manna?

Our Glorious Salvation

Posted by Daveg

“He must become greater, and I must become less.”  Those words of John the Baptist resonate with every believer at some point in their Christian experience.  We can all appreciate how, as our vision of God’s goodness and greatness grows, our picture of ourselves diminishes.  Anything that contributes to enlarging our understanding of God is bound to cause us to think less of ourselves.  But what we often fail to see is the intimate connection between that process and our own joy.  We sometimes hear John’s words as a concession, uttered with a heavy sigh, as if he were saying, “My time has come and gone—I’ve had my 15 minutes of fame, and now it’s time for the main act.”  But we can’t hear John at all unless we hear him fully; “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice.  That joy is mine, and it is now complete.  He must become greater; I must become less.” At the heart of John’s words is his commitment to pursing his own joy in the glory of the Son.  I can imagine him shouting those words, even weeping for joy as he uttered them.  The lesson should not be lost on us.  Anything that contributes to our drinking in a fuller picture of God’s greatness—anything that fosters greater humility on our part, is destined to bring us joy.  I am sometimes asked, “why does it matter what we think about God’s sovereignty?  That topic has sparked so much controversy anyway.”  My desire for myself and for my family and friends is that our joy be complete—and what we believe about the sovereignty of God has everything to do with God becoming greater and me becoming less.
  One of the ways that God brings glory to His name is the way in which people are saved.  As we mentioned last week, the Bible is filled with paradoxes, and the question of how we are saved is perhaps one of the most vexing.  But should it surprise us that God is emotionally complex—that he is not simple or one-dimensional, and that, despite the apparent contradictions, the one thing that consistently shines through is Him?  G.K. Chesterton, the brilliant Christian apologist of the last century said it best:  “Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious.”  As we look at God’s sovereignty in salvation, we discover furious opposites—and we dare not refashion them to fit our own expectations of the way we think God should act.
  So, how is it that people are saved? The Bible teaches that God anguishes over the plight of the lost and that his desire is that everyone should repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Tim.2:1-4; Exod. 34:6; Ezek. 18:32).  We can only conclude from these verses that God’s kindness and love are genuine and that his anguish over the plight of the lost is real.  But, obviously, not all people are saved.  So if God wills that everyone should repent, why does it not happen?  Although God “wills” that all people repent, there is a higher purpose that God must have in mind, a greater priority that must be pursued.  So, what is that higher purpose?  One obvious answer is that God wants to magnify the free-will of the creatures he has made, drawing our attention to the sovereignty of the choices we make with regard to salvation.  But I don’t believe that this explanation holds up under the weight of scripture, which seem to point to a different priority.  That greater priority is that we might drink in a picture of the fullness of God’s glory, manifested in both his mercy and his wrath, and that, ultimately, we might enjoy giving God all the credit for our rescue and salvation.  God magnifies the glory of His mercy and His wrath by choosing some to be saved, and not others.  He does this through the exercise of his sovereign, electing grace, without regard to the anticipated faith or the potential merit of the recipient of that grace.
  We first see God exercising this electing love in the call of one man, Abraham. (Neh. 9:7). In the same way, God chose one people, the people of Israel to be his special possession (Deut. 14:2).  Why did God move in the hearts of this individual and this people?  Because it pleased him to pour his love and compassion on them in this way.  The Bible makes it clear that it had nothing to do with any perceived faith or anticipated response to God’s invitation (Deut.10:14-15; 7:6-8).  The same arguments are given in the choosing of one son (Jacob, not Esau, and Isaac, not Ishmael) over another (Rom. 9:10-13). God’s overriding objective in exercising his free, unconditional and sovereign choice was always the same; to the praise of his glorious grace (Isa. 43:7, 21). 
  In the New Testament, we see the same commitment on God’s part to his sovereign electing grace, only now his focus moves from an ethnic people (Israel) to a new people composed of every nation (The Church).  Again and again, we are told that God, without regard to the expectations of humankind, and without consideration of any merit on the part of the recipient, chose some to be his own, while he hardened the hearts of others. (Eph. 1:4-6, 11-12, 14; John 10:25-26;  John 6:37-39; Romans 8:28-32; Acts 13:48; Romans 11:7-10; Acts 16:14; John 6:65; 1 Cor. 1:23-24; Rom. 11:25-26; Romans 9:14-18.)  Not only does God’s electing grace impact the destiny of individuals and nations, but apparently the fate of angelic beings is determined in the same way (1 Tim. 5:21)
  We can conclude then, that it is God’s Spirit that makes our dead hearts alive to God’s call (John 3:3,5; 6:65), it is God who gives us the capacity to repent (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25), it is God who gives us the ability to respond in faith (Acts 13:48; I Cor. 12:3; Eph. 2:8-9), and it is God who will persevere to the end, guaranteeing that none of those who are truly His will ever be lost (John 10:27-28; 1 Peter 1:3-5).  All of this to say simply that the work of our salvation is wholly an effort of God. As Romans 9:14-16 makes clear, the fact of whether or not we receive God’s mercy is not initiated by us, nor is it ever ultimately influenced by our will.  And all of this has one ultimate aim in mind; “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” 
  Can we assume from this that we are mere robots, and that God has programmed us to respond in certain ways, and that he gives some the “salvation chip” and others the “damnation chip?” We must be careful not to simplify the emotions of God or try and force Him to either act upon all His emotions or express His emotions as we might.  God is compassionate.  God is just. God is tenderhearted, and God is a consuming fire.  Through it all, he blazes a trail for his glory that He bids us all to follow.  He demands repentance of us all, and he invites all of us to respond in faith.  We are all held responsible for the choices we make. But the ability to do the very thing that is asked of us is only given to some and not to others, to the praise of the glory of His grace.  “But how can this be?” we might ask.  The answer can only be found in the mystery of the sovereignty of God.  To say that God is sovereign in salvation and that we are morally responsible for the choices we make seems contradictory.  But the Bible teaches both, and we are not permitted the luxury of choosing one or the other. 
  “Why would God do it this way?”  The answer that the Bible consistently gives is so that His grace might tower above all, and so that He might receive all the glory.  The flipside to that coin is so that there might be no boasting of any kind on our part; “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph. 2:8-9); Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. (Eph. 3:11)”
“He must become greater, and I must become less.”  God is glorious!  And he displays that glory in His decision to save some and not others, through the exercise of His sovereign grace.  God’s choices are never arbitrary or made without emotion—he chooses as he does so that “His purposes in election might stand.”(Romans 9:10-13)  Let me close by affirming two things; first, I believe that a balanced view of God’s sovereignty is essential to walking humbly before God.  My own struggle in this area has been great.  My flesh is constantly straining to pull God down to my level, to exchange His glory for my own.  My feeble attempts betray the depths of my own sinfulness and my commitment to fall short of God’s glory.  But in those moments when I catch a glimpse of the greatness of God’s glory—when I fall on my face and worship Him, conscious of how great my salvation is precisely because I can take no credit for it—in those moments, I am most happy.  As I meditate on the fact that, through no effort of my own and for no reason other than to the praise of the glory of His grace, I have been born again, God becomes greater, and I become less, and my joy is complete.
  Second, in those (far too rare) moments of humble submission, I also find that the truth of God’s sovereignty in salvation is a great incentive to share the gospel with others.  So many great evangelists throughout history have found the same to be true (Peter Cameron Scott, Charles Spurgeon, William Carey and George Whitfield, to name only a few).  As we begin to understand God’s sovereign, electing love, it serves as a powerful motivation to share the gospel with every people.  That people is made up of every tribe and tongue and nation on earth.  He will draw them to Himself!  He will be lifted up among the nations!  He will bring to Himself those sheep who are yet outside the fold!  And He has given to us the glorious privilege of joining Him in this work that cannot fail. 

  Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!  Who has known the mind of the Lord?  Or who has been his counselor?  Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?  For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever!  Amen. (Rom. 11:33-36)