Sermon25-46 Eph2 Guide

Ephesians 2:1-10 theme verse Eph 2:4-5

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this forty first Sunday of 2025, on Pentecost Sunday, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we looked at what the Sovereignty of God is, yet this week, we would like to look at the divine election and reprobation of God of the first doctrine of Canon of Dort together.

1)    First, to summarize today’s text, in verse 1, it clearly states that humans were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and by nature were under God's wrath in verse 3. Therefore, God first made them alive in Christ in verse 5, that is, regenerated them in verse 10, and then saved them by grace by giving them the gift of faith in verse 8. And then this was so that through their good deeds, the riches of God's saving grace would be proclaimed throughout the whole earth and in heaven in verses 7 & 10. And also it states that on the last day, God will seat them together in heaven in Christ in Verse 6. And also regarding this salvation of God by grace, in the preceding chapter of today's text, I mean, chapter 1 verses 3-6 says that “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” I mean, it clearly states that all these blessings of salvation are based on God's election and predestination even before the foundation of the world.

2)    Regarding this doctrine of Divine election and predestination, the First Doctrine of the Canons of Dort confesses that Article 1 proclaims that all humans sinned in Adam and are under the curse and destined for eternal death. And Article 2 states that "But God so loved the world so that He sent His only begotten Son into the world. Therefore, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." And then Article 3 states, ”In other to bring people to faith, God sent evangelists to proclaim this good news to the people." So article 4 states, "Those who accept this gospel and receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord will be saved, but those who do not believe will be condemned to eternal punishment."

3)    And then the following Article 5 states that the cause or blame for this unbelief is not at all in God, but in each individual. However, faith in Jesus Christ and salvation through Him is the gift of God, as Ephesians 2:8 and Philippians 1:29 said. To elaborate more, since God raised up preachers and sent them to proclaim the gospel of Christ Jesus and also the Holy Spirit illuminates this truth, enables us to believe in the gospel, therefore, we can know that we could not believe without God’s sending and help so that we could clearly knew that faith is a gift from God so that we have to give thanks to God. However, all who reject this gospel have the responsibility for their unbelief. And Article 6 further states that while the gift of faith is given to some by God's eternal decree, according to His good pleasure, God leaves others to their own wickedness and stubbornness. In theological terms, we call this doctrine as the ”reprobation." And then Articles 7 through 14 explain more details about the election such as the definition and content of God's unchanging election, its basis and source, our assurance and benefits of it. And then articles 15 and 16 explain the reprobation and also introduce various responses to it. And then article 17 confesses the salvation of believers' children, while finally, article 18 exhorts not complaining, but rather praising His grace.

4)    However, as many still object to this profound and difficult-to-understand doctrine of God's eternal election and reprobation, even a 16^th century Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, also expressed his objections that: a. God did not, solely on the basis of His righteous will, decide to leave some people in Adam's fallen state and the resulting sin and condemnation of all humanity. Furthermore, He did not, based on His righteous will, decide to withhold from others the grace necessary for faith and conversion. b. Instead, since all humans were spiritually dead and unable to respond to the gospel, God provided prevenient grace when the gospel was proclaimed, allowing humans to freely respond to it with faith or reject it. c. But, in election of faith, a prerequisite condition is that humans should rightly use the light of nature, be upright, unassuming, humble and disposed to eternal life as though election depends on some extent on these factors. d. And also the cause of God’s sending the gospel to one people rather than to another is not merely and solely God’s good pleasure, but rather that one people is better and worthier than the other to whom the gospel is not communicated.

5)    Therefore, in response to Arminius’ errors, the Council of Dort, proclaimed in the Canons of Dort that based on passages such as Deut 10:14-15 and Matthew 11:21, said that God decree of election and reprobation was solely made by grace, according to His sovereign, good and pleasing will. And also it rejected the Remonstrants’ idea that there are various kinds of elections, such as the prevenient grace to all as a general and indefinite election which restores the free will of all people; the second election which leads to faith as an incomplete, revocable, and conditional election and then thirdly the election which leads to salvation as a complete, irrevocable, and absolute election, since these various elections have no scriptural basis. And then the idea that those who receive the election to faith possess the proper nature, piety, humility, and meekness of character was also rejected since it is not biblical. Furthermore, the idea that a people to whom the gospel was preached is better and more worthy than other peoples to whom the gospel was not preached was also rejected since it is not biblical either.

6)    However, there's something we have to know. I mean, when we generally speak of God's reprobation, saying that God left the unchosen to their own wickedness and stubbornness, we tend to think that God abandoned them in some kind of demonic existence. But that's not true. I mean, the Bible tells us that God poured out His grace abundantly not only on the elect but also on the unchosen. First, God gave common grace to all humanity, enabling all to live moral and intellectual lives and form societies and nations. He also provided the light of truth on the fields of science and art, ethics and law, and also even in the general religion. I mean, not only the seed of religion—a sense of divinity, which Calvin spoke of but also the essential elements and forms of religion such as the concept of God or the divinity, guilt, the desire for salvation, sacrifices, priesthood, temples, worship, and prayer are given to the pagan religions in some extent. Since God wanted to proclaim His glory among all the people in the earth, as Malachi 1:11 says, “From the rising of the sun to the place where it goes down, the name of the Lord our God will be great among the Gentiles.” And also even Bavinck says, “According to the Bible, there was a revelation of God, an illumination of the Logos, and a ministry of the Holy Spirit even among the Gentiles,” and in particular, he says that the enlightenment of the mind, the gifts of the heavenly gifts, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the tasting of the Word of God, and the powers of the coming world, which were mentioned in Hebrews 6, were sometimes the possessions of the non-elect, who even later fell away and despised Christ. In this way, God’s revelation through the proclamation of the Word of God’s truth, the illumination of the mind through the Word of Gospel, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit regarding the truth which are referred to as the grace of external calling in theological terms, abound even among the non-elect. This is a proof of God’s infinite love for all without discrimination, and it also proves that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather in the repentance and life of sinners. In other words, the external calling is a declaration to all that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient for the atonement for all sins, and that Christ’s sacrifice is so abundant and powerful so that no one will be left behind, and also that no requirement of the law, no power of sin, and no dominion of Satan can hinder the application of that calling, because the gift of grace is not the same as sin so that this external calling became the source of all blessings, even for those often hardened in unbelief. And then God not only sowed the seeds of religion in human hearts, but also made His eternal power and divinity visible throughout His creation, giving all people the knowledge that He exists (Romans 1:21), so that they may give thanks to Him and glorify Him and also through these things, people may seek Him and find Him as Acts 17:27 says. And also even in Acts 17, in Paul's sermon in Athens, Paul declares that God overlooked the times when Christ was not known. Of course, this text has to be understood in conjunction with Romans 2:14-15, which states that Gentiles, without the law, have God's law written in their consciences and will judge their actions based on that. Nevertheless, all of these demonstrate that God has poured out His abundant grace upon all people in this world enough.

7)    Therefore, Calvin said that this doctrine of election and reprobation of God informs that all salvations are result of God's undeserved mercy so that those who have received this grace have to be humble, giving glory only to God and live in the mission God has given us, I mean, the salvation of God's grace, even daring sufferings and persecution.

8)    And also that’s why our Lord said “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble” in Mt 11:29. And also Calvin said in his book “Institute of Christian Religion” that “so if you ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, first, second, third, and always I would answer, ‘Humility.’ ” But, as he elsewhere declares, Augustine does not consider it humility when a man, aware that he has some virtues, abstains from pride and arrogance; but when man truly feels that he has no refuge except in humility. “When anyone realizes that in himself he is nothing and from himself he has no help, the weapons within him are broken, the wars are over.” Therefore, I pray that we all may proclaim this gospel which frees us, while resisting to the point of shedding our blood against sin, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, after laying aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, following a cloud of witnesses of faith.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that the salvation of God comes from merely the sovereign election of God, so that we have to be humble and glorify God. So, after meditating on this grace and thinking how we can respond to His grace, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And also, we became to know that this salvation of God by mere grace makes us not only humble and confident in His salvation but also lead us to our mission to proclaim His grace to the world. So after reviewing our life and checking whether we live in that mission, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.