Good morning. For those who are
just joining us, we are very fortunate to have Pastor Norm
Wells, or Brother Norm Wells, pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist
Church in the Dallas, Oregon. So we'll sing a hymn, have some
scripture reading, another hymn, and then Brother Norm will come
bring the message. So let's open with number 50 from the South
Back Temple. Let's all stand together. and
we'll sing hymn number 50 from the South Bectum. We were ruined by the fall, Adam's
sin defiles us all. By our deeds as by our birth,
we deserve the law's great curse. Helpless, hopeless sinners we,
never can our souls retrieve. But the blessed Son of God Came
as man in flesh and blood He fulfilled the law's demands And
in death stretched out his hands On the cross of Calvary Christ
redeemed and set us free In the time which God had set, the Spirit
came for His elect to regenerate and call from the ruin of the
fall. By His power and by His grace,
we were born for God's own praise. Now your purpose we fulfill,
saved according to your will. Sing this song of joyful praise
for the glory of your grace. Blessed, holy, triune God, hear
our praise through Christ our Lord. Please be seated. Good morning. For our scripture
reading, we're going to go to a very familiar passage, John,
in the Gospel of John, Chapter 14. John, Chapter 14. Let not your heart be troubled.
Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, there are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you."
It's wonderful, isn't he? He did prepare a place for us,
and that's the source of the reason why our heart is not to
be troubled, because he prepared it for us. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also." That's where every
child of God wants to be, with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
are not to be troubled because he is doing the preparing. He
has done the preparation. He's not sending us to do anything.
He's sending us to trust in Him and what He's doing and what
He has done. And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we
know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus said unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He is the way, he is the truth,
and he is the life, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And no
one comes to the Father but through the Lord Jesus Christ. had known me, if ye have known
me, ye should have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye
know him, and ye have seen him. And if we have seen the Lord
Jesus Christ, if God has been gracious enough to reveal the
Lord Jesus Christ to us, we have seen him. We have seen the Father.
Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffice
us. And that's what the world wants
to see God the Father. They want to know God. That's
the natural inclination. Everybody wants to know God.
But Jesus said unto him, have I been so long with you and yet
have thou not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen
the Father. And how saith thou then show
us the Father? Every true child of God wants
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that God the Father
reveals himself through. And he's the one that we will
always see and always seek and always want to be with him, with
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Believeth thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father is in me, or else believe me for the very works
sake. So he's saying that to know him is to know God the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do
also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I
go unto the Father. ye shall ask in my name, I will
do, that the Father may be glorified, and the Son. And that's how God
the Father is always glorified, in the Son, in the Son. Ye shall ask anything in my name,
and I will do it. Father God, we come before you
by the Lord Jesus Christ, by his righteousness, and by his
shed blood, we come to thank you, Father, that you have blessed
us with the Lord Jesus Christ. You have blessed us that you
brought us to a place where the gospel is preached and where
your son is glorified. Father, we pray that now that
your Holy Spirit might be with us, that he might enable us to
see more of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father God, we pray for Brother
Norm as well as Brother Greg and all the other preachers that
are preaching this morning that they may preach Christ and may
they preach the gospel in a clear fashion, that your Holy Spirit
may both help the hearer and the preacher to magnify the Lord
Jesus Christ. Help us, Father, see more of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. How can God so just and holy
save my wretched, guilty soul? I am vile and so unworthy. Can this sinner be made whole? How unrighteous and polluted! How ungodly and undone! None can help me but the Savior,
Jesus Christ, the Father's Son. Jesus is the friend of sinners,
I will praise his holy name. By his sacrifice I'm righteous,
freed from every guilt and stain. Though my sins be all as scarlet,
they are now as white as snow. For the Savior paid my sin-debt
By His bloody crimson flow. Sacrifice of God's appointing,
He for me the ransom paid. Now there is no condemnation,
Satisfaction Jesus made. Resting only in His merits, Safe
in Him, my Lord and friend, Soon I shall depart to see him and
to praise him without end. Please be seated. Norm? I cannot say again how pleased I am to be here today.
Words don't express the way I feel about being here. I do have some
attraction down here. And yesterday I got to see that
five and a half year old grandson hit his first ball at a ball
game and make it to first base at a birthday party for the youngest
one. We're not going to be here for
his birthday, We enjoyed a birthday party yesterday. And during the
break, I noticed what happens here happens at our church in
the Dallas. It's like a family reunion, shaking
hands, hugging each other. You are closer to me than my
own flesh and blood. And that's just the way it is. They choose to make a difference. Would you join me again in the
book of Titus? Titus chapter one. We'd like to spend a little time
this morning on the subject of why we preach election. why we preach election. The Apostle
Paul, as he was led by the Spirit of God to write to this preacher
that was in Crete, Titus was his name, he wanted to share
with him that preaching, Paul's preaching, Titus' preaching,
Pastor Elmquist's preaching, I pray that my preaching out
in the Dalles is for a purpose. Preaching Christ enables God's
people to grow in grace and in the knowledge of their Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. And that seems, by his grace,
to improve, increase our faith. I like it when it's going towards
the full moon, don't you? I like that. Now, God's people
are going to have some faith. That's just the promise. They're
going to have some faith. We pray that it might abound. Now, here it says, Paul, a servant
of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, he's sharing his credentials. Brother Greg came out to speak
for us in the Dalles. He said, I'm with Grace Gospel
Church in Apopka. The Lord saved me by his grace.
He called me into the ministry. What are we going to say? We'd heard him on several of
his tapes too. According to the faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness
in the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world began. An old English preacher wrote
one time, that as he watched his grandchildren get food, they
proved the doctrine of election. Now, if we set up a table, and
I've been here when you had your fellowship dinners, and there
is a plethora of food out there. Nobody eats better than us, do
they? Spiritually or physically. I've watched some of you and
you've watched some of me and the ladies want us to take everything.
But election tells us, I'm not taking bok choy. I'm leaving it off my plate.
We choose what we want to eat. Go to a buffet. Robert Hawker's
grandchildren proved election. Now, the rub comes, The problem
is that God would elect a people to salvation without considering
their works. Now there's the problem. God
would consider election of a people without considering, taking into
consideration their works. Now, election is not based on
foreseeing faith. Election is based on foreseeing
unbelief. We're unbelievers and we'll continue
to be unbelievers until our last breath. Unless God takes charge,
he gets involved and we find out he got involved before the
foundation of the world. I want to share just a few points
this morning of why we preach election. Now, number one, election
is a theme that is presented in every book. It is presented
in almost every chapter of the Bible. In some way or another,
God declares this mystery of his election. that he made a
choice. Now, we didn't have a thing to
say about what the world was going to look like. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. We didn't have a thing
to say about what the grass was going to look like. God created
the grass and he made it produce after its kind. Now, we didn't
have a thing to say what an apricot was going to look like, or a
peach, or an apple. We have no way to declare what
alfalfa is going to look like. God decreed and purposed and
ordained that these things would be produced after his own wisdom
and after his own mind that he settled in eternity past. And
we watch that unfold in the first three chapters of the book of
Genesis. This is what God did and this is what he performed. He even created man after his
own image, but he made man out of the dust of the earth and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became
a living soul and Adam didn't get to vote about it. He had
no choice in the matter. He looked as God created him. He was the age that God created
him. I believe that Adam was created
with the appearance of age when he was a second old. He had nothing
to say about all of these things. He was told to go out and take
care of the garden, the Garden of Eden, to watch over it, do
whatever God intended for him to do, but he did not have anything
to do with the building of it. God declares and decrees all
that would take place and it came out just like he purposed
it. Now, you can hardly read a chapter
without running into this, but I know from personal experience
that when I read those chapters, I would jump over those words
because they were anathema. We can't talk about this. If
you did, it always in your mind had to be connected with what
you were doing, and it ran exactly contrary to a read about what
God did. God's creation was God's creation
after his own counsel and after his own wisdom. Now turn with
me, if you would, to one passage of scripture in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 46, a wonderful passage of scripture, just like
so many we find in the scripture, and God's people, the church
of the living God, relishes and delights in passages just like
this because it takes all of the worry out of it. Are you
ever worried? Takes all the worry out of it.
God is in charge. He's all-wise, all-knowing. He
has purpose to do, well, let's just read this, Isaiah 46, verse
9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me. You know what the church would
say right there? Hallelujah. because we appreciate statements
like that, that God would declare this about himself and we could
sit down and be at rest. Then the next verse says, declaring
the end from the beginning and from the ancient times, the things
that are not yet done. Only God can do that. Once more,
what would the church say? Hallelujah. You know what's going
on in my family's life. You know what's going on in my
life. You know what's going on in our
church life. You know what's going on. You have purposed it
and you're carrying it out to the nth degree, fulfilling all
your counsel. As it says there, from ancient
times, the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall
stand and I will do all my pleasure. Now, remember that when it comes
to salvation, I will do all my pleasure. Now, out in the state
of Oregon, When it was created, Oregon was created out of part
of the Louisiana Purchase. We had the Lewis and Clark Expedition
come right down through the Dalles. They stayed there for two or
three nights fixing some of their boats that they came down through
some heavy, heavy cataracts on the Columbia River. We didn't
have the Dalles Dam there. It would be much easier for them.
They have a place called Rock Fort. And they dried out their
stuff. We're right there, as President
Jefferson sent them out there to find the Northwest Passage,
and they didn't. But they got to the Pacific Ocean. We're part
of that whole conglomerate of property that came into existence
as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. And someday, some guy
sat down at a map, as they knew it, and drew a line across the
northern part of the state and they called it baseline. All
the other surveys of the entire state were taken off of that
one line. Now, out by Hillsborough, west
of Portland, there's a street called baseline. You can go into
Eastern Oregon and run into that same road, baseline road. It's
a straight line all the way through. I've got a map in my office that
shows that very thing. Now, I said that to say this,
God started with baseline and his baseline is, I am God and
beside me there is none else. I do all things after the counsel
of my own will. The vast majority of people find
error when they begin their spiritual life with themselves. You will
be an error if you start your spiritual life with yourself.
Boy, that's, what was it, one of the judges said, or Mark Twain
maybe, a man that has himself for his own counsel is counseling
a fool? If you go into a courtroom and
you have yourself for your own lawyer, you're going to be a
fool. And when you step into the courtroom of Almighty God,
and you don't have the advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ, you are
going to hear words. Depart from me, worker of iniquity,
for I never knew you. Now, baseline. What is the baseline? The baseline is Christ. The baseline
is starting with God. What did God do? What did God
secure before the world began? There is a verse of scripture
over the book of Revelation chapter 22 that figuratively tells us
about this. And would you turn over there
with me, Revelation chapter 22 and verse 1. We find here that John was shown something, and
in this is a picture so typical of what we find when it comes
to how God started salvation on the behalf of his people.
He's the baseline, he's the beginning point, and all other points All
other people, all other elect, all other of the saints start
right here. We take our line back to him.
I've got a cousin and a brother too that's just sewed up in genealogy. Boy, they've taken me back to
some really ornery people and they want me to be related to
every king, queen of England, France, Spain. We're going to
have some royalty too. But there's some real guys in
my background too. Where do you trace your spiritual
genealogy to? Revelation chapter 22 verse 1,
and he showed me a pure river of water, of life, clear as crystal. Now, there's only been one people
that have come down through the ages. I hear this record. By faith, Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice. What's he say? I need a substitute. I need a sacrifice. He wasn't
trusting that lamb, he was trusting the Christ that it represented.
By faith, he offered a more excellent sacrifice. What's it say here?
A pure river of water, the pure gospel, the pureness of it. Pure water to some people is,
I can't drink this stuff. I'm so used to drinking that
stuff that's down there in Orlando. Whoa. We have a town out in Idaho,
Holmdale, Idaho. You can't drink that water because
it tastes like sulfur. You've been there, you know what
I'm talking about. People get used to that, they can't drink
pure water. But this is a clear stream of
water. Now notice where it's proceeding
from. Proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Now that's
where this grace starts. That's where this election starts.
That's where this hope starts. That's where this peace starts.
That's where this salvation starts. It starts at the throne of God. That's why it is imperative that
we preach Christ in him crucified, and in that, that he knew who
he was dying for. He wasn't making it possible
to be saved. He was declaring, I will save my people from their
sins. It is God. It begins with God. It's found
in his word and it begins with God and that's where real salvation
always begins. It begins with God. Our hope
is in God. Our hope is in Christ. Our hope
is not in ourself. How do we start our testimony?
Well, there's a lot of difference between saying, I know why God
loves me. I've done so much for him and Oh, how could he love
me? Look at what I am and look at
what I've done. How could he love me? First Corinthians
chapter 1, we find that this wonderful statement about God
and beginning salvation with God and in Christ Jesus, it takes
away this proneness that we have as natural men. A number of years
ago when we got our new building, We wanted to put a kitchen in
it. We got all the permits and did
the pouring and put up all of the outside walls and the ceiling
and the electricity. I was going to build the cabinets. I found out that I couldn't buy
the material for what we could get the cabinets already built.
All we had to do is drive down to Portland because they did
this for a job. They had people just cutting
out these cabinets all day long and putting them together. After
it was all over with, I went to a couple of them and I says,
I'm very thankful that we bought those cabinets because if I'd
have built them, every time I walked through, I said, look what I
built. Look what I built. We're all recovering Pharisees. and we want people to know what
we built. That's one of the reasons that
God has election, because it doesn't promote that. We know we're Pharisees and we
know we're recovering Pharisees, but the very teaching about salvation
takes that away. Turn with me here to First Corinthians
Chapter 1 and verse 26. It says, For ye see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things
which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are
not to bring to naught the things that are. Why, that no flesh,
should glory in His presence. Look what I've done. And that's
what religion promotes. Look what I've done. And what
Christianity promotes, look what He's done. Look what he's done. Look before the foundation of
the world. He was mindful of a people before
they'd ever fallen into sin, before they were ever created.
God had a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He had
our names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. He never
asked us because we say, no, thank you, I don't care for any.
He said, I will do it anyway because of his own wisdom and
because of his own desire and because of what he wanted to
do and because of his own grace. Then in the process of time,
he brought these people to birth. Moved some, some he settled,
but all were going to hear the gospel. They're going to hear
the gospel of God's grace, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He would cause them to hear the gospel and he would rescue them
and save them out of a horrible pit that no man may glory in
his presence. There is a lot to be said about
why we love God. What does John say? We love him. because he first loved us. There's a lot to be said about
why we love God. We're not the first cause, he's
the first cause. We're just going along for the
ride. How much did you have to do with
your first birth? That's how much you had to do
with your second birth. because God had it in control beforehand. It puts the results in the hands
of God. This is a wonderful statement
about God. He takes care of the results.
One of the most freeing moments I had in my ministry when I first
came to the dows, and I went to the men and I says, I just
realized that the results are not to me, they're up to God. All I get to do now is study
and preach. And now he'll take care of it.
Well, the results are up to God. We had a slogan one time, you've
heard it, a million more in 94. We're going to have a million
converts in 1994. That was a religious slogan. And you know what that
does? That makes a whole lot of people raise their hand that
don't know the first thing about Christ. The results are up to
Christ. The declaration of Christ, it's
not with enticing words of men's wisdom. We're not going to try. Did you know that one of the
most important and most valuable classes in the modern day Bible
school training preachers is psychology? That is the most
important. So you can manipulate people. You know what? God's been in
that business for centuries, getting people to do what they
don't want to do with their full consent. That's what God does. Would you turn with me over to
the Book of Galatians Chapter 1, verse 6-12, as we find here
that this just takes all the results and puts them right in
the hands of God. It's not after men. Galatians
chapter 1, here we find this wonderful statement as the Apostle
Paul was writing unto some troubled people. Galatians chapter 1 verse
6, I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
and to another gospel. Did you notice that? Removed
from him? which is not another, but there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, that which
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that which you have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men, or if I
am Yet, pleased of men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ." Makes all the difference in the world that we've been
taught this revelation by Jesus Christ and not by man. I remember
hearing Brother Henry Mahan talk about Rothbard. Ralph Barnard
had someone come up to him and say, ''I'm one of your converts.''
Ralph said, ''You must be because God does a better job than that.'' Oh, how pitiful our converts
are. They're picked too green. They
shrivel. The grain has fallen among thorns,
the grain has fallen on rocky places, the grain has fallen.
But that grain that the preacher preaches that falls in good ground,
that's been cultivated by Almighty God, says it will produce, it
will grow up. There's a people that have no
root in themselves. There's a statement made by the
Lord himself that said, every plant that's not planted by me,
So he is the first cause of all of these things, and he is the
one that must take care of it. You know, election is the secret
to success. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Acts chapter 13. You and I, I think most of us,
I don't know, no one has ever told me that you're of Jewish
nationality. Hallelujah if you are. But I'm a Gentile, and I'm
so glad I read about here in the book of Acts about Gentiles
getting to hear the gospel. There was a bunch of Jews, preachers
even, that thought that salvation was only for the Jews. Nicodemus
came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he believed that salvation
was only for the Jews. And that's why we hear the Lord
Jesus say to him, for God so loved the world. There's people
out of every kindred, nation, people, and tongue, not just
Jews, but people in this world. non-Jews, Gentiles. And if Nicodemus
had had the book of Isaiah revealed to him, he'd have known that.
But he didn't. And it wasn't until he saw Christ
he could understand the Gentiles are going to be brought in just
like the Jews. They're just a type, a picture,
a shadow. Here in the book of Acts chapter
13, we find the apostle Paul had been preaching, and he said
this to a whole group of Jews, you have judged yourselves unworthy
of eternal life, therefore I turn to the Gentiles. He was an apostle
sent to the Gentiles. And here in Acts chapter 13, I want to back up just a little.
Verse 44, 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.
Oh my goodness, who is it that really gets upset about the preaching
of the gospel? It's religious people. I've been
there and practiced it. Religious people have a problem
because their baseline is their own works and the church's baseline
is God. They got upset. and spake against
the gospel. 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 you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles, who in the world would ever say no thank you to
eternal life? Everyone that knows not Christ. You will not come. You will not believe because
you're not of my sheep. And then he says, For so hath
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light
to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. Now, notice
the next phrase. Here is the results. Not because
Paul was practicing psychology, not because he gave a great altar
call, not because he got down and prayed him through. What
was the reason for the results here as the Apostle Paul had
preached the gospel? They that were ordained to eternal
life believed. Now I've had people say they
believed and then they were ordained to eternal life. That's not what
it says. They were ordained to eternal life, and when they heard
the gospel, God gave them belief. He had to resurrect them from
the dead before they could do that. He had to raise them from
the spiritual dead before they could ever do this very one thing,
and that is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was able
to have recorded here that God is in charge of the results.
They that were ordained to eternal life believe. It tells us in
the first part of the Book of Acts that daily was added unto
the church such as should believe. God is in charge of that. Why
did God save you? Because he's in charge of it.
Why does God save anybody? Because he's in charge of it.
Why does he have a church here and not in Portland, Oregon?
Because he's in charge of it. Now you say, people say, that's
not fair. I don't want fair. I want grace. I don't want fair. I don't know
what fair would do. I want grace. I want God's grace. I want God's sovereign grace.
I want God's free and sovereign grace, because that's what's
going to save a people. Fair, that's not what we want. Salvation is not a matter of
justice. Oh, it's not just. Hallelujah. Thank God it's not just. We'd
all be bound for a devil's hell. It is not just. Yes, right. It's of grace. It is not fair. God's dealing with lost, guilty,
condemned sinners who would not have chosen him. That's in God's
eternal purpose. He must have an elect people. He must have chosen them ahead
of time because they would not choose God. He must give them
the new birth before they can take one breath of spiritual
life. He has to open hearts and minds
today just as he did in the days of Lydia. There was a lady, a
seller of purple. I looked up one time, I think
she was about 300 miles away from home selling this very special
costly purple cloth. Now, 300 miles in that day and
time would be about the distance between here and Antarctica. We flew here in less than six
hours. 300 miles is nothing in an airplane.
Walk it. But she is 300 miles away from
home. She's down where Paul just happens
to be. Now, if you know Christ, you
know what I'm talking about. You were where somebody just
happened to be. And God did a work of grace on
this lady that had practiced idolatry. How do I know that? Because she
was lost. And the greatest idol of natural
man is self. We're all idolatrous people.
And she came down there and the Apostle Paul just happened to
be sent here. You know, the Bible tells us
that he had a purpose of heart to go to an area, and the Holy
Spirit came to him and said, nope. Okay, I'll go up here. Nope. Then a man from Macedonia appeared
to him in a dream by night. He says, well, there's where
I'm going, and got over there and ran into a lady by the name
of Lydia. The Bible tells us whose heart
the Lord opened. My dad had open heart surgery.
but you know the Lord's been in practice of it a lot longer
than that doctor. He opened her heart. Now, we
find out that we actually get a new heart. In religion, I used
to say, give Jesus your heart. Guess what? He doesn't want it.
He don't want your heart. In the covenant of grace, he
gives new hearts. soft hearts, receptive hearts,
hearts to believe him, hearts to trust him, hearts of flesh
it's called, not stony hearts. This heart he opened and she
was more than willing to trust Christ because Christ had already
given her the trust. Whose heart the Lord opened,
John 1, verse 13, would you turn there with me? You know this
passage of scripture. The Lord Jesus was sharing about
himself. How do I know that? In my Bible,
it's all in black. That means he didn't say this
word for word, but he is the author of our word. He is the
word. And it tells us here in John 1, verse 13, which were
born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of
man, but of God. Now, just up to that, verse 11,
it says, he came unto his own. I heard for years that was the
Jews. You know who that was? That's
us. He came unto his own and you
know what? We didn't know him. In fact, Isaiah 53 says, we'd
have nothing to do with him. We turned our face on him. We
didn't want a thing to do with him by nature. He came unto his
own and his own received him not. We didn't vote for him. We were in the streets saying,
crucify him, crucify him, crucify him, just like everybody else
was. But when he sends us the gospel
of the purpose of that crucifixion, then we know him. And we don't
say, I wish I was there to stop it. We say, thank God for it.
Because in that, he took away our sin as far as the East is
from the West. never to be brought up again,
never to be charged to our account again. Then if you would turn
with me to the book of Acts chapter 18, the instruction to the Apostle
Paul as we think about election. It is in the Bible through and
through. It does give glory to God. It starts at the right place.
it puts the results in the hands of God. Here in the Book of Acts,
Chapter 18. Now a church is going to be used
to feed the sheep, and a church is going to be used
to preach the gospel to the lost. Same message. We don't have to change messages. Here in Acts chapter 18, verse
10, he speaks to the Apostle Paul,
who's a little concerned. And he says, for I'm with thee,
and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much
people in the city. Now, they got marks on them,
known to God. A preacher came to Charles Spurgeon one time
and says, if I believed what you'd believe, I'd only preach
to the elect. He says, you pick them out and that's what I'll
do. We don't know them. I'll tell
you one thing, in people's estimation, this wouldn't have been one of
them. Solitarsus, he wouldn't have
been one of them. No. It's the wicked sinners. seem
to be. I have much people in this city.
A preacher shared this with me. How do I know that this gospel
is the gospel? It glorifies God. That's our
whole job, glorify God. It is true to the Old Testament
scriptures. The Old Testament declares it from cover to cover.
It rests on the person and work of Christ. He is the only high
priest that ever got to sit down, and he sat down at the right
hand of the Father. It enables God to be just and
justifier by honoring the law and satisfying justice. The law
was honored. Christ honored the law. Justice
was served. All our sins were taken care
of at the cross. He died. for his people. It can save the chiefest of sinners. This gospel can save the chiefest
of sinners. And it will keep a person saved. The promise of God is to keep
his people and in the end there will not be one empty chair. Every name that's written in
the Lamb's Book of Life will be represented by a person at
that great throne room in heaven when we all bow down and cry
worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor and
praise because it was because of God's grace that we're there
and for no other reason. It honors God. Election honors
God. It starts with God. It leaves
the results up to God. It saves people from their sins
without works. So as Paul would say, I want
to preach Christ, that message till the end, because it's what
saves people. Number 132. 132, if you solve that, tell
me. 132 God elect shall endure We'll hold fast in Christ eternally
secure. We'll reach our home at last. All of the chosen race shall
meet around God's throne. To praise Him for His sovereign
grace, And make His glories known. Washed in the Savior's blood,
robed in His righteousness, freely we're justified by God. Our hearts are kept in peace,
all of the chosen race. shall meet around God's throne
to praise Him for His sovereign grace and make His glories known. Christ must be satisfied His
death was not in vain Those sinners for whom Jesus died Cannot for
sin be slain All of the chosen race Shall meet around God's
throne to praise Him for His sovereign grace and make His
glories known. God's purpose cannot fail His
grace none can defeat The spirit by whom we are sealed Was never
conquered yet All of the chosen race Shall meet around God's
throne to praise him for his sovereign grace and make his
glories known. Amen. That thing has a mind of its
own. Thank you.