Well, good morning we're going to look again today at Calvin's treatment of predestination less than 17 spending two classes on this for a number of reasons one is it is important. Another is that people often misunderstand exactly what Calvin is teaching when he discusses the election and reparation in his theology and so I think we need to carefully go through it and spend a little more time with it. We've already looked at some important matters. One, the location of the doctrine in the institutes, I don't think I can really stress that enough because the location is important to Calvin. I was just listening to a take lecture given in Scotland over the last few days on Calvin's institutes and the lecturer said that Calvin's location doesn't really matter but I think that's quite wrong because Calvin tells us that he is very concerned about where doctrines appear in the institutes and that he was not satisfied until 1559 with the order or arrangement of the institutes. So I believe that Calvin very consciously and carefully positions the doctrine of predestination in book three where it can express the teaching that he would like for it to express and that is to answer the question, where does my faith come from? So we looked at the location, we looked at the function and looked at the description beginning with definitions. We looked at Calvin's definition of election, God is the author, the election is eternal and even though there is a general election that extends to the people of Israel there is also a specific individual election that relates to every person election and reprobation and reprobation Calvin says God is the author of that decree and that also is eternal and that also extends to individuals so that's where we are. We'll pick it up there at point B, the cause and ground of election and reprobation. And as we begin to think about this again, let's look to the Lord in prayer, praying the same prayer that I used at the beginning of the last lecture, let's pray. Grant Almighty God that as thou has been pleased to adopt us once for all as thy people for this in, that we may be engrafted as it were into the body of thy son and so be made conformable to our head, O grant, that through our whole life we may strive to seal in our hearts the faith of our election, that we may be the more stimulated to render the true obedience and that thy glory may also be made known through us. And those others also whom thou has chosen together with us may we labor to bring with us, that we may with one accord celebrate the as the author of our salvation and so ascribe to thee the glory of thy goodness and having cast away and renounced all confidence in our own virtue. We may be led to Christ only as the fountain of thy election in whom also is set before us the certainty of our salvation through thy gospel until we shall at length be gathered with him into that eternal glory which he has procured for us by his own blood. Amen. It's pretty remarkable that Calvin summarizes just about everything he has to say about election in that prayer. And Calvin's prayers are pretty weighty prayers theologically but there are also prayers of great devotion to God. Well calls in ground we've seen what election is the definition we've seen the definition of reprobation of what is the cause and the ground of election first and then we'll come to reprobation. Calvin makes it clear that God's decree doesn't rest on good works or good works. He says that some people believe that predestination is equivalent to four knowledge in the definition of four knowledge simply being that God sees beforehand what is going to take place. And so God sees that people will be good some will and he elects them on the ground of their good works but Calvin of course rejects that God's decree. This is made before the foundation of the world and consequently before the existence of people who could if they could produce good works that he could foresee the way Calvin states this is an a question in 322 to what basis for distinction is there among those who did not yet exist. So God chooses but he doesn't choose on the basis of forcing good works because there is nothing to see because these individuals don't yet exist. So God's election doesn't rest on good works because there aren't any nor does it rest on forcing good works because there were really no good works to be forcing the grace of God does not find but makes persons fit to be chosen. 3228 so it's not good works God doesn't see any it's not forcing good works because there won't be any in sinful individuals. So we come down Calvin says to what the Bible teaches about election and that is that it is based its cause and ground is God's good pleasure. He says that over and over again he compacted with himself or the intrinsic cause of this is in himself 3227. The phrase after phrase you could probably find 100 phrases like this in these chapters that we have read that tell us that the single cause and ground of God's election is found in himself in his own good pleasure his own will his own decision. Let's take it over to reparation what is the cause and ground of reparation God's decree doesn't rest on sinful works now we'll see that sinful works is the cause of condemnation but not the cause of reparation. It doesn't rest on sinful works it doesn't rest on forcing sinful works of individuals and Calvin here illustrates this with the passage in Romans 9 where Paul is discussing Jacob and Esau and the passage from the scripture. The scripture just as it is written in the Old Testament Jacob I love but Esau I hated and Calvin asked this Paul does why why is that it would it would be easy you would think to defend God's righteousness by saying that God recompenses Esau according to his works. He was going to be a person of unrighteousness and disobedience and so the reason you might think that God would hate Esau was because Esau hated God but as Paul points out in his Calvin points out that's not the solution that is given but Paul says that the reparate or raised up in order that the glory of God may be thereby displayed consequently reparation doesn't rest in sinful works or foreseen sinful works these are not the causing ground but the ultimate cause is that the glory of God might be thereby displayed.
3 22 11 Calvin puts it this way when it is said that God hardens or shows mercy to whom he wills men are worn by this to seek no cause outside his will so God hardens reparation God shows mercy election we are worn to seek no cause outside his will. But there's something here that we need to notice because it's important and it doesn't it doesn't parallel precisely what we have on the side of election and that is there's both an ultimate cause and approximate cause for reparation. There's an ultimate cause for election and there's no approximate cause the ultimate cause is God's good pleasure but when we think about reparation we have to think about an ultimate cause which is God's good pleasure. But also approximate cause Calvin calls it an evident cause an evident cause which is man's sin man's sin as I said it's not the cause of reparation as such we can see that is God's good pleasure. Although we remember that it Calvin says it was an awesome decree and that one that is beyond our grasp but we should remember that the approximate cause which is man's sin cause not of reparation as such but of condemnation. God's good pleasure is the cause and ground of reparation man's sin is the cause and ground of condemnation which means that it is in man's sin that we find guilt and blame and condemnation. God condemns people because of their sin 3, 23, 8 Calvin says man falls according as God's providence ordains that would be the ultimate cause God's good pleasure but he falls by his own fault and that is the approximate cause is sin. You see a kind of disjunction here when we think of election it's God's good pleasure and that's all we can say. We can't say that our righteousness or our good works or a kind of approximate cause they're not but when we come to reparation the reparate or condemn because of their own sin and because of their own rebellion against God. Accordingly Calvin says this is still in 3, 23, 8 accordingly we should contemplate the evident cause of condemnation in the corrupt nature of humanity which is closer to us rather than seek a hidden and utterly comprehensible cause in God's predestination. I think it was a very important sentence so let me read it again 3, 23, 8 we should contemplate the evident cause of condemnation in the corrupt nature of humanity which is closer to us rather than seek a hidden and utterly incomprehensible cause in God's predestination. Let me emphasize that further by using chart as we think about salvation the salvation of the saved we can put ourselves here we're looking at salvation of ourselves or other people. What we see is God's predestination, God's grace it's the same thing if you believe in grace or feel sad if you really believe in grace you believe in predestination. So what we see is we think about salvation is simply God's grace express to us in Christ but when we come to view the condemnation of the lost we see human sinfulness and we also see God's predestination. This is how Calvin puts it in that same sentence 3, 23, 8 we should contemplate the evident cause of condemnation in the corrupt nature of humanity in human sinfulness which is closer to us, closer to us than seek a hidden and utterly incomprehensible cause in God's predestination. It's not that Calvin is saying this utterly hidden and incomprehensible cause does not exist it is the ultimate cause that the evident cause the cause that is closer to us is human sinfulness. So we can say people go to heaven because of God's predestination we can say people go to hell because of their sin and we see even beyond that we see that utterly hidden and incomprehensible cause at least we know it's there although Calvin says we have the evident cause which is closer to us and that really is sufficient. So the Christian as a Christian we look to God's election not to anything in ourselves but when we think of the condemnation of the lost we look to their sins rather than to God's decree. I think that is being true to Calvin to put it that way the same time there is the decree of reprobation but it's inaccessible what is accessible to us is the fact that people go to hell because of their sin because of their rejection of God. And is truth. Questions on that or comments on that? Yes. Yes he does believe that God ordained the fall and he does say it outright in a number of places. But he also says that human beings are guilty of the fall and not only Adam and Eve but all their descendants are guilty and joining with them in their rebellion against God. So it's not that he denies that ultimate decree but he in a sense says secret things belong to the Lord. What is is clear to us is that people sin because of their rebellion against God it's their own fault and that is the cause of their condemnation. And it's the same time insisting that the ultimate cause is God's decree of reprobation. I'm going to come back to that a little bit later because we want to see how reprobation relates to election further but before we do that let's go on with the definition here. The means of election or of salvation and the means of reprobation before I do that let me just stress again a bit what I have just said some more notes here that I had not seen it first but say it this way. So God stands in a direct relation to the elect God adopts some to hope of life so God stands in a direct relation to the elect God adopts some to hope of life at 3.25 and God stands in a direct relation to the reprobate 3.25 goes on to say and sentences. Others to eternal death 3.25 God adopts some to hope of life and sentences others to eternal death so God stands in a direct relation to both the elect and the reprobate but God also stands in an indirect and accidental relation to the reprobate. This is not from the institute but from his commentary on John 3.17 when Christ says that he has come for judgment when he is called a stone of stumbling when he is said to be sat for the falling of many it may be regarded as accidental or so to say foreign for those who reject the grace of God. He reject the grace offered in him deserve to find him the judge and avenger so there's both that direct relation in which God sentences some to eternal death in that indirect Calvin says accidental relation in which his coming his will is for some judgment. Or so to say accidental or foreign for those who reject the grace offered in him deserve to find him the judge and avenger. So those two things are I think always held together in Calvin he's content to let these two concepts stand side by side or really one behind the other as we find it on the chart here both are true and Calvin doesn't attempt to find some sort of logical explanation as to how both can be true. The means not the means of election as such but the means by which God saves the elect is what I mean by the word here in the outline. And Calvin makes it clear to us in these chapters that we have read that the elect or elect from all eternity but at a certain point in life those elect people are called and justified so there are elect people who are not yet saved people. In relation to that scripture tells us that if one or more parents of a child is saved then I guess a question in my mind is that if the child is born in both parents at that point in time are not saved the child dies and then one or more of them are chosen and later in life are redeemed. What would that be in relation to the child? Julian says a tough question about child of one or more saved parents. It's not it's not clear to me and I don't think you would find this in Calvin that scripture says or Calvin says that because one parent is saved the child is saved. I mean one parent is. Yes. Okay. Well, I think either scripture nor Calvin says that that child is brought into a relationship to the church sanctification blessed in covenant relationship with the church but it's fine to stand scripture. It doesn't promise or guarantee salvation of that child. We'll look a little more at that from Calvin's point of view when we come to book four and the sacraments and infinivaptism to see exactly how infinivaptism functions in Calvin's theology. So God in time calls and justifies the elect the beams would be the offering of the gospel the elect at some point here the gospel. God calls them there's the external call and the internal call and regenerates them through justification by faith which he gives to them. The shutting off of the reprobate Calvin says comes as the reprobate or shut off from knowledge of his name or from sanctification of his spirit. So we would say the reprobate even though they may externally hear the gospel. God's spirit is not with them and they do not understand and do not respond. And then the goal, the goal of election is twofold. The glory of God is the ultimate goal and our sanctification is the proximate goal. Stressing the opening verses of Ephesians one and other similar passages. Calvin says Paul teaches that we have been chosen to this end that we may lead a holy and vainless life. So it's not simply that the goal is to elect some people but the goal is to elect those people to holiness and to righteousness. So we can see two goals in mind the glory of God and the sanctification of the elect. In reprobation we see one goal and that is the glory of God. Calvin puts it this way. When mentioned is made of the glory of God, let us think also of his righteousness is justice, it's righteousness. The aspect of God's character which is particularly set forth in reprobation is the righteousness and justice of God in punishing sin. The election in election God graciously chooses some that deserve to be punished. In reprobation God righteously reprobates in some others who deserve to be reprobated. Of course we all deserve reprobation. We all deserve condemnation but out of the mass of humanity to use Augustine's expression God chooses to save some. Calvin gives us this chapter on objections to predestination that's chapter 23. I mean by this time reading chapter 21 chapter 22 there are objections and probably we had at least some questions some difficulties with all of this and Calvin goes through these five objections. I'm just going to read these through you can look at the chapter further to get Calvin's detail answers to these objections. One is it makes God a tyrant. Calvin of course rejects that and speaks of the depth of the riches of the knowledge of God. Another is it takes guilt and responsibility away from us. Calvin says we fall according as God's providence ordains but fall man falls according as God's providence ordains but he falls by his own fault. Another objection is it teaches that God shows partiality toward persons the fact that God therefore chooses one man but rejects another arises not out of regard to the man but solely from his mercy. Another is it destroys all zeal for an upright life. Calvin says Paul teaches that we have been chosen to this end that we that should be may lead a holy and blameless life. And an objection is it makes all admonitions meaningless. Calvin says let preaching then take its course that it may lead men to faith. I remember you know seminar at Princeton. We were studying the institutes and there was a student there who had graduated from a Methodist seminary and had understood them. He embraced the Armenian position on these things and he was quite astounded at this chapter. He said these are just the things that I was taught at my seminary and Calvin has already given his answer to these same objections that I was so familiar with from my teachers at the seminary where I studied. Let's think of the uses of this doctrine and then we'll come to a critique what effects follow. We're still in book three the way in which we receive the grace of Christ but benefits come to us from it and what effects follow. So we need to look at the effects the proper effects as well as look at what should not be a use of the doctrine of election and reparation. The misuse in Calvin warns us against this over and over again back in 3211 when he's just starting to set out this doctrine talks about a misuse and that is curiosity. He says curiosity will lead no secret to God if we if we're simply curious if we simply want to know more than God has revealed. We're going to find ourselves and this is one of his favorite images in a LeBrant, a maze and we'll never get out of it. We'll just get lost in there. We can state the doctrine and we really must Calvin says he he faltered others who to his friend Philip Malinthan for saying this is really two complex and two controversial is better not to talk about it much. Calvin says if scripture talks about it then we have to talk about it so we can state it but we can't explain it we can't go beyond scripture we can only state what we know and that's what we've looked at up until this point. I like the way the old Southern Presbyterian theologian James Benjamin green put it J.B. Green taught at the old Columbia Seminary when it was in Columbia South Carolina then moved to Decatur, Georgia and taught there as well but James Benjamin green put it this way. People want to know why God chose some and passed by others don't ask me he said don't ask John Calvin don't ask any man but ask God and his answer is deuteronomy 29 29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things reveal belong to us and to our children forever God chose some to holiness and sonship because it pleased him to do so why it pleased him to do so it has not pleased him to reveal. So if you're not satisfied with some mystery here you're going to be in serious trouble because Calvin really doesn't point away out of the mystery Calvin says this is 3-23-2 when therefore one asks why God has so done we must reply because he has willed it but if you proceed further to ask why he so willed you are seeking something greater and higher than God's will which cannot be found. So I think Calvin's comment there is very much in line with J.B. Green's explanation so it's not going to be possible for us to have all our questions answered. But what are the what are the proper uses and there are three Calvin talks about the very sweet fruit of this doctrine and this is where we should really put our emphasis says over and over again that this doctrine gives glory to God and humbles people. 3-23-13 let preaching then take its course that it may lead men to faith and hold them fast in perseverance with continuing profit and yet let not the knowledge of predestination be hindered. In other words let's preach let's preach the gospel let's preach justification by faith let's preach all that the Bible says but part of what the Bible teaches is predestination let not the knowledge of predestination be hindered in order that those who obey may not be proud as of something of their own but may glory in the Lord. It's all God salvation is all of God it's not of us and it humbles us because it's not of us not of works unless anyone should boast. John Leith called it the Union Seminary Enrichment for many years put it this way he said predestination undercuts all confidence in work righteousness and lays bare the source of human salvation it is the negation of all merit and places salvation solely in the mercy of God. It means that salvation is rescue and not achievement like that last sentence because Roman Catholic theology that Calvin was writing against few salvation as achievement wasn't just human achievement because God's grace was necessary but people had to do their part. And so salvation is achievement but Calvin would agree with what Leith says I'm sure that salvation is rescue and not achievement and here's another quotation from Leith predestination was Calvin's most emphatic way of saying that justification is the work of God's grace. Justice justification by grace through faith was Luther's most emphatic way of saying the same thing now Luther teaches a doctrine of election very much like Calvin's and they both teach a doctrine of election very much like a guess sense but I think Leith's point is well taken there is a kind of emphasis on this doctrine in Calvin. And what that is saying is salvation is not by works is my God's grace and when you come to Luther Luther did not write anything like the Institute so we don't have a comparable body of material from Luther but in looking at Luther's writings what Luther says over and over again is justification is by faith alone and Calvin teacher said too but both those doctrines lead to the same place and that is salvation is the work of God's grace. The position of this doctrine in the Institute says unusual already said that like Calvin's teaching on election is not Calvin is not breaking you ground here. This is not original can find it in a guest in can find it in a stream of minority but nonetheless a stream of Augustinians all the way down to the reformation and then you find it in Luther and the other reformers even in the length and length and taught it just as Calvin did that length and did not think it should be preached or talked about too much. But in his own theology on the length and held it to but I think what is what is perhaps original or different is the use that Calvin makes of the doctrine and that brings us to the second point this doctrine of God's election encourages confidence. That's something I haven't seen elsewhere in the history of the doctrine of election. Election encourages confidence. If we go back to the context in which Calvin was working the big question was how can I know that I'm saved. That's been a big question all along it still is but the Roman Catholic answer to that question was you do what is is within you you do what you can and with God's help and God's assistance and God's grace you do the best you can. And when the person would ask well what is that the answer would be you follow the sacramental order of the church you participate in the sacraments, seven of those. And if like Luther you would say but how can I know when I have done enough how can I know that I have really measured up to what is required after all one of the sacraments is confession and the first step of confession is contrition. And contrition means to be absolutely sorry for and repent of your sins and Luther got stuck right there because he said I don't know if I'm absolutely totally 100% sorry and contrite how do I know that how can I judge that. So the Catholic answer was do the best that is within you and that left some questions but of course there was another part of the Catholic answer and that is there's purgatory that will that will wipe away that will take care of what you have failed to do in this life. So how how can I know that I'm saved Catholic answer was do what you can and you probably are not going to make it to heaven directly because that requires perfection but at least there's purgatory and after a long time in purgatory you will eventually make it to heaven. There was another answer in the 16th century to this and that came from the radical wing of the reformations how do I know that I'm saved because of the good works that I do because of the kind of life that I live and that's not Calvin's answer either. That's not too much of a pelagianism to Calvin although he will admit that good works are a kind of secondary step in assurance as we already noted when we studied Calvin and faith but Calvin locates assurance in the promises of God and specifically in the doctrine of election. This is the way he starts his old discussion in 3211 we shall never be clearly persuaded as we ought to be that our salvation flows from the well spring of God's free mercy until we come to know his eternal election. So Calvin connects assurance confidence with the doctrine of election. 3249 predestination rightly understood brings no shaking of faith but rather its best confirmation says we have to understand it rightly 3245 but if we have been chosen in him we shall not find assurance of our election in ourselves that is in our own good works. So he would reject the anababdist or radical position these good works are not worthless as aids to our assurance but we derive confirmation from works but we must not begin at them. We begin with God's grace in Christ and with the fact that God has done everything for us so we have a stable not an unstable basis for confidence. You see if it is either the Roman Catholic view or the anabdist view which says depends on certain extent on what you do then there's no real confidence there because there could not really be confidence that we have done enough. So for Calvin we can't look at our works and not even Calvin says can we look to God the Father if we conceive him as severed from his son that's 3245 we're looking for assurance we're looking for confidence we're not going to find it in ourselves. We're not going to find it if we seek somehow to go directly to God to have some sort of direct access to the list of the elect we can't do that we don't have that we will not find it in God the Father if we conceive him as severed from his son We cannot seek our election directly in the mystery of God we do not have independent access to the decrees of God but here we come to the to the point that I'm leading up to Christ then is the mirror where we must and without self deception may contemplate our own election. Christ is the mirror Calvin loves that image and he uses it a number of times in the institutes as well as frequently in his sermons or he will express it this way as he does in 3247 that sure establishment of election which I did believe or seek from the word of the gospel we illustrate it with this drawing and the Christian looks at election the only way that we have the only entry that we have into that teaching is through Christ through our faith in Christ and it's through Christ that we see our election. So this is the promise this is the gospel this is our way into Christ and it is through Christ in Christ alone who is the mirror of our election that we may Calvin says without self deception contemplate our own election faith is the only way into the doctrine and all it sees is Christ. So that's the approach that we take to this doctrine. Piggias was a person that Calvin wrote against in his book on the eternal predestination of God and Calvin says if Piggias asked me how I know I'm elect I answer that Christ is more than a thousand testimonies to me. So we're not going to find it confidence in our works sanctification we're not going to find it in some kind of direct access to the degrees of God severed from Christ but we will find our confidence in Christ in the promises of the Bible in the gospel. Courage is confidence first exalt God humbles man encourages confidence and thirdly creates worship and creates reverence. As far as the confidence that is created, Calvin's point to the objective doctrine has the ground of the confidence but it seems to me that the question is not so much whether or not the objective doctrine is true but whether or not that subjectively I've heard that. Yes and that you put your finger I think on a problem here because Calvin both here in this section and earlier in his treatment of faith introduces the topic of temporary faith and that raises some questions because when Calvin introduces the idea of temporary faith even in his discussion of reprobation you would think perhaps this is a valid criticism of Calvin that the use of the doctrine of election to instill confidence would fail. How can a worried believer know whether what he or she experiences is a sure establishment. Calvin's word for true faith or merely signs that are similar to true faith so the question would be is my faith true faith you see with faith I look at the promises of the gospel that is that God is merciful to me in Christ. And I can read my election there but what if that faith is not true faith but use temporary faith only well not sure I have an answer to that I have thought about these sections in the institutes for some time and the warnings in the Bible that things that look like faith might not be faith. And certainly one way to see passages like this would be to read them as warnings that God gives to us that should be and can be used as a means of our perseverance in other words. So I read about temporary faith as I think about the fact that people can be hypocrites and I'm forced to examine my faith and that is a means that God uses in perseverance of the saints. Certainly this has been a problem in some expressions of reform history where people have struggled with the idea of election. How do I know that I'm elect? There have been some sad stories of people that have come to brief on that rock. I was thinking about this in a practical way a few days ago let me just ask you this question which has myself. Calvin says that the way into the teaching is the promises of God in Christ. I have accepted those I have believed those I have responded to those and consequently Christ is the mirror of election for me. But is my faith temporary? Is it real? And the question is theoretically that is a question that could be asked but do we really ask that at this moment have no doubt that my faith is real rather than temporary? Is that something you worry about or do you wonder am I really believing or am I a hypocrite? No. Yes.
I am believing today. The Lord has given me faith that I think how we can live that whole teaching of temporary faith really can't be seen in the present and can only be seen from Christ's side. I guess that person did have temporary faith. That was the way in my example that was Saul and David looking at those two lives where Saul did not continue in his faith and I don't really even see it as faith. I mean faith is something to grasp but I don't even know how I can have faith without God giving that to me. But I see it more as a turning to God and remembering the gospel day. Just continuing to turn to God away from sin and Saul didn't do that. Saul didn't turn to God and he turned away and then responded to the gospel. But David did. He said David's faith, persevered. It's not his merit that he turned to God. God gave him that a note. But it was his working out, his true faith. That's what I think. A lot of good ideas there. I think that is very helpful. Yes. David. I'm wondering about the fact that you raised a question to yourself. Perhaps it's an occasional self-evaluation and of course what the scripture calls us to do. Would someone who has temporary faith actually engage in that process of a self-evaluation or would they sort of just go ahead and say, I'm fine. Sure. I think Calvin certainly sees a difference of quality between true faith and temporary faith. He says a person deceives himself. So there was a kind of process by which self-deception comes in and a person can begin to think that he has real faith when he has deceived himself. So there is something perhaps more stable, certainly more stable for enduring in true faith because it's going to last where his temporary faith will eventually fall and falter and prove to be not real faith. But I don't know. In the process, can a person be so self to see that that person would think I really have true faith and be testing that faith as a true believer would? Calvin seems to resolve that only by saying temporary faith is temporary. It will fail and true faith will not. Yes, question.
Well, that's an interesting thought. I'm not sure that Calvin addresses that. He seems to say that it will fail in this life. But could a person have that temporary faith and die with that unfounded, unreal faith? Not sure. I think the term temporary faith is inappropriate. It might be temporary feelings or emotions. But my sheep hear my voice and I give them eternal life. And they shall never finish and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to be described in all and no one is able to snatch them out of the poverty. Well, I'm not sure we can answer it, but it's been a good discussion to think about these things. I think it's not Calvin so much as me at this point. I think temporary faith, that whole idea of temporary faith, we should recognize the warnings in scripture. We should be aware that something like this can exist and we should examine ourselves carefully. But I don't see it as something that shakes the foundations of a true believer. I'm humble and I feel that I need to be vigilant and to be cautious and to pray and trust. But I don't feel shaken and destroyed by that idea. My confidence in God is just as strong as it is before I ask that question when I ask that question. But it is a question to be asked and God enables us to persevere through means like that. Proper uses, exalts, God, Humblesman, encourages confidence. We've raised a little question there, but I think we can still agree with Calvin that we can find confidence in this doctrine because Christ is the mirror of our election and creates worship and reverence. Calvin likes to quote a gust in, it's really quoting Paul, O depth, thou secest reason I tremble at the depth, reason thou I will marvel. Dispute thou, I will believe. I see the depth, I do not reach the bottom. Paul rested or he found wonder. So the resting place is not understanding, but wonder. Paul rested for he found wonder. I see the depth, we certainly have seen it, the depth of this teaching, but we don't reach the bottom. And you know there's another proper use I think that can be added to this. I have just come across this. It's reading Calvin's sermons on Ephesians. If you want to get Calvin the preacher on the same topic, read the first three sermons on Ephesians 1. And you'll see how Calvin preaches election. And this is the last sentence of Calvin's sermon on Ephesians 1, 4 through 6, the third of his sermons on Ephesians. In this way, and being quite a based in ourselves, let us seek that we may be so renewed in the image of God that it may shine perfectly in us till we are made partakers of the glorious immortality which he has so dearly bought for us. In other words, we think of this doctrine, we humble ourselves and we seek the goal that God has in mind and that is our holiness and our righteousness that we may be made partakers of the glorious immortality which he has so dearly bought for us. So that it may please him to grant this grace not only to us but also to all peoples and all nations. That's a kind of an amazing closing sentence there because Calvin says we use the doctrine of election to humble ourselves to move forward in our sanctification and to pray for the salvation of the whole world. So the doctrine of election, even though many people would see it very much opposed to this, use Calvin says I should lead us to prayer for the lost and evangelism for the lost. Also that it may please him to grant this grace not only to us but also to all peoples and nations. Well time is almost up and I still haven't finished this teaching but we'll see what we'll do about that next time. Let me just kind of summarize it this way. When we look at God's will as he has revealed that to us in the scripture we see two things. We see teaching about his election, God's election and his reprobation. We see his teaching of his love for the lost, his willing, his, the fact that he's not willing that any should perish. So both of those are present in the Bible. Sometimes the first is called God's hidden will, his election and reprobation, even Calvin will use the idea of hidden will and his love for the lost is his reveal will. It seems to me that that is not particularly helpful distinction here because God has revealed his will concerning election and reprobation too. It's not that we don't know anything about this the Bible teaches us these things. So we have two parts to God's reveal will that he likes and he reprobates and that he loves the lost. Calvin I think approaches it this way, puts those two together not in any kind of logically coherent way because he feels the Bible doesn't allow us to do that. In terms of mystery we simply accept both God's election, his reprobation and his love for the lost. And then as we engage these doctrines on the side of his election and reprobation there is humility because we know that his salvation of us rest in his unshakable mercy and grace and then that produces confidence because it doesn't depend on us it depends on God and what God has done for us. And on the side of his love for the lost that produces prayer for the lost and evangelism as we attempt to reach lost people in this world. Okay time is up so we'll stop at this point today.