Let's take our Bible then and
turn again to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. I'm titling the message
from the words found in verse 9. The middle part of verse 9
it says, how you turn to God from idols. Turn to God from
idols to serve. To serve the living God. To serve
the true God. Turning to God from idols. That's repentance. That's repentance. Repentance is a turning. A turning. And it's God who does the turning.
This turning to God This turning to God is the fruit of the Lord's
saving mercy to us. Now notice carefully, it does
not say that you turned from your idols to God, although that's
true. But rather, you turned, or you
were turned to God, and in turning to God, you turn from your former
idolatry. Being turned, you turn to God. Now, this is a state of a truly
repentant heart. There is a constant looking unto
Christ, a constant coming unto Christ. There's a constant turning
to Him who is the true and living God. David prayed this way, Psalm
85 verse 4. Turn us, O God of our salvation. You'll have to do it. Turn us,
O God of our salvation. Jeremiah 31 verse 18 says this,
Turn thou me, and I shall be turned. If God turns you, you'll
be turned. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned. Now he'll have to do it. I can't
turn you? I can't give you repentance. I can't give you faith. God will
have to do that. It's his work. It's his business,
not mine. But when he does turn us, turn thou me and I shall
be turned, Jeremiah said, for thou art the Lord my God. Any religion apart from the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, concerning a true and
living God, any religion apart from the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is idolatry. Isn't it? It's idolatry. The
Lord Jesus Christ must come, and He must come and turn us,
He must come and call us, He must come and save us, or we
will remain in the clutches of our idols. We'll remain steadfast
in our idolatry unless God comes and does something in us, to
us. When we read in John 6, 44, our
Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father which sent
me to draw him. No man has the ability to turn
himself. We'll keep going right on our
own way. There is a way that seems right
unto men, the end of that way is death. We'll keep going right
on that way unless God comes and does something for us and
turns us about, stops us in our mad rush to eternal condemnation. Now let's read verse 1, Paul
and Silas and Timothy, a blessed trio. Here's a trio I'd like
to listen to for a while with you. Paul the apostle, Paul the
Apostle. You know the word Paul means
small? Small. He considered himself
the chief of sinners. Trophy of God's grace. Paul and
Silas, Timothy. He considered Timothy his son
in the gospel. Paul and Silas and Timothy unto
the church. Now that word church, you know
what it means? It means called out. It means called out. Believers are those who have
been called out. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is His body. His body. Unto the church. It's a body of believers called
out of darkness into God's marvelous light. And they live in this
area of Thessalonica. Unto the Thessalonians. You know
what we are called here? We're called... We live in Zebulun. We're the Zebulonians. We're
the Zebalonians. That's where we meet. That's
where the church, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and members
of that body, that's where we meet, here at Zebulon. And here's
a group of believers who've been called out by God's grace, and
they were found in this city of Thessalonica. Now, you can
look on a map today, and you can probably go to this city,
and you could probably look for a gospel church, And you won't find one. The Lord
sent the Gospel there, and then one day He removed the Gospel.
He removed it. It's His good pleasure to do
so. This Church of God, which is in God the Father, and in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now how long is this Church of
God been in God the Father? How long has God considered His
elect, His chosen, in Christ Jesus? From all eternity. From
all eternity. This church of God, which is
in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to be in
that church. Don't you? I want to be in that
church. You see, this is God's body.
This is God's family. God the Father and in the Lord
Jesus Christ and then he says grace, grace. I love that word
grace, don't you? Grace. God saves us by his grace. His purpose and grace given us
in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. Grace be to all
men everywhere without exception. Doesn't say that, does it? You
see, this letter is not written to all men everywhere without
exception. This is the love letter written back to believers. Grace
be to you, to you, to you who believe the gospel. And the fruit
of that grace is peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. This grace and peace comes from
God our Father. through the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 2. He said,
we give thanks. We give thanks. We give thanks
to God. You see, He's the wellspring. He's the fountainhead of all
blessings. To whom should we give thanks?
Well, I thank mama. I thank daddy. Well, if you have
Godly parents you should give thanks, but we don't give thanks
for our salvation unto our Parents we give thanks unto God For our
salvation to hold your place there and find chapter 5 1st
Thessalonians chapter 5 look at verse 16 Rejoice evermore
pray without ceasing We give thanks to God pray without ceasing
That's the very life breath of every believer In everything
give thanks, verse 18, chapter 5, for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you, giving thanks unto the Father. And that's what the Apostle Paul,
when he writes back to those who believe the gospel, when
he preached there in Thessalonica, we give thanks to God always
for you all. You see, these folks were objects
of God's love, object of God's mercy, and Paul recognized that,
didn't he? He said, we thank God for you
all, making mention of you in our prayers. What a privilege
we have to call God our Father, to call upon Him in prayer. to
make our request known unto God. He says in everything, in everything
give thanks. Now look at verse three. Remembering
without ceasing, remembering without ceasing, And he mentions
three things there. And really, if you look, if you
read through 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, you'll find
these three things are kind of the theme of what's said in these
two epistles. Faith, love, and hope. He mentions that more than one
time. Faith, love, and hope. Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith, and labor of love, patient of hope in Christ. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Love toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith, hope, and love. The work of faith. This is what
true faith produces. Good works. Good works never
produce faith, but true faith always produces obedience unto
the Lord. True faith is what we call a
working grace. That seems a contradiction, doesn't
it? But it's so. We read over in
Galatians chapter 5 that faith works by love. Faith works by
love. And Paul said, remembering without
ceasing You were faithful in all things. Your work of faith,
work of faith. And then secondly, he mentions
labor of love. Labor, labor. Motivated by love. You know, love is a strong, strong
motivator. You know, love is greater than
fear. Love will make you do things. You'll just cast fear aside because
you love. Love is stronger than fear. Love is a great motivator. We serve Him out of love and
it is a labor of love. It's a labor of love. The love
of Christ constrains us. This is talking about the love
of God that's shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
This love of God will inspire the believer, will motivate the
believer to do all that he does for the glory of God. other motive than love and gratitude
do we serve him to get bigger rewards do we fear him do we
serve him out of fear of punishment or promise of reward no we serve
him out of love and this love of Christ never failed now hold
your place there I found this reference over in 2nd Thessalonians
chapter 1 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 look at verse 3 We are bound to thank God always
for you, because, brethren, as it is meat that is fit, because
that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of
you all toward each other abounds. This is faith that grows and
love that abounds. You see, those gifts that God
gives us, they're not dormant gifts. They grow. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That which is alive and that
which is given of God, it grows. It grows exceedingly. And we
grow not only in faith, not only in love, but the third thing
he mentions there, patience of hope. Patience of hope. And this is talking about perseverance
in hope. This is talking about endurance
of hope. And notice again, it's in our
Lord Jesus Christ. True faith has an object, and
that object of true faith is Christ. True love has an object,
and that object of love is Christ. And our hope we have Christ in
you is the hope of glory. This endurance of hope, this
endurance of hope It never, never fades away. Find 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And let's consider this word
hope for just a moment. We have a hope, don't we? 2 Thessalonians 2, look at verse
16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God even our Father who had loved us and had given us an
everlasting consolation, that's comfort, and a good hope through
grace. The hope we have is a good hope.
It's a good hope because you know what? Look at 1 Timothy,
1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
our hope. You see, our hope is a person.
Our hope is a person. It's just not a shot in the dark.
It's not a vain wish in the dark. It's a real person. Christ in
you is our hope of salvation. Faith, hope, and love. Paul writes
about that in 1 Corinthians. Faith, hope, and love, but the
greatest of these is what? Love. Faith one day will end
in sight when we see Him and be like Him, be like Him as He
is. And then one day hope will end
in reality as we see Him face to face. But love? That'll never
end. It'll just keep growing and growing
and growing and growing. Now look at verse 4, back to
chapter 1, 1st Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 4. Then Paul
makes this statement, knowing, he says this is what I, knowing,
knowing brethren, knowing brethren beloved of God, As the marginal
reference says, beloved of God, your election. Now what is this
business about election? What is Paul talking about when
he says, knowing your election is of God. Your election. Now he writes about this again,
turn back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 again. Now look at
verse 13 this time. What is this Bible doctrine of
election? You see, it's God making a choice. Who receives salvation? 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, but
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath chosen from the beginning, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Through the sanctification of
the Spirit, which leads to belief of the truth, That's regeneration,
sanctification of the spirit is a work of God in the heart,
which leads us to believe the truth, where unto he calls you
by our gospel, to obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing, brethren, your election is of God. Now what is the Bible doctrine
of election? It is God's free, eternal, sovereign,
unconditional choice of a multitude of sinners unto salvation. That's God's electing grace. It is taught throughout this
Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We could stand here this morning
and this afternoon, and this evening, and read over and over
again about God's electing love, about God's electing grace. But I want you to turn and we'll
read two references. Find first of all Romans 9. We studied in John 15 where the
Lord said, you didn't choose me, I've chosen you unto salvation. In Romans chapter 9, look at
verse 11. Romans 9 verse 11. I want you to see it. I'll give
you time to find it. Book of Romans chapter 9 verse
11. For the children not being not
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. God elected Jacob unto salvation,
and left Esau in the clutches of his idols. Verse 14, Romans
9. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For we say it to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, their sovereign
elect in grace again. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion, Love whom I will so then it's not
of him that willeth that is salvation is not of him that willeth or
of him that runneth But it's according to God who shows mercy
now God is sovereign in salvation. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy now. I want you to find Ephesians
chapter 1 Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election is of God. Now let me tell you what election
is not. What election is not. There are some who promote an
idea that God votes for you, the devil votes against you,
and then you cast the deciding vote. That's not the Bible doctrine
of election. That's Tommy Rot. That's what
that is. That's tomfoolery as Charles
Spurgeon used to say. Election is God's sovereign choice
of a multitude of sinners unconditionally unto salvation. Now read about
it again here in Ephesians chapter 1. Look at verse 3. Ephesians
1, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, or in heavenly things, in Christ. According. He blessed us according as He
hath chosen us. You see that? He blessed us with
all spiritual blessings according as He hath chosen us. Now, Who did the choosing? According as He hath chosen us. Now when did He do this? When
did God make this sovereign choice? He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world. Here we see election is the eternal
decree of God. He chose us in Christ and blessed
us in Christ before I was born. Before He created this world.
The Lord Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He chose us and He blessed us
that we should be holy. He didn't choose us because we
were holy. He chose us that we should be
holy, 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, verse 6, to the praise of the
glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. Now back to the text. You see,
this word plainly teaches the Bible doctrine of God's eternal,
unconditional election. To deny that is to deny what
this book teaches, because clearly it is a teaching of Scripture.
Now, look at verse 4 again, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Beloved of God, your election,
your election unto salvation. Now, how can I know if I am one
of those elect? How can you know? How can you
know? Years ago I preached a funeral
down in Martin, Kentucky, the funeral home there, and I preached
a message from Ephesians chapter 1. And after the service, I was
walking out toward my car, and a young lady, I heard her coming
up behind me, and she was saying something, Preacher, hold on
just a minute, hold it, Preacher, hold on a minute. I thought,
well, okay, so I stopped, and I thought she was going to criticize
me and condemn me, and she said to me, she said, How can I know
if I'm one of those elect? Because I preached what we read
there at Ephesians, that God had elected a people unto salvation. Well, I told her, I said this,
what do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? What do you think
of him? If you're a lover of the Lord
Jesus Christ, you're one of those chosen. If you're a believer
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're one of those elect for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died. You see, He died only for those
elect. He died only for those chosen,
for those people. He only put their sin away. The
Lord laid down His life for His sheep, His church. He loved the
church and gave Himself for it. Now, in the following verses,
we have some evidences of electing love, electing grace. He said,
Paul said, we know this because you believe, we know your election
because you believe the gospel. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, Now Paul did preach the gospel to them. They
did hear. Remember we read in Acts opening
and alleging that Christ must need suffer and risen again from
the dead. He did in word that they could
understand. He did preach the gospel to them.
But the gospel came not in word only. Did it? It came in the power of God the
Holy Spirit. You see, God must, in the power
of God's Spirit, take the Word preached, the Word spoken, the
Gospel message, and God must quicken that to your heart, to
your understanding, to give you ears to hear Him. He said, My
sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. And when
the Gospel comes to the elect of God, when He crosses their
path with that message, they hear it. And they love it. And they embrace it. And they
follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And they fall in love with Him.
Because the gospel came in power. In power. In power. And this is not talking about
human power. This is talking about the power
of God. in the power of God. When the gospel comes that way
to a sinner, he's going to raise him from the dead. He's going
to make him a new creature in Christ Jesus, and you're going
to love it. But he makes him willing in the day of his power. The gospel is a gospel of...
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of God because it's
the power of God unto salvation. And this gospel came not in word
only. but in power. And it came in
the power of God the Holy Spirit that quickens, that convicts,
that grants faith, that grants repentance, and it gives us assurance. Assurance. Assurance. Assurance of what? Assurance
of salvation in Christ. Assurance of being saved and
justified only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Assurance. It comes in power. Now let me
give you an example of that. We'll read about it. Turn over
here to 1 Corinthians. Here's one of those churches
of Achaia that Paul talks about. Where he went to Corinth when
he'd run out of Berea and run out of Thessalonica. He went
over to Achaia, over here in Corinth, and he writes back to
these who were the elect of God, who were given faith to believe
the gospel. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and
I tell you to turn there, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. That is the message of Christ
crucified is foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
the power of God. That's the power of God. For
it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I'll
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of truth,
by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. Read
on now. For the Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews, the stumbling block, unto the Greeks, foolishness,
but unto them which are called. Called. You see, our election
is known by our calling. Do you see your calling, brethren? But unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, Christ the
wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the
weakness of God is stronger than men, for you see your calling,
brethren, have not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, verse 27, but God hath chosen. Oh,
we're right back to square one. There's that electing grace.
God hath chosen. the foolish things to confound
the wise, God hath chosen, elected the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty, and the base things
of the world and things which are despised hath God elected,
God chosen. It ain't the things that are
not to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence, but of him Are you in Christ, who of
God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption?" Pretty clear, isn't it? Christ, the power of
God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. Peter said, make your calling
and election sure. Our election is known by our
calling. He calls us with the gospel,
and he convicts our heart. He shows us that we're sinners,
and he gives us assurance of salvation. in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now look at verse 6, back in
our text. And you became followers. Followers
of us. Followers of us and of the Lord. Followers. You see, the sheep
follow the shepherd. The Lord is the good shepherd.
The good shepherd. You became followers of us, followers
of the Lord, having received the word." Now look at this.
Having received the word. And they were afflicted for receiving
the word. They were persecuted for receiving
the Word, but they received the Word with joy. Joy of the Holy
Spirit. We read about the power of the
Holy Spirit, which gives us assurance, that causes us to receive the
Word, and we have joy of the Holy Spirit. We joy in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now turn one page, 1 Thessalonians
2, look at verse 13. This is 1 Thessalonians 2, verse
13. for this cause also thank we
God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God which
you heard of us You received it not as a word of men, but
as it is in truth the word of God, the word of God, which effectually
worketh in you that belief. They received the word which
brought joy in their heart. The word tells us of salvation,
full and free in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Look at verse 7
now. You became followers of us, you
received the Word of the Lord. Following the Lord, receiving
His Word, rejoicing in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
And verse 7, Paul says, you were a pattern. That word of samples
means pattern. You were a pattern. You were
a pattern of God's mercy. A pattern of God's grace. You
were an example of how God saves sinners. He chose you. Christ died for you. He crossed
your path with the gospel. He granted you faith in your
heart. Gave you repentance. You were a pattern of salvation
unto all them that believe. Oh, I tell you, my friend, faith
is precious. Faith is precious. Faith is precious. It's the precious gift of God.
You were patterned to all that believe in Philippi, in Corinth,
in Athens. Verse 8, from you sounded out
the word of the Lord. Not only in Philippi, not only
in Corinth, from you sounded out the word of the Lord. These
folks went everywhere. They went, these believers, they
went preaching the gospel. These who believe the gospel
told others about the good news of the gospel. You say, well
preacher, I can't do that. I'm not a preacher. Listen to
me. Let me simplify it. From you
sounded out the word of the Lord. You know what preaching is? And
you know what witnessing is? We should be a witness of the
gospel of the grace of God. Witnessing and preaching is simply
this. One beggar telling another beggar
where he found bread. That's it. That's what I'm doing
here. I'm a beggar, a poor mercy beggar,
telling others who are mercy beggars, the house of bread is
full. The Lord Jesus Christ has a storehouse
of mercy that can never be exhausted. From you sounded out the word
of the Lord." They became evangelists. Everywhere they went, preaching
the gospel. You see, a belief in sovereign
grace does not dampen our zeal to go preach the gospel. I've
had people accuse me of that. Well, if I believe that God elected
a people and Christ died for a people, and he's gonna save
those people, we'll just quit preaching. No, that's not the attitude.
That's not right. God has ordained the means to
call out His people through the preaching of the gospel. That's
why we go preaching the gospel in other cities. That's why we
witness to other people about the gospel of Christ. That's
why we support missionaries every month. to preach the gospel in
different countries, believing the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ gives us a great burden for those who are lost. I'm convicted
I don't have a greater concern and a greater burden for those
who are lost. What do they need? They need
to hear the gospel. from you sounded out the word
of the Lord. Let us not be silent, let us
not be passive in this matter, but rather let us be active in
making this gospel known by whatever means God will give us." And
he's given us some excellent means in this day, hasn't he?
You know, with Paul today, travel was difficult by boat, by foot,
by donkey. But in this day we can send...
I'm going to take this message off this little recorder right
here that I have. I'm going to download this tomorrow
morning on my computer and I'm going to format it in an MP3
format and I'm going to upload it to Sermon Audio and it's going
to go all over the world. All over the world. All over
the world. Our sermon audio ministry, I
looked at it the other day, has over 2 million people who have
clicked on our website. 2 million. Just last month, 60
foreign countries. 60. Some of them I've never even
heard of. 47 states. This message right
here, right now. It's going to go out all over
this world. From you sounded out the Word of the Lord. You
see, we do believe God has an elect, and He's going to cross
their path with the Gospel, and He'll use that as a means to
call them out. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
the Word of the Lord. Not foolishness, but the hearing
of the Word of the Lord. Now, your faith, look back at
the text. From you sounded out the Word
of the Lord, And your faith, God's Word, is spread abroad."
Faith is always... Faith is not inward. Faith is
not inward. Faith is God's Word. Looking
unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of
our faith. Now look at verse 9. They themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, You see,
our entrance into you was not in vain. Paul preached the gospel,
and God used that message preached of Christ, Him crucified, to
turn them to God, and turning to God to serve the living and
true God, they turned away from something. They turned away from
their idolatry. They turned away from their dead
works. from their vain religion. And they were turned to the true
and living God to serve Him. To serve Him. And then it says
in verse 10, to wait. To serve Him, we've been turned
by God, to serve the living and true God, and then He says to
wait. To wait. to wait for his son
from heaven. The Lord said, you remember in
John 14, I go away and prepare a place for you, and if I go
away, I'll come again and receive you into myself that where I
am, there you may be also. He's coming back. He's coming
back. Now, I don't have time to do
this, but I had planned to look at this. If you would look through
all five of these chapters, in the end of each of these five
chapters, The Apostle talks about the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In every chapter, he closes with the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, turn to chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. A lot of people want to know,
when is the Lord coming back? A lot of folks have even made
predictions. 1994. Certainly in the year 2000,
remember? And others have said this date
and this time and this place. I'm not in the least bit interested
in when. Not the least bit. I'm interested
in who is coming back. Who is coming? Whenever he comes,
I'll be fine. Matter of fact, it says in Revelation,
he's on his way. Behold, the Lord cometh. But
look right down there at chapter 5 verse 1. But of the times and
seasons, brethren, talking about the coming of the Lord, you have
no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. He says, in the time that you
think not, the Son of Man cometh. The Son of Man cometh. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, look back at the text one more time. We wait for
Him who is coming back. Boy, it's worth waiting on. He's
worth waiting on, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. And because he was delivered
from the dead, raised up to justify us, to justify us, who delivered
us, the last part of verse 10, who delivered us from the wrath
to come. The wrath to come. Now, what
are we by nature? By nature, we're children of
wrath, even as others. But it says here that he delivered
us from the wrath to come. In Romans chapter 5, don't turn
there, I'll just read it to you. Romans chapter 5, how does he
do this? God commended his love toward
us, verse 8, Romans 5, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us, much more than being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. Delivered from the wrath
to come now. I can't quit without having you
look at this verse first Thessalonians chapter 5 again look at verse
9 For God hath not appointed us
to wrath I But He's appointed us to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. That's an appointment. He's appointed
us unto it. Who died for us, that whether
we wake, whether we sleep, we should live together with Him. Knowing, brethren, your election is of God. Now, if you look at this text
of Scripture, In verse 5 down to verse 10, do these verses
describe you? Do they describe you? Do you
find anything in these verses that describe your faith, your
hope, your love in the Lord Jesus Christ? The assurance of salvation
found in the Lord Jesus Christ? Then yes. Knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election is of God, because it's God who made
you to differ from another. What do you have that you didn't
receive? It's God who has made us to differ
by His grace.