Church discipline

The Chosen One “Mine elect [Chosen One], in whom my soul delighteth.”—Isaiah 42:1 “My servant whom I have chosen.”—Isaiah 43:10 “The Christ, the chosen of God.”—Luke 23:35 It is Jesus Who is the Chosen One. He is, by preeminence, the object of the Father’s choice. Above all other beings in heaven and on earth, and in a way infinitely distinct from every one of them, He is the eternally chosen of the Father—the chosen of Him Whose divine wisdom knew well the value of that which it was choosing, and, therefore, could not choose amiss. 121 He alone was chosen for what was good in Him. God may have reasons for choosing objects, apart from what He finds in themselves; but in the case of the only begotten Son, it was the matchless excellence and glory found in Him that made Him the object of the Father’s everlasting choice. It was thus that He was “set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, being…daily his delight” (Pro 8:23, 30). Other objects might be chosen for something good in them, and God, in looking upon these objects of His choice, might pronounce them “very good” (Gen 1:31). But still even these had only something that was good in them, Jesus had all. They were destitute of many things in which God delighted, Jesus was wanting in none. He had everything that the Father’s heart could desire. Every unsinning creature is good according to its kind, and may to that extent be the object of choice. But every creature is lacking—lacking in many things, and, therefore, cannot be the object of full and satisfied choice to Him Who can be completely satisfied with nothing but what is absolutely perfect, not only without a sin, but without an imperfection or flaw. This perfection was found in Jesus alone; and because of this He was the Father’s Chosen One. Jehovah’s whole soul was satisfied in Him (Isa 42:1); and it must have been boundless excellence on which the Father’s soul could thus entirely rest. The saints are doubtless the objects of the Father’s choice. Hence they are said to be “called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28; 2Ti 1:9). They are said to be “chosen…before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4). They are said to be “from the beginning chosen…to salvation” (2Th 2:13). But still they are not chosen as Jesus was. It cannot be that they should be the objects of Jehovah’s choice as Jesus was. In their case, it is an object altogether unworthy that is fixed upon; in His case it is the opposite. In their case, it is not the good that is found or foreknown in them that causes them to be chosen; in Him it was.36 He could not but be chosen, for in Him there centered all created and all uncreated excellence. His claims to be the Chosen One are without a rival; for all was perfection in Him; divine perfection, without a defect, or blemish, or stain. He was the chief among ten thousand, as much in the Father’s eyes as He is in the eyes of His saints. In this, as in all other things, He has had from eternity the preeminence; a preeminence which shall remain undisputed and unrivaled throughout all the eternity that is to come. Blessed preeminence for us, for He is our Head! None can ever claim to be the Father’s Chosen 36 There are some who deny this choosing. They are so zealous for man’s free will that they will not admit of free will in God. All the choosing they will allow God to exercise is the choosing of those whom He foreknows will turn to Him—that is, choosing those who first chose Him. They quote in defense 1 Peter 1:2, “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”; and they ask, is this not choosing according to foreknowledge? Yes, beyond all doubt it is. But of what is it the foreknowledge? Is it of the evil or the good? Certainly of the evil; for what else was there to foreknow? God, foreknowing all the circumstances of the case, the evil of the whole race of Adam, that there was nothing but evil about any, no desire even to turn or believe, nothing but absolute corruption, enmity, helplessness, and death—God foreseeing all this, chose some out of this mass of wickedness. And thus they are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God.” 122 One, as He can do. Angels may stand exalted in power and unfallen excellence, but they come immeasurably short of His matchless claims. The Church, the Bride, shall be presented “without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing”; she shall be placed beside Him on His throne; but still His claims remain undivided and unapproached. In regard to these there can be no rivalry, no equality, no, not the most distant conceivable approach by any other. Oh, what an infinite and ineffable perfection of “glory and of beauty” must be in Him to render Him thus above all other beings, the supreme object of Jehovah’s satisfaction—the Father’s Chosen One! (Song 5:9-16; Psa 45:2-7; Isa 28:16; 49:1-7; Mat 12:18; 1Pe 2:4). Doubtless, the Church is the eternally chosen of the Father—given by Him to Christ before all ages. This is her glory and her joy. This is her dignity above all other creatures; and well would it be for her if she would keep in mind this her peculiar preeminence, and live like Jehovah’s “called, chosen, faithful” one (Joh 17:2, 6, 11, 24; Rev 17:14). But still she is not and cannot be the chosen one as Jesus is. He has everything about Him to render Him altogether worthy of this honor; she has nothing but what makes her utterly unworthy of it. It is not for what is good in her, either known or foreknown, that she is chosen, for what is there in her but evil? What has she to boast of as her heritage but sin? What has she to tell of in reference to herself but sin—sin all over, sin within and without, the whole head sick, the whole heart faint; a body of death, corruption, pollution, and loathsome deformity. Her birth and her nativity is of the land of Canaan; her father was an Amorite, her mother an Hittite; in the day that she was born she was cast out into the open field, to the loathing of her person, “polluted in her blood” (Eze 16:1- 6). What claim had she? Yet she was chosen! Notwithstanding all her unworthiness, she was chosen! Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God— how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! Oh, the exceeding riches of His grace! For it is through grace alone that she is chosen. Had it not been for this there could have been no hope for her. It was according to the eternal purpose of grace that she was chosen. It is grace that has made her to differ from the world in which she still abides. It is through grace that she is thus “known of God” (Gal 4:9), and “apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phi 3:12). It was by “the grace of God that Christ tasted death” for her (Heb 2:9). It is through grace that she believes (Act 18:27). It is through grace that she is saved, and has “good hope” (2Th 2:16); for it is the God of grace Who hath called her to His kingdom and glory (1Pe 5:1), and it is to the praise of the glory of His grace that she is predestinated to the adoption of children, according to the good pleasure of His will (Eph 1:5-6). Yet, though it is of grace, it is as sure and real as if it had been all of merit. She is as certainly and as unchangeably the object of the Father’s choice as Jesus is. No two beings could be chosen for more opposite reasons, yet still the certainty of the choice remains the same. Blessed thought! We are as sure of the Father’s love as Jesus is. “As my Father hath loved me, so have I loved you…I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in 123 them” (Joh 15:9; 17:26). In His case, this love, this choice, cannot be altered, neither can it be in ours. Both are sure and unchangeable. Both are from eternity to eternity. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jo 3:2). But how is it possible that the Father’s choice can fix upon objects so entirely different from each other? How can the same Being choose the holy and the unholy, fixing upon both in the same eternal purpose, and embracing both in the same paternal arms? How is it that He can choose one object which possesses all excellence, and at the same time fix upon another which possesses none? To this we can give but a poor imperfect answer. We know not aright how all this can be: and we may well stand amazed to think that so it really is! What shall we say, but “even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” The mind of God is beyond all measurement or comprehension of ours. The heart of God is a depth too deep for us to fathom. Its streams of love flow down freely to us, and we drink and are refreshed. But its hidden springs of affection and choice are altogether inaccessible to us. The how and the why we cannot reason out or comprehend. We shall know something of those secrets of love hereafter, but here we only see through a glass darkly. Yet the fact itself is plainly revealed. God has set His heart at once upon the most worthy and the most unworthy beings in the universe, embracing both extremities in His mysterious choice. Of this we are assured; and it is a thought as blessed as it is true. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1Jo 4:10). But how is God righteous in so doing? Is there not something here like inconsistency? Does it not seem as if He were indifferent to the character of the objects chosen, caring little whether they were holy or unholy, since He thus fixes upon the best and the worst at the same time? By no means. His choosing Christ shows that He is not indifferent to the objects chosen. In choosing Him He shows how He prizes perfection, and how He delights in it. Having given this proof of His infinite love of goodness and holiness, no one can mistake His doings in reference to others. Whatever may be His reason, it cannot be indifference to sin or a want of regard to righteousness. He has put this matter beyond a doubt, by making The Righteous One the object of His supreme and everlasting choice. And having done this, who shall charge Him with inconsistency in choosing whom He will? Is He not at liberty to fix upon the most unholy without being charged with indifference to sin? Having found an object infinitely worthy of His choice, and set His heart on Him, may He not make His choice of others depend upon reasons best known to Himself, without the imputation of unrighteousness? Were He indeed to choose them, and allow them to remain unholy, this charge would be well-founded. But though He finds them unholy, He does not leave them so. He chooses them that they may be holy (Eph 1:4; Col 1:22; 3:12; 2Ti 1:9). In their sanctification He displays His love of holiness. His object is that they may be delivered from their sinfulness, and conformed to the image of His Chosen One. And thus it is seen that it is still holiness that He is seeking, and on which 124 He has set His heart. In all things He manifests that His is a holy choice, even though fixed upon the unholy. What a motive for us to seek holiness! It is to this that we are called. It is this that is enjoined upon us, “be ye holy, for I am holy” (1Pe 1:16). The choice is said to be in Christ Jesus. Let us mark this expression, in Christ Jesus. The saints are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Had He not been chosen, they would never have been so. It is because He is chosen that they are chosen in Him from eternity. It is the Father’s choice of the worthiest that enables Him to choose the unworthiest. It is this that makes it a righteous thing for Him to do so. In Him they are chosen, as if forming part of Himself, so that they are, if we may say so, lost in Him—so identified with Him that they appear as one with Him. They seem never to be known of the Father, nor to know themselves, save in connection with Him. If they go back to eternity, they see themselves in connection with Him. If they look at their history here, they see their connection with Him—dying, buried, rising, ascending, with Him. If they gaze forward into eternity, then also they see themselves still in connection with Him. One with Him in the Father’s purpose; one with Him in His death and resurrection; one with Him in His kingdom hereafter, when He comes again in His glory to make all things new. This is our security and joy. Jesus is the Father’s Chosen One! Let us rejoice and be glad in this. The Father has found an object worthy of His choice. This is the foundation on which we build, a foundation broad enough for us to build upon here, and to rest upon forever. Let us sing the new song, “Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev 5:12). This Chosen of the Father is our Chosen too! Chosen in Him from eternity, we have been brought to choose Him, by that Holy Spirit Who quickeneth the dead and changes enmity into love. Whom have we in heaven but Him? “His love is better than wine” (Song 1:2). “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is our beloved among the sons” (Song 2:3). We have ravished His heart, and He hath ravished ours (Song 4:9). “His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven...his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars” (Song 5:11, 15). And weary with His long absence from us, and unable any longer to brook delay, we take up the Church’s longing supplication, “Make haste my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices” (Song 8:14). It is because there is such a Chosen One that there is hope for the undeserving and ungodly. Sinners! There is hope for you. The Father hath found a Chosen One, in Whom His soul delighteth, and because of this He is willing to take you in, and make you partakers of His love. Because this Chosen One has deserved everything, therefore it is a righteous thing in God to give eternal life to you who have deserved nothing. Because this Chosen One has glorified the Father, therefore His love can flow freely out to you, even though the chief of sinners. Did you but see Christ as the Father’s Chosen One, you would see what full provision this makes for your forgiveness and peace. Had there been no Chosen One in Whom the Father’s soul could rest, there would have been no hope of 125 rest for you. Had there been no Chosen One there could have been no accepted sacrifice, no precious blood, no magnified law, no justifying righteousness—no hope at all for any sinner. But now there is hope, certain hope, for such as you, even though the guiltiest on this side of hell, because there is such a Chosen One as Jesus, the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. The more you realize of the infinite excellence of Jesus, the more you will understand the true foundation of a sinner’s peace. The more you see in Jesus what the Father sees in Him, the more will you comprehend the glad tidings of great joy concerning Him, and learn to rejoice and sing “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isa 9:6). Oh, come and share this joy. You are welcome. Tarry not a moment, lest the open door be closed forever. Strange that the Chosen of the Father should not be your chosen too! Strange that the Chosen of God should be the rejected of men! Yet so it is! Oh, sinner, is it always so to be? Are you to stumble upon this stumbling-stone laid in Zion, till you stumble into hell? 