Bible Text: Luke 10:21-24 | Preacher: G.F.

Some people struggle with the doctrine of election. It seems to be such a difficult doctrine, and hardly one that brings great joy. Why does God save some (the little children) and not others (the wise and understanding)? The Bible never gives us a full answer, except to say that God does it for his own glory. But, instead of this doctrine being a cause for dread and doubt, it is rather a cause of exuberant joy for Jesus.

Jesus rejoiced because of the doctrine of election. The Father reveals truth to the elect, and for that Jesus “rejoiced” (v.21 -Greek word ‘agalliao’ ; exuberant ecstasy). Jesus first responded to the disciples’ report and He rejoiced with them over converting grace. Now in Luke 10 verses 21-24, He prays to God and praises Him for sovereign grace.

Jesus praises God for His sovereign grace in choosing the least (babes), not the sophisticated, not the great, not the deserving but the babes. This ought to humble us. ‘Thank you Lord. We don’t deserve this.’ And we need to say, ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’” But it ought to humble us to the dust.

Illustration: People sometimes think that salvation is only for the wise and understanding. But it is in fact for those who are like little children. That is, salvation is for those who are teachable and humble.

This week I read a powerful true story of this kind of teachable and humble spirit of a lady by the name of Eta Linnemann. Before Eta Linnemann became a Christian, she was a respected New Testament scholar and theologian. Her educational credentials were outstanding. She had studied under great esteemed professors, and had become part of the elite circle in the practice of New Testament historical-critical method. Her first book became a best seller. She became professor of theology at Braunschweig Technical University. After writing her second doctoral dissertation, she was awarded the honorary title of Professor of New Testament in Theology at Philips University, Marburg and was then inducted into the Society for New Testament Studies.

But as her star was rising, she began to reflect on her critical methodology and came to the conclusion that her “scientific work on the biblical text” and her lectures were not grasping spiritual truth. She saw that she was serving a theological philosophy rooted in agnosticism.

The brilliant Dr. Eta Linnemann became profoundly disillusioned and drifted into addictions to alcohol and TV to dull her misery. But when she was at her very lowest, she experienced grace. In her own words:

At that point God led me to vibrant Christians who knew Jesus personally as their Lord and Savior. I heard their testimonies as they reported what God had done in their lives. Finally God himself spoke to my heart by means of a Christian brother’s words. By God’s grace and love I entrusted my life to Jesus. He immediately took my life into his saving grasp and began to transform it radically. My destructive addictions were replaced by a hunger and thirst for his Word and for fellowship with Christians. I was able to recognize sin clearly as sin rather than merely make excuses for it as was my previous habit. I can still remember the delicious joy I felt when for the first time black was once more black and white was once more white; the two ceased to pool together as indistinguishable gray.

Dr. Linnemann goes on to conclude her written testimony by saying:

By God’s grace I experienced Jesus as the one whose name is above all names. I was permitted to realize that Jesus is God’s Son, born of a virgin. He is the Messiah and the Son of Man; such titles were not merely conferred on him as the result of human deliberation. I recognized, first mentally, but then in a vital, experiential way, that Holy Scripture is inspired. . . . That is why I say “No!” to historical-critical theology. I regard everything that I taught and wrote before I entrusted my life to Jesus as refuse. I wish to use this opportunity to mention that I have pitched my two books Gleichnisse Jesu. . . and Studien zur Passionsgeschichte, along with my contributions to journals, anthologies, and Festschriften. Whatever of these writings I had in my possession I threw into the trash with my own hands in 1978. I ask you sincerely to do the same thing with any of them you may have on your own bookshelf.

For the next fifteen years Eta Linnemann served God at a Bible institute in Indonesia. God had revealed himself to her and she became a Christian. And in this Jesus rejoices.

I believe the lesson the Lord is teaching us here is that if we delight to see people come to Christ, then we must delight in His sovereignty, because salvation is all the work of God…conviction; repentance; justification; sanctification and glorification. This is all of God Eph 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”.

Also I think the opposite is also true, that is, if we believe in the sovereignty of God in grace, then we must hope more….rejoice more in the power of the gospel to save sinners from their sins.

Many of you are probably familiar with the story of William Carey who was the famous missionary to India. You may not be so familiar with the troubles he had convincing others to support his burden to reach the lost world with the gospel of Jesus. At one ministers fraternal William Carey was sharing his vision for the establishment of a missionary society to reach the lost world, Carey was silenced by a senior pastor who said“ Sit down young man, when God is pleased to convert the heathen, He will do so without your aid, or mine!” The idea of taking the initiative in going put to find men of all nations for Christ struck this old minister as improper and, indeed, presumptuous. J.I. Packer comments on this in his book Evangelism and the sovereignty of God. He says, “Now, think twice before you condemn that old man. He was not entirely without understanding. He had at least grasped that it is God who saves, and He saves according to His own purposes, and does not take orders from man in that matter. He had grasped too that we must never suppose that without our help God would be helpless. He had, in other words, learned to take the sovereignty of God perfectly serious. His mistake was forgetting that God’s way of saving men is to send out His servants to tell them the gospel, and that the Church has been charged to go into all the world for that very purpose.

But this is something that we must not forget. Christ’s command means that we all should be devoting all our resources of ingenuity and enterprise to the task of making the gospel known in every possible way to every possible person. Unconcern and inaction with regard to evangelism are always inexcusable….God did not teach us the reality of His rule in order to give us an excuse for neglecting His orders. “