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

through sanctification by the Spirit. Second, that's only in 213.

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.

Second 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 22-20,

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 circumsize 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 36-27-11-20. Those are New Covenant promises.

Election is God's eternal commitment to do this for his people.

...