AG STUDY GUIDE FINAL - The Forerunner

The word “beloved” is another word that refers to the elect. Though the
passages in which it appears are too numerous to mention, let’s look at just one
passage:
“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren
beloved of the LORD, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation.” II Thessalonians. 2:13
Another term God uses to refer to His elect children is “sheep.” In John 10:26
Jesus declared to the unbelieving Jews, "But you do not believe, because you are
not of My sheep.”
5. Note that Jesus did not say, “_____________you did not believe, you are not
my sheep.” Instead, he declared the opposite: they did not believe BECAUSE
they were not members of His flock. The word “because” assigns the reason for
their unbelief — they simply were not His sheep or elect. His sheep will believe.
Matthew Henry, explains the meaning of this passage:
“Ye (speaking to a group of Jews) are not designed to be my followers;
ye are not of those that were given me by my Father, to be brought to
grace and glory. Ye are not of the number of the elect; and your
unbelief, if you persist in it, will be certain evidence that you are not.”
As stated earlier, many today either ignore or deny the concept of election.
Many see it as unfair or unjust. How could a loving God, they ask, choose to give
some mercy and grace and withhold it from others?
Well, before we to dare subject God and His word to the bar of human
conceptions of fairness, consider this:
6. Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr.: Nobody seems to have a problem that God called out
Israel and set them apart and set his love upon them and distinguished
them...God didn’t come in a bush to Pharaoh and say, “Hey Pharaoh, I’m going
to be your God. I’m going to take care of you and all your people and I’m going
to give you my law and I’m going to place you in a land and I’m going to give
you grace galore and through you the nations will be blessed.” But now in the
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