I'm gonna be in the book of Ephesians
if you'd like to turn there. Both hours. Ephesians chapter
one. One of the most simplest ways
to know if you believe the truth or if you believe the lie where
if a man is preaching the truth or a man is preaching the lie,
he has to ask a simple question, who chose who? Who chose who? And that's what I've titled this
message, Who Chose Who? We preach Christ's salvation
by grace alone. We preach that Christ is the
reason there is salvation. Without him, there is none. It's
God's choice. It's not my choice. It's God's
choice, not man's choice. It's where we got not by the
will of flesh or the will of blood, but of God. It's God's
choice. This is what we preach. Salvation
is by God's design. It's by His will. It's by His
purpose. It's by His power. It's by His
choice. And without Him, there is no
salvation. And a lot of people preach that
it's Him plus something we do, and we don't preach that. We
preach that it's God's choice. Remember this, never forget this.
It's His salvation. It's His salvation. He earned
it. He purchased it with his own
blood. It's his salvation. It's not, it becomes ours because
he bestows it upon us freely by his grace. But it's, David
said in Psalm 51, after he had sinned with Bathsheba, restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. This is what we know. This is
what we preach. Let's read our text. Ephesians chapter one,
verse one through six. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
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, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
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. Who chose who? Now, we don't preach opinions.
We're not preaching opinions. We're preaching what the Lord
has declared. We're preaching facts. We're
not preaching formulas. We're preaching facts. And the
fact of the matter is found If you'll look in verse four,
according as he hath chosen us. Now that's as simple as we can
get. I'm not adding words to the scripture. I'm not making
it say something it doesn't mean. I'm literally declaring he hath
chosen us. Well, who's the us? Well, that's
very important. Look at verse one. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the will of God of the saints, which are
at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Who are the
faithful in Christ Jesus? Those God chose to make faithful
in Christ Jesus. That's the most important part
right there. We're faithful because we're in Christ. See, the Lord's
made us, his people, to be faithful in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who chose who? The offense of
the cross is not that Jesus died. That's not the offense. It's
not that he was buried. It's not that he was risen again
from the grave. That's not the offense of the
cross. It's how that Christ died according to the scriptures,
how they buried him, how he was resurrected according to the
scriptures. He died for a purpose. He died
for a reason. It was prophesied that he would
die. He died according to the will
of God for a purpose, and that purpose was to redeem those that
were given to him by the Father, that were chosen in the covenant
of grace. This is God's choice, and this
is simple. This is not a complicated message
this morning. It's a very simple message, but
what comfort is it to the believer when we hear the Lord say to
the disciples, he said, you didn't choose me, I've chose you. And
that's the same in salvation. That's not any different. The
Lord does the choosing, the Lord does the saving, the Lord does
the calling, and the Lord does all the keeping. Salvation belongs
to the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. The offense of the cross is not
that he died and we have to do something to make it effective,
effective or effectual. The offense of the cross is that
he did not die for everyone. That offends people. That offends
people. The Lord said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy and whom I will, I will harden. I will harden. How does the Lord
harden someone? He just leaves them to themselves.
If he leaves me to myself, my flesh, this heart of stone won't
change, will it, for the better? It'll just harden. It'll just
get worse and worse. The depravity of man, there's
no way we can get better in ourself. It has to be the Lord to do miraculous
work of grace in the heart. The offense of the cross is that
he died for those given to him by the Father before time. It
was designed all by love. We were predestinated. And that
predestinated came with a purposed outcome. What was the purposed
outcome? To be conformed to the image
of his son. He purposed this of his own will, of his own purpose,
of his own pleasure. And he had the power to do it.
You and I don't have the power to save ourself or to change.
Well, the scripture tells us, can the, you heard me quote this
maybe last week, I'm not sure, but it says, can the leopard
change his spots or the Ethiopian his skin? The Lord asked and
told the disciples and some of the others, he said, which man
among you can add a cubit to his stature? Nobody, we can't
change ourself in that regard, is what he's saying. So what
is our hope? That the Lord does the work that
he chose in mercy and in grace with great designs by love to
redeem us from what we are, from what we do, and from where we're
going. Because if we're left to ourself,
we won't be in glory. Well, those that don't know the
Lord, those that are not chosen in the covenant of grace, it's
eternal hell. That's the alternative. It's
that simple. This morning the question is,
who chose who? Why is that the issue? Well,
Because so many times, that's what it comes down to. So many
times in false religion, or in what the scripture calls pure
religion, true religion, there's only one religion and it's God's.
The rest of them are false religions. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, there's one religion, the Lord calls it pure religion.
In pure religion, which is what we preach and believe, God gets
all the glory because he did all the choosing. In false religion,
Man gets the glory because God may have made a way, but they
have to make a choice. And that takes the glory and
the honor off of God and focuses on the individual. That's why
this is the issue this morning. Oftentimes in speaking to people,
trying to talk to them about salvation, about the Lord's gospel,
The flesh hates the thought that it has no power. The flesh hates
the thought it has no power. In the second hour, we'll find
out why. We want to be God, as we've heard before. But the second
hour, actually, we're going to be asking the question several
times, why could we not choose God? And it has to do with our
depravity. It has to do with our heart. It has to do with
us wanting to be God. It has to do with so many, there's just
several reasons that we would not choose him. So we need him
to make the choice because our choice doesn't change anything
because we are in the flesh and they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. The good news is in verse four,
those who've been made faithful in Jesus Christ. He chose them
before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. Now, I love the thought
that this is all past tense. If you look in verse three, it
says, blessed to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who hath blessed us, past tense, with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Christ. And here's one of the blessings.
According to He hath chosen us, in him before the foundation
of the world. So the choice is God's, not mine
and not yours. I love the thought that the Lord chose his people before
the first human was ever created. Think about that. That kind of
blew my mind when I thought about it. You and I, we have the capacity
to love our children, But we can't love something until it
becomes manifested. Does that make sense? Until the
object of our love becomes manifested, we can't, like you can't love
a baby that doesn't exist. You might have the capacity to
love whatever child that you may have in the future. And whenever
the child is conceived in the womb, you love that infant in
the womb. But God loved his people before they existed. in time. Think about that. How is that
possible? Well, he's God. He knows everything
all the time. And as a matter of fact, he always
loved his people. That's the most miraculous part.
There was never a space in eternity that he didn't love his people.
He's unchanging. He's unchangeable. We think of God too low sometimes. He didn't decide one day, I'm
going to do this. I'm going to create a world I'm
going to do. See now he's processing information. He doesn't have
to do that. We have to compute. He doesn't. He purposes. He knows
all things. What would what would our God
have to need to compute when he knows all things? We compute
input output. He doesn't. He just doesn't operate
the way we do. And it's amazing to think. He says, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, Therefore, I have
drawn thee with cords of love. See, God chose to save his people,
the ones that he has always loved, before they were ever in existence
on this earth. They were in Christ. Without a person saying, without
a person ever existing, we can't say we loved them unless we know
them. But God committed his love toward us before time ever began. And then while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. This is, it's miraculous in our
eyes. This is what the choice of God
accomplished. Who chose who? God chose his
people. And I misspoke earlier because
we're about to get to the question I said was gonna be in the second
message. It's in this message. I made a mistake. So this is kind of
twofold. I'm answering the question first,
who chose who, and then I'm gonna answer the question, why could
we not choose God? And I have a couple of points
to make on that. First of all, God chose his people,
we did not choose him. And that brings us, that brings
us to the question who, why rather, why could we not choose God? Why? Many say that we choose
God, we choose salvation. Salvation is not man's choice,
it's God's choice. Salvation is given one way and
that's freely by his grace. If we don't understand that,
then Lord help us to understand that. I can't do anything to
earn salvation. I can't do anything to merit
salvation. I can't do anything to obligate God to save me. Thank God he chose to save some. It's not a mystery to me why
he would hate Esau. The only way that he could love
Jacob was because of grace and because he loved him. I just
find it amazing that he would love a sinner like you and like
me and like Jacob. Isn't that marvelous? Isn't that
mysterious and miraculous? What a God we serve. He chose
to save sinners of whom I am chief, Paul said. So why would
we not Why could we not have chosen him? First, we're born
dead. We're dead in trespasses and
in sin. Spiritually speaking, we're dead. We must be made alive
spiritually. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Now everything herein is addressing
the same group of people. This is being addressed to the
elect of God. You'll find that that's who the
scripture is written to, is the elect of God. And so Paul is
addressing the elect, those the same in Ephesians chapter four,
those who have been made faithful in the Lord Jesus Christ before
time. Now let's read this. Now notice, The first couple
words here in Romans chapter eight, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. But that
therefore, anytime you see that, don't forget this, you have to
ask yourself, why is the therefore there for? What's it there for? So let's go back to chapter seven,
look at verse 21. I find then the law, I find then
a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. for
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another
law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with this flesh, the law of sin. Here we have the two creatures.
We have the new man, created in righteousness, and the old
man, the man of flesh, the dead man. We have the Lord's spirit
that has birthed us now. This is talking about those who
have been born again. The Lord's spirit has birthed
them into the family of God. They have knowledge of the Lord
and they live by faith, not by sight. The flesh, on the other
hand, still lives completely 100% by sight and is enmity against
God still yet. Now, because of this, we're saying,
he's saying because we are alive unto God, that we're dead unto
the law, because when Christ died, we died to the law. Now
in that light, look at verse one, there is now therefore.
No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For
they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. For
to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God,
but ye are not in the flesh. You are not in the flesh, but
in the spirit. If so, be the spirit of God dwelling in you.
Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. Here, we have the answer. We have the answer to the question,
why would we not choose God? Well, because we were born in
sin, and we're spiritually dead, and we have the carnal mind,
which is enmity against God. Mankind cannot understand until
God reveals unto them the truth about his gospel, that everything
we do in the flesh, regardless of what it is, if we're doing
it in ourself unto him, it's enmity against him. The only
way that a believer can have good works is looking unto the
Lord Jesus Christ. The only way that a believer
can have good, the only way we can walk in the Spirit is by looking unto
the Lord Jesus Christ, not what we do or what we don't do. And
here's the problem with a lot of preaching. Men say what you
do determines this, and what you don't do determines this.
God is the determining factor in all of salvation. God is the
determining factor in all of the keeping of His people, all
the calling of His people. God is the determining factor
in well he's the it's his determinant counsel the scripture says who
made made this gospel whereby he saved his people from their
sin. This is God that did this. We
were born spiritually dead, and only those born of his spirit
would ever choose him. See now, if we're born again,
now we're spiritually minded, we would choose him. We can,
it's possible now that we would choose him, and by faith we choose
him continually. Lord save me, Lord save, we're
constantly crying out to him, we constantly are desiring of
the fountain of living water and the bread of life. But that
choice is not what's saving us. It was his choice that saved
us. It was his choice that saved us. The Lord spoke to Nicodemus,
and I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself or not, but sometimes
notes can be a distraction. They kind of be an anchor, and
sometimes they keep you on track, so you don't want to bounce around
too much. But the Lord is speaking to Nicodemus,
and he told Nicodemus, and this is what I mean by everything
that I've said thus far. You must be born again, Nicodemus.
And Nicodemus said, and he's carnally minded, how can a man,
when he's old, enter into his mother's womb a second time and
be born. Nicodemus was like, well, that's impossible. And
I love what the Lord says in another place. He said, with
man, it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible.
I love that. But he told Nicodemus, he explained
it to him in a way he could understood. He said, that which is of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Now, understand what that means. That means if you're born of
the flesh, that's a natural birth. And if you're born of the Spirit,
that's a spiritual birth. The Spirit must do that. It's
not a choice that we make to be born, physically or spiritually. It's the choice of God. You arrived
on this earth, I arrived on this earth, and everyone that's existed
has arrived on this earth at the exact appointed time that
God purposed for you to be here. And every single one of us, as
the Lord's people, if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we
believed and were born of His Spirit at the exact appointed
time, that he purposed before time ever began. This is glorious
because I can't mess that up. I can't get out of the hope of
eternal life in Jesus Christ. It's not based upon what I do
or do not do. It's based upon the choice, the
determinant counsel, and the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. He said, that which is born of
the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again. That word
marvel, don't scratch your head and try to figure it out. He
said, I'm telling you the truth. You're not going to. It's a spiritually
discerned matter. And you and I were in the flesh. We mind the things of the flesh.
But whenever the Lord comes to us by his gospel, by his spirit,
it makes us alive. Then we are spiritually minded
by looking to Christ, which is life and peace. The Lord told
Nicodemus, he finished the thought with him, said, the wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou can not tell whether it comes or
whether it goes, so as everyone that is born of the Spirit. What
does that mean? That means the Spirit of God
blows wherever he wills, wherever God wills for that Spirit to
blow. And when it blows, it makes a creature alive, a new creature
in Christ Jesus on the inward man. This is the work of grace
in the heart of the Lord's people. takes out the heart of stone
and he puts in a heart of flesh. We have a dead nature spiritually,
he changes that to a live nature that looks to him in all things.
We have this flesh, this nasty nature we're carrying around
of death, but we have the nature of life inside because it's created
in righteousness and true holiness in the Lord Jesus Christ. It
looks to him in all things. That's what Paul was talking
about in verse 22 of chapter seven, the inward man. It looks to Christ in all things.
So how is it that we could not choose God? Well, because you
have to be born of his spirit to have any hope of spiritual
things, understanding anything spiritual. But herein is the
gospel. Look at chapter two, or I'll have to read it to you because
I don't want to turn back just yet. But Ephesians chapter two, verse one, it says,
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. And I love Ephesians for this
reason, because he clarifies so many times over and over again.
You're dead, but he's made you alive. He chose you, you didn't
choose him. Salvation's of the Lord, and
it's just repeated all throughout Ephesians. That's why I love
all of scripture, but you understand what I'm saying. It's so simple.
You, you, hath he, God, quickened, which were dead in trespasses
and in sin. So you were dead, but now you're alive. Why, your
choice? No, he quickened you. That's why you're alive. He saved
you. Then he called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. Salvation is a choice by God
alone, not our choice. Why wouldn't we choose him? Because
we're dead in trespasses and in sin. But here's the good news,
Romans 5, 8, but God committed his love towards us in that while
we were yet sinners. not whenever we were living good
or trying to do right, not whenever we were trying to be spiritual
and going to church to clean up our lives, not whenever we
were dedicated, not when we got baptized, not when we took the
Lord's table, but when we were dead in trespasses and in sin,
we were sinners. Christ died for us. If God doesn't take the first
step all the way to the last step, if he's not the alpha and
the omega, of salvation, there is no salvation whatsoever. There
is no, somebody said, well, don't I have an obligation in salvation?
Yeah, you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
the problem, you're dead. Lord's gonna have to make you
alive to make you believe. He gets the glory. We don't get
any glory in this. I chose to believe. No, you didn't. No,
I didn't either. The Lord said, believe, and therefore
we believe. And he gives faith. See, if we
don't have faith, he don't give us his faith. We'll never believe
him. We'll never believe him. I love the fact that he's the
author and finisher of faith. He wrote it and then he achieved
it. Don't you love that? Look at verse nine here in the
same chapter. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the spirit is life. because of righteousness. But
if the spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, he that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. By the father's choice, his people
were elected. By the son's sacrifice on Calvary's
tree, they were redeemed. And by the spirit's power, the
same power that resurrected Christ from the dead, his people are
made alive unto righteousness in Christ Jesus. Now the Lord's
people walk according to the Spirit. Now we believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now we desire Him as all of our
righteousness, our wisdom, our sanctification, and our redemption.
Not self, not what we do. We desire Him. We desire His
blood to put away our sin, not the works of righteousness which
we have done. We desire His mercy. We desire His grace. These are
all spiritual things that we could not have possibly desired
or chosen or unless God had given us spiritual life, spiritual
life. Thank God he did. Why could we
not choose God? Because we're born spiritually
dead. But the second one is most interesting because it goes all
the way back to the very beginning in the garden. We want to be
God. We want to be God. We come out
of the womb, scripture says, speaking lies. What does that
mean? Well, I've had children, and there's times that they cry
and they don't need a thing. They're lying. They're lying.
You ever seen a kid or a child, they're acting like something's
wrong, nothing's really wrong, they just want attention, or they
want, I didn't have to teach my kids to lie. They want the
attention to be on them. They don't want to get in trouble.
They want to be right. They want what they want, when
they want it, how they want it. Am I wrong? And so are adults. We didn't grow out of that. We
just learned how to control a little bit better. We just don't let
it show as much. Some of us. I don't know. Some of us don't.
Anyways. We were born wanting to be our
own God. It's our nature. Look at me. Look at me. There's
social media platforms all over the place. We have people that
are exalted to God-like status in arenas and in bands. I'm not against sports. I'm not
against concerts or anything like that. I'm just simply saying
it's a God-like status where they're worshipped by people.
We want to be worshipped. We want to be beheld for the
wonder we think we are. Unless God comes to us, shows
us that we're dead that we're sinners that we have no righteousness
unless he gives us repentance that's what repentance is God's
got to change our mind it's gonna completely change our mind and
give us a broken heart and a contrite spirit and then give us faith
to believe otherwise we're gonna continue to be our want to be
our own God Eve is thought it was a good idea to desire to
be like God. That's what the serpent offered
to Eve. God knows you will not surely
die. For the day that you eat of the
tree, you'll be like God. you'll be like God. And she said, hmm, when she saw
that the tree was pleasant to the eye, it was good to eat,
and to make one wise, and I've said this before, but that's
the three, power, popularity, and pleasure. That's what men
are tempted by, however you slice it, power, popularity, and pleasure.
One or the other, or all three. She saw all three of them. She
took that, and she ate. Now the interesting part, the
scripture doesn't say that we fell right then. because the
covenant was with Adam. And I could imagine Adam told
her not to touch it, or told her not to eat of it. But the
way that it's presented there, the Lord said, the day that you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. It doesn't say don't touch
it. It says, don't eat it. Well, Eve actually repeats and says,
yeah, Lord said, don't touch it. No, it didn't. But Adam's
over there like, don't even touch it, Eve. Just don't even touch
it. You know what I'm saying? Because she, you know, he got,
anyways, I guess you understand what I'm saying. Scripture doesn't say we fell
in Eve, we fell in Adam. We fell in Adam, because we were
in him, in his seed. And therefore, when he took of
the fruit, we died. We died. And we obtained knowledge
of good and evil, but it was unto death, not unto life. And we were not made like God
at that time. We were made unrighteous. We
were made sinful, corrupted, unable to fix our situation,
unable to keep God's law, unable to meet the demand that God required
for salvation. Now, we're stuck in that position.
We're permanently stuck in that position. As human beings, we
can't fix it at all unless God does something. If he leaves
us right there, hell will be our eternal home and deservingly
so for the disobedience that we did in our father, Adam. The
Lord saw all of us every human that's ever existed in Adam at
that moment. Now the difference, and this
is what made the difference, God chose in his mercy and in
his grace to redeem some back to God. Therefore, he put us
in the loins of Jesus Christ. And in those loins, he saw all
of those that he had chosen. Therefore, when Christ died,
he put away our sin, we died in him. When he was resurrected,
we were resurrected in him. When he sat down on the right
hand of God, we sat down on the right hand of God with him. Do
we see the glorious good news about God choosing his people? He did all that. If he leaves
us to ourself, we would still be dead in trespasses and in
sin. But if he chose in mercy and
in grace to save us, then we're going to be called by his grace
out of darkness into his light. You can see in Adam that that's
our sinful nature that we inherited. It's the nature, that's the result
of man's will. Men say, well, I have a free
will. Nobody's will's free. Man's will is bound to his nature
and if that's the case God, and I don't say this irreverently,
but God doesn't have a free will, he can't sin. If it was free
he could sin. He's bound to his character,
his holiness, he cannot sin. So you and I don't have a free
will to make a choice to begin with. We're bound to our nature,
which always chooses self, always chooses me to be God, always
wants the credit, always wants the glory. The most amazing part
is, is when the Lord saves us, when the Lord brings us to the
knowledge of the truth. He gives us a real new heart on the inside
that loves God, that glorifies Him, that says, not unto us,
O Lord, but unto thee be all the glory and all the praise.
I don't want to be noticed any longer. I don't want to be praised.
I want you to be exalted. And that's a true heart that
He gives. We see ourself as unworthy of
the smallest blessings, and yet He's given us all the blessings. Now a man left with a choice.
That happened one time. Well, it happened a couple times,
but the two times that come to mind was, Adam, don't eat of
that fruit for in the day that you do, you shall surely die.
That was a command. He really didn't, uh, give him,
say, well, you can, but this is what will happen. So I wouldn't
if I were you. No, God said, don't do it. That's a commandment.
Adam broke the commandment. But Adam still had the ability
to choose to do that. That's going to be us every time.
We're going to choose the fruit. We're going to want to be like
God. We're going to want to be recognized. We're going to want
power, popularity, and pleasure. This is why we would not choose
God. This is why. Think about, think about those
who wanted to be like God in scripture, such as Cain. See he, anytime that somebody,
and this is why this is so important, is anytimes, anytime somebody
talks about their choice, talks about their works, talks about
their life as part or evidence of their salvation, they're detracting
the glory of Christ from Christ. They're taking away the power
of the blood and they're putting emphasis upon themselves. Yeah,
the blood saved me, but... I had to do this and I had to
know that it means you and the blood saved you. This is why
it's so serious to speak the truth on these matters. We can't
take away from the blood. That's what Cain was doing when
he brought the works of his hands. He was taking the place of the
lamb. He was taking the place of Jesus
Christ, the blood. That was the reason that it was
so offensive to God. This is what people do is they
offer themselves because They want to be God. Anytime we substitute
ourselves for the Lord Jesus Christ we're saying we're God,
because Jesus Christ is God. Anytime that we bring something
of our own hands to Him we're saying we're as good as God is. You see the severity of this?
What about Pharaoh? He saw all the miracles, the
plagues. Can you imagine seeing the things
that he actually saw? And did he come to God? Did he
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Did he believe God? How could
you see all that physically and still not believe because he's
dead? Because he remained dead in trespasses
and sin. His heart was hardened. He hardened
his heart. God hardened his heart. His heart
was hardened. Why? Because he hated God's truth. He wanted to be God. I am Pharaoh and you're not going
to tell me what to do. That was his attitude, wasn't
it? The Lord said, yes, I am. And you're going to do it. The last one I'll mention, I'm
almost finished, but the last point I would make would be this.
How sobering is this thought? The rich man that died and went
to hell, hell itself is not enough to give man repentance. The rich
man in hell lifted up his eyes being in torment, seeing Abraham
afar off and Lazarus being comforted in his bosom, said unto him,
Father Abraham, send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in
water and cool my tongue. He was more worried about pleasure
than about the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about that. He's in hell,
eternal torment. He's not begging for mercy. He's
thinking, I deserve better than this. I'm not this bad. And that's,
there is no people crying out for mercy in hell. Every one
of them are shaking their fist. They're cursing God. They're
shaking their fist. Why? Because they're still bound
to their nature of death. Still, what about heaven? Well,
whenever we see him, we'll be made like him for we see him
as he is. We rejoice for eternity. We praise him for eternity. We
glorify him for eternity. Why? Because he chose us unto
salvation. That's why. If left to ourself,
we'll offer ourself instead of clinging to the precious blood
that saved God's people from their sin. Why could we not choose God?
Because everyone wants to be God. And lastly, Why can we not
choose God? Because God said so. Turn with
me to John chapter five. John chapter five, verse 37 says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. Verse 40, and this is the
will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son
and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. The Jews then murmured, at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? Now there's a contrast right
there. Automatically they're in the
flesh. They're thinking in the flesh. They're not under comprehending.
We cannot comprehend anything spiritually in this flesh, brethren.
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not amongst
yourself, no man can come to me except the Father which hath
sent me draw him. No man can come, we don't have
the ability to come to him. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Not
that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he that
hath seen the Father, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Because of
our corrupt nature, We cannot come to God and we will not come
to God. Christ said, you will not come to me that you might
have life. Why will they not? Because our
will is bound to our nature. Those that come to God, come
to God because of grace alone. God gives grace for them to believe. God gives faith for them to believe. They were saying, is this not
Joseph and Mary's son? They couldn't hear him. They
couldn't see him. I wrote an article in your bulletin
about the latter and the former reign, which is a picture of
the Holy Spirit, what the Lord gives when we meet together.
How many times, we've been here three years now, over three years. How many times has the Lord blessed
his word here? How many times has the Lord met with us? He
allows it to rain upon us. It's great drops of grace and
mercy. If he doesn't do that, we cannot
see his face and we cannot hear his voice. He has to be the revelator
of himself. If he doesn't reveal himself,
we cannot see him. Everything about salvation everything
about worship everything spiritually speaking Must come from him. He must provide it freely by
his grace or we will not ever have it will not ever have it He tells them here I'm in chapter 6. That's why
I couldn't find what I was looking for. I am so sorry Turn to chapter
5. I'm like this this wasn't This
wasn't what I was trying to find here. I knew he's still having
the same conversation with these people. So it goes along with
it, but that's not what I was wanting to read. Look at chapter
five, verse 37. And the father himself has sent
me, hath borne witness of me. He hath neither heard his voice
at any time nor seen his shape. Why? He's going to tell us. You
have not his word abiding in you. For whom he hath sent him,
ye believe not. Search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of me. And here it is, brethren. Why
won't we come to God? He says it right here. You will
not come to me that you might have life. I receive not honor
from men, but I know you that you have not the love of God
in you. I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not.
If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
How can you believe which you receive honor one of another,
and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that
I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe
not his writings, how shall you believe my words?" He tells us,
you will not come to me that you might have life, and it tells
him why. He says, you can't hear His voice. We have not His word
abiding in us. We search the scriptures to obtain
knowledge by nature. I know several people that are
in religion. They have plenty of knowledge of the scripture, but they still
haven't seen Him or heard His voice. It's just empty knowledge
that they have. It's just vain. It's in the flesh.
It's not spiritual. They all testify of Jesus Christ. And he tells us that the last
year, the reason that we would not choose God is we desire the
praise of men more than the praise of God in our flesh. And it goes
back to being God again, doesn't it? Naturally, we cannot see
that everything here is all about him. And then he tells us this,
you have not the love of God in you. We have not the love
of God in us unless he gives this to us. cannot hear his word
or believe him. Therefore, we will not choose
him, we will not come to him that we might have life. This
is every human being without exception left to themselves. Every human being without exception
left to themselves. If the Lord does not birth us
by his spirit, by his power, if he does not choose us unto
salvation, we will die in our sins. We will not have hope of
salvation. Now in closing, I wanna go back
and just read our text in the light of all of this. Ephesians
one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God,
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ.
According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to 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. Who did the choosing? Who chose
who? This is God's doing according
to his will and pleasure before time. God does it all brethren. He does all the choosing. He
does all the saving. He does all the calling, the
quickening. He does all the keeping for his people. Now look over,
I'll read this briefly, chapter two. Just look at what the Lord
says that he has done. And you hath he quickened who
were dead and trespasses in sin. When in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in time past, the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. And whereby nature, the children
of wrath, even as others, but God who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherein he loved us. even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are
saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. See, this is his choice. He's
the one that does all the work, and he's the one that gets all
the glory. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would
take these words and you would bless them to our understanding
for your glory. In Christ's name, amen. Let's take a break.