God’s Sovereignty in Salvation

Transcript

GR 1447
10/24/10
God's Sovereignty in Salvation
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We're getting ready for moving into a new section in Romans that will move us into the subject of the sovereignty of God and God's work in election. And I want to recommend a little booklet to you, one of the finest, clearest, most concise, most biblical things that I've read on the subject. We have a little booklet, Election: Whose Choice. If you haven't read it lately or never read it you might take the time to pick up a copy or it's available on your computer on the website over the next week or two. It will help set some of the foundations and framework for what we are going to be talking about in the book of Romans.

We're not going to move into Romans 9 today, we have one more area I would like to cover. We overviewed the first 8 chapters, but as we prepare to move into the subject of God's sovereign dealings with the nation Israel, we'll be looking into the matter of God's sovereignty and God's sovereignty in salvation. And we'll have to deal with matters that become controversial—the biblical doctrine of election and how we understand that doctrine. So I want to spend a little bit of time with you today just overviewing some matters about God's sovereignty and particularly as it relates to the work of salvation. It will just be an overview, review for most of you. Then when we come into Romans 9 we'll be getting into matters that are sometimes jarring to our ears.

Look at Romans 9:13, just as it is written, God is speaking, Jacob I loved but Esau I hated. That is somewhat unsettling when we read that to read that there is a person and a people that God has hated. Verse 15, the sovereignty of God in showing mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. So we'll have to work through these matters. They are part of the word of God, this is God speaking to us. We want to understand it correctly, properly and submit ourselves to it.

So for just the background and setting of the stage I want to look at a few verses on the sovereignty of God, then move you to the subject of God's sovereignty in our salvation and overview that.

For a general look at the sovereignty of God come back to Isaiah 14. Just looking at the character of God and His absolute sovereignty in all things. We'll narrow it down to our salvation in a moment but just note His sovereignty in the world. In Isaiah 14:24, the Lord of hosts has sworn saying, surely just as I have intended so it has happened, just as I have planned so it will stand. And you see here God declaring that it is His sovereign purpose that is being worked out. Here He is talking about the nations of the world, particularly the judgment that He is going to bring on the nation Assyria. World power, world empire. God will deal with Assyria. But you see it is His intention, His plan and His plan will stand. Not just that Assyria came on the scene and was unusually powerful and the events were such that they could assert their authority. God said this is My plan and it will stand.

In Isaiah 43:13, in this section God has reminded Israel of His uniqueness and He is the only God. There is no God, there is no Savior beside Him. Then verse 13, even from eternity I am He and there is none who can deliver out of My hand. I act and who can reverse it. Sovereign authority. And He is the One who is from eternity. No one can deliver out of His hand. When He acts who can overrule Him? Who can reverse His decisions? You see that emphasis on His complete sovereign authority.

Isaiah 46:8, remember this and be assured, recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past. For I am God and there is no other, I am God and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done. Saying, My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all My good pleasure. Calling a bird of prey from the East, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will do it. The sovereignty of God again over the world, over the nations of the earth.

Go over to Daniel 4, again dealing with Nebuchadnezzar. He is the king of Babylon, he is the ruling the empire that dominates and yet he has to understand that he didn't come into that position by his own cleverness, by his own power, by his own brilliance. Rather it was the work of the sovereign God. Look down in verse 17, this is the sentence by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the Holy One, in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men. Some translations say the basest of men. Nebuchadnezzar, you must understand that God is sovereign and you are not. You hold your position because of the sovereign determination of the God who rules over the realm of mankind. That's repeated at the end of verse 25, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it upon whomever He wishes. Nebuchadnezzar, the end of verse 26, must learn that it is heaven that rules. Down in verse 32, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it upon whomever He wishes. You see God is absolutely sovereign in the affairs of this world and all that takes place. Nations come to power, rulers come and go all according to the sovereign appointment of the all-powerful God.

Sad, I was reading a Christian author and he was noting that God doesn't appoint the President of the United States, He is not the One who decides who will be President. You are the one who decides by your vote. I don't know if he has ever read Daniel. We vote, but God decides. Empires have come by power but it is God who decides what power will accomplish and not accomplish.

So God is totally sovereign. Nebuchadnezzar realized that and after seven years of insanity God could take him off the throne just like that, make him like a wild beast crawling around on his hands and knees, eating grass. That's how great Nebuchadnezzar is. You think you are powerful, you think you are able to rule the world. I'll just turn you out to pasture. Seven years as a madman and then his mind is restored and he is given his kingdom back. Verse 34, at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, my reason returned to me. I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But He does according to His will. In the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have you done. God answers to no one, He does according to His purpose and His plan.

Now I want to move that from the general overall sovereignty of God in all the world to the area of our salvation. And matters that related to God's work in bringing salvation to the human heart. We're going to talk about what is sometimes defined or distinguished as Calvinism and Arminianism, names given to two theological positions. And we're looking at just one narrow aspect. They are much broader than we are going to talk about, but it has become common to talk about Calvinism and Arminianism. We're interested in these matters as it relates to our salvation. Basically the distinction we are going to be looking at and we are not going to be talking a lot about the distinguishing characteristics, but unfolding the position we're going to be following.

But basically Calvinism emphasizes the sovereignty of God in salvation. And man is responsible but God is sovereign and ultimately salvation is a result of His special work in a heart. Arminianism places more of the weight on man. And while God rules over all He has turned man loose, if you will, and man is free to make decisions and salvation is ultimately a result of man seeking out God, man acting and turning to God. It is his work and his act and depends upon man to a large extent.

We'll just look through the different aspects of these two theological positions. They are important, they affect all aspects of our lives. I think if we don't have an understanding of God's sovereignty we are adrift. And the man I referred to, he writes a book trying to show that God is not sovereign in our salvation and he ends up denying that God is sovereign and who is ruling? And where does it stop.

So we want to look a little bit at this whole issue of the sovereignty of God in our salvation. We talk about Calvinism. We get the name from John Calvin, he was born in 1509 and he died in 1564. So he only lived 55 years but he became well known, his writings are still read. But Calvinism is associated with him. Now we are looking at a narrow band of Calvinism. John Calvin was covenantal, not dispensational and founded much of what he taught in what I believe is not a biblical view of covenants and a covenantal view. The Arminian view comes from the name of another man, Jacob Arminius. We are not as familiar with Jacob Arminius. He was born in 1560, he was only 4 years old when John Calvin died. And then he died in 1609.

Now I mention these two men, we're going to talk about the five points of Calvinism as they are often described. And really John Calvin didn't develop the five points of Calvinism, they were developed after he died. In fact the five point were developed by the followers of Jacob Arminius. So John Calvin had been dead for a while. The five points of Calvinism then were developed by the followers of John Calvin to respond to the five points of the followers of Jacob Arminius. But really it is the five points of Calvinism that come down to us as a concise summary of salvation and the doctrine of God's sovereignty in salvation.

We remember it by the acrostic TULIP—total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints. The first two are foundational, the third point, limited atonement, become controversial. We at Indian Hills do not hold that to be the biblical viewpoint. So we are four-point Calvinists, sometimes called moderate Calvinists. People say, well then you are not a true Calvinist. Well if all you hold to are the five point you are not a Calvinist either because there is a lot more to Calvinism than simply the five points. But we'll say more about that as we move along.

I just want to walk through these five points, note what they are. Some of it will overview and review what we have already seen in the book of Romans because we are unfolding the gospel in the book of Romans. So we will see some of this unfolded. And we are coming to the strongest emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation and particularly how that sovereignty assures the salvation of the nation Israel.

Total depravity is the first point we want to look at. Total depravity means that the impact of sin has permeated our being totally. We are totally corrupted by our sin. This is foundational to understanding the whole issue of salvation. That's why Paul spent the first three chapters of the book of Romans, remember, establishing and showing the sinfulness of man and that we are all sinners and under condemnation. Now total depravity does not mean that everyone is as bad as they could be. We sometimes say everyone is as bad off as they could be because sin has invaded and permeated every aspect of our being. But because of what we call the common grace of God the manifestation of our sin is somewhat restrained and controlled. And when God brings His judgment on sinners, one of the aspects of that judgment as we saw in Romans 1 is His restraint on sin is pulled back. And so there is a more open aggressive manifestation of sin. And that is not only an offense against God but it also makes life on earth more difficult and we see what happens. In parts of our county, in parts of the world where sinful activity is not restrained life becomes much more difficult. But total depravity means that all aspects of our lives are being infected by sin.

Let me give you some steps on this, how do we know this. We are sinners by virtue of our being members of the human race. So that's pretty all encompassing. We are descendants of Adam and as we studied in Romans 5:12, therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin. Now remember death followed sin because the wages of sin is death. So by one man sin entered into the world and when sin entered into the world death entered into the world. And so death spread to all mean. Well why did death spread to all men? Because all sinned. And we looked at the details of this argument when we were in Romans 5. Adam acted on our behalf as our representative and so his decision was ours. And the result of that is passed on to us. And the evidence of the assurance of it? You are going to die, friends and loved ones have died, everyone in the world dies. Is there anyone 200 years old in the world? No. Why? They died before they got there. Why did they die? The wages of sin is death. Well, I don't know if they were sinners. Didn't they die? What were they? Sinners. And we are the same. So by being a descendant of Adam.

Turn back to Psalm 51, David is writing. Verse 5, behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. Now he's not saying conception is sin, he's saying sin is present from conception because it is passed on from parent to child, just as other characteristics of our humanity are passed on. Our humanity has been infected with sin so it is passed on. So David says, I was brought forth in iniquity. Sin was present from conception, which incidentally has something to say about when does life begin and that whole debate. It begins at conception. Life begins, sin is passed on to the new being then. You don't pass sin on to a brick, you pass it on to a living entity. So it is present there from our conception because we are descendants of Adam. We say, I don't think that's right. Well it doesn't really matter what you think, remember the verses we read? Who can overrule God? This is the way it is. It does explain our condition, our situation.

Turn over to Psalm 58:3, the wicked are estranged from the womb, those who speak lies go astray from birth. You see that's the situation. We are born sinners, we are sinners from birth because we are descendants of Adam.

Now as a follow through we have seen in our study of Romans, as a result of being sinners we can do nothing that is pleasing to God. Come over to Romans 3:12. He's talked about there is none righteous, none who understands, none who seeks for God. Verse 12, all have turned aside, together they have become useless, worthless, they can do nothing pleasing to God. We saw that over in Romans 8:7, the mind set on the flesh, and that is an unbeliever, a person who has not experienced God's salvation as we saw when we studied this section. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God. It is not even able. Not even able, from the Greek word we get the English words dynamo, dynamic, dynamite from. It has no power, no ability because that person is controlled by sin. So those who are in the flesh cannot please God, they have no ability to submit themselves to God in and of themselves. They cannot do what is pleasing to God. We live in the realm of sin. People like to think they are free, but he that sins is a slave of sin, Jesus said. And we are born sinner, from birth we are sinners. We go astray from the womb and we cannot live lives pleasing to God, we cannot be obedient to God. But we are accountable to God. We are sinners by birth and by choice.

And as we noted, no one is excluded from this. Back in Romans 3, those quotes from the Old Testament beginning in verse 10, none righteous, not even one. There are no exceptions. None who understands, none who seeks for God, all have turned aside. Together, all of them together, they have become useless. There is none who does good, not even one. Verse 18, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

Turn over to I John 1:8, if we say we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. There are people who think that they are not guilty before God. Well, you can only deceive yourself. I mean, God is always right. That means the truth is not in us because we don't believe what God has said. Verse 10, if we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar. That is serious—to declare that I have not sinned and don't need salvation is to declare that God is a liar because He says I have. His word is not in us gives a further indication that a person has not experienced the power of His salvation.

So we are sinners totally depraved. Sin infects every aspect of our being and we are unable to submit ourselves to God and unwilling to do it and so we can't please Him.

So this brings us to the next point—the “u,” unconditional election. Unconditional election means it is not conditioned upon anything. Election is to choose, make a choice; election refers to God's sovereign choice. We all believe in election if we believe the Bible, various forms of the word elect or election, the verb, the noun, the adjective. Used about fifty times in the New Testament. So it's how you believe in election. Unconditional means it is not conditioned. Arminians would hold that it is conditioned on God's foreknowledge. And they define foreknowledge as God looked ahead in the future and saw that you would believe in Jesus and so He chose you for Himself. That's conditional election, it's conditioned upon what He saw you would do, conditioned upon your choice.

We'll see when we get to chapter 9, so we're not going to deal with that, that that is not true. God says He did not look to see what we would do and did not make His choice on the basis of any action that we made. So we believe in an unconditional election that means that God sovereignly from among that totally depraved group of humanity sovereignly chose to draw some to His salvation. That is simply the doctrine of unconditional election. It is based upon total depravity. What the Bible says about our hopeless condition in sin leaves us unable and unwilling, and both are true, unable and unwilling to turn to God and seek for Him. We think, I know exceptions. Well, you can tell your stories but God will always be right. He says there is none that seeks for Me, no not one. If you think you have found one you have to come back to Romans 3, you don't want to try to say God is a liar. There is none who seeks for God, there is not even one. So in our depraved, sinful condition we are not seeking God, we are not interested in God. It will take the special intervention of God to soften our hearts, open our minds and turn us to salvation by faith in Christ. The does not remove human responsibility. God is totally sovereign and we are completely responsible. We'll talk more about that when we get into chapter 9 ff.

The third aspect that we are talking about is the “l”—limited atonement. I do not believe that this presents the truly biblical position. There is even a debate over whether Calvin held to limited atonement because of some of the things he wrote. I'm not going to get into that because it doesn't matter whether Calvin held to these points or someone else will use the title. It makes it simple to refer to things. But the doctrine of limited atonement. Limited atonement says that Christ only died for the elect, He did not die for the whole world, He did not die for everyone. He only died for those that God had chosen for Himself, that God was going save. So those who hold to limited atonement don't think you should tell people that Christ died for them because you don't know whether He did or not because you don't whether they are the elect. So when you present the gospel you say that Christ is a Savior and you must believe in Him. But you don't tell them that Christ died for them. I think the overwhelming evident of scripture and the natural, normal interpretation of scripture makes abundantly, overwhelmingly clear that there is an unlimited atonement. So we destroy the acrostic and you have to drag it out—we hold to TUUIP because we have two “u's.” We have unconditional election and we have unlimited atonement. We believe that Christ died with an unlimited provision. He provided salvation for all men and that salvation will only be applied to those who believe in Him. And the only ones who believe in Him will be the elect. But the provision is unlimited, the atonement is unlimited. But no one is saved by the death of Christ, the death of Christ does not save anyone. We were born dead in our trespasses and sins, we were alienated from God, hostile to God as Ephesians tells us, until the mercy of God took hold of us and we came to salvation in Christ.

Let me look at a number of verses with you, starting in John 6. And this is just a sampling. The way that strict Calvinists get around this is they redefine terms so they act like they are giving you a lesson in hermeneutics and grammar and I think they are just blowing smoke. Verse 51, I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats this bread he will live forever and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. I'll give My flesh, My body for the life of the world. Now again, they'll say, you have to redefine world. World is used six, seven, eight different ways in the New Testament so we want to be careful and let the context determine. I'll say more about that in a moment. But as you are reading this, He'll give His body for the life of the world, I would take it that means the world.

II Corinthians 5:19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. I mean, that's what is happening with the death of Christ on the cross. He is bearing the penalty for the sin of the world but nobody is saved by His dying there and bearing the penalty for the sins of the world. That's why Paul says, verse 18, God gave us the ministry of reconciliation; verse 20, we beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God because there is no benefit to you just in the fact that Christ died for the world, to reconcile the world. You must be reconciled by faith in Him.

Over to I Timothy 2:4, talks about God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He desires all men to be saved. And there is one God and one mediator between God and man. I mean, God desires all men to be saved. They won't be saved, all men won't be saved but that's man's responsibility. You say wait a minute, I thought you said God chose, and we'll talk about that. But it is not God's fault that man is a sinner. Man is held accountable for his sin. It is not God's fault and responsibility that man will not turn from his sin and place his faith in Christ. It is man's responsibility. We'll say more about that when we get into Romans 9. So He desires all men to be saved. I take it within that there would be the provision for all men.

Turn over to I Timothy 4:10, for it is for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. So He is the Savior of all men because the One in whom God was reconciling the world to Himself, making provision for the world. But He is especially the Savior of believers because believers are the ones who benefit from His death. And have the benefits of His death applied to them individually and personally.

Just an aside, that word especially. There has been some confusion on that because in 1979 a man did an article in a theological journal and said he had found a new meaning for the Greek word, malista, which is translated "especially" here, and we could translate it God is the Savior of all men, by this I mean believers. And that's been picked up in some commentaries by Greek writers—George Knight, I. Howard Marshall. And then picked up, but if you look at the footnotes they all trace it back to Skeet, that's the only source, that 1979 article. In 2002 there was an article in the same journal by Vern Poythress who showed that Skeet's research was flawed. There is no new meaning for especially, so the verse stands as it is.

He is the Savior of all men and especially He is the Savior of believers. Of course, He's the Savior of the world, but you know what? He's especially a Savior for me because I believed in Him. That's what His work on the cross for mankind is carried to the individual.

Titus 2:11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Now if you are going to hold to limited atonement you have to find out their reasoning why all only means all in some cases and not all in others; why world doesn't mean world. And really their predetermined theology is imported into the text.

Hebrews 2:9, but we do see Him who was made a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone, all. Taste death, partake of death for all is what he is talking about when he says taste. Partake of it for all, everyone. Now again what does limited atonement say? John Murray is a strong advocate for limited atonement, wrote a book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied. And he gives you a lesson on interpreting scripture by context. He says, you must see taste death for everyone here. Look at verses 10ff, who is He talking about? He is talking about people who are going to be saved and that will be His brethren. So He tasted death for everyone who is going to be His brethren. I appreciate his lesson that context determines meaning, but you note where the paragraph breaks. And originally they didn't have paragraph breaks, but even the present Greek testaments break the paragraph here as well as most of the commentators. The paragraph breaks between verses 9 and 10. So if you're going to talk about context where would you start? You would start with the paragraph, right? Verse 9 is part of the paragraph that begins in verse 5. Why do you skip? He has no comment at all on verses 5-8, but he is lecturing on the importance of the context. Well you put it into context, the paragraph it is part of. I have no problem at looking at verses 10ff, too.

And interesting, the word leading into this, even that word translated everyone in your Bible, it's the word all. Taste of death for all, for all men. Verse 8, you have put all, and there is our word. Neuter form, but it's the same Greek word for all. You have put all things in subjection under His feet, for in subjecting all, there is our word again, things to Him, He left nothing that is not subjected to Him. But we do not yet see all, there is our word again, things subjected to Him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels because of the suffering and death, crowned with glory and honor. So by the grace of God He might taste death for all. Do you want to limit all in verse 8? Check the context. When you have a predetermined theological position you change the context. I mean, the paragraph is the unit of thought and all are agreed the paragraph is verses 5-9, then look at verses 10ff. And how does that fit? So He tasted death, partook of death for everyone.

Over in Hebrews 10:29. You know what happens when a person refuses to believe in Jesus Christ, what God says they are doing. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God. Now note this, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace. God has had His Son die for your sin and when you refuse to believe in Him God says it is just like you trampled on His death and said, it is of no value to Me. I count it worthless. That's what the refusal to believe in Jesus Christ really is in the sight of God. I had My Son die for you and you regard it as unclean. The Jews could appreciate the impact of that. You trample it underfoot, something you want no part of. And you insult the Holy Spirit of God who would bring the grace of God's salvation to your heart and mind. Indicates clearly this is the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified. It made provision for them but they are refusing that provision.

Come over to I John 2:2, He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. Not for ours only but for those of the whole world. Now if you read those who hold limited atonement, they say well world here would be limited to just believers. Or world would be just believers but our sins would refer to Jews and the sins of the world would refer to non-Jews since John was a Jew. But there is no indication that I John is written to Jews, none. You could say that about Peter's epistles because he starts out saying that he is writing to the twelve tribes of the diaspora. You could say that about James because he is writing to the Jews of the diaspora. You could say that about the book of Hebrews because it is written to the Hebrews. But why do you say John is written to Jews? And to make that unique use of world, world is used a number of times in I John. Look at verse 15, do not love the world. There is our word, cosmos. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, there is our word, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away. Is the meaning of world there clear?

Come down to I John 3:1. What a privilege it is to be called the children of God. Verse 3, for this reason the world does not know us. Know what we're talking about with world? Down in verse 13, do not be surprised brethren if the world hates you. Verse 17, whoever has the world's goods. I John 4:1, do not believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Verse 3, the spirit of antichrist is already present in the world. Verse 4, greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world. They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world. The world listens to them. Verse 9, by this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world. Verse 14, we have seen and testify the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Oops, verse 14 is a different world. No it's not. Where do you get this? God sent His Son into the world, verse 9; verse 14, Savior of the world. There is no difference in the meaning of the word world.

Start in the first use of it in chapter 2 verse 2 and come through. The end of verse 17 it is used. You come to chapter 5 verse 4, whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is our victory that overcomes the world. Who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes in Christ. Then we close with verse 19, this is the last use of world. We know that we are born of God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Now come back to I John 2:2 which is the first use of world. We have looked at the ones in between. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for those of the whole world. Now come back to I John 5:19, we know that we are of God and that the whole world. Same three words, little different order, same three words. The whole world. What is the whole world in verse 19? Everyone outside of Christ. Only those who come to believe in Christ are rescued from the power of satan. So when I John 2:2 says He is the satisfaction for our sins, not for ours only but for the whole world, I take it the context of world is clear.

So we believe in unlimited atonement, Christ died for the sins of the world. But the death of Christ doesn't save anyone, you must believe in Him.

The last two points—irresistible grace, we've talked about this so we didn't leave time for it. It's the same as efficacious call. Irresistible grace is the grace of God which is irresistible that draws you to faith in Christ. It is the same as what we call the efficacious, the effective call of God. We noted that in Romans 1:6-7 and others where God calls us, Romans 8, that always results in salvation. So that's irresistible grace, the effectual call of God.

The last point—perseverance of the saints. It is sometimes called eternal security. We saw that at the end of Romans 8, nothing can separate us from the love of God—height, depth, angels, men, anything anywhere you go, any creature. Nothing can separate us. That's the perseverance of the saints, eternal security. The saints will persevere, they will endure. Some prefer perseverance rather than eternal security because it denotes the active involvement of the saints in faithfully persevering and enduring, which God is doing in the lives of His children according to Romans 5, for example, producing endurance.

So just an overview of what we are talking about. Our total depravity, we are totally corrupted by sin in every part of our being. It will take the unconditional, sovereign choice of God as unconditional election to draw us to Christ. And He has provided a universal atonement but it will only be to the benefit of those who believe in Him. And they will experience God's irresistible grace as He effectively calls them, and they will endure and are assured of ultimate salvation.

With that little bit of framework we're ready, we're going to launch into Romans 9. We're going to talk about God's plan of salvation and how that impacts what He said was His sovereign choice of the nation Israel. And now we find Gentiles being in the dominant place of God's work of salvation. Has Israel been rejected? And how God's sovereignty in salvation assures the ultimate salvation of the nation.

Let's pray together. We thank you, Lord, that you are the sovereign God, that you rule over all. That's our confidence, that's our security. This world is not out of control, it's not in confusion from your perspective. But all things are being accomplished according to your perfect plan. We thank you for your plan of salvation, that you have intervened in this sin cursed world, you have provided a salvation through the giving of your Son that enables the call of the gospel to be given out, for men and women to have hope. They can turn from their sin and place their faith in the Savior who loved them and died for them and experience the power of your forgiveness, your cleansing, know what it is to be made new, to be set free to live lives of obedience to you. Lord, I pray for any who are here who do not know the wonder and power of your salvation, that they will consider again today the wonder of your love, your grace in providing your Son to take their place, to die on the cross so that they through simple faith in Him can be forgiven and made new. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.