May 24, the bedrock of your assurance. God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through

sanctification by the Spirit. 2. Thessalonians 2.13. The Bible speaks of our election. God's choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the earth, Ephesians 1 4, before we had done anything good or evil, Romans 9-11.

Therefore, our election is unconditional in the strictest sense.

Neither our faith nor our obedience is the basis of it.

It is free and utterly undeserved.

On the other hand, dozens of passages in the Bible speak of our final salvation, as opposed to our

election in eternity past, as conditional upon a changed heart and life.

So the question arises, how can I have the assurance that I will persevere in the faith and holiness

necessary for inheriting eternal life? The answer is that assurance is rooted in our election.

2. Peter 1.10 says, be all the more diligent to confirm your

calling and election. For if you practice these things, you will never fall. Divine election is the

foundation of God's commitment to save me, and therefore that he will undertake

to work in me by sanctifying grace what his electing grace has begun.

This is the meaning of the new covenant.

Everyone who believes in Jesus is a secure beneficiary of the new covenant because

Jesus said in Luke 2220, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

That is, by my blood, I secure the new covenant for all who are mine.

In the new covenant, God does not merely command obedience. He gives it.

The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul that you may live, Deuteronomy 30. 6.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.

Ezekiel 3627, see 1120.

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