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, October 25, 1987.
About this sermon
The book of Job frames the contrast between Arminian and Calvinistic views of unconditional election, in both its corporate and individual dimensions. Only the cross of Christ, still to come, transforms Job’s view of God.
Sermon transcript
Now, if you are reading this morning from the book of Job, the book of Job will be read from Chapter thirty-eight, verses one through twenty-one; Chapter thirty-nine, verses one through fourteen; and Chapter forty-two, verse one. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man, for I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Who laid its measures, if you know? Or who stretched a line upon it? On what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
For who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth, as if it had issued from the womb? When I made the cloud its garment and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and set limits for it, and established bars and doors, and said, ‘Hitherto shall you come, but no further, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, so that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken from it? It is turned like clay to the seal, and they stand as a garment; and from the wicked their light is withheld, and your mighty arm shall be broken.
Have you entered the springs of the sea, or walked in the search of the depths? Have the gates of death been opened to you, or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you perceived the breath of the earth? Declare, if you know it all.
Where is the place where light dwells? And where is the place of darkness, that you might take it to its boundary and know the path to its dwelling? Do you know it because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great? Chapter forty, verses one through fourteen.
The Lord answered Job and said, Shall he who contends with the Almighty instruct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am dust. What shall I answer You? I will lay my hand on my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Gird up your loins now like a man. I will question you, and you shall declare to Me. Will you also annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, or can you thunder with a voice like His?
Deck yourself now with majesty and excellence, and clothe yourself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad your wrath, and look with pride upon all who are proud, and bring them low. Look on every one who is proud, and bring him low, and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret. And I also confess to You that Your own right hand can save you. Chapter forty-two, verse one. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. Who is he who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
Here I beseech You, and I will speak. I will demand of You, and You shall declare to me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Go with me briefly. In Your Spirit, O God, You come like a whirlwind, and before You we not only tremble and quake, we are undone. Dear Lord, may we face You in what You have said to Your servant Job, and in all Scripture. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Our messages have been on the Bible and Calvinism. And thus far, we have considered the matter of God’s sovereignty in a general way. And we have gone on from there to take up the familiar five points of Calvinism. The organization of these five points has been helpfully laid out for us in the acronym, which spells the word. We have considered the key, namely, total depravity or total inability, by which we have contended, according to Scripture, that mankind is totally unable to come to God in his own power by his own strength.
Even worse, men and women apart from God are dead in their trespasses and sins. And unless God therefore intervene, we are lost in our sinful state. This morning we are moving on to the two remaining points. You are speaking to us about unconditional election. If total depravity, the T, gave us our doctrine of man, then the U, unconditional election, gives us our doctrine of God. We will be considering this morning the matter of God’s election generally, and then next week we will be looking at it more closely in terms of His unconditional character.
The biblical doctrine of election, of God’s election, is not like the elections with which we are familiar. It is not like a political election or the casting of ballots in a democratic society or organization. Nor is it like the definition of election offered by one Arminian evangelist. His understanding of election, a term he could not avoid, being clearly written throughout the whole of Scripture, was this: God votes for you, the devil votes against you, and you cast the deciding vote. No. That is not the biblical doctrine of election. Rather, this doctrine, in keeping with what Scripture says throughout, is the profound mystery in God’s eternal decree, expressing His perfect freedom in choosing, calling, and saving whomever He will. Let me repeat that. Election, according to God’s word, is that profound mystery in God’s eternal decree, expressing His perfect freedom in the choosing, calling, and saving of whomever He will.
This doctrine, both outside the church and within it, has been hated, maligned, and condemned. In this decade, the hatred has been expressed in no uncertain terms by a certain TV evangelist. It came home to us here at Grace Church through the fellowship in Oakdale. As Dan Knox was solidifying his Calvinism with the congregation there, troubles began to arise. Many in that fellowship could not accept the doctrines of Calvinism, and defending those who rejected them was a TV evangelist who was preaching and producing material at that time, railing against the doctrines of Calvinism as if they had come from the pit of hell. Let me tell you: the doctrines that we hold dear come from the mouth of God. They do not come from the pit of hell. You may recall that the TV evangelist I have in mind was Jimmy Swagger.
This doctrine of divine election, hated, maligned, and anathematized by so many, could not be written more clearly or consistently throughout the entirety of Scripture. Rejecting it does not refute it. The rejection of it only testifies to a lack of correspondence between the one who rejects it and God himself. This doctrine of election, contrary to what so many believe and hold, is an exceedingly broad doctrine.
There is a breadth to it. There is a length and an extension to it, a scope to it, that some have taken advantage of. It is as if the doctrine of election were a train traveling along a line with many stops. But because it is like a train traveling along a line with many stops, many well-intentioned and Bible-believing Christians are provided ample opportunity to get on and off at any point they choose.
But for the deepest and most unadulterated impact of this doctrine, one must get on and stay on until the end of the line. Some, for instance, in considering the doctrine of election, have suggested that election pertains to groups of people, not individuals. We would hardly deny that the doctrine of election pertains to groups, to a body of people, to a nation in particular. Without question, as we review the Old Testament, we find that God’s election is corporate.
It deals with the nation of Israel. Amos, in chapter three, verse two, says this: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth,” asserting the election of Israel. Psalm 147, verse 20, says this: “He hath not so dealt with any nation as he has with you, Israel.” And Deuteronomy, a book which could easily be designated God’s book about election, says this in chapter seven: “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.” And later, Moses writes this: “Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even above all peoples.”
This affirmation that election is corporate—that it has to do with a body of people, a nation—is the first point. But that is not all. While the entire people of God are designated as the elect, it is evident from the history of Israel that not all ultimately prove to be such. Thus, as we move forward, election becomes more focused and even more specific.
For example, while the northern tribes of Israel were deserting the Lord, the Lord affirmed His sovereignty and His electing power before Elijah. He said, “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” And speaking of the northern tribes under the figures of Joseph and Ephraim, Psalm 78 tells us, “He chose Judah, the southern tribes.”
You see, there is the breadth of election. We are confronted with it at the first stop on the line, but then there is a narrowing, an election at work within the election of God. You must stay on the train to the end of the line. But you see, we have not yet reached the final depot. For the doctrine of God’s election is even more specific. Not only does God elect the people, not only does He reserve for Himself a remnant among His people, but He is at work electing, choosing individuals who make up that remnant.
We might think that Abraham’s journey from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan was his idea, that one morning he woke up with the thought, I need a change. It is time to pick up and move. I need a change of venue. Not so. Abraham moved in response to the call of God. He was specifically chosen.
That is the testimony of Genesis twelve, and at the end of his life, he says, “The Lord, the God of heaven, took me, took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth.” That Lord of heaven Himself says about Abraham, “I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through the land of Canaan.” Joshua 24, verse 3.
No one, and I underscore that, no one should be able to read the stories of Abraham, Abraham’s children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, without being deeply moved by the truth of God’s sovereign election. That God chooses not Nahor, Abraham’s brother, but Abraham, not Ishmael, but Isaac, not Esau, but Jacob, not Reuben, but Judah.
The testimony of the Old Testament concerning election is pervasive, thorough, and corporate. It is also spoken of in terms of a remnant. But finally, and unmistakably, in terms of individuals directly, the objects of God’s choice. His call is saving. This is confirmed by the capstone. In Psalm sixty-five, verse four: “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You.”
The doctrine of election was at work in the Old Testament, but it does not disappear or lose its importance in the New Testament. When we examine the New Testament, we find that this is not true. The New Testament builds upon the Old Testament, both corporately and in terms of the group. Israel is acknowledged as God’s chosen people in both the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, we are told that the church, the Church of Jesus Christ, is the elect of God, and this is true corporately. Therefore, when Paul writes to various congregations, he does not hesitate to address them collectively as the elect of God.
This is only the first stage. There is also a refinement in the New Testament, as there was in the Old Testament. For Jesus was at work from the beginning in separating out His disciples from Israel. He separated them from the whole of Israel and from the crowds.
Later, as the Church takes shape, the Apostle John says, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us. If they had been of us, they would have remained with us.” Thus, the affirmation of an election within election is active in the New Testament, as it was in the Old Testament. While the church is called the elect, not all who are in the church are elect. Just as there was a remnant in Israel, so also there is a remnant in the church by election. Jesus says, “The elect will not be led astray.” Matthew 24, for the sake of the elect. God has chosen, and the last days will be shortened. Mark 13. He said, “I know whom I have chosen.” John 13. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” John 15. “All that the Father has given Me will come to Me.” John 6. And He prayed not for the world, but for those whom the Father has given Him, out of the world. John 17.
Paul tells us in his address to the Romans that nothing can be laid to the charge of God. He says, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” He tells the Thessalonians, “God chose you from the beginning for salvation.” He tells Timothy, “I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation.” In the very first verse of his first epistle, Peter writes to the elect. He calls them such. He identifies his readers as the elect race of God, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people for God’s own possession.
This election, therefore, according to the New Testament as well as the Old Testament, pertains to the body, to the group—Israel, the church as a whole—but also to that remnant within Israel, within the church, and finally to individuals who will stand before God. In Romans 11, only those who were chosen obtained the promise. And again, in Romans 9, it does not depend upon the one who wills or the one who runs, but upon God who shows mercy. And again, He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.
So there it is. The Bible’s declaration of divine election. That profound mystery and God’s eternal decree expressing His perfect freedom in choosing, calling, and saving whomever He will. The impact of that revelation is shattering. The impact of that truth is awesome. For it introduces us to a God who is increasingly a stranger in the world, sadly, even in the Church. This affirmation of God in His sovereignty introduces us to a God so unlike the God ordinarily presented by and believed in by too many Christians.
A God who, because of His respect for personal boundaries, refuses to intrude upon anyone’s life or interfere with your affairs. A God, out of His sense of justice, who respects your right to privacy. A God for whom your freedom is the most important principle in the universe, and He would not dare violate that. Can you imagine? A God who, in the end, is so utterly powerless before your will that He must wait for you before He can act, or first obtain your permission before He can accomplish His purposes. We recognize the Arminian God and we recognize the liberal God.
But we are not like that. Surely we are right, are we not? Surely we have it correct, do we not? We are the ones who boarded the train at the beginning of the line and traveled all the way to the end. And now we are about to disembark, feeling quite satisfied with ourselves. But we are not like that Arminian over there, or even that ungodly Liberal.
I may well be a card-carrying Calvinist. I might be one for reasons other than good ones. I may be one because of logical and psychological pressures. I, because of my view of life and reality, have been compelled to bow before the necessity of God’s sovereignty. I am a person, for instance, who believes in order. I believe in authority, and when I am looking for some sort of religious expression of that conviction and those commitments, I find it best in Calvinism. I see, logically and psychologically, that there is no other way for order and authority to be maintained except through a rigorous Calvinism, an insistence upon God’s absolute sovereignty and its corollary, his divine election. If I find myself in this situation of this conviction, even though I may be a card-carrying Calvinist to a very deep degree and in a quite serious way, I have settled for something far less than I ought to have. In fact, my failure to break beyond this logical and psychological necessity leaves me in a state of stagnation, and a state in which there is erected between God and myself, despite my orthodoxy, a barrier.
Now, if you want to read about the destruction of the barrier, I commend to you the Book of Job. The barrier, even for Calvinists, must be blasted away. And that is exactly what God is about, even for those who have confessed His sovereignty. Though Job did not initially confess God’s sovereignty, it is evident from the beginning of the book. But by the end, it is as if he is a new man, because the barrier has been shattered through the experience of suffering which he underwent.
It is as if for the first time he has faced God. My view of God is not adequate any longer. It is as if I must lose God to see him. I must lose God to gain him. Whatever my ideas were of God, they end up being worthless in comparison to what is now unveiled before my eyes. I had heard of you by the hearing of my ears, but now my eye sees you. Is Job the exception? No. Do you remember Abraham on Moriah?
There he is, placing the knife upon his son. There he is, at that moment, in his cross, offering the thing he loves most in the world, surrendering it before the sovereignty of God, before God’s absolute command and demand. And he does not withhold his hand in that trial. Abraham meets himself, and he meets his God as never before. Before that, Abraham may well have said, as Job did, “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.”
It was not an easy thing for the Apostle Paul. You read in Romans 9–11, where his heart was deeply attached to his countrymen according to the flesh. How do you think he endured it? They were being rejected. But it was through the trial of confronting Christ on the cross, and the absolute sovereignty of God, that the man was shaken to the very foundations of his being. Nothing would ever be the same again. He could no longer look at Israel in the same way.
I had heard of You by the hearing of my ear, but now I see You. All of these, a chorus in unison, saying the same thing, all pointing to the one whose cross is central. There, in the trial, in the garden, confronted with God’s awesome will and sovereign power, the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Not My will, but Yours be done.” Now I will say to you one more thing: this is the only root of blessing. It is not a second blessing. It is not a charismatic experience. It is not an out-of-body experience.
It is a confrontation with the absolute, unqualified sovereignty of God. The fact that He, in His freedom, chooses, calls, and saves whomever He will, and does whatever He desires. And whatever my God ordains is right. Is right. The barrier must come down. Your life up to this point may well have been within the bounds of Calvinism. But it is, no less, a near hearing of the year.
What we need, through the cross of Christ, echoing in the experience of Abraham, Job, and Paul, is to see our God with clear understanding. You know how Job concludes: “Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.” Amen. O Lord, we would see you, our God, even more fully than Job saw you, for we would see Jesus, and we would understand that the suffering of Job is merely a foreshadowing of the cross of Christ. Lord, may we be submissive, may we realize the full scope, depth, and breadth of your sovereignty, your election, and the unique freedom you possess, by which you choose, call, save, and love whomever you will.
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.