decree!" You see, God knows everything completely, totally, perfectly, instantaneously. And all God has to do is decree one decree, and in that one decree, everything that has ever happened and ever will happen is included. But you see, you and I think successively. We think in revolutions, we say this, and then this, and then this, and then this. God doesn't think like that. God doesn't have to think like that, for He's God. He has it all. He knows it all. And so there is one decree. Now, you and I must think successively. So let me show you that in the mind of God, Christ was set up as the head of his elect, and we were therefore chosen in him. You remember that one of the names in scripture for Christ is the wisdom of God. And in Proverbs chapter 8, you have wisdom personified. And here you have a plain passage referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, to his mediatorship, to his incarnation, to him being the covenant head of his elect people.

In Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 22, he makes this statement:

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 8:22-31

"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old."

Now let me point out several things. Number one, the word "in" is not in the Hebrew. The word "beginning" should be, as you and I would understand it, as the word "first" or "chief." And so literally what he's saying is "The Lord possessed me, the beginning of his way," or "the chief, or the first of his way." But it also teaches us of his eternal existence as the God-man in the mind, in the counsel, in the decree of the Father. In other words, our Redeemer came forth of the womb of a decree from eternity before he came out of the womb of the Virgin in time. He was hid in the will of God in secret, in a decree, before he was made manifest in flesh as Redeemer. He was a lamb slain decreedly before the foundation of the world, before he ever became a lamb slain in time historically in the world. He is saying that "The Lord possessed me. I am the chief of his way. I am the firstborn. I am the beginning." And then he makes this statement in verse 23, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was."

Now the word "set up" there means literally anointed and appointed. Christ is saying that I was appointed to be the mediator. I was appointed the head of God's elect. I was appointed the head of the covenant people before the world was. He goes on in verse 24, "When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world." By the way, you do know what the highest part of the dust of the world is, and it's not Mount Everest. What are you and I made of? Dust. We're the highest part of the dust of the world. And so he's simply saying, before man was made, before the creation was made, I was set up, I was ordained, I was appointed.

Now notice he says in verse 27, "When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth." In other words, our mediator, the head of the covenant, is there. He's already established. He's been established from eternity. Verse 28, "When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him." "As one brought up with him." You remember I told you first of all a while ago that Christ was chosen for the Father to delight in. "Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men."

Now, if you can get this picture, in eternity past, in the mind and the decree of God before God the Son ever became incarnate in time, He had an existence in the counsel and the decree of God. It was so sure. It was so perfect. It was so complete. It was so steadfast that God counted it as already as having happened. And Christ, the man, the perfect man, united with the very deity itself. Yea, the God-man had an existence in the mind of God, and Christ as the mediator, the head of his people, was daily, or we might say eternally, the delight of the Father. And Christ rejoiced before the Father. Yea, He was rejoicing that the Father chose Him to be the Head, chose Him to be incarnate, chose Him to suffer, chose Him to die, chose Him to be raised from the dead, chose Him to be exalted. He rejoiced before the Father.

And then He said, "And my delights were with the sons of men." That is, I was delighted in those that the Father gave me to be mine. And so here you have the Father being delighted in the Son, and the Son rejoicing before the Father, and the Father giving the Son a people, and the Son delighting in them. For in John 17 he says, "They were thine, and thou gavest them to me."

The Lamb's Book of Life

Weaver explains the figure of the Lamb's Book of Life, teaching God's exact knowledge of His elect, the particularity of election, and the absolute security of those written therein.

"The Father then being the prime cause of the election of some out of the mass of mankind was the prime cause of the election of Christ to bring them to the enjoyment to that which they were elected. Is it likely that God in founding an everlasting kingdom should consult about the members before he did about the head? Christ was registered at the top of the book of election and his members after him. It is called, therefore, the book of the Lamb." Now, he asked the question, is it possible or is it likely that God should consult concerning the members of the body before he did the head?

Well, this is exactly what Ephesians 1 is telling us. He elected and chose the head first, and then the members. But that which I really liked was the very fact that he says, "One foot of the compass of grace stood in Christ, and the other walked about the circumference, picking out one here and one there, and every one that it picked out, it drew a straight line to Jesus Christ." We were chosen in Christ. Now, he brought up an interesting statement. He says it is called, therefore, the Lamb's Book of Life. If you will turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8, you will see it is spoken of very plainly as such. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8:

Scripture Reading — Revelation 13:8

"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

So here is where we get the Lamb's book of life. Now this expression, "book of life," has its roots way back in Isaiah chapter 4 and verse 3, where the chosen remnant are referred to as "every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.

Scripture Reading — Revelation 13:8

" Now God's eternal act of election is spoken of as writing the names of his chosen ones in the book of life.

Now this figure teaches us several things. The book of life. Writing names in the book of life. I believe I've pointed this out before. If I have not, let me emphasize it again. There's an unscriptural song that is sung by many churches: "There's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, oh yes, it's mine." There are no new names written down in glory. All of them have been written before the foundation of the world. What does this teach us? Well, it teaches us three things when it talks about the Lamb's Book of Life.

First, the exact knowledge that God has of all His elect and His particular remembrance for them and His delight in them. Let me ask you a question. Does it not delight you when you meet someone and a week, two, three, four weeks later, maybe several months, they see you and they say, "Well, you're Dean Strickland. I remember you." And you're flattered. And you're pleased that they remember you. And sometimes when you want to be sure that you don't forget a name, you write it down. You make sure that you remember it. And so when it talks about the Lamb's Book of Life, it talks about the exact knowledge that the Lord has of every one of His own.

Now, in case you've forgotten the scripture, and I pointed it out several weeks ago, flip in your Bibles to 2 Timothy, chapter 2, and look at verse 19, to make sure that you understand that I'm not making any of this up. In 2 Timothy, chapter 2, in verse 19, the Lamb's Book of Life speaks of the knowledge that God has of all of his elect. And in 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, we read this:

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 2:19

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his."

And so the Lamb's Book of Life just simply points out the fact of this exact knowledge of God. Secondly, the Book of Life teaches us that God's eternal election is of particular persons, and that their names are definitely recorded by Him.

Now, if that ought to grab you, I don't know if it ever affects you the way it does me or not, but you just stop and think: before the world ever was, before a star was ever hung in space, before the sun ever shone, before the moon ever shined, before there was a particle of dust, before there was anything, God said, "Bill Wolf, Bobby Smith"—I mean, personally, put your name in a book. Now, to show you that, look in your Bibles, first of all, to Luke chapter 10. And look at what our Lord told these seventy. Luke chapter 10 and verse 20. Of course they came back rejoicing that Satan was being destroyed before them and that they had power over all the enemies. And our Lord in Luke chapter 10 in verse 20 says, "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not." In other words, don't rejoice just simply because you're having personal victory. Don't just simply rejoice because the enemies of God are being defeated.

Now, it's alright to rejoice in some of these things, but he says the main thing that you're to rejoice in, he says, "Not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." And if you look in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 3, Paul says it, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 3, he says, "And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life." And so there are particular names of particular people that are written in the Lamb's book of life. Thirdly, the book of life teaches us that those who are written there are absolutely sure, secure, and safe, and their names shall never be blotted out. In Revelation chapter 3 and verse 5, God says that "I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." You see, this explanation that is usually given concerning election is so unbiblical that most folks say, "Well, everybody's name is written in the book of life."

And then when you reject Christ, God blots it out. God doesn't blot out those in the book of life. No, those names are written in that book before the foundation of the world. Those are the ones that he gave to Christ. Those are the ones that Christ came and suffered and bled and died for. And Christ said Himself, and the prophet Isaiah penned it in Isaiah 53, "He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." For everyone for whom he died, he shall see them and be satisfied.

Christ as the Head of the Book

Weaver notes that Hebrews 10:7 (quoting Psalm 40:7) uses the Greek word for 'head,' indicating Christ is the head of the book of life, the first elect, and the covenant head of His people.

Now, let me show you something. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7, quoting from the book of Psalms,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:7 (Psalm 40:7)

"Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God."

Now, an interesting thing is this. In the Old Testament, in the book of Psalms, where this is quoted from, Psalm 40 and verse 7, the word for the Hebrew is indeed "volume." But when you come to the Greek New Testament, the Greek word is not the word for volume. It is the word kephalē which means "head." 76 other times in the New Testament kephalē is used and 76 times it is translated "head." Our translators translated the word "head" as "volume" here. Literally what he is saying is, "Then said I, Lo, I come in the head of the book."

"It is written of me to do thy will, O God." When Christ says he is the head of the book, he is confessing that he is God's first elect, that he is the covenant head of his people. And Christ the head knows whose names are written therein, for he is indeed at the head of that book.

Applications and Marks of Election

Weaver applies the doctrine: to despise election is to despise Christ. He lists marks of those in the Book of Life: conviction of sin, faith in Christ alone, seeing Christ as precious, and living for God's glory.

Now let me make a couple of applications this morning to what I've just said. When the Word of God teaches us that we are chosen in Christ, it means this. For anyone to despise the doctrine of election is to despise Christ. For Christ is God's elect. And for individuals whose attitude is, "Well, I don't want anything to do with election," they are literally saying, "I don't want anything to do with Christ!" For Christ is God's elect. And no one can preach Christ without preaching election. Someone will ask, "Well, you talked about the Lamb's Book of Life, and I will deal with this later on as we study the doctrine of election. But you say, how do I know whether or not my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life?" Well, for one thing for sure, you cannot get a ladder and crawl to heaven and look and see. But there are ways that one can know whether or not his name is in the Book of Life. And I will not go into detail, but let me say this.

All of those whose names have been written in the book of life, several things happen to them according to the word of God. Number one, they are brought to see their own inward corruption and pollution and vileness and utter depravity. They are brought literally to despair of themselves, realizing that their works and their righteousness and their merits and all their good deeds cannot in any wise justify them, that they are absolutely helpless. Secondly, they are brought to see that Christ is the only salvation, that He is to be the one that is foremost and first in their hearts and in their life. Thirdly, they are brought to believe only in Christ, to trust only on Him, to rest their souls completely upon Christ.

As one man was asked concerning the doctrine of election, he said this, they said, "Do you know that you are one of God's elect?" He said, "Most definitely." They said, "Well, how do you know that you're one of God's elect?" "Because," he said, "in time and in history I was brought to despair of myself and to trust completely and totally in Jesus Christ." Ah, but the man said, "Suppose that you end up in hell." He said, "If I end up in hell, I'll end up trusting completely and totally in Jesus Christ, and no man can go to hell doing that." Fourthly, those who are in the Lamb's Book of Life are brought to see the preciousness of Jesus Christ. You know, I like what Peter said in 1 Peter 2. He said, "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." He's not precious to everyone else. Let's face it, the world hates him, they despise him, they cast his name out, they take his name in vain, they curse him, they tread him under their feet. But to you who believe, He's precious. Yea, you've come to find out He's the wisdom of God. And fifthly, those whose names are written therein are brought to the place that they wish to live for him and glorify him more than anything else in the world. So the apostle wrote, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God." For we are chosen in Christ, that we might be holy and without blame in this world. Shall we pray?

Father, we do ask now thy blessing upon this study. Help us to realize in some small, minute way the greatness of Jesus Christ, that he is the covenant head and we are the members, that we were chosen in him and without Christ there would be no salvation, without Christ there would be nothing of our own redemption. O Lord, we glory only in Christ. He is the God-Man. He is the Mediator. He is the Savior. His name is truly Jesus, and we call Him Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Lord of Glory, the Amen and the Amen, the Incarnate God, the Wisdom and the Righteousness of God, and we rest our souls in Him and upon Him. We confess all that we are and have is because of Christ our Lord. Bless us, we pray in Thy name.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Christ as the First Elect

Summary: Christ is God's primary elect, the covenant head, chosen before all creation. Believers are elect only in union with Him.

Evidence: Ephesians 1:4 'chosen us in him'; Isaiah 42:1 'mine elect'; Proverbs 8:23 'I was set up from everlasting'.

Eternal Love and Decree

Summary: God's love for His elect is everlasting, rooted in His eternal decree. Christ and His people were loved before the foundation of the world.

Evidence: Jeremiah 31:3 'loved thee with an everlasting love'; John 17:23-24 'thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world'.

The Lamb's Book of Life

Summary: The Book of Life signifies God's personal, particular, and secure election of individuals, written before creation and never blotted out.

Evidence: Revelation 13:8; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5.

Preaching Christ Necessitates Election

Summary: One cannot preach Christ aright without preaching Him as God's elect and the head of the covenant; to reject election is to reject Christ.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'you cannot preach Christ aright unless you preach Him in His highest official character and glory... as the covenant head of God's elect.'

Marks of the Elect

Summary: Those written in the Book of Life are brought to despair of self, trust wholly in Christ, find Him precious, and live for God's glory.

Evidence: Weaver lists five marks: conviction of sin, faith in Christ alone, preciousness of Christ, living for His glory.

Key Arguments

Christ was chosen before believers

Summary: Since believers are chosen 'in Christ,' Christ must have been chosen first as the head; He is the 'firstborn of every creature.'

Evidence: Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:15; Weaver: 'Christ was first elected as head and mediator...'

God's love requires an object; that object is Christ and His people in Him

Summary: God's love must have an object; from eternity, God loved Christ as mediator and in loving Christ loved His elect.

Evidence: Weaver: 'since God is love, and since there must be an object for his love, that object must have an existence... God chose and loved Christ... and in loving Christ he loved his people.'

Christ's predestination was for God's own delight and glory, not only for human benefit

Summary: Christ was chosen for God to delight in, to display His perfections, and for the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in Him bodily.

Evidence: Isaiah 42:1; Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:19, 2:9; Weaver: 'God is chiefly concerned with himself... Christ was chosen... for God to delight in.'

The Book of Life teaches particular, personal election

Summary: Names are written individually in the Book of Life, indicating God's exact knowledge and definite choice of specific persons.

Evidence: Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; 2 Timothy 2:19; Weaver: 'God's eternal election is of particular persons, and that their names are definitely recorded by Him.'

The security of the elect is absolute

Summary: Those written in the Book of Life will never be blotted out; their salvation is certain because it rests on God's immutable decree.

Evidence: Revelation 3:5; Weaver: 'those who are written there are absolutely sure, secure, and safe, and their names shall never be blotted out.'

Scripture References

Ephesians 1:1-10

Context: Read at the opening of the sermon as the foundational text for election in Christ.

Ephesians 1:4

Context: Key verse: 'chosen us in him'—the person of election is Christ.

Isaiah 42:1-4

Context: God calls the Messiah 'mine elect'; applied to Christ in Matthew 12.

Matthew 12:15-21

Context: Fulfillment of Isaiah 42, showing Jesus as God's chosen servant.

Jeremiah 31:3

Context: God's everlasting love for His people, the basis of their effectual calling.

John 17:23-24

Context: Jesus prays that the world may know God loved His people as He loved Christ before the foundation of the world.

Acts 2:23

Context: Christ delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

Acts 4:26-28

Context: What happened to Christ was determined by God's counsel before the world began.

Zechariah 13:7

Context: God calls the man Christ Jesus 'my fellow,' meaning equal.

Hebrews 1:3

Context: Christ is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person.

Colossians 1:15, 19; 2:9

Context: Christ is the image of the invisible God; all fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily.

Proverbs 8:22-31

Context: Wisdom personified as Christ, set up from everlasting, rejoicing before the Father and delighting in the sons of men.

Revelation 13:8

Context: The Lamb's Book of Life, with names written from the foundation of the world.

2 Timothy 2:19

Context: The Lord knows those who are His, a seal of the foundation of God.

Luke 10:20

Context: Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

Philippians 4:3

Context: Fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.

Revelation 3:5

Context: Promise not to blot out the name of the overcomer from the book of life.

Hebrews 10:7 (Psalm 40:7)

Context: Christ says, 'Lo, I come... in the head of the book it is written of me,' indicating He is the head of the book of life.

1 Peter 2:7

Context: Unto you who believe, He is precious.

Historical References

Stephen Charnock (Puritan writer)

Context: Weaver quotes a paragraph from Charnock on Christ as first elect and the compass of grace.

Important Quotes

Christ was first elected as head and mediator and as the cornerstone to bear up the whole building. For the act of the Father's election in Christ supposeth him first chosen to this mediatory work, and to be the head of the elect part of the world. After this election of Christ, others were predestinated to be conformed unto his image.

Significance: This quote from Stephen Charnock succinctly captures the sermon's central thesis: Christ is the primary elect, and believers are elect in Him as members of His body.

One foot of the compass of grace stood in Christ as the center, while the other walked about the circumference, pointing one here and another there, to draw a line, as it were, between every one of those points and Christ.

Significance: A vivid metaphor illustrating how election centers on Christ and connects each elect individual directly to Him.

you cannot preach Christ aright unless you preach Him in His highest official character and glory. And according to the Word of God, Christ's highest official character and glory is that of being the covenant head of God's elect.

Significance: Weaver argues that preaching Christ faithfully requires preaching election, because Christ's identity as the elect head is essential to His glory.

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Significance: Quoting Jeremiah 31:3, Weaver emphasizes that God's eternal love is the source of effectual calling, grounding election in God's unchanging affection.

rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Significance: From Luke 10:20, this quote highlights the personal assurance and joy that comes from knowing one's election is recorded by God.

Discussion Questions

What does it mean that believers are chosen 'in Christ'? How does this shape our understanding of election?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that election is not based on anything in ourselves but solely on our union with Christ, the first elect.

How does the truth that Christ is God's elect affect the way we preach the gospel and present Christ to others?

Context: Weaver argues that preaching Christ without His role as covenant head is incomplete.

In what ways does the metaphor of the Lamb's Book of Life provide comfort and assurance to believers?

Context: Weaver explains the book signifies God's personal knowledge, particular choice, and unchangeable security.

Why is it important to understand that Christ was chosen not only for our benefit but for God's own delight and glory?

Context: Weaver gives three reasons Christ was predestinated, centering on God's pleasure and self-manifestation.

What are the biblical marks of those whose names are written in the Book of Life, and how can we examine ourselves by them?

Context: Weaver lists five evidences: conviction of sin, faith in Christ alone, preciousness of Christ, and living for God's glory.

Applications

Despising election is despising Christ

Summary: To reject or ignore the doctrine of election is to reject Christ Himself, since He is God's elect. Believers should embrace election as central to Christ's glory.

Evidence: Weaver: 'For anyone to despise the doctrine of election is to despise Christ. For Christ is God's elect.'

Assurance through the marks of election

Summary: Believers can gain assurance of their election by examining whether they have been brought to despair of self, trust wholly in Christ, find Him precious, and live for His glory.

Evidence: Weaver lists five marks and says, 'All of those whose names have been written in the book of life, several things happen to them according to the word of God.'

Rejoicing in written names

Summary: Rather than rejoicing primarily in personal victories or spiritual experiences, believers should rejoice that their names are written in heaven.

Evidence: Luke 10:20; Weaver: 'rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.'

Living for God's glory

Summary: Those chosen in Christ are chosen to be holy and without blame, doing all to the glory of God.

Evidence: Weaver: 'we are chosen in Christ, that we might be holy and without blame in this world... Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:28:51Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T00:32:58Z

Clean Transcript

The Doctrine of Election - 3

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Ephesians 1, beginning with verse 1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself."
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"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
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We have been studying for the two past Sundays on the biblical doctrine of election. You will remember that I told you several truths concerning election, how that number one, election is a foundational doctrine. Number two, election in one sense of the word is a very difficult doctrine. Thirdly, it is an important doctrine. Fourthly, it is a blessed doctrine. Fifthly, it is a distasteful doctrine. Sixthly, a separating doctrine. And seventhly, it is indeed an evangelical doctrine. And then secondly, we looked in the second message at the first point, at the principle of election. I pointed out that as you study the word of God, every time you see an election, there is also implied and inherent in that a reprobation or a preterition, that is, a passing over or an omission. We pointed out the non-theological or the non-soteriological uses of the word "chosen" in the word of God, how that David chose him out five smooth stones out of the riverbed.
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And so therefore he passed over those others. He selected only five. He chose those five. We pointed out also that as we studied the soteriological sense of election, that there were three great truths concerning this. The first one is this, that God has a sovereign right to bestow more grace upon one creature than another, since grace is unmerited and undeserved favor. God has the sovereign right to give more grace to one than he does another. The second great truth we saw is that God exercises that right in Holy Scripture. The Word of God tells us, our Lord Himself said in Matthew chapter 20, "Is thine eye evil because I am good?"
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"Is it not lawful to do with mine own what I will?" And he exercises that right, and he does so.
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Thirdly, we found out from Holy Scripture that God has some other reason than that of saving as many as possible for the way in which he distributes his grace. And we pointed this out from Matthew 11 and other passages. And then as we looked at the principle of election, we found that there were four types of election in the Bible. There is that which is known as a theocratic election, or a national election. There is secondly that which is known as a vocational election, where God chose the tribe of Levi. Then out of that tribe, he chose certain men to be the high priest. There was Bezalel who was chosen, along with Aholiab, to make the certain fabrics of the tabernacle. You have, even today, a vocational election, how certain ones are chosen to be pastor-teachers and others are not. And then thirdly, there was a messianic election.
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Isaiah 42 speaks of Christ being the elect. 1 Peter 2 speaks of Christ being the elect. And then fourthly, there was the soteriological election, that is, election that relates to our salvation. Some have referred to it as ecclesiastical election, that is, the election of the church. But either way, it is a soteriological, it is a saving election. It has reference to salvation.
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Now today I want to come just simply to the second point, and that is the person of election. Having pointed out in Scripture that there is a biblical principle, now if you'll look at Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, the Bible says, "according as he hath chosen us"—there's the principle, now here's the person—"in him." We are chosen in Christ.
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Now, let me say this before I ever begin. What I'm going to say this morning, you're going to have to listen very carefully. I'm not going to say that much, but what I am going to say, you're going to have to think. I really thought several times before I came to the form and the format in which I present this truth. I came to the conclusion that I almost wanted to say that we are chosen in Christ, and close my Bible and dismiss it, because it is such a deep subject that it boggles the mind as you begin to try to think of it. Now, since we are chosen in Christ, it is evident that we were chosen out of ourselves. That means we were not chosen because of any merit or anything in ourselves.
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God did not look down through the ages and foresee that we would believe, and therefore chose us for our believing. For had God not given us the Spirit, and had God not given us his gift of faith, none would have ever believed. When it says that we were chosen in Christ, it necessarily implies that we were chosen out of ourselves. But secondly, it necessarily implies that Christ was chosen before us. We were chosen in Christ, therefore Christ was chosen before us. In other words, Christ is God's first elect. Christ is the head of God's elect. In the order of nature, Christ came first. In the order of time, we were chosen with him. You could say it like this, in the womb of election, he the head came out first, and then we the members.
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Which the truth then would be typified in every normal childbirth. The head, and then the members. Therefore, the word of God tells us that Christ is the firstborn of every creature.
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Now, if you will hold Ephesians chapter 1, but turn in your Bibles, first of all, to Isaiah chapter 42, and let's read verses 1 through 4. And then we'll turn and see these verses in the New Testament, how they are uniquely applied to Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 42, beginning with verse 1. Notice, the word of God declares, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law."
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Now in Isaiah 42 verse 1, God calls the Messiah, "My servant, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth." If you would turn now in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 15, you will see how this passage uniquely relates to Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 15. "But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;"
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"And charged them that they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."
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Now, the Word of God tells us that we are chosen in Christ. And the Word of God also tells us that Christ is God's elect. I have heard individuals say all my life, "Well, there is no reason dabbling in all of these doctrines. Some of them are so hard to understand and some are so difficult. Why do you want to go into all of these doctrines? Why not just simply and merely preach Christ?" Well, that sounds very pious. But you see, beloved, you cannot preach Christ aright unless you preach Him in His highest official character and glory. And according to the Word of God, Christ's highest official character and glory is that of being the covenant head of God's elect. He is the elect of God. Therefore, one cannot preach Christ aright without preaching the doctrine of election. For the Word of God tells us that we are chosen in Christ. The Word of God tells us that God loved Christ, and that God loved his own before the foundation of the world.
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Now, since God is love, and since there must be an object for his love, that object must have an existence in order for him to love. For you cannot love a non-entity. That is, you cannot love that which does not exist. In the mind, in the decree, in the counsel of God from all eternity, God chose and loved Christ, the man Jesus Christ, as the mediator, the head of the covenant, and in loving Christ he loved his people whom he gave to Christ.
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You could say, here is the bridegroom, here is the bride. Here is the head, here is the church. Here is the head, and here are the members. Christ was the first chosen, and then we, the members. And as God loved Christ, the head, so therefore He loved us, the members. If you would turn in your Bibles to two passages, the first one to Jeremiah, chapter 31, and verse 3. Jeremiah, chapter 31, and verse 3. This is one of my favorite verses, and yet it is one that boggles the mind of most individuals. In Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 3, the Word of God says, "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Now, the word of God tells us that God's love to his own is an everlasting love, which means it had no beginning. And because it had no beginning, it has no ending.
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There's a little poem, or a little jingle that goes like this, and yet it's so true: "Yesterday he loved me, today he's just the same. How long will this continue? Forever, praise his name." But he loved us before yesterday.
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Now, if you will notice, our effectual calling, and I'll deal with this later, is the result of our election. He says, "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love," because he chose us, because he set his love upon us, "therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
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Now if you will look in your Bibles to John 17, you will see that our Lord in his high priestly prayer confesses the same identical truth. John 17. And look, if you would please, at verses 23 and 24. In verse 23, our Lord says, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." Now, wait a minute. Our Lord prays that the world may know that God loves His own as He loved Christ. Well, He loved Christ in eternity. Therefore, He loved us, His elect, His own, in eternity. Now verse 24, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." Now if Christ says, "I pray that everyone may know that God loves his own as he loves me," then he goes right around and says, "because you loved me before the foundation of the world."
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So God's love for his own was before the foundation of the world, but it was in Christ as the head of the elect. The phrase that I'm trying to deal with this morning, and I'll deal with the period of our election just a little bit later on, but the phrase that I'm trying to deal with is that we were chosen in Him. Which means that in the council of eternity past, in the triune Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, the second person of the Trinity was chosen, was singled out, and was predestinated to be united in the man Christ Jesus, two natures, a human nature and a divine nature, yet one person. In eternity past, in the counsel and the mind of the triune God, it was Jesus Christ who was predestinated and ordained to be the God-man, the mediator, the head of God's covenant people, the very elect of God in whom God delighted.
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Now, we are so humanistically inclined that we like to think that the only reason that God sent Christ was for our benefit. Now, God did send Christ for our benefit, but that was not the only reason. You see, beloved, God is chiefly concerned with himself. Because God is the highest good, God is the chiefest good, God is God and God is perfect. And for God to be concerned with less than himself would be ungodly. He is concerned with us in Christ. But may I give you scripturally three other reasons why Christ was predestinated other than the fact for the benefit of his people. And by the way, if you question that, look in your Bible to Acts chapter 2, and I will show you biblically that Christ was predestinated, foreordained, foredetermined to suffer for his people. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, Peter declares, "Him, that is Christ"—and if you doubt that, just look at verse 22.
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"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Now Christ came according to the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God. And if you will look in your Bible to Acts chapter 4 beginning with verse 26, you will see the same truth concerning Christ again. Acts 4 verse 26, "The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." The only thing that happened to our Lord was the thing that God had determined before the world ever began.
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Christ was predestined to suffer exactly in the way that he suffered for the benefit of his people. For in Matthew 1 and verse 21, the Bible says, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." But I'm saying that is not the only reason that Christ was set up as the God-man, as the mediator, as the head of the covenant.
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Here they are, let me give you three of them. Number one, he was chosen for God himself to delight in, for more so and infinitely above all creatures. Being united to the second person, the man Christ Jesus was exalted to a closer union and communion with God. He was chosen, first of all, for God to delight in. And Jehovah God Himself, in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 7, says, "Behold the man who is my fellow." Now the word fellow means equal. And God the Father says of the man Christ Jesus, the God-man, "Behold the man who is my equal." Behold the man who is very God of very God. Yea, God incarnate, God manifest in the flesh. And in Christ Jesus there was the intimate union and communion between He and the Father and the Spirit. You see, it is impossible to explain in one sense of the word, but the union between the Father and the man Christ Jesus was far greater than that between husband and wife.
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For husband and wife are merely one flesh. It's far greater than that even of the church and Christ, for that is one spirit. Yea, the man Christ Jesus was very God of very God, God incarnate, and He said of the Father that the Father was in Him and He was in the Father. Yea, He said, "I and my Father are one." And so he was chosen, first of all, for God to delight in, God the Father.
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And that's why in Isaiah 42, verse 1, he said, "Behold my elect in whom my soul delighteth." Secondly, Christ was chosen that God might behold the image of himself and all of his perfections in a creature, so that his excellencies are seen in Christ as in no other. If you would turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. Hebrews 1 and verse 3. And if you will remember, those of you that were here at the watch night service, I pointed out the fact that Christ did truly have a human nature. Everything that makes up a man was the man Christ Jesus. Everything that makes up God, he was as well, for he is God and man in one. But here it is, I said that Christ was chosen that God might behold his image of himself in all of his perfections in the God-man, Christ Jesus. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3.
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Speaking of Christ, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Notice, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." Someone says, "But I want to know what God is like. I want to know how does God look." All I can say is with our Lord, "Thomas, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." For Christ is the express image of the Father, and the brightness of His glory.
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There have been holy men on this earth. There have been godly men. There have been Brainerds and Edwards and Calvins and Whitefields, but all of the saintliest saints and all of the holiest of men could never equal to one of the excellencies and the perfections that are in Jesus Christ. And here all of the perfections of the Father were found in the God-man, Christ Jesus. By the union of the man Christ Jesus with the everlasting Son of God, the whole fullness of the Godhead would dwell personally in Him, He being the very image of the invisible God.
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If you would turn in your Bibles, please, to the book of Colossians. And look at chapter 1, verse 15 and verse 19. I said, thirdly, the reason Christ was chosen by God was so that the union of the man Christ Jesus with the everlasting Son of God, the whole fullness of the Godhead would dwell in him personally, he being the image of the invisible God. Colossians 1 and verse 15: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." Verse 19: "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." Chapter 2, verse 9: "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Christ was chosen by God not only for His own delights, not only so that the perfections and the beauties of God Himself might be manifest in a created nature, but that also that the very fullness of the Godhead might dwell in him. Now, beloved, if you will turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 8, we'll cover some ground which I deem to be most difficult and yet most beneficial to your soul and to mine if we would contemplate it in light of the fact that Christ is
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the chief of God's elect. We were chosen in him. He was chosen before us.
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Now, let me make a statement. I hope you will follow it through with me. It is hard for you and I to use the language of Scripture at times. And the reason why it is hard is because we cannot think the way God thinks. For instance, I talk about the decrees of God. But you know an interesting thing, every time you read about the decrees of God in Scripture, it is decree, singular.
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"I will declare the decree!" You see, God knows everything completely, totally, perfectly, instantaneously. And all God has to do is decree one decree, and in that one decree, everything that has ever happened and ever will happen is included. But you see, you and I think successively. We think in revolutions, we say this, and then this, and then this, and then this. God doesn't think like that. God doesn't have to think like that, for He's God. He has it all. He knows it all. And so there is one decree. Now, you and I must think successively. So let me show you that in the mind of God, Christ was set up as the head of his elect, and we were therefore chosen in him. You remember that one of the names in scripture for Christ is the wisdom of God. And in Proverbs chapter 8, you have wisdom personified. And here you have a plain passage referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, to his mediatorship, to his incarnation, to him being the covenant head of his elect people.
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In Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 22, he makes this statement: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old."
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Now let me point out several things. Number one, the word "in" is not in the Hebrew. The word "beginning" should be, as you and I would understand it, as the word "first" or "chief." And so literally what he's saying is "The Lord possessed me, the beginning of his way," or "the chief, or the first of his way." But it also teaches us of his eternal existence as the God-man in the mind, in the counsel, in the decree of the Father. In other words, our Redeemer came forth of the womb of a decree from eternity before he came out of the womb of the Virgin in time. He was hid in the will of God in secret, in a decree, before he was made manifest in flesh as Redeemer.
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He was a lamb slain decreedly before the foundation of the world, before he ever became a lamb slain in time historically in the world. He is saying that "The Lord possessed me. I am the chief of his way. I am the firstborn. I am the beginning." And then he makes this statement in verse 23, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was."
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Now the word "set up" there means literally anointed and appointed. Christ is saying that I was appointed to be the mediator. I was appointed the head of God's elect. I was appointed the head of the covenant people before the world was. He goes on in verse 24, "When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world." By the way, you do know what the highest part of the dust of the world is, and it's not Mount Everest. What are you and I made of? Dust. We're the highest part of the dust of the world. And so he's simply saying, before man was made, before the creation was made, I was set up, I was ordained, I was appointed.
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Now notice he says in verse 27, "When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth." In other words, our mediator, the head of the covenant, is there. He's already established. He's been established from eternity. Verse 28, "When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him."
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"As one brought up with him." You remember I told you first of all a while ago that Christ was chosen for the Father to delight in. "Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men."
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Now, if you can get this picture, in eternity past, in the mind and the decree of God before God the Son ever became incarnate in time, He had an existence in the counsel and the decree of God. It was so sure. It was so perfect. It was so complete. It was so steadfast that God counted it as already as having happened. And Christ, the man, the perfect man, united with the very deity itself. Yea, the God-man had an existence in the mind of God, and Christ as the mediator, the head of his people, was daily, or we might say eternally, the delight of the Father. And Christ rejoiced before the Father. Yea, He was rejoicing that the Father chose Him to be the Head, chose Him to be incarnate, chose Him to suffer, chose Him to die, chose Him to be raised from the dead, chose Him to be exalted. He rejoiced before the Father.
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And then He said, "And my delights were with the sons of men." That is, I was delighted in those that the Father gave me to be mine. And so here you have the Father being delighted in the Son, and the Son rejoicing before the Father, and the Father giving the Son a people, and the Son delighting in them. For in John 17 he says, "They were thine, and thou gavest them to me."
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I want to quote you a paragraph written by Stephen Charnock, one of the old Puritans. Listen very closely. The reason I'm quoting it, I cannot say it any better or more concisely. I think it's very beautifully written. "Christ was first elected as head and mediator and as the cornerstone to bear up the whole building. For the act of the Father's election in Christ supposeth him first chosen to this mediatory work, and to be the head of the elect part of the world. After this election of Christ, others were predestinated to be conformed unto his image. In other words, to Christ as mediator, and taking human nature, not to Christ barely considered as God. This conformity being specially intended in election, Christ was in the purpose of the Father, the first exemplar and copy of it. One foot of the compass of grace stood in Christ as the center, while the other walked about the circumference, pointing one here and another there, to draw a line, as it were, between every one of those points and Christ."
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"The Father then being the prime cause of the election of some out of the mass of mankind was the prime cause of the election of Christ to bring them to the enjoyment to that which they were elected. Is it likely that God in founding an everlasting kingdom should consult about the members before he did about the head? Christ was registered at the top of the book of election and his members after him. It is called, therefore, the book of the Lamb." Now, he asked the question, is it possible or is it likely that God should consult concerning the members of the body before he did the head?
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Well, this is exactly what Ephesians 1 is telling us. He elected and chose the head first, and then the members. But that which I really liked was the very fact that he says, "One foot of the compass of grace stood in Christ, and the other walked about the circumference, picking out one here and one there, and every one that it picked out, it drew a straight line to Jesus Christ." We were chosen in Christ.
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Now, he brought up an interesting statement. He says it is called, therefore, the Lamb's Book of Life. If you will turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8, you will see it is spoken of very plainly as such. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." So here is where we get the Lamb's book of life. Now this expression, "book of life," has its roots way back in Isaiah chapter 4 and verse 3, where the chosen remnant are referred to as "every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem." Now God's eternal act of election is spoken of as writing the names of his chosen ones in the book of life.
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Now this figure teaches us several things. The book of life. Writing names in the book of life. I believe I've pointed this out before. If I have not, let me emphasize it again. There's an unscriptural song that is sung by many churches: "There's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, oh yes, it's mine." There are no new names written down in glory. All of them have been written before the foundation of the world. What does this teach us? Well, it teaches us three things when it talks about the Lamb's Book of Life.
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First, the exact knowledge that God has of all His elect and His particular remembrance for them and His delight in them. Let me ask you a question. Does it not delight you when you meet someone and a week, two, three, four weeks later, maybe several months, they see you and they say, "Well, you're Dean Strickland. I remember you." And you're flattered. And you're pleased that they remember you. And sometimes when you want to be sure that you don't forget a name, you write it down. You make sure that you remember it. And so when it talks about the Lamb's Book of Life, it talks about the exact knowledge that the Lord has of every one of His own.
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Now, in case you've forgotten the scripture, and I pointed it out several weeks ago, flip in your Bibles to 2 Timothy, chapter 2, and look at verse 19, to make sure that you understand that I'm not making any of this up. In 2 Timothy, chapter 2, in verse 19, the Lamb's Book of Life speaks of the knowledge that God has of all of his elect. And in 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, we read this: "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." And so the Lamb's Book of Life just simply points out the fact of this exact knowledge of God. Secondly, the Book of Life teaches us that God's eternal election is of particular persons, and that their names are definitely recorded by Him.
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Now, if that ought to grab you, I don't know if it ever affects you the way it does me or not, but you just stop and think: before the world ever was, before a star was ever hung in space, before the sun ever shone, before the moon ever shined, before there was a particle of dust, before there was anything, God said, "Bill Wolf, Bobby Smith"—I mean, personally, put your name in a book.
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Now, to show you that, look in your Bibles, first of all, to Luke chapter 10. And look at what our Lord told these seventy. Luke chapter 10 and verse 20. Of course they came back rejoicing that Satan was being destroyed before them and that they had power over all the enemies. And our Lord in Luke chapter 10 in verse 20 says, "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not." In other words, don't rejoice just simply because you're having personal victory. Don't just simply rejoice because the enemies of God are being defeated.
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Now, it's alright to rejoice in some of these things, but he says the main thing that you're to rejoice in, he says, "Not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." And if you look in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 3, Paul says it, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 3, he says, "And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life." And so there are particular names of particular people that are written in the Lamb's book of life. Thirdly, the book of life teaches us that those who are written there are absolutely sure, secure, and safe, and their names shall never be blotted out. In Revelation chapter 3 and verse 5, God says that "I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." You see, this explanation that is usually given concerning election is so unbiblical that most folks say, "Well, everybody's name is written in the book of life."
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And then when you reject Christ, God blots it out. God doesn't blot out those in the book of life. No, those names are written in that book before the foundation of the world. Those are the ones that he gave to Christ. Those are the ones that Christ came and suffered and bled and died for. And Christ said Himself, and the prophet Isaiah penned it in Isaiah 53, "He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." For everyone for whom he died, he shall see them and be satisfied.
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And can you imagine what the Father would say to the Son? If the Son said, "Father, here's one that I died for that's absolutely and eternally lost, where is he?" Oh, the Father said, "Well, I blotted his name out." Oh, but the Son said, "We had a covenant. You agreed to give me those for whom I suffered and bled and died. You agreed to pardon and forgive them."
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Can you see what blasphemous theology that would be? You would have a mutable God, not an immutable God. You would have an unholy and an unjust God, not a holy and a just God. So you see, beloved, the Lamb's Book of Life. Everyone's name who is written there is safe and secure. Now, it's called the Lamb's Book of Life for two reasons. Number one, because the Lamb's name heads it.
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And this was what the whole message was about, because he is the first of God's elect. I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not, especially in connection with this, but did you ever notice that the first name in the New Testament is Jesus Christ? Matthew 1:1, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
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Secondly, it's called the Lamb's Book of Life because Christ is the root, and the believers are the branches, and we receive our life and our substance from Him. Now, it is called the Lamb's Book of Life, and His name heads it.
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Now, let me show you something. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7, quoting from the book of Psalms, "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God."
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Now, an interesting thing is this. In the Old Testament, in the book of Psalms, where this is quoted from, Psalm 40 and verse 7, the word for the Hebrew is indeed "volume." But when you come to the Greek New Testament, the Greek word is not the word for volume. It is the word kephalē which means "head." 76 other times in the New Testament kephalē is used and 76 times it is translated "head." Our translators translated the word "head" as "volume" here. Literally what he is saying is, "Then said I, Lo, I come in the head of the book."
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"It is written of me to do thy will, O God." When Christ says he is the head of the book, he is confessing that he is God's first elect, that he is the covenant head of his people. And Christ the head knows whose names are written therein, for he is indeed at the head of that book.
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Now let me make a couple of applications this morning to what I've just said. When the Word of God teaches us that we are chosen in Christ, it means this. For anyone to despise the doctrine of election is to despise Christ. For Christ is God's elect. And for individuals whose attitude is, "Well, I don't want anything to do with election," they are literally saying, "I don't want anything to do with Christ!" For Christ is God's elect. And no one can preach Christ without preaching election. Someone will ask, "Well, you talked about the Lamb's Book of Life, and I will deal with this later on as we study the doctrine of election. But you say, how do I know whether or not my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life?" Well, for one thing for sure, you cannot get a ladder and crawl to heaven and look and see. But there are ways that one can know whether or not his name is in the Book of Life. And I will not go into detail, but let me say this.
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All of those whose names have been written in the book of life, several things happen to them according to the word of God. Number one, they are brought to see their own inward corruption and pollution and vileness and utter depravity. They are brought literally to despair of themselves, realizing that their works and their righteousness and their merits and all their good deeds cannot in any wise justify them, that they are absolutely helpless. Secondly, they are brought to see that Christ is the only salvation, that He is to be the one that is foremost and first in their hearts and in their life. Thirdly, they are brought to believe only in Christ, to trust only on Him, to rest their souls completely upon Christ.
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As one man was asked concerning the doctrine of election, he said this, they said, "Do you know that you are one of God's elect?" He said, "Most definitely." They said, "Well, how do you know that you're one of God's elect?" "Because," he said, "in time and in history I was brought to despair of myself and to trust completely and totally in Jesus Christ." Ah, but the man said, "Suppose that you end up in hell." He said, "If I end up in hell, I'll end up trusting completely and totally in Jesus Christ, and no man can go to hell doing that." Fourthly, those who are in the Lamb's Book of Life are brought to see the preciousness of Jesus Christ. You know, I like what Peter said in 1 Peter 2.
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He said, "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." He's not precious to everyone else. Let's face it, the world hates him, they despise him, they cast his name out, they take his name in vain, they curse him, they tread him under their feet. But to you who believe, He's precious. Yea, you've come to find out He's the wisdom of God. And fifthly, those whose names are written therein are brought to the place that they wish to live for him and glorify him more than anything else in the world. So the apostle wrote, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God." For we are chosen in Christ, that we might be holy and without blame in this world. Shall we pray?
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Father, we do ask now thy blessing upon this study. Help us to realize in some small, minute way the greatness of Jesus Christ, that he is the covenant head and we are the members, that we were chosen in him and without Christ there would be no salvation, without Christ there would be nothing of our own redemption. O Lord, we glory only in Christ. He is the God-Man. He is the Mediator. He is the Savior. His name is truly Jesus, and we call Him Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Lord of Glory, the Amen and the Amen, the Incarnate God, the Wisdom and the Righteousness of God, and we rest our souls in Him and upon Him. We confess all that we are and have is because of Christ our Lord. Bless us, we pray in Thy name.
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Save Thine elect, whoever and wherever they may be, and bring them to Thyself in Thine own time. Use us, Lord, to pray and to preach and proclaim Thy truth and to reach them by Thy grace, we ask. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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Save Thine elect, whoever and wherever they may be, and bring them to Thyself in Thine own time. Use us, Lord, to pray and to preach and proclaim Thy truth and to reach them by Thy grace, we ask. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:28:51Z

The Doctrine of Election - 3

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver continues his series on election by focusing on the person of election—Christ. He argues from Ephesians 1:4 that believers are chosen 'in Christ,' meaning Christ is God's first elect, the covenant head, and believers are chosen as members of His body. Weaver explores Christ's eternal appointment as mediator, His delight to the Father, and the Lamb's Book of Life, emphasizing that election is personal, secure, and rooted in God's eternal decree. Applications include the necessity of preaching Christ as elect and the marks of those written in the Book of Life.

Introduction and Review

Ephesians 1, beginning with verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:1-10

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself."

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:4

"according as he hath chosen us"

—there's the principle, now here's the person—"in him." We are chosen in Christ.

The Person of Election: Chosen in Christ

Which the truth then would be typified in every normal childbirth. The head, and then the members. Therefore, the word of God tells us that Christ is the firstborn of every creature.

Christ as God's Elect in Scripture

Weaver demonstrates from Isaiah 42 and Matthew 12 that Christ is called God's elect, emphasizing that preaching Christ rightly requires preaching Him as the covenant head of God's elect.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 42:1-4

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law."

Now in Isaiah 42 verse 1, God calls the Messiah,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 12:15-21

"My servant, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth."

If you would turn now in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 15, you will see how this passage uniquely relates to Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 15.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 12:15-21

"But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;" "And charged them that they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

God's Everlasting Love in Christ

Weaver shows from Jeremiah 31:3 and John 17:23-24 that God's love for His people is everlasting and was set upon them in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Scripture Reading — John 17:23-24

"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."

Scripture Reading — John 17:23-24

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

Now if Christ says, "I pray that everyone may know that God loves his own as he loves me," then he goes right around and says,

Scripture Reading — John 17:23-24

"because you loved me before the foundation of the world."

Reasons Christ Was Chosen

Weaver gives three reasons Christ was predestinated as the God-man: for God to delight in, to behold His own perfections in a creature, and for the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in Him bodily.

Scripture Reading — Acts 2:23

"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."

Scripture Reading — Zechariah 13:7

Here they are, let me give you three of them. Number one, he was chosen for God himself to delight in, for more so and infinitely above all creatures. Being united to the second person, the man Christ Jesus was exalted to a closer union and communion with God. He was chosen, first of all, for God to delight in. And Jehovah God Himself, in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 7, says, "Behold the man who is my fellow." Now the word fellow means equal. And God the Father says of the man Christ Jesus, the God-man, "Behold the man who is my equal." Behold the man who is very God of very God. Yea, God incarnate, God manifest in the flesh. And in Christ Jesus there was the intimate union and communion between He and the Father and the Spirit. You see, it is impossible to explain in one sense of the word, but the union between the Father and the man Christ Jesus was far greater than that between husband and wife.

Scripture Reading — Colossians 1:15, 19; 2:9

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."

Christ's Eternal Appointment in Proverbs 8

Weaver expounds Proverbs 8:22-31, showing Christ as wisdom personified, set up from everlasting as mediator and head of the elect, rejoicing before the Father and delighting in the sons of men.

the chief of God's elect. We were chosen in him. He was chosen before us.

In Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 22, he makes this statement:

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 8:22-31

"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old."

The Lamb's Book of Life

Weaver explains the figure of the Lamb's Book of Life, teaching God's exact knowledge of His elect, the particularity of election, and the absolute security of those written therein.

Scripture Reading — Revelation 13:8

"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Scripture Reading — Revelation 13:8

" Now God's eternal act of election is spoken of as writing the names of his chosen ones in the book of life.

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 2:19

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his."

Christ as the Head of the Book

Weaver notes that Hebrews 10:7 (quoting Psalm 40:7) uses the Greek word for 'head,' indicating Christ is the head of the book of life, the first elect, and the covenant head of His people.

Now, let me show you something. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7, quoting from the book of Psalms,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:7 (Psalm 40:7)

"Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God."

Applications and Marks of Election

The Doctrine of Election - 3

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	127091423259
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs: The Fear of the Lord and Wisdom: The Doctrine of Election
Genre	Sermon
Date	2009-01-27
Dictation Name
Book	Book 118: The Doctrine of Election — Chapter 3
Source Timed Segments	66

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Review: Weaver reviews previous messages on election, summarizing seven truths about the doctrine and the principle of election, including God's sovereign right to bestow grace and the four types of election in Scripture.
The Person of Election: Chosen in Christ: Weaver introduces the second point: the person of election. Ephesians 1:4 teaches believers are chosen 'in Christ,' implying they are chosen out of themselves and that Christ was chosen before them as the head of God's elect.
Christ as God's Elect in Scripture: Weaver demonstrates from Isaiah 42 and Matthew 12 that Christ is called God's elect, emphasizing that preaching Christ rightly requires preaching Him as the covenant head of God's elect.
God's Everlasting Love in Christ: Weaver shows from Jeremiah 31:3 and John 17:23-24 that God's love for His people is everlasting and was set upon them in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Reasons Christ Was Chosen: Weaver gives three reasons Christ was predestinated as the God-man: for God to delight in, to behold His own perfections in a creature, and for the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in Him bodily.
Christ's Eternal Appointment in Proverbs 8: Weaver expounds Proverbs 8:22-31, showing Christ as wisdom personified, set up from everlasting as mediator and head of the elect, rejoicing before the Father and delighting in the sons of men.
The Lamb's Book of Life: Weaver explains the figure of the Lamb's Book of Life, teaching God's exact knowledge of His elect, the particularity of election, and the absolute security of those written therein.
Christ as the Head of the Book: Weaver notes that Hebrews 10:7 (quoting Psalm 40:7) uses the Greek word for 'head,' indicating Christ is the head of the book of life, the first elect, and the covenant head of His people.
Applications and Marks of Election: Weaver applies the doctrine: to despise election is to despise Christ. He lists marks of those in the Book of Life: conviction of sin, faith in Christ alone, seeing Christ as precious, and living for God's glory.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Christ was chosen before believers

Since believers are chosen 'in Christ,' Christ must have been chosen first as the head; He is the 'firstborn of every creature.'

Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:15; Weaver: 'Christ was first elected as head and mediator...'

God's love requires an object; that object is Christ and His people in Him

God's love must have an object; from eternity, God loved Christ as mediator and in loving Christ loved His elect.

Weaver: 'since God is love, and since there must be an object for his love, that object must have an existence... God chose and loved Christ... and in loving Christ he loved his people.'

Christ's predestination was for God's own delight and glory, not only for human benefit

Christ was chosen for God to delight in, to display His perfections, and for the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in Him bodily.

Isaiah 42:1; Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:19, 2:9; Weaver: 'God is chiefly concerned with himself... Christ was chosen... for God to delight in.'

The Book of Life teaches particular, personal election

Names are written individually in the Book of Life, indicating God's exact knowledge and definite choice of specific persons.

Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; 2 Timothy 2:19; Weaver: 'God's eternal election is of particular persons, and that their names are definitely recorded by Him.'

The security of the elect is absolute

Those written in the Book of Life will never be blotted out; their salvation is certain because it rests on God's immutable decree.

Revelation 3:5; Weaver: 'those who are written there are absolutely sure, secure, and safe, and their names shall never be blotted out.'

Scripture References

Ephesians 1:1-10: Read at the opening of the sermon as the foundational text for election in Christ.
Ephesians 1:4: Key verse: 'chosen us in him'—the person of election is Christ.
Isaiah 42:1-4: God calls the Messiah 'mine elect'; applied to Christ in Matthew 12.
Matthew 12:15-21: Fulfillment of Isaiah 42, showing Jesus as God's chosen servant.
Jeremiah 31:3: God's everlasting love for His people, the basis of their effectual calling.
John 17:23-24: Jesus prays that the world may know God loved His people as He loved Christ before the foundation of the world.
Acts 2:23: Christ delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
Acts 4:26-28: What happened to Christ was determined by God's counsel before the world began.
Zechariah 13:7: God calls the man Christ Jesus 'my fellow,' meaning equal.
Hebrews 1:3: Christ is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person.
Colossians 1:15, 19; 2:9: Christ is the image of the invisible God; all fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily.
Proverbs 8:22-31: Wisdom personified as Christ, set up from everlasting, rejoicing before the Father and delighting in the sons of men.
Revelation 13:8: The Lamb's Book of Life, with names written from the foundation of the world.
2 Timothy 2:19: The Lord knows those who are His, a seal of the foundation of God.
Luke 10:20: Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
Philippians 4:3: Fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.
Revelation 3:5: Promise not to blot out the name of the overcomer from the book of life.
Hebrews 10:7 (Psalm 40:7): Christ says, 'Lo, I come... in the head of the book it is written of me,' indicating He is the head of the book of life.
1 Peter 2:7: Unto you who believe, He is precious.

Historical References

Stephen Charnock (Puritan writer): Weaver quotes a paragraph from Charnock on Christ as first elect and the compass of grace.

Important Quotes

Christ was first elected as head and mediator and as the cornerstone to bear up the whole building. For the act of the Father's election in Christ supposeth him first chosen to this mediatory work, and to be the head of the elect part of the world. After this election of Christ, others were predestinated to be conformed unto his image.

This quote from Stephen Charnock succinctly captures the sermon's central thesis: Christ is the primary elect, and believers are elect in Him as members of His body.

One foot of the compass of grace stood in Christ as the center, while the other walked about the circumference, pointing one here and another there, to draw a line, as it were, between every one of those points and Christ.

A vivid metaphor illustrating how election centers on Christ and connects each elect individual directly to Him.

you cannot preach Christ aright unless you preach Him in His highest official character and glory. And according to the Word of God, Christ's highest official character and glory is that of being the covenant head of God's elect.

Weaver argues that preaching Christ faithfully requires preaching election, because Christ's identity as the elect head is essential to His glory.

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Quoting Jeremiah 31:3, Weaver emphasizes that God's eternal love is the source of effectual calling, grounding election in God's unchanging affection.

rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

From Luke 10:20, this quote highlights the personal assurance and joy that comes from knowing one's election is recorded by God.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What does it mean that believers are chosen 'in Christ'? How does this shape our understanding of election?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that election is not based on anything in ourselves but solely on our union with Christ, the first elect.

[Question]

How does the truth that Christ is God's elect affect the way we preach the gospel and present Christ to others?

[Context]

Weaver argues that preaching Christ without His role as covenant head is incomplete.

[Question]

In what ways does the metaphor of the Lamb's Book of Life provide comfort and assurance to believers?

[Context]

Weaver explains the book signifies God's personal knowledge, particular choice, and unchangeable security.

[Question]

Why is it important to understand that Christ was chosen not only for our benefit but for God's own delight and glory?

[Context]

Weaver gives three reasons Christ was predestinated, centering on God's pleasure and self-manifestation.

[Question]

What are the biblical marks of those whose names are written in the Book of Life, and how can we examine ourselves by them?

[Context]

Weaver lists five evidences: conviction of sin, faith in Christ alone, preciousness of Christ, and living for God's glory.

Applications

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