Weekly Bible Study – June 13, 2016

Doctrine of Election. Part 7.
Election and the Believer’s Escrow Account.

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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life:

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

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STUDY TITLE:

Doctrine of Election. Part 7.
Election and the Believer’s Escrow Account.


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Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:

Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible

Doctrine of Election. Part 7.
Election and the Believer’s Escrow Account.

This falls under the principle of God willing His highest and best for every believer. For even though you have heard it many times before, here it is again:

When EPH 1:3-4 says, Blessed [the Greek says eulogetos, worthy of praise and glorification] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. [then forget about the next phrase at the end of verse 4, it belongs at the beginning of verse 5, the phrase “In love” should introduce verse 5] just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

So we begin with the phrase in EPH 1:5, In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

When God elected you, He had already graced you out by giving you fantastic blessings that stagger the imagination which we call your escrow blessings. The Greek structure of the sentence shows that the first thing God ever did for you was to bless you, then He elected you. If you truly understood that you would understand that the first thing God ever did was not to create you but He provided for you fantastic blessings for those of you who would believe.

Why?

1CO 1:29 says, So that no flesh would glory in His presence. Now, you might ask how can that be? Well, let me remind you about a few principles:

ISA 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

So God’s ways are not our ways. Let me challenge you. What if God said, I am going to provide a fantastic account of blessings for any creature who would ever believe and trust in Me”? And He provided that account before He created creatures so that if any creature received what He provided in that account, they could not take credit for it!

Why?

Because the blessings were provided before the creature was created!

Our Lord said in MAT 7:11, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

The first thing God ever did for us was to bless us even before He knew whatever His creatures would respond to.

Again, EPH 1:3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

In the original Greek grammatical structure there is normally a rule in the Greek language. In the Koine Greek, (Koine meaning common), there is a rule that the action of the aorist participle in a verb must precede the action of the main verb. The Greek verbs have tenses, voices and moods. The rule here is when you find the main verb, like we have here when it says, He has chosen us, and then you have a verb that is not in the indicative mood, but instead is known as a participle. In the Koine Greek, the action of the aorist participle which is the verb for He “has blessed” precedes or comes before the action of the main verb which in our passage is found in the phrase “He has chosen or elected us.”

The point is that the participle comes before the main verb:
The participle is found in the phrase = He has blessed.
The main verb is found in the phrase = He has chosen.
What came first?
The answer = He has blessed.
What came after?
The answer = He chose or elected us.

So, in other words, the first thing God ever did for His creatures was to provide fantastic blessings. Then secondly, the second thing He did was to elect them.

Always remember DEU 29:29, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. And we are still not through with this mystery because I am also going to make the following statement very clear, meaningful, doctrinal and understandable: The first thing God ever did for us is the means of glorifying Him.

EPH 1:5-6, In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

We begin with a definition of an escrow account. There are four parts to the definition of escrow.

a. An escrow is a written agreement entered into by three parties, the obligor, the obligee, and the depositary, for the transfer of certain benefits. God the Father is the obligor. The obligor is the one who places himself under legal obligation. God the Father did so in eternity past to provide temporal and eternal blessings for every member of the Royal family.

The second party is the obligee. The obligee is every believer. The obligee is the one to whom the obligor is obligated. Therefore, God the Father is obligated to every believer who uses His grace assets to advance to spiritual maturity.
So, you are the obligee! Your name is written in heaven! You have the same privilege and the same opportunity under election of receiving the eternal wealth in time and at the judgment seat of Christ.

1PE 1:3-5, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The third party is the depositary. The depositary is the person to whom all the deposits are entrusted. The depositary is our Lord Jesus Christ in whom the blessings were deposited, in eternity past!

b. The second definition is the fact that an escrow is a sealed agreement of the obligor (generally accompanied by the deed, bond, or chattel to be conveyed) which is made contingent on some future happening or on the performance of some act by the obligee. It is delivered to the depositary and held by him pending the occurrence of that event or the performance of the required act by the obligee. When the event has taken place or the obligee has performed the specified act, the depositary delivers to him the agreement and the wealth which was promised. The depositary or custodian is allowed no discretion, but must follow strictly the terms of the agreement as it concerns the other two parties.

So, in the spiritual realm or the escrow account for the believer, the obligor is God the Father, who has placed Himself under legal obligation in eternity past to provide two categories of special and unusual blessings, both temporal and eternal, for the obligee, the believer who fulfills the PPOG. The depositary or custodian is God the Son.

In eternity past, both categories of blessings were deposited with our Lord Jesus Christ in escrow, pending the obligee’s future advance to spiritual maturity inside the PPOG. The obligee is the Church-age believer. Under the PPOG and the sovereign will of God, expressed in the doctrine of election, the Church-age believer is obligated to fulfill the contingency prior to the transfer of blessings from escrow.

So the escrow of blessing was transferred in eternity past by the obligor, God the Father, and delivered to the depositary, Jesus Christ, pending the performance of the obligee, the Church-age believer in the PPOG. Temporal blessings on deposit are transferred to the believer when he fulfills the PPOG in time, not to be confused with logistical grace blessings given to all believers. Eternal blessings are transferred to the mature believer after the Rapture at the Judgment seat of Christ, where the winner is awarded special rewards. This sealed agreement with two categories of blessings were delivered to Jesus Christ in eternity past. This emphasizes grace. God created the blessings, even before He expressed His sovereign will in election and before he designed the PPOG in predestination, EPH 1:3. Justification is the mechanics for the transfer of temporal blessings; glorification is the mechanics for the transfer of eternal blessings, ROM 8:30.

Eph 1 is a fantastic chapter for discovering the things that God has prepared for those who love Him and the value of election. In EPH 1:3, we have the escrow account mentioned.


EPH 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Under the principle of election, God the Father is the author of the divine plan which reveals the fantastic things that He has prepared for those who love Him. As the author of the divine plan, God the Father is the author of all worship, praise, honor, and adoration.

Do you remember Biblical Lapsarianism?

A. Create
B. Permit the fall
C. Provide salvation
D. Elect
E. Save the elect

In election is the expression of the “sovereignty” of God who wills the highest and best for every believer in Jesus Christ. Therefore, He decreed to provide a portfolio of invisible assets for every believer by depositing in escrow greater blessings for time and eternity for every believer before the believer was even elected. God decided to provide His highest and best for anyone who would believe upon the lord Jesus Christ and would come under the principle of election. And He ordained that under election whoever believed upon His Son would have fantastic privileges and opportunities.

So, EPH 1:3 presents three parties involved in this election. God the Father is the one who blessed us and elected us and the provider of these fantastic blessings that we have been elected to receive. That’s why Paul said in EPH 1:3 “Worthy of praise and glorification be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing”

God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ is the one to whom these blessings were deposited in. And we, Church-age believers, are the beneficiaries of these blessings as stated by the word “us” which refers to every believer in union with Christ as Royal family of God. So, these blessings which we have been elected to receive, have come from the work of God the Father on behalf of the believer in eternity past.

How does that give God glory, if He does all the work? Well, God is blessed by giving to us.

Do you recall what the apostle Paul said in ACT 20:35?

ACT 20:32-35, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which [word of grace] is able to build {you} up and to give {you} the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my {own} needs and to the men who were with me. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

The fantastic blessings and the invisible assets which God the Father has provided for each member of the Royal family of God before creation are a part of election. This is why I have said Election does not mean that God violates your free will, rather, election means that God wants to bless you! You have securities, blessings, and invisible assets that stagger the imagination. However, before these assets are usable and these blessings are attainable, they must be understood. So, in eternity past, the blessings deposited in escrow were made contingent on the future performance of the obligee.

In other words, your advance to spiritual maturity in the PPOG is the contingent for the transfer of your blessings out of escrow to you. Spiritual maturity is the attainment of the believer who has PVTD. It is at that point that we leave behind the lesser blessings of logistical grace and move into the sphere of superior blessings of super-grace. Therefore, when the obligee, through residence in the PPOG, under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine, attains spiritual maturity, he receives the first installment of blessings from the depositary, Jesus Christ. The second installment is conveyed to him at the judgment seat of Christ.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.