Well turn if you would over to
Acts. That's where the first verse that we will start with
today over in Acts. We're concluding today our discussion
on election. We started last week looking
at the scriptures that show that there is a chosen people that
God has elected before the foundation of the world unconditionally.
This election didn't have anything to do with anything that they
did, anything found in them. It's not about any goodness in
them, any action that they do. But this election was before
the world began. He elected these people and gave
them to Christ. They are in union with Christ. We'll read some more verses pertaining
to that this morning. But we looked at several verses
last week showing that there is a place where God does make
a distinction between His people and the rest of the world. A
lot of people believe in election, but they believe in it erroneously. They believe that election had
to do with an ethnic people that God chose out of all other ethnic
people and that these ethnic people are God's chosen people
even today and that one of these days that God is going to gather
all these ethnic people back together in a ethnic spot over
in the Middle East and make them an ethnic kingdom again, or a
kingdom out of ethnicity. And I just don't see that that's
what the Bible teaches. I used to believe that, but I
don't see that that's what the Bible teaches. I see that All
of what happened with the ethnicity of Israel was a type and a foreshadow
of those things which are spiritual. There is an ethnic Israel and
there is a spiritual Israel. There is a physical Israel. People
that God set aside for his use called them out from among everybody
else And then there is a spiritual people that God does the same
thing that he calls out from among everybody else and we looked
at many verses like I said last week that shows that God has
chosen some and Specifically we seeing that we do not choose
Christ, but Christ chooses us Or that God chooses us And we've
seen in John that Jesus made the proclamation, made the, preached
the doctrine. I mean, again, all doctrine is,
is the teachings of the scripture or the teachings of Christ, particularly. And when Christ was here in His
earthly ministry, He taught these people and He taught them doctrine. And the doctrine that He taught
them was a doctrine that taught of one where He was given a people
by the Father and that the Father entrusted to Him to be their
surety, to be their substitute, to be their substitution. to
be their Savior. And so we see that in John, we
read this last week, John 6, verse 37, Jesus said, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. And then he later said in verse
65, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me,
except it were given unto him of my father. So everyone that
cometh to Jesus are the ones that have been given unto him
of the Father. And so when you look at the situation
that you see today, why some are coming to Christ and others
are not coming to Christ is because the ones that are not coming
Or that never come I should say because there may be some that
have yet to come that have not yet come but they are Intended
to come by God at some point in time, but those who live and
die who never come to Christ They were never given to him
by the father because everyone that the father gave him comes
to him and That's why we believe differently here than other primitive
Baptist churches and predestinarian type churches, is that we believe
that everyone who has been elected of God will come to Christ in
faith. And I know a lot of people, they
throw up the arguments about those who have mental disabilities,
about those children, babies, infants, whatever. I can't explain
how it happens. All I know is what the Bible
says. The Bible says that all that have been given to Christ
shall come to him, and all those who come to him he will in no
wise cast out. And so I am assured that everyone
that is elected of God, that is given to the Son, will come
to Jesus Christ. But there are some that say out
there that there are many that will never come to Christ that
they'll never know that they'll never understand or anything.
And so I think that's erroneous. I think the Bible teaches this
very clearly here in John chapter six. We also seen. that uh... uh... jesus made uh... several
statements in john thirteen in john fifteen he has chosen those
men certain men he's chosen them for certain things and then in
john chapter seventeen we went through that whole chapter last
week and we've seen time after time after time after time jesus
in his prayer to the father talking about those who was given to
him. Those that thou hast given me.
That's who he was praying for. That's who he was interceding
for. That's who he was coming to die for. It was those who
had been given to him. And so we left off with John
chapter 17 last week where Jesus said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine. They belong to God. They are
His people. That's why we say they are God's
people. They belong to Him. He gave them
to Christ. So they belong to the Father.
They were given to Christ. Christ has since saved them by
His work of atonement and redemption. And now they are His. Now they have been his all along.
They weren't his just because he came in time and died. They
were always his. He stood as their surety. They
stood in him before the foundation of the world. And we read that
in Ephesians and we'll get back to Ephesians again probably here
in just a little bit. But look with me if you would
this morning. over to Acts chapter 13 we're going to bow and have
a word of prayer and then we're going to look at probably one
of the the verses if not the verse but one of the verses that
really shook my whole foundation that shook my doctrine that I
believe preached for many years and and in this chapter in this
specific verse is where the Lord began to reveal to me the truth
of God's sovereign unconditional election but let's bow our head
and and go to the Lord in prayer Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank you today for your mercy and for your grace. Father, we
thank you for the rain that you've sent to water the things around. Lord, we've been so dry for a
while, and we thank you for the water. And Father, we know that
you're in control of the rains and the floods. And Father, we
know that many people are displaced today because of the floods,
as you have chosen to do so. But Lord, we pray that you would
keep them safe. Lord, we pray your will in all of this be to
your glory and to your honor. We pray father Lord for all those
that are traveling that you might keep them safe today as well
for the Phillips as they drive in from Kansas city area. Lord, we pray for them. We pray
for, uh, uh, this service today, Lord, we ask that you would meet
with us. I pray father that you might speak and minister through
me. to these brethren here today. Lord, I pray that we all might
be edified one to another as your word is being preached and
taught and spoken about as we commune together today. Father,
I pray that you might minister to us as your people. Father,
we pray for this message today. I pray, Lord, that I might speak
truth and not error. Lord, I pray that the truth of
election might be boldly proclaimed. as you have declared it and revealed
it in your Word. Father, we stand behind these
doctrines that you have taught by faith. We stand behind them
knowing that you have promised that they are truth and that
they are life and that they are food for your sheep and so father
we look to those things today uh... and we know that when we
preach and teach these things uh... that uh... they are beneficial
and profitable to the people of god lord we pray for those
who may hear these messages whether by audio or those who have visited
we pray for the visitors that was here last week father we
lift them up before you we pray that the truth that was shared
last week through the scriptures might find a place in their heart
that you might open up their understanding to that, that you
might give them a love for those doctrines, Father. The gentleman
even mentioned that he had been wrestling with these things.
Father, I pray that you might lead him and direct him in his
studies on these things, that that book that he took with him,
Father, that it might not fall on dust and just not be opened,
that His Scriptures might not be closed or His mind closed
to these things, but Father, that You might open up His understanding
as well as His fiancée. Father, we just thank You today
that You've given us this fellowship to be together with. Lord, we
ask You to bless today. And it's in Your Son's precious
name that we pray, Amen. Whenever I was Coming into the
doctrines of grace, as you guys have heard many times before,
I struggled very much with the notion that God would die for
some and not for others, that God would love some and not others,
that God would choose some and not others. That was very foreign
to what I had grown up listening to under my grandfather and under
my parents. And in all the churches that
I'd ever been in and the denomination in which I was a part of It was
it was a foreign thing to hear that God Chose some for salvation
and not others and that he loves some and not others and and and
that was just a foreign thing and so Whenever I began to encounter
other people, especially my uncle, that knew the doctrines of grace,
that the Lord had already brought him to these things earlier in
his life, and he had began to share these things little by
little with our family, they were met with much rejection
in our family. They was met with much rejection
in our church. They was met with much rejection
in me. as i've mentioned several times you know me and him went
back and forth and back and forth on these things but he lovingly
and gently just continued to give me scripture after scripture
he wasn't giving me spurgeon he wasn't giving me gill he wasn't
giving me bb he wasn't giving me all these guys although occasionally
he would send me some Articles and periodicals to read and things
like that, but in our one-on-one correspondence back and forth
it just continually was taking me to the scriptures and that
was God's design and how he brought me and forced me to look at and
deal with his word and what his word said and He had given to me to understand
and know that this is our final rule of faith, that we don't
look to a denomination. Of course, I grew up, and I will
say this about my grandfather and about our church at that
time. is that they did not, or he did
not push denomination, okay? While we were Southern Baptists,
he did not push denomination. As a matter of fact, we didn't
follow a lot of the denominational things that went on. So it wasn't
necessarily that, but I will say that to hear these things
and to be driven to the scripture and forced to see that the scripture
alone dictates what we believe, not by what we've been taught
by our predecessors or what our denomination says or what we
have as a theology in our mind or a seminary or whatever, But
what does God say? And whenever we come to the Word
of God and it tells us something about God, about ourselves, or
about how salvation takes place, we must submit to that and not
say, well, it can't say that because God would not do that.
OK, we don't come at that. We come and says God would not
do that because the scriptures has declared this or that. We come to it first by the scriptures.
This is the revelation. This book is God's revelation
of who he is, what he does, how he does it and how we are and
how we're saved. And so we come at this first.
We don't come about how we feel about God or what we think about
God. We come and we know God because
of how he is revealed in scripture. And so we can't take other denominations
or other religions or other things and say, well, They're just doing
a good, you know, they're still doing a good thing. They still
love the Lord. They're still worshiping the same God. They're
still preaching the same gospel and everything. They just don't
understand. Well, yes, that's true. They may not understand,
but that's the point. The understanding comes in the
new birth. The understanding comes by revelation
of Christ. And if they are born of God,
they are being taught of God, the truth and not a lie, not
error. They're not being taught an erroneous
view of God's predestination, God's election, God's salvation. They're not being taught that
by God, they're being taught that by man. So if they continue
to hold to a false gospel, if they continue to be holding to
election erroneously, unbiblically, or to predestination unbiblically,
or to God's sovereignty unbiblically, man's responsibility and all
that kind of stuff, if they're holding to those things in an
unbiblical way that doesn't line up with the Scriptures, Then
it then it's because they're being taught by man and not by
God because God is not teaching contrary to his own word. God isn't teaching one man that
you come by your own free will and that you choose him and then
he gives you eternal life. Whenever the scripture says that
because you have eternal life. He has sent his spirit into you
crying Abba father You see that's the difference is that there
is a similarity in what we believe and what others believe there
is a very close similarity and they're very good people and
they're very moral people and and they have a zeal for God,
and we want to include them, and we want to embrace them,
and we want to love them, and we want to have them a part of
what we are. But whenever we see that they're
preaching a different gospel, that's where we separate. We
can't receive that. We can't accept that. as the
truth. And while we still love them
and we still pray for them and we still want to see them to
be accepted and to be brought into fellowship with us, we cannot
compromise the gospel. And so whenever we look into
these things, we must determine whether or not in a saying that
I've come to have to say very often is, let God be true and
every man a liar. There are many people, friends,
lots of friends that I encounter that I know that I have had to
turn away from as far as, not in a bad sense, you know, I'm
still cordial to them and I still try to keep a term of friendship
with them. However, there are a lot of times
that we have to separate and disagree and I have to reject
their gospel as a false gospel whenever they turn away from
the scriptures and will not submit to the scriptures. and so that
term let God be true and every man a liar basically means that
that what God says is what we go by and and the inventions
of man or the doctrines of man the traditions of man they become a hindrance actually to us whenever
we begin to look at them because man in the flesh will have knowledge
and wisdom in the flesh. But those things will not be
the knowledge and wisdom of God. And so we have to repudiate those
things and accept what the Lord has given to us in his word. And so I pray that in all these
studies, whether it be the studies on the doctrines of grace or
whatever we're studying, whatever topic that we are looking at
from time to time through the expositions of scripture, that
everything will be weighed by God's word. and not by what we
were taught growing up or what we were taught or even preached
and everything. I remember a few conversations
that me and brother Howard had of his learning more of the scriptures
even after he become a preacher. And as he preached, he would
preach on things that he was convicted of and felt was scriptural. But as the Lord taught him more
fully the things of God and the scriptures and everything, that
he had to change his positions on things. And I'm the same way. I've had those opportunities
of recanting myself and correction. And so we continually are growing.
So if we ever stay static and just say, well, what I know is
the truth, and I'm never going to change my mind about anything,
then we're really doing a disservice to ourselves. If we good morning. Good to see you guys. If we if
we think that we're you know, we've we've come to the full
knowledge that we know and that there's nothing more to learn
that we already know it then then We find ourself in a bad
place because the Lord continually teaches us and and in this is
one of the places where I came oh My it's been now Oh, probably, let's see, 17,
14 years ago now. 14 years ago, 15 years ago, began
to see these truths and my doctrine completely had to change. And
this is the verse that really transformed my thinking about
God, about salvation, and pressed me to search the Scriptures.
So if you'll look with me, Acts chapter 13, Now I'm going to read this whole
chapter so that we can see the context of what's going on here. It says, Now there were in the
church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas
and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manan,
which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereunto I have called them. Now, we won't get
into this here, but here we see that the Holy Spirit works not
only in conjunction with the individual, but also within conjunction
of the gathered assembly. And when they had fasted and
prayed, they laid their hands on them, and they sent them away.
So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia,
and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at
Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the
Jews, and they had also John to their minister. And when they had gone through
the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet,
a Jew whose name was Barjesus, which was with the deputy of
the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for
Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. But
Elmas, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood
them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul,
who is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes
upon him, and said, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief,
thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt
thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" Now,
I just want to stop here and make a side note. Do you see
how Paul addresses this man? Those who are against God, that
are antichrist, and are boldly and outwardly preaching and teaching
things that are outwardly contrary to the things of God. You know,
I think we need to be, and with all of what I said before this,
I also want to reiterate this we need to be gentle with those
who are close to us. Okay. There are a lot of people
that are preaching false Gospels in ignorance. I preach the false
gospel in ignorance, but I'm thankful that the men that brother
Royce brother JC brother Tom Brother Doar, Brother Rains,
Brother Keener. I'm thankful that these men,
whenever I began to come in among them, didn't shut me down, didn't
destroy my faith, so to speak, didn't destroy any confidence,
didn't destroy me and turn me away and cast me off and cast
me away because I didn't fully understand some of these things.
that they in love gently instructed me with God's Word and they taught
me the doctrines of grace and showed me and instructed me in
the doctrines of grace where I was still beginning to see
these things. I still held some of those things and they didn't
just shut me out. So there are people that are out there that
I think that are close that we need to be cautious of and be
gentle with and continue to encourage them in the Scriptures, to encourage
them in God's Word and to show them the things of God. But then
there are those who are blatantly, outright anti-Christ. Their message
is anti-Christ. Their whole system of religion
is anti-Christ. And look at what Paul said here.
He looked at this guy right in the face and he called him a
child of the devil and an enemy of righteousness. He told him
that he was perverting the right ways of the Lord. And a lot of
people get so wound up whenever we confront these things. We must confront wrong doctrine. We must confront wrong theology. We must confront
erroneous gospels that are being preached and religious systems
that are out there that are antithetical and anti-Christ. anti-federal god's word and anti-christ
we must confront those things and paul did this a lot of people
say will hold over to do these right here is a and is a jesus
is an example he confronted these men in their error That doesn't
mean we have to be hateful. Now, I see that all over the
Internet. You know, doctrines of grace
believing men who are mean to each other over the Internet
whenever they have disagreements. And they, you know, cast each
other aside and speak haughty and evil against each other.
And they don't really need to be doing that. But here Paul
spoke to this man firmly and directly and said, what you're
believing and what you're teaching is erroneous. It's of the devil,
it's an enemy of righteousness, and it perverts the right ways
of the Lord. And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon
thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.
And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and
he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the
deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord." Now, he was astonished at the
doctrine of the Lord, not astonished at making the man blind. He was astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. Now, when Paul and his company
loosed from Paphos, They came to Perga and Pamphylia, and John,
departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed
from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down." Now, I want you
guys to keep in mind again, there was an act, there was a time
whenever the church at Jerusalem was scattered in the dispersion.
They were scattered. And in that scattering, they
went out to all places. But whenever they went out, they
began to gather wherever they went, they began to gather again,
in gatherings into congregations. And here we see that there were
Jews, even among these Gentiles, there were still Jews among the
Gentiles. And that's why we see Paul going
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he sat down, and after
the reading of the law and of the prophets, the rulers of the
synagogue said unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have
any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood
up, and beckoning with his hands, said, Men of Israel, and ye that
fear God and give audience, The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as
strangers in the land of Egypt and with a high arm brought them
out of it. And about the time of forty years
suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had
destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided the
land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them
judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years until
Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a
king, and God given to them Saul the son of Sis, a man of the
tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had
removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king,
to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David
the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. Of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. And when John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think
ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham, and whoever among you feareth God, to you
is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at
Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, they
have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no
cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher.
But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen many days of
them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are
his witnesses under the people. And we declare unto you, glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second
psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And
as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no
more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also
in another psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption for david after he had served his own generation
by the will of god fell on sleep and was laid unto his father
and saw corruption but he whom god raised again saw no corruption
Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and
by him all that believe are justified from all things from which he
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore,
lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets.
Behold, ye despisers and wonder and perish, for I work and work
in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though
a man declare it unto you. And when the Jews were gone out
of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might
be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation
was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and
spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
here it is. Here's the verse that changed
my whole course of thinking. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as that phrase is very important, as many as not all, but only
as many as the Lord, or excuse me, as many
as were ordained to eternal life, believe. Now, I read all that
context so that you might see that God does choose and elect
a people for salvation and it is not an ethnic thing. It's not about nations and choosing
nations because in this context, Paul and Barnabas are preaching
to Jews and Gentiles And in this we see that there were Jews that
were preached the same message, the same doctrine. They refused
and rejected, but there were some who received it who were
not of Abraham lineage. They received it, but it was
because as many as were ordained to eternal life believe. So to
me, this whole thing right here, this is what shattered my perception
of election. This is what shattered my perception
of God choosing just nations, okay? And now, even to this day,
I look back on that and I say, well, that was kind of dumb anyway,
because if you choose a nation, you're still choosing some individuals
over other individuals. What's the difference between
choosing a nation for salvation and choosing a group of many
people from many nations for just salvation? The end result
is the same. You've chosen some, but you've
not chosen others. Now where the Armenian goes wrong
is they say, well, yeah, he has chosen Israel to be saved specifically,
but he's also chosen others to be saved as well if they'll believe. OK, so we have an issue. We have
a problem here. You're saying one of two things.
You're either saying that everyone has been chosen and will be saved
because they've been chosen. And so that's either going to
be Israel and everybody else. At that point, what's the difference
of making a distinction with ethnic Israel? Okay, if you're
going to make it where God has chosen ethnic Israel to be his
people, and now he's chosen the Gentiles as a people, then what
difference does that make? Because now everybody's chosen.
And if it still resides on believing, then what difference did it make
about the Jews? And why are you pointing to Jews
in the future? Okay, Israel, or the second thing
you're saying is that Israel is chosen and elected of God
for salvation, but now the Gentiles are elected, but only if they
believe. Encounter distinction between
from the Israelites who they don't have to believe their ethnicity
saves them. These over here have to believe
because they're Gentiles. And so God has chosen the Gentiles
to come by faith. The Israelites are to come by
ethnicity. OK, you see where that leaves
us, brethren, whenever we make election to be of that sort.
But this whenever I begin to study that, because I because
I believe that nation of Israel was the ones that was elected
and that the election in Romans was talking about the election
of nations and that God elected a people to chose them to be
his vessel to carry the the the the teachings of God and all
this things. Acts 13 whenever I studied that
whenever I came to this verse I studied this and then I backtrack
and I seen what come before that Whenever I studied this out and
I seen wait a minute. Wait a minute Paul is preaching
to both Jew and Gentile here He is preaching to those of the
seed of Abraham by blood but he's also preaching to Gentiles
who are not of the seed of Abraham by blood and and it is those
who were not of the seed of Abraham by blood who were ordained to
eternal life and thus believed. So then that right there because
i'd already begin to see is my eschatology that israel that
that that eschatology wasn't about israel that eschatology
that that israel was a nation that was used for a time and
then god was done with israel at that appointed time and that
it was used and meant for a type in a foreshadow of his spiritual
people and that all throughout all history the ones who are
of christ or his spiritual people So I began to see that before
the doctrines of grace actually, but whenever I've seen this,
it made it so much clearer that here we see that it isn't about
the ethnicity because the ethnicity wasn't ordained to eternal life
here. These men rejected him. These men didn't believe these
men put off. He said, It said, But when the
Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake
against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. See, brethren, we can even see
that among Christianity, quote unquote, today, whenever we speak
the things that Paul spoke, that Jesus spoke. And remember, remember
those verses we left off with last week. Jesus praying to the
father Interceding for only those that had been given to him and
not the rest of the world Interceding for those which had been given
to him and all those that had been given to him He said would
come to me and that none of them would be cast off He said those
that were given to him were given to him and come to him because
they were given that by the father to come to them to come to him
and Okay. So whenever we preach that doctrine,
do we not see today among quote unquote Christianity, uh, those
who just like the Jews are filled with envy and speak those things,
uh, which by us are spoken and contradict them and blaspheme
against them. Listen, I've heard loved ones
blaspheme God. Whenever you talk about God choosing,
and they say, I would never serve a God who would do that. They're
blaspheming God. I would never serve a God who
is a God like that. My God is not. That's blaspheming
God. And they're doing the exact same
thing. But as I said here, if we look at verse 48, we see it
didn't say. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as believed were ordained to eternal life, that's not what
it says. It said, as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. There's a big difference in that.
The believing came because the causation, the condition for
their believing was that they were ordained to eternal life.
The only way that you can say that salvation is conditional
is whenever you talk about the eternal covenant. Salvation is
conditional. It's conditioned upon the eternal
covenant. But if you're talking about man,
there are no conditions that man makes to be elected and to
be redeemed. That is unconditional. On God's
part, it is conditional. It's conditional upon the eternal
covenant. On man's part, it's unconditional.
It has nothing to do with us. And this right here was proof
positive. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Among the Gentiles? Yes. Among the Jews? Yes. Are the
Jews going to be saved? Are there going to be some among
the Jews, among Israel that are going to be saved? Absolutely.
That's why Paul made that argument in Romans 9. I myself am a Jew. I myself am of Israel. So this is proof that God hasn't
cast off Israel and is not going to save any of Israel, because
I'm proof. After Christ died, I was saved. I was brought to conversion to
see Him. My whole life changed. Everything
changed. So I'm proof of that. So brethren,
this right here is foundational for us to understand that salvation,
number one, has nothing to do with what you choose or do. Second of all, has nothing to
do with ethnicity. The Israel of God by skin, by
blood, by lineage, has nothing to do with salvation. Nothing
to do with salvation. It has absolutely nothing to
do. And they are not going to be
gathered together as another people for any special purpose
in the future because of their ethnicity. Because it all... Christ's kingdom is a spiritual
kingdom. And the one who rules that spiritual
kingdom is Christ. And in that spiritual kingdom,
everyone who is a part of that spiritual kingdom, the Bible
says, are made priests and kings. So I, a Gentile, am in the kingdom
of God, the spiritual kingdom of God, am made a priest and
a king. Not because of Israel. Israel
is not going to be made priests and kings over all the rest of
the elect of God. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ Jesus. There is no
distinction there. Are there some saved out of every
tribe, language, nation, tongue? Absolutely. There will be a representation
of every people group that God has made in the elect of God. But is there a distinction between
them? Absolutely not. They are the
elect of God. They are brethren and they're
brothers and sisters in Christ. Joint heirs with Jesus. There's
not one that's going to be the joint heir more than the other
one. They are joint heirs. You know what joint heir means?
They split everything. Everything is even across the
board. We haven't, if you, if you're a man or a wife and you
have a joint bank account, that means my wife has as much right
to my bank account as I have to my bank account. That's a
joint bank account. Well, if we are joint heirs with
Jesus, then that means that our heirship is as equal footing
as Jesus's, and everyone that is in Christ is equal footing.
Same as that. And so this was foundational.
Acts 13 was so foundational to me understanding election. And
from there, when I seen that believing came because they were
ordained to eternal life, then a lot of things changed. That's whenever I began to go
through my Scriptures and I began to highlight all these areas
that talked about in John. All that the Father had given
me. No one can come except it be given. All these things that
show that not only did God choose a certain people, but God Himself
was the cause of their belief. Any thoughts on Acts 13.48 or
anything like you said? Well, turn with me to Romans. Romans chapter 8. Brother Larry
refers to this as the golden chain. Romans chapter 8. So knowing
this now, those who were ordained to eternal life believed. The
causation of belief was God's foreordination, right? God's
foreordination. Romans chapter 8 and verse 29
says, For whom He did foreknow. Now let's just stop there and
make note of these words for whom. So we're talking about
a group of people here. The rest of this passage is pertaining
to a group of people. Now, who are those people? Well,
the rest of the verse will show us, but the preceding verse shows
us as well. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are thee
called, not to them who are called. Some of the modern translations
drop the thee, but actually in the Textus Receptus, the definite
article thee is there. So the translation should include
thee. In the modern translations, they
leave it out and make it to those who are called. But the is there
and the King James translators is right on spot here. That's
what the scriptures, that's what the word of God is. To them who
are the called, because it's a group of people, they are the
called out ones. They are the called. It is a
group of people contrary and distinct from those who are not. There are those who are called
and there are those who are not called. Jesus made that very
clear. There are those that the Father
has given to Christ who He gives them the enabling to hear the
voice of God and to follow Him. They're the called. My sheep
hear My voice, and they..." What? "...they follow Me." When they're
called, they are called. They're the ones He is calling. And He says He calls them by
name, doesn't He? He says that He calls them out,
and they follow Him. Another's voice they don't follow,
but they do follow His. Now, that is perfectly clear
that if Jesus is calling, if He's the Shepherd, and He's calling
them out, what is He calling them out of? He's calling them
out of unbelief. He's calling them out of their
sin. He's calling them out of death.
He's calling them out of everything that pertains to their fallenness
in Adam. Now, some of these things we're
not going to experience until the end, but He has called them
out. They are the called. The ones
who have been called out from distinction among those who are
the uncalled. For whom? That's who. the call according to his purpose. Now wait a minute. There's a
there's a group of people that are called according to his purpose.
Absolutely. Absolutely. They are called according
to his purpose. That's why we'll see in Romans
chapter 9. He said that there are vessels of mercy that God
has called for a specific purpose. It says, for whom He did foreknow. It didn't say for what He foreknew. See, the ones that want to say
that God looked down to the corridor of time and seen that we would
believe, okay, that is what He saw. But it didn't say what He
saw. He didn't see us believing. He
saw people for whom He foreknew, not for what He foreknew. It
says, for whom he did foreknow. So all those ones that he foreknew. And again, we've talked about
this many times that that word foreknow doesn't mean just cognitive
knowledge of future events. That's not what that's talking
about. It's talking about those who he had a relationship to. Those who were the called. Those who were the beloved the
loved those who are in Christ Jesus Those who were the ones
who before the foundation of the world were blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places Those are the ones he's
talking about when Jesus at the judgment says depart from me
for I never knew you I These over here, He says, enter
in all ye whom I have known. Is the contradistinction between
what He says to these? To the goats, He says, depart,
for I never knew you. To the sheep, come, ye blessed
of my Lord, ye blessed of God, ye who are the called, the ones
who I have called out by name, my sheep. Those are the ones
that he's talking about. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, so that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, not what he did predestinate, but whom
he did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified."
I always like to go backwards in this link. The ones at the
end who are going to be glorified are the ones who were justified.
The ones who were justified were the ones who were called. The
ones who were called were the ones who were predestinated to
be conformed to the image of God. And the ones who were conformed
to the image of God were the ones whom He foreknew. And the
ones whom He foreknew were the called. That's how I like to
look at it and go backwards in the line. We always go forward
in the line, but we learn a lot by going backwards in the line.
That kind of sets it a little bit more to an understanding
that we can grasp because we're looking at something that we
know definitely that's going to happen. There are going to
be those who are glorified and that's only going to be a group
of people, right? Not everyone's going to be glorified.
Only the people of God are going to be glorified. Only the people
of God were justified. Only the people of God were called.
But there's where it ends. A lot of people say before that
no one was the people of God. But if you look back, that goes
further and further back. Those who were called out were
the ones who were the called already. They were called in
election, called out by grace, called out by conversion. Now, He goes on to write, Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for, who? Us. Everyone wants to make that a
blanket statement. Remember the context is the called. before
the foundation of the world, those who were called before
the foundation of the world is the ones in view here. If God
be for us, who can be against us? Okay. So, so it's, it's still
a little ambiguous, not so much ambiguous, but it is ambiguous
a little because it's still down to the called The whom, the foreknown,
okay? That's who He's talking about,
okay? What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Oh, wait a
minute. Delivered us up for us all. So
that's talking about the world. So obviously, the called, the
whom, the foreknown are talking about everywhere. The whole world,
all. No, no, no, no, no. Remember,
if we keep it in context, that all is also the ones who will
be glorified and justified. That all, in verse 32, who who delivered him up for
us all that all is the same all who is the glorified and justified
inverse thirty who is the four known inverse twenty nine who
is the call in twenty eight so still a little ambiguous here
but not so much ambiguous but it is a little ambiguous How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now, wait a minute. If we take
that all, is he freely going to give all things to everyone? No. Who's the ones that's freely
given all things? Those who are in Christ, right?
Those are the ones who are given all things. So there's still
a little ambiguity, not so much ambiguity if you ask me, but
still a little ambiguity, but it's getting clear. But the Holy
Spirit throws the hammer down here in verse 33, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemneth, and it is Christ that died, yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for who? The elect. Who shall separate
the elect from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things the elect are more than conquerors through him that loved
the elect. for I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angel, nor principality, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate the elect
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now
if you don't mind me interjecting the word elect there because
the context very well points out that's what is in view. So,
until we get to verse 33, there's a little ambiguity on who the
whom, the called, all these people are. But the Holy Spirit lays
that clear in verse 33 and says, who shall lay a charge to God's
elect. Now, if he's talking here, now
this precedes Romans 9. Remember that. If he is talking
about ethnic Israel, Who shall lay it? Then there is no charge
to any of ethnic Israel. So you can't go into Romans 9
saying he's talking about nations. He's talking about Jacob and
Esau as nations. No, no, no. He's talking about
individuals. Romans 8 points out that there
is no charge to God's elect. And if he's talking about ethnic
Israel, Then it doesn't matter that the Israelites have been
blinded all these years. It doesn't matter that they rejected
Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter that they blasphemed
him and that even to this day still continue to be anti-Christ. It doesn't matter. They're going
to be saved. John Hagee was right. That's not what it says. And so from 33 down, we see very
clearly that it's the elect that is in view for what Christ has
done. Now let's take a break and use
the restroom, get a drink if you need to, and then we'll hop
in to Romans nine. We got a few other verses to
look at as well, but we'll stop right there and take a break.