A High View of God - Part 2

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Before we begin that study, we're examining the two non-negotiable distinctives of Countryside Bible Church. They're on the wall out in the lobby, a high view of God and a high view of Scripture. They're there because as elders, we want you both to understand and embrace those distinctives.

Now last time, we started by considering a high view of God. And I told you that when we use that expression, a high view of God, we intend for that phrase to summarize three biblical truths about God. A high view of God means that in our teaching and in our practice, we want as a church both to believe and to emphasize, number one, that God alone is great in His person, and therefore ought to be treated as such. We ought to love Him, we ought to fear Him. He's not to be taken lightly. 

Secondly, when we say we have a high view of God, we discovered last week that we also mean that God alone is sovereign over all things. There's not a stray molecule in His universe. Today, I want us to learn together that a high view of God means, thirdly, that we believe and stress in our teaching and in our practice that God alone is sovereign in our salvation. God alone is sovereign in our salvation.

Now, if you've been in our church any time at all, you may have heard me use the description that most professing Christians think about salvation. Ask the average Christian to sort of describe salvation, and what you'll be left with is something like this. They picture the sinner as if he has accidentally fallen overboard, and he finds himself treading water in a huge ocean in the middle of a raging storm. And the sinner's only hope is that God will throw him a life preserver. And that's exactly what God does in the gospel. He throws the life preserver from the ship, and the sinner then, seeing the life preserver, recognizing his hope, desiring that hope and that rescue, claws his way through the ocean to that life preserver, locks his arms around it, and then God hauls him to safety.

That's the picture most people have of salvation. But the truth of man's salvation, biblically, is far different. You see, biblically, the sinner is not floundering in an ocean of sin because of an accident. Rather, it's because of his or her rebellion against God, that sinner has literally jumped off the ship, to continue the analogy, because he doesn't want God to rule his life. In fact, Scripture goes so far as to say, that person floating in the water, that sinner is dead, absolutely lifeless. He can't see his rescuer. He can't fight his way to the life preserver. He can't lock his arms around the truth. Instead, he is sinking hopelessly without the slightest ability to aid in his rescue. In fact, the truth is, he doesn't even know that he needs rescue. That's what we were like when God found us.

That's why Scripture teaches that salvation must be the work of God from beginning to end. We were unaware of our need to be rescued. We were uninterested in being rescued. We were perfectly happy with our lives and our sin. And we were unable to contribute at all to that rescue. Now last time, we saw that God is sovereign over all things.

Today, we come to the related truth that God alone is sovereign in our salvation. We read it in Ephesians 1 verse 11 just a moment ago. Our salvation is according to God's purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.

Paul puts it even more personally and specifically in 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works,”—but He saved us—“according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” When I say that God is sovereign in salvation, when we say that as a church, we mean that God rules over the spiritual rescue of every sinner, fulfilling His own divine sovereign will and purpose in every life.

Now, why is this truth important? This idea that God is sovereign in salvation. In fact, why is it necessary? And the answer to that is because left to ourselves, not a single one of us would or could ever come to Jesus Christ. If you doubt that, look at Ephesians chapter 2. We are by nature dead to God, dead in our sin. We are enslaved to lust. We are enslaved to Satan and his false ideologies. We're enslaved to the spirit of the age. All that in the first three verses of Ephesians 2. We are children of wrath. Later in chapter 2 verse 12, we learn that we are separate from Christ, having no hope and without God in the world. And if that weren't enough, in Romans chapter 5 verse 6, Paul says that before we come to Christ, we are spiritually helpless. That's the word he uses. Helpless. So, God has to act. 

Now, unbelievers find this truth that God is sovereign in salvation totally offensive. If you find this totally offensive this morning, it may be because you don't know the Lord. Unbelievers find it offensive. Spurgeon put it this way. He said, “No doctrine is more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah.” And in context, he's talking about His sovereignty in salvation. Spurgeon goes on, “Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne.”

But let's be honest, many Christians also struggle to understand and embrace this truth. And I understand that, there was a time when I did as well. Perhaps you're here this morning and you really struggle with this.

Well, let me encourage you to ask the most important question. It's the question we ask a lot around here, and that is, what does the Bible say? Doesn't matter what I think, doesn't matter what you think, doesn't matter what you think is fair of God. The question is, what does the Bible say? And that's what we want to consider this morning. 

Scripture makes several clear declarations about God's sovereignty in our salvation. Let's look at them together. Six declarations. First, Scripture teaches that God planned our salvation in eternity past. God planned our salvation in eternity past. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 again. We just read it together in our Scripture reading.

But here in Ephesians 1, we learned that if you are a Christian, your spiritual biography actually began in eternity past. And it began with a divine choice called sovereign election. Look at verse 4. “He,” that pronoun, has an antecedent. The antecedent is in verse 3: “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, we're talking here in verse 4 about something the Father has done. The Father “chose.” The Greek word translated “chose” here according to the leading Greek lexicon means this: “to pick,” “to single out from a group,” “to select,” or “to choose.” In fact, this word occurs 22 times in the New Testament. Eight of those times, it refers to Christ choosing His apostles out from the rest of His disciples.

And about seven times, this word “choose “is used of salvation. Paul puts it very bluntly using this word in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13: “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation.” The related noun to the verb “chosen” is “elect.” “Elect,” you find that about 17 times in the New Testament. It's used of those that God has chosen for salvation. Christ talks about the elect. You know, if the tribulation wasn't shortened, then the elect might be lost. He means the chosen ones. That's all it means. The elect are the ones God chose, the chosen ones. 

Now, verse 4 goes on. The Father chose us. By us, Paul meant obviously himself. He meant the Ephesian Christians, and he means all believers by extension. God has chosen all believers. You see, left to ourselves, we would never have sought God. We would never have chosen God. What does Romans 3:11 say? “There is none who seeks for God.” None, not one.

You say, wait a minute, Tom, what about all those people in false religion? Aren't they seeking God? Read Romans 1. The answer is no. They're running from God. They don't want the true God who's revealed Himself in creation. They want a God of their own making. So, none would seek God and does seek God. You see, if God hadn't chosen us, we would never have chosen Him, but He chose us.

What an overwhelming thought. God, the eternal God of creation, the God of eternity chose to love us and to save us. Verse 4 goes on, the father chose us in Him. How can God choose sinners and rebels to be His children and still be just? It's because He first appointed Christ as our legal representative. Just as in the garden, He appointed Adam to stand in your place and represent you and me, and we get the fruit of what Adam chose.

In the same way, he appointed Christ to be our legal representative. And Christ lived the life we were supposed to have lived, the life of obedience, and then He died in our place as the perfect substitute. You see, election is only possible because God saw us as in Christ.

Look at verse 4 again. The Father chose us “in Him before the foundation of the world.” Before He created anything. In other words, it was in eternity past. And the point of that phrase is to tell us that God's choice was unconditional. That is, His choice to save you, Christian, was not based on anything in you. It wasn't conditioned on you. It was solely His sovereign pleasure. Second Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, Paul writes, “God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works” It wasn't based on our works. So, what was it based on? “According to His own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

But the passage in the New Testament that most clearly drives home this truth, that God's choice to save us was not based on anything in us, it was unconditional, is Romans chapter 9. If you struggle with this issue, read Romans 9, go back and listen to the messages I did as I preached through the book of Romans and get a feel for what Paul is saying in Romans 9. But here's the question, this is the question he raises. Why did God choose Jacob to save Jacob and not Esau? Why? Well, you say it's because Jacob was such a wonderful guy. Read the scripture. No, listen to what Paul says. Romans 9:15, here's why God chose Jacob and not Esau, and here's why He chose you and not somebody else. God says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” You know what that is? That is a declaration of unfettered sovereignty. God says, I choose because I choose. It's My right to choose.

And Paul gives this commentary in verse 16: “So then [election] does not depend on the man who wills.” It's not your decision. “Or does it depend on the man who runs.” It's not your efforts. Election depends, Paul says, “on God who has mercy.” He determines. Think about that for a moment. If you're a believer here this morning, in eternity past, God chose you. And that choice had nothing to do with you. It had solely to do with His amazing grace. 

Now, an obvious question that arises from election is, why did He choose us? To what end? Well, Paul identifies three goals that God had in choosing us. The first one is in verse four, is holiness. He saved us, or rather he chose us, verse four, that we would be holy and blameless, holiness.

Second reason He chose us, goal He had, was adoption, verse five. In love, having “predestined us to adoption,”—having predetermined our destiny. And what was that destiny? Adoption. And the third reason is in verse six, His own glory, “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved.” Folks, God sovereignly planned our salvation in eternity past.

But Scripture gives a second declaration about God's sovereignty in this, and it's this, God purchased our salvation at the cross. God purchased our salvation at the cross. Stay here in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 4-6 occurred in eternity past, the Father's choice. But verse 7 occurs in human history, specifically at the cross. These verses document the benefits that are ours because of Christ's role in the plan of redemption. Verses 4-6, the Father's role, verses 7-12, the Son's role.

And notice what He accomplished, verse 7: “In Him,”—that is in Christ—"we have redemption.” Because of Christ, whom God appointed as our legal representative, literally, the Greek text says, “we are having redemption.” It's our current and ongoing possession. Redemption is one of those words that if you don't know, you need to know. It's at the very heart of what you enjoy as a believer. Redemption is, this is the definition, “the rescue of someone through the payment of a ransom.” The rescue of someone through the payment of a ransom. In secular Greek, this word was used of paying a ransom for criminals, or paying a ransom for prisoners of war, or paying a ransom for slaves.

Before Christ saved us, we were prisoners, enslaved to our own sin, enslaved to our father, the devil. But God accomplished our rescue by paying a ransom. Paul takes us deeper into this concept in three qualifiers that follow. First of all, he identifies the inconceivable price that was paid for our ransom. Verse seven, “In him we have redemption,”—notice this—"through His blood.” This is the ransom. This is the means, the price of our redemption. And of course, through his blood, that simple phrase is filled with the richness of the Old Testament sacrificial system. 

At the heart of the Old Testament sacrifices was always the principle of substitution. An innocent animal had to die in the place of the guilty sinner so God could forgive. In fact, that whole system reeked of this principle of substitution. I've shared this before, but if you were an Old Testament believer and you had sinned and you wanted to give a sin offering or a guilt offering, you brought an innocent lamb or an innocent animal, whatever was prescribed, to the temple or the tabernacle, and you came up to the court of the priest. You couldn't go in there where the altar was, but you came up to the court of the priest, and a priest walked over to you, and before anything happened, you took your hands and put them on the head of that animal, and you confessed your sin. You transferred, as it were, your sins to that innocent victim. And then, and this shocks most of our sensibilities, the priest handed you the knife, and you slit the throat of that animal, and you watched its blood poured out. You knew that that animal died as your substitute. You deserved that. The innocent animal got it.

That's exactly what Christ accomplished. You see, an animal could never adequately substitute for us as human beings. Hebrews 10:4: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” So, Christ had to come and pour out His blood, that is His life, in violent death, in our place as the substitute for all who would believe in Him. Folks, His life was the ransom that was paid for your redemption, to buy you back from prison house of slavery to sin, and from God's wrath that's coming against all who are not His. Christ's death was the price of our redemption. 

There's a second qualifier, and that is the incredible result, the incredible result of our redemption. And notice “In Him, we have redemption through His blood,”—there's the means, but here's the result—"the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

Now we don't use that word trespass very often, except when we sort of go on to property that isn't ours. But the Greek word “trespass” is “a conscious and deliberate false step, leaving the boundaries that we know God has prescribed, deliberately, consciously.” That's trespass, it's our sins. And notice it's plural, trespasses. You see, God in His forgiveness extends forgiveness that includes all of our individual acts of rebellion against Him. Think about it like this, Christian, if Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord, for every sinful thought and attitude you have ever displayed, for every sinful word you have ever spoken, for every wicked action you have ever committed, and by the way, that is past, present, and future, verse 7 says literally, “we are having forgiveness.” It is our current and ongoing possession. We have forgiveness now and forever. You see, forgiveness means that God forgives or removes the legal guilt of your sin before Him. It's as if you didn't commit those crimes. It's as if you didn't commit those trespasses. You didn't think those thoughts. You didn't say those words. You didn't commit those acts. That's forgiving the legal guilt, but He's also extinguished the legal penalty for those sins. You'll never face the penalty for your sins. That's forgiveness. Christian, in an irreversible decision, at the moment of salvation, God pardoned you forever.

And we enjoy Christ's redemption and the resulting forgiveness in an inexhaustible supply. Look at how he goes on in verse 7: Paul adds, “according to the riches of His grace.” You see, the spring from which both redemption and forgiveness flow is the grace of God. There is a perfection in our God that finds joy and delight in doing good to those who deserve exactly the opposite. And that's where your redemption came from. That's where your forgiveness came from. Through His Son, God sovereignly purchased our salvation at the cross, and you had not nothing to do with it. 

There's a third biblical declaration, and that is God initiated our salvation with His call. God initiated our salvation with His call. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Look at verses 13 and 14, “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord.” Here’s election, “because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation.” Here’s our salvation. “through sanctification by the Spirit,”—that is, that salvation came through the Spirit setting us apart to God and at the same time, we had faith in the truth, we believed the truth. Verse 14, “It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, notice what he says in verse 14: The Father “called you through our gospel.” You see, if you're a Christian today, it is not because of your initiative, but God's. God chose you in eternity past, and He called you in time through the gospel to His Son.

In the New Testament, there are two different kinds of calls. First of all, there's what theologians call the general call. You see this illustrated in Matthew 22, verse 14. In the parable of the wedding feast, you remember the king throws a wedding feast, and he invites all these people to come. And what happens? They don't. They refuse. They ignore the invitation. Sometimes out of apathy, sometimes out of antipathy and antagonism, but they refuse to come. And Jesus concludes that parable with these words, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” You see what Jesus is saying? He's saying every time someone hears the gospel, every time someone's invited to the banquet, God extends a general call, a general invitation to believe the good news, a sincere, genuine invitation, come. That's the general call. That's the heart of God. 

But there's also, secondly, the effectual call. This is when God reaches out in grace and powerfully, irresistibly brings a person into the kingdom of His son. This is what Christians have believed. Let me give you a quote from the Westminster Confession of Faith, and it's paralleled in the Baptist, the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. Listen to what they write: “Those whom God has predestinated to life, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time to effectually call by His word and His Spirit out of that state of sin and death, which they are in by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ.” You see, how does God call? Well, he goes on to say this: 

He enlightens their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God. He takes away their heart of stone, gives them a heart of flesh. He renews their wills and by His almighty power, causes them to desire and pursue that which is good. He effectually draws them to Jesus Christ, yet in such a way that they come absolutely freely, being made willing by His grace. 

That’s exactly what the Scripture teaches. Let me show you two examples. Let's turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, verse 28: “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called,”—this is the effectual call—"according to His purpose.” And then Paul explains, “For those whom God foreknew,”—that is those whom God determined to have a relationship with, a pre-determined relationship—"to them He also predestined them,”—that is He predetermined their destiny—"to become conformed to the image of His son so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” Now watch how He explains it, verse 30: “And these whom He predestined, He also called,”—there's the effectual call, He called to Himself. “And these whom He called, He also justified, and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Do you see the unbreakable chain?

The point is, everyone that God effectually calls will be justified and will eventually be glorified. This is different than a general invitation. Turn to John chapter 6, verse 44. John 6, verse 44. Jesus said this, “No one,”—no exceptions—"no one can.” The Greek word is dunamai. It means “to have the power,” “to have the ability.” No one has the power to come to Me for salvation in context, unless, here's the one exception, “the Father who sent Me draws him.” The Greek word for “draw” means “to move” or “compel by force.” Jesus' meaning here is clear. No human being has the power in him or herself to approach Jesus for salvation unless the Father draws them. The Father must irresistibly compel us to come.

Now, don't misunderstand. This doesn't mean God drags us to Christ kicking and screaming against our will. No, it means that He makes us willing to come by opening our eyes to see our sin, to see the beauty of Christ, the beauty of the gospel. You see, normally, when unbelievers hear the gospel, you've heard it just a moment ago as I explained the work of Christ. Normally, when unbelievers hear the gospel, they just dismiss it. It's not important. But with one God has chosen, there comes a time when he or she listens to the gospel and something miraculous happens. Here's how Raymond describes it in his systematic theology. “Mysteriously, imperceptibly, he no longer hears simply the voice of the preacher. Instead, what he now hears is also the voice of God, summoning him into fellowship with His Son, and he responds to Christ in faith. What happened? The Scriptures would say that God had effectually called an elect sinner to Himself. 

Until I was 17 years old, I was in church almost every week. My dad was a music director in several different churches, and I heard the gospel literally countless times, and no response, nothing that was life changing. But in February of 1978, something different happened. The little country church, my dad was helping and leading the music, sponsored a Bible conference. And the speaker at that conference did something that was unusual, at least in the churches I grew up in. He read the text and explained the text in its context.

His sermon was about heaven from Revelation 21 and 22. And as he read the verses there about the kind of people who won’t be in heaven, I saw myself in those words. I saw myself in the lists. And for the first time in my life, I really understood that I would not be, I could not be in heaven with God. The truth that I heard came crashing in upon my soul, and the seeds of truth that had been sown in my heart for years produced a harvest that night. What happened? What really happened was that through the gospel that night, the Father called me. He drew me powerfully to Himself. He opened my eyes to see my sin, to see the beauty of Christ in the gospel, and I responded.

And if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, it's because there was a day in your life when the same thing happened to you. God is sovereign in salvation. He initiated your salvation through His effectual call.

A fourth declaration is that God accomplished our salvation through regeneration. God accomplished our salvation through regeneration. Back in Ephesians chapter 2, go back to the book of Ephesians and look at chapter 2. Paul makes it clear that God's sovereign act alone accomplished our salvation. We know verse 8, right? By grace you have been saved through faith and that—either faith or faith and the rest of salvation—“is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.” 

But verse 8 is part of one long Greek sentence. That sentence begins in verse 1, runs all the way down through verse 10. In verses 1 to 3, it's about us and our past, what we were. We were the ones acting and every time we acted, we forged another link in our chains. But beginning with verse 4, God steps in. Verse 4 and the first half of verse 5 describe the catalyst that moved God to act. And then the middle of verse 5 through verse 6 describe what God did.

The subject of this long 10-verse sentence is in verse 4, “But God.” And then the following verbs in verses 5 and 6 tell us what God did. But just look at the first verb. This is the most important one, verse 5, “But God, even when we were dead in our transgressions, God made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved.” You see, we were spiritually dead, verse 1, but by a miracle of grace, “God made us alive.” Theologians call this miracle of new life regeneration. God gave us spiritual life in an instantaneous act. One moment we were spiritually dead, and the next moment we were alive to God. 

Scripture gives three illustrations of regeneration. The first one is here in Ephesians 2, it's resurrection. You were dead, and God raised you to life. The second illustration is in 2 Corinthians 5:17. It's creation. “If anyone is in Christ,” he is a what? “New creation.” It's like God made you all over again spiritually, that's regeneration.

And in John chapter 3, Christ describes it as the new birth, being born again or born from above. Now look at those three illustrations, resurrection, creation, and birth. Do you see what they all have in common? The person acted upon contributes nothing in any of those three cases, and that's the point. In regeneration, God alone acts, and He gave us a new mind that can understand the things of God, a new heart that can love God, a new will that longs to obey God. It's Ezekiel 36: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idols, and I will put My Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in My ways.” That's regeneration. And how does God do that? God accomplished our regeneration through His word. First Peter chapter 1, verse 23: “You have been born again . . . through the living and enduring word of God.” 

You say, where does faith and repentance come in to all this? Well, with that new life that God gives you, when He makes you alive, He gives you the gift of faith to believe in Christ. Ephesians 2:8 and 9, we just saw it a moment ago. Faith is a gift. Nothing you earn. God gave you faith as a gift, and you believed in Christ. And He gives us repentance. Acts 11:18, God grants repentance. So, God is sovereign in salvation. He accomplished our salvation through regeneration.

A fifth declaration is that God is working out our salvation throughout this life. God is working out our salvation throughout this life. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, verse 12: “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Verse 12, familiarly, tells us to work out our own salvation. In other words, work at your continuing sanctification. 

The Old Testament uses this expression, “work out” in the Septuagint, as “cultivating a field.” It's like cultivating your spiritual life. Be working out your own salvation. But notice the link with verse 13, “for,” because, here's why you're to cultivate your own sanctification, because God is at work in us. You see, the knowledge that God is at work in us to make us like His Son serves as the great incentive for us to work.

And in verse 13, notice Paul tells us that God is at work in us to produce two results. You need to understand this, Christian. First of all, God is at work in you to will. To will. You see, from the moment of your salvation, God has been working on your will. How does he do that? He does something amazing and gracious. He doesn't force you. He doesn't compel you in that sense. He persuades your will by changing your desires. And how does he change your desires? Through the work of the Spirit and the Word in your life. He changes your desires. Lloyd-Jones puts it like this, “Every good desire, every Christian thought and aspiration which I have is something which has been produced in me by God. God controls my willing. It is God who energizes my very desires and hopes and aspirations and thoughts. He stimulates it all.” It's absolutely right. It is God at work in you to will. 

And secondly, notice God is at work in you to work. God enables us to follow through on the decisions that we make with our wills. He mightily empowers our doing. Every time you desire spiritual things, it's a work of God. And every time you decide to act on those desires, that too is a work of God. And what he's saying here is every time you actually do what you desire and have determined to do, it too is a work of God. God is at work in you both to will and to work. God is sovereign in your salvation.

He's working out our salvation and sanctification throughout this life. That brings us to one final declaration. God will complete our salvation in the future. God will complete our salvation in the future. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, “I am confident,” Paul says, “of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you,”—that's the Father—"will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.” God began the work, He's doing the work now, and He will bring it to perfection. Jude 24 says, God is able “to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” So, you can see from those six biblical declarations that God alone is sovereign in our salvation, from beginning to very end.

So, how should we apply this truth? What difference should the sovereignty of God in salvation make in our lives? Let me give you a couple of thoughts. First of all, if you're here this morning and you're not a believer, it should reduce you to a beggar before God. You see, there's nothing you can do. You can't make yourself acceptable with God. You can't earn your way into His favor. You're dead. You have no relationship with God. He has to make you alive. And so it brings you to the place of a beggar. That's why Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount by saying in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”—the beggars in spirit—"for to them belongs the kingdom of heaven.” That's how you get in. You get in as a beggar. You throw yourself on the mercy of God. You say, God, I have nothing You want. I have nothing to change Your mind about me. All I can do is plead for Your mercy.  

It's like the tax collector in Jesus' parable in Luke 18:13. The tax collector standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven. What was beating his chest, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That's how you have to come to God. Just like that. And Jesus said that man left that place and that prayer justified. You see, you have to come to God like a beggar, but you have to come hoping in His promise, Romans 10:13, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” That's the kind of God you go to as a beggar.

Secondly, for believers, the knowledge of God's sovereignty and salvation should demand our humility, our gratitude, and our praise. I love 1 Corinthians 1, verses 30 and 31. Paul writes, by God's “doing you are in Christ Jesus.” And then he says, “so that, just as it is written, ‘let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” By His doing, you are in Christ Jesus. So, boast in God, not in yourself. Be humbled by this reality. Turn it into gratitude and praise. Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.” That is the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 

Thirdly, your knowledge of God's sovereignty should encourage our evangelism and evangelistic praying. You see, most people think, Tom, you know, if you tell everybody God is sovereign in salvation, then Christians aren't going to share the gospel. The truth is, the greatest missionaries in the history of the church believed what I've taught you this morning, and they went believing that. In fact, listen to the apostle Paul. This is Christ speaking to Paul in Acts 18:10. Christ says to Paul, “I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you.” And then Jesus says, “for I have many people in the city.” He was saying, I have people that the Father has chosen, that He's given to Me in eternity past, who haven't yet been saved, stay here, preach the gospel.

I have many people in this city. That ought to motivate your evangelism. You share the gospel with someone, and you say to yourself, this may be one.  This may be one God has chosen. And he may use me as an instrument in bringing the gospel in the life of that person. Second Timothy 2:10, “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.” Paul says, listen, you want to know why I'm willing to suffer in my ministry? I endure all of that for those whom God has chosen, so that they can obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. That's what drove his evangelistic ministry, and it's what should drive our evangelism.

And knowing God is sovereign in salvation also encourages us to pray for God to save the people in our lives. In fact, let me put it to you this bluntly. The moment you get on your knees to ask God to save someone in your life, you believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation. Otherwise, why would you pray? Why would you ask God to intervene? You pray because you know God is sovereign in salvation. And this truth should drive us to pray more for the people in our lives. God, open their eyes. Open their eyes. Draw them to Yourself. Give them life. So, when you see or hear the phrase around here, a high view of God, it should remind you that we embrace three great biblical truths about God.

God alone is great in His being and should be treated as such. God alone is sovereign in all things. There's not a stray molecule in his universe. And thirdly, God alone is sovereign in our salvation. 

Let's pray together. Father, we are overwhelmed by Your grace. Lord, we confess that we didn't seek You. We wouldn't have sought You. But in an amazing, astounding act of grace, You set Your love upon us in eternity past. You sent Your Son to die on the cross. You called us to Yourself. You gave us new life through the word and regeneration. You're working in us now, and You'll bring it all to fruition in Your eternal presence. What a Savior. Father, we thank You and praise You.

Help us to respond in gratitude and praise and humility. And may we be the instruments You use to draw others through the Gospel to Yourself. Lord, I pray for those here this morning who don't know You. Help them to see that all they can do is come like the tax collector in Jesus' wonderful story, beating their chest and saying, God, for the sake of Jesus Christ Your Son, His life, His death, His resurrection, be merciful to me. And thank You, O God, that You're a God who hears such a prayer. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.