The name of this message is,
Why Preach Election? Why Preach Election? Now, God's
born-again, blood-washed children, the believers on the Lord Jesus
Christ, we absolutely love the doctrine of election. We love
it. And the reason we love it is because we know, and we've
been taught, as D.J. Ward used to say, if God hadn't
chosen the people, then there'd be no one saved. He used to say,
if God had chosen some, then heaven would have none. And it's
so true. Because as we saw last night
in our study in Hosea, there's none that seeketh after God.
There's none that understandeth. There's none good, no, not one.
So by nature, we do not want God. By nature. But isn't it
amazing by God's sovereign grace and power, according to the fact
that he elected us in Christ. He chose us, and people don't
like that word, but the word chosen in Christ in Ephesians
1, 4 means to select. So it obviously means that God
selected a people in Christ. And God didn't look down through
time and see who would select him. That's a lie. If anyone's
ever told you that, that God chose a people because he looked
down through time and saw who would choose them, that's a lie. Because there's none righteous,
no, not one. He looked down through time and
no one sought him. No one. And he chose a people
based upon his free and sovereign grace, all according to his will
and pleasure. And we say, hallelujah, what
a Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord, because if he hadn't have
chose me, I would never have come to Christ. My. I ask you this. Have you ever been asked as a
believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, Why preach election? Why do you
folks preach election? Why do you talk about election?
And I've been asked that. Why preach election, Wayne? Well,
there's four reasons I'm going to give us from scripture. Why
I preach God's eternal and unconditional election of a people in Christ
unto salvation. The first point is this, and
And this is the most important point. God has declared it in
his word. God has declared it in his word.
Now people say, well, I don't believe that election stuff.
Well, God's declared it in his word. So your argument is with
God. Because it's all through the
scripture. God chose elect angels and other
angels that would fall. God chose a nation out of all
the nations of the world, Israel. That's a picture of God's church.
He left the, he left the Hittites in darkness. He left the Amorites
in darkness. He left the Egyptians in darkness.
But praise God, he had a people. of the Gentiles. So Jew and Gentile
make up the body of Christ, those who are truly born again of the
Holy Spirit of God. So the reason we proclaim and
preach and teach election is because God's Word declares it.
Listen to this in Ephesians chapter 1. According, verse 4, And this
is Paul writing to born-again, blood-washed saints. He's not
writing to the whole world. He's writing to a church, the
church at Ephesus. And he says this, according as
he hath chosen, in the Greek word, that means to select. So
it could read this, according as he hath selected us in him,
that in him is Christ, so God selected a people in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Why? That we should be holy. We're unholy by nature. We're
made holy in Christ. And without blame, before him,
before God the Father, in love. Isn't that magnificent? That's
magnificent. And then Paul writes this to
a very young church. Very young church. When he wrote
1 and 2 Thessalonians, he's writing to a very young church. And people
often say, well, you shouldn't preach election to new converts.
Well, Paul did. Listen to what Paul writes in
1 Thessalonians 1, verse 4. Knowing, brother and beloved,
your election of God. to select your selection of God. God selected the people, not
based on anything in them, but according to His goodwill and
pleasure. So, we declare this truth because the scriptures
declare it. I'll give you another one. This
is wonderful. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse
13. Paul's again writing another
letter to the saints at Thessalonica. And listen to what he writes
in chapter 2, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord. So notice
who he's talking to. He's talking to the brethren,
men and women who've been saved by God's grace. And notice how
he puts that, brethren beloved of the Lord. Do you know we're
divinely loved ones? Isn't that amazing? Listen to
this. 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. That's what the Bible says. And
then, look, it says, through sanctification of the Spirit,
you must be born again in belief in the truth. Those who God chose
will be born again, and they will believe the truth by God-given
faith. Isn't that wonderful, beloved?
Oh, it makes our hearts sing. My! And since God said it in
his word, it's both true and necessary that I or any other
preacher of the Lord We don't have any authority to omit this
truth. As a matter of fact, we don't
desire to omit the truth. We're like Paul when Paul said,
I held nothing back from you that was profitable. Listen to what 2 Timothy 3, 16
and 17, and this could be a good scripture to take people to when
they ask, why do you preach election? It's 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17,
all scripture. That includes the doctrine of
election. All scripture, whether you like
it or not, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. Why? That the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And that
doesn't mean perfect in the flesh, no. That means to have a knowledge
of the truth of the scriptures. And we see through a glass darkly
right now. Oh yeah, we do. But God's taught
us a few things, doesn't he? And he's taught us what 2 Thessalonians
2.13 says, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief in the truth. Believe in the truth. Yeah, the
preaching of the gospel. Isn't that wonderful? We wouldn't,
we wouldn't, if God didn't, if God didn't choose us, we'd never
come to Christ. If we weren't born again, we'd
never seek him. And then, and then if he didn't
give us faith, we'd never believe him. Man, we can praise God for
choosing us in Christ. We can praise God for raising
us from our dead natural state, spiritually dead, to being spiritually
alive, reborn, born again. And then we can praise Him for
giving us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So what
can we conclude? Salvations of the Lord. Isn't
that wonderful? And just as Paul proclaimed to
the Ephesian elders, God's preachers do not shun to declare the doctrine
of election, because we must not keep anything profitable
from those who hear us preach. Number two, the second reason
I preach election is that it gives all the glory to God. all
the glory to God in the salvation of a sinner from beginning to
end. It gives him all the glory. We
got nothing to boast in, beloved. Our conformity, and think of
this, our conformity to Christ as he's conforming us, the Holy
Spirit's conforming us to the image of Christ, and our ultimate
glorification when we will be with Christ and have no sin is
inseparably linked to and begins with our election in Christ in
eternity. How do we know that? Well, listen
to verses 3 and 4 of Ephesians chapter 1. Blessed be God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him, in love. And then, that verse we just
read again, I'll read it again over in 2 Thessalonians 2.13.
Listen to how this verse proclaims that salvation is of the Lord. Listen to this. But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you. We give thanks for our
salvation, we give thanks for our brethren's salvation, right? Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning, starts with God, chosen you to
salvation. That's what the scripture says.
Through how? There's a means. Through sanctification
of the spirit, you must be born again and we're sanctified in
Christ and belief of the truth. Do you believe the truth? Do
you believe the preaching of the gospel of God's grace? That salvation's only in and
through Christ? That's a gift from God. Because
by nature, we don't believe that. The third reason I preach election,
God's free and sovereign election of a people in Christ, is that
It's a most comfortable doctrine to the saints of God. I'll be
honest with you, election is probably my favorite doctrine
out of all the scriptures. And Donny Bell once told me,
every preacher has a favorite doctrine. His was the holiness
of God. Mine is the electing grace of
God. Because I know that if God hadn't chosen me, I never would
have chosen him. I never would have. I wouldn't
have wanted nothing to do with them. Isn't that amazing? And all whom God chose in Christ
have all spiritual blessings in Christ. All whom God chose in Christ
were blessed with all spiritual blessings. And think of this,
there is nothing needful or necessary that has been withheld. In Christ,
we have all spiritual blessings. Why? Well, for in Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Our salvation is in the
person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's God in the flesh. And listen
to what Paul writes. Colossians 2 9 and 10. For in
him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and ye are
complete. Complete in him. Not mostly complete. Not that
you got to do something. Not, oh, you got to make yourself
this. No, beloved, rejoice. We're complete
in him. And you are completed in Him,
which is the head of all principality and power. He is King of kings,
and He is Lord of lords, and He saved us all by the shedding
of His precious, precious blood to redeem our eternal souls.
My, isn't it wonderful? Jesus Christ, the God-man, died
for sinners such as we. It's amazing. Shed His blood to save us from
all our sins. And the fourth and last reason
why I preach election the God's free and sovereign grace and
his free, his free freedom to choose whom
he would save is this, because it shuts me up to God's sovereign
grace and to God's mercy in Christ. And you know what it excludes?
Boasting. It excludes boasting. Talking to Sister Linda last
night. She mentioned someone that told her, oh, I've won so
many souls to Christ. That's boasting. That's just
boasting. And Linda said, you know, only
God can save, can't he? And I'm like, amen, sister, you
got it. Only Jesus can save. My, oh my. I preach the word,
but it's the Lord that does the saving. So what do I mean when I say
it shuts us up to God's sovereign and mercy in Christ and excludes
boasting? I'll say this. It kills. It kills any of our ideas that
salvation is by personal merit, works, or our supposed will. Free will. We have a will. I'm not going to deny we have
a will. But before we're born again, our will is tied to a
dead nature and all it wants to do is sin. You ask the believer
if they got a struggle now. Oh, yeah. Now we got a struggle. Now we do. But God's electing
grace, oh, it kills any idea of salvation by any of our works. And you know what it does? It
causes us to seek He, the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is the
salvation of God. Listen to this. If you want to
turn near your kin, 1 Corinthians 1. I'm going to read this and
finish. Verses 26 to 30. For ye see your
calling, brethren. Who's he writing to? He's writing
to the brethren. He's not writing to all the world,
is he? He's writing to born-again, blood-washed saints. For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. Now foolish there is just
common. He's chosen common people. I'm
a common guy. Raised in Canada, born and raised
in Canada, grew up in a small town, just a common fella. And the Lord saved me, praises
my name. God had chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. And God had chosen, listen
to how many times he said chosen. In verse 27 of 1 Corinthians
1, he says it twice, beloved. He says, but God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. Well, I think that word chosen
means he chose. See, the problem is man doesn't
want God to be sovereign, but he still is. Because listen to
verse 28, and the base things of the world. In things which
are despised hath God chosen. There it is again. Yea, in things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Why? That no
flesh should glory in his presence, but of him. Now he's talking
to Christians. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us. This
is God's made unto us wisdom. He's all our wisdom. Righteousness. He's the Lord my righteousness.
Sanctification. I'm sanctified in Christ. Oh
my. And redemption. He's my savior. He's redeemed me with his precious,
precious blood from all my sins out from under the law. That's
magnificent. Why? That according to his written,
he that glorieth them, glory in the Lord. Amen and amen.