This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Bible and Calvinism” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 1, 1987.

This morning we are reading from Ephesians chapter two verses one through ten. And you have been made alive. who were dead in trespasses and then. Well, even in time past, he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now workers in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the last of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were, by nature, the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace, we are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.”

Oh God, you send forth your word, and the rich harvest, it comes forth. And it comes forth for your sake, as your church takes shape. Lord, your servants, all of us, bow before you. we who have become the beneficiaries of your word. And Lord, we acknowledge that we are part of the harvest. And Lord, how we rejoice in the harvest that is gathered by you. Your servants throughout the world, they preach today, the harvest shall be gathered and you are glorified. Amen.

In 1609, Jacob Arminius, a Dutch theologian In the following year, 1610, his followers issued their five articles of faith. These five articles were presented to the state of Holland and its church. in the form of a protest called the Remonstrance. At this time, the Dutch churches held to the Belgic Confession of Faith of 1561 and the rightly famous Heidelberg Catechism of 1563. The Dutch churches held to these documents as the official expression of their doctrinal position.

Both confession and catechism were thoroughly Calvinist. The followers of Arminius, later known as Arminian, were lodging five complaints against the classic statement. Concerning the faith. Taking exception to their teachings about divine sovereignty, human depravity and the consequences of those doctrines.

Essentially They were overturing the Church of Holland, desirous of obtaining a revision of the standards in keeping with the statements of their five points. In 1618, eight years after The lodging of this protest, the National Synod of the Dutch Reformed Churches, convened in the city of Dort. And by May of the following year, that synod had completed its work on what now are called the Canons of Dort. five chapters written especially to refute the five articles of Arminian faith. Now these chapters are expansive, but they have been distilled and popularized in the so-called five points of Calvinism. and have come down to us in the popular form of the acronym PHILIP, in which each letter in that word signifies a cardinal doctrine held by the Calvinist or the Reformed faith. supplies us with our doctrine of man, that man is totally the prey.

The you is our doctrine of God. God is absolutely sovereign in his salvation of sinners, and his election is unconditional, thus the you, for unconditional election. The L is our doctrine of Christ. Not one drop of Christ’s blood is wasted upon the cross, for his atoning death is directed specifically towards and limited to the elect. The R is our doctrine of the Holy Spirit. He applies God’s grace, the efficaciousness of Christ’s death, irresistibly upon the elect. The I, therefore, coming from that word, irresistible. The P, preservation of the saints, our doctrine of the Church, namely God’s those for whom Christ has died, they alone shall persevere until the end.”

Thus far we have considered the key our doctrine of man, total depravity, and by that we have reminded ourselves that when we speak of the total depravity of man, we are not saying that man is as sinful or as wicked as he can be, but that man in all of his faculties is affected by sin and he is thus corrupted in such a way that he cannot commend himself before God. on the basis of his own righteousness or his own marriage. We have also considered, in part, the you for unconditional election. We considered the you, first of all, in the broadest manner. as it pertains to God’s sovereign election and the reality that on every page of the Scriptures from beginning to end, that doctrine is manifest and clear. God’s sovereign election has been defined as that profound mystery in God’s eternal decree, expressing his perfect freedom in choosing, calling, saving whomever he will. This morning, we continue our reflection upon the you by concentrating on the unconditional of that election from God.

What does it mean to say election is unconditioned? Well, it means that God’s choice of you, his choice of me, his choice of his people is not conditioned by anything in us, and that the reason for that choice is found in and rests solely with him. What does it mean to speak of election as unconditional? It means that God’s choice of you, of me, of His people, is not conditioned by anything in us, but the reason for His choice is found in and rests solely with Him.

You walk out of the door this morning on your way to church. possibly feeling particularly fine because you were on your way to Grace Church, that bastion of Calvinistic orthodoxy. You looked across the street and you noticed your neighbor, and for a moment, however brief, you felt that twinge of superiority, since not only was he not a Calvinist, he doesn’t even go to church, and you have no indication of his spiritual vitality whatsoever. In fact, you thought to yourself, again, momentarily, however fleetingly, that you have some very attractive features inherently distinguishing you from your neighbor. Ones which made you an obvious choice by God over him. But such thoughts are a direct contradiction of the Calvinism you hold. The reasons are not found in you. You do not create the conditions for your election in any sense. That decision rests in and with God solely.

Ephesians 1 verse 4 tells us, He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now, were you there informing God? That is, before we had opportunity in this life to even exhibit those resilient characteristics, of our personality, we are told that God chose us.

This is explicitly stated with regard to Jacob and Esau. Most people don’t like to consider what the Apostle Paul has to say about these boys. They were not yet born and had not done either good or evil, in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of his call. So it is said, the elder will serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I hate.

Now if you want to check that out, It is found in Romans 9, verses 11-13. You see, not only does this passage present the sovereignty of God’s election, but it makes the call of God the root cause. It makes the call of God the root cause of the distinction between Jacob and Esau. and going beyond that, looking at it even a bit closer, specifically it excludes works as the reason for that call.

But it might be, in the end, all of grace. Now the same sort of thing Paul says to Timothy The second epistle, the first chapter, the ninth verse, God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our words, but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, or before all ages. God’s election is unconditional. There is no place, fear, or strife.

But even beyond this, you see, while we may be tempted to flatter ourselves, we are compelled to take into account the biblical testimony concerning our nature, we’ve already spoken about that with regard to the first point of Calvinism, namely total depravity. Not an inherent goodness, not all those redeeming features, none of these things catch God’s attention, and none of them provide the basis of his choice of us. Scripture testifies that we are sold under sin.

Ephesians 2.1 tells us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. What does a dead man have that he can commend to anyone? Nor is it a matter, as some have suggested, of God foreseeing our works down the corridors of history. and the particular wonderful features of our character down the corridors of history, and making his choice on the basis of his foresight of the works that we will perform or the faith that we will exercise. But hear out the testimony of the Word and the consistent testimony of the Reformed Church, God’s election, His call, is the cause of our good works. The positive features of our character are the result of his electing grace. Paul tells us we were chosen that we should be holy and without blame before him.

Again, Ephesians 1.4. the impact of Ephesians 2.10. Our recreation in Christ, we who were dead, is unto good works.

Those good works do not provide the basis for our recreation, our election, but they are the result of our election. And notice the order of things in John fifteen sixteen, where Christ said, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. The fruit bearing comes after the choosing. No, good works are the result, not the ground of our election, and similarly with our faith.

God does not choose us because he foresees our faith. We are told once more by Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13, God chose us from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Our sanctification and our belief come on the heels of God’s electing purpose and choice of us. I am amazed, I am amazed that people can continually read John 3 and miss the point. That chapter begins with Jesus speaking about the utter impossibility of a man doing anything to save himself, let alone find something within himself that enables him to commend himself to God.

I have heard sermons, and I know you have too, in which we are led to believe that the faith that is spoken of by Jesus in John 3.16 actually becomes the condition of the movement of the Spirit. And Calvin, with all of his energy, resisted that, and we should resist it too. Does faith and repentance precede regeneration? Do they, in some sense, precede God’s election? No, God’s election is unconditional, and our salvation rests in Him. The Spirit blows where it will. You hear the sound of it. You can’t tell where it’s going, where it came from. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

The honor, absolute sovereignty of God in choosing sinners for salvation. The election is unconditioned. It is not conditioned upon our character, our good works, or even our faith or the foresight of the same. Its cause rests in God, in the mystery of His will. It rests in His love. It rests in his inexplicable grace, which he pours out then in time upon the undeserving, who in themselves can lay no claim upon him.

Will it be by grace and grace of love. Will it be by God’s choice, or by some other? No. When I walk out the door on a Sunday morning and look across the street, and I spy my neighbor in his yard at his door, I cannot content myself that there is some inherent quality in me that makes me better than him. Not at all. He is God’s grace. And because it is, we praise him all the more. election, the U of II, a doctrine solidly anchored in the Word of God and in the testimony of the Reformed and Presbyterian Church for generations.

Father, if we take it all in, we are melted. For if we search ourselves for the reason, the reason is not apparent. And therefore we are cast upon you, and the reason is known only to you. And communicated to us, then, in terms of your love. A love inexplicable. but real, vibrant, active in this world, we ourselves being a testimony to its activity and its triumph.

We pray our God that we would not in any way minimize the cost to you in the demonstration of that love and the procurement of sinful human beings for your kingdom. Therefore, may Jesus Christ, our Savior, be exalted even in our consideration of your unconditional election. This we pray in his name, amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.