rogerant wrote:
All of God's wrath toward the elect was poured out upon His Son. God's wrath is then expiated toward the elect, but remains on the non elect.

"This election was not founded upon foreseen faith, and the obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man, as the prerequisite, cause or condition on which it depended; but men are chosen to faith and to the obedience of faith, holiness, etc.; therefore election is the fountain of every saving good, from which proceeds faith, holiness, and the other gifts of salvation, and finally eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects, according to that of the apostle: "He hath chosen us [not because we were but] that we should be holy, and without blame, before Him in love" (Eph. 1:4)."

"There are not various decrees of election, but one and the same decree respecting all those who shall be saved, both under the Old and New Testament; since the Scripture declares the good pleasure, purpose and counsel of the divine will to be one, according to which He hath chosen us from eternity, both to grace and glory, to salvation and the way of salvation, which He hath ordained that we should walk therein."

According to which decree, He graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe,
while He leaves the non-elect in His just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy.

And herein is especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men, equally involved in ruin; or
that decree of election and reprobation revealed in the Word of God, which though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation."
(Canons of Dordt)

By divine hand alone, at an eternally decreed moment of time in our lives the work of salvation is begun in us.

Sovereign - eternal - and unchangeable election unto salvation, and that cross of Christ, took place outside of us.
These belong to our salvation, and without them there is absolutely no hope of salvation for us.

But because of the very nature of salvation, there must be a work in us.

Do we not read in John 3:3 that we cannot even see the kingdom of God until and unless we have been born again?
And being born again is not something that takes place outside of us but in us.
All the wonders and blessings of salvation we are going to enjoy cannot be received and experienced until and unless we are born again.

That WORK OF GOD whereby salvation is begun in and brought into us is called regeneration.

Equality does not appear in God’s distribution of physical, mental, social and material bestowments.

Equality will not appear, either, in the perfection of the New Heaven and New Earth.
There will be found in perfection the communion of saints, but not the equality of saints.

There is not in the Word of God a more fearful discovery of the depravity of the natural heart than in these words. David says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). God says by the prophet Isaiah, "I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb" (Isaiah 48:8). And Paul says, "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Ephesians 2:3).

But here we are told that the impotency of a natural man, and his aversion from Christ, are so great that they cannot be overcome by any power less than divine. "No man can come unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him."

There never was a teacher like Christ. "Never man spake like this man." He spoke with such authority, not like the scribes, but with a heavenly dignity and power. He spoke with such wisdom; He spoke the truth without any imperfection; His teaching was pure light from the Fountain of light."
(Robert Murray McCheyne)

Whosoever comes to eat of the bread of life will not be sent away hungry. One that will come to Christ does not have to hesitate.

He need not fear that he will be disappointed or ashamed. If one asks he shall receive. He that seeketh shall surely find. To him that knocks it surely shall be opened. On this you may depend. Such is the gospel.

And the gospel is the promise of God that can never fail.

And this promise of the gospel is so indubitably sure to every one that comes to Christ,
because before one can ever come to Him, and even before one can will to come,
the grace of God already operated in his inmost heart and wrought this will to come in him.

Our text refers to this in the expression, 'All that the Father hath given me.' And so at other times - ' Thou gavest them me,' John xvii. 6; and 'The men whom thou hast given me;' 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.' Eph. i. 5, 6.

Now, there was a mystery of love in this election.

It lies in the fact that, but for this further determination of the Father, none of our world would after all have been saved.
To give men full liberty to come and be saved is love indeed.

To procure and provide a ransom available for all who do come, whatever they be, is love yet higher still.

But love can ascend to a height beyond this - far beyond it. It has ascended infinitely higher, for it has resolved to draw many, many thousands to itself, who otherwise would not have come at all."

Andrew Bonar

Rom 9:15 "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory
24 Even us, whom he hath called..."

John 6:63—65 "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."

John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."

Acts 13:48"And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."

Matt. 11:25—30 "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."