Election and the Warrant to Believe

Anyone who looks at the topics that I explore in this blog would have to be deliberately obtuse not to notice that I am a Calvinist. That is, I hold to salvation only by the sovereign grace of God, with no admixture of human cooperation. A man chooses to believe in God, but only because the Holy Spirit gives him a new heart and draws him to believe.

In general, the objections to the doctrines of grace are not particularly clever. They are more comparable to the exalted notions of a person stoned on marijuana, that are actually moronic.

Among those clever responses is that it will cause a poor sinner to turn away from Jesus because he doesn't know whether he is elect. No one thinks that way. On the contrary, the Bible tells us that no one seeks God (Romans 3:11), unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). In other words, the Arminian uses an impossibility to make his case. By itself, that is sufficient proof that Arminianism is false.

Instead, for the affected sinner who doubts his election, the answer is not to repudiate the doctrine; that would be to call God's Word an embarrassment. Rather, the sinner is not to look at all to election; it is not for men to meddle in who is elect and who is not.

Rather, here is the biblical warrant for the sinner to know that he has the right to come to Jesus for salvation.

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant" (Isaiah 55:1-3). Is he a sinner, wearied by the load of sin, and exhausted by all his efforts at self-improval and self-forgiveness? Has he been left unsatisfied with his diet of human religions and philosophies, but without relief? Then he is the one that God has called to come to Jesus to receive true salvation by free grace alone, without works. 

"Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 1:3). The very God of Heaven binds Himself to be receptive to the repentant sinner who comes to Him for succor. He is the father to the prodigal sinner: "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate" (Luke 15:20-24).

"Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Again, has he grown weary of the burden of sin and religious rules, or fighting to keep from acknowledging God? Then Jesus Himself invites him to come, and promises to relieve him of that burden. 

Thus, it is not on the basis of election that any man can know whether he is welcome to approach the throne of God. Rather, it is the invitations of the Father and of Jesus to come to Him which give every man a warrant to know that he is welcome - a golden ticket, if you will. Run to Him quickly! "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8).