Well, good morning again. I appreciate all the hugs I've
got. Your pastor has been in our home
and we've enjoyed that. He's brought messages for us
at our summer camp a couple of times now. And we have just appreciated
so much you sharing him with us. Now, I know it's a far country. Way out there. I was down in
Texas one time, and they saw my license plate, and they said,
now Oregon, isn't that over by Washington, D.C.? I said, no ma'am, it's the wrong
Washington. We're out by the state of Washington.
And the dear lady said she has a daughter that lives in Tacoma.
Compared to from here to there, we're just a short distance away
from Tacoma. It's been our blessing and privilege
to be there now in our 27th year. I've had every man in the church
share with me, we knew, I knew the doctrine, but I didn't know
the Christ. That's not surprising anymore. I'm convinced that if you love
the Lord, and if you do, you'll love his gospel. I'm convinced
that if you lived under the old economy, we call it the Old Testament
era, I'm convinced that if you love the Lord, and thus you love
the gospel, that you would find yourself sitting under Zephaniah. Haggai. Obadiah, because those guys knew
the gospel. You'd seek them out. You'd find
them. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Whenever they were speaking,
God's people were assembled there. Now there's a whole bunch of
people that they talked to that didn't agree with them, and they
wanted them to shut up. A lot of those Jews wanted them
to shut up. We don't like what you're having
to say, but there was a few out of every kindred, nation, people,
and tongue that assembled under the names of those guys, we can
hardly pronounce their names, and say, this is where I'm hearing
the truth. Now that's why I pray you're
here today. There's a man here that preaches the truth. That's
why people come, they're in the dowels. They hear, I can hear
something here, maybe I can hear something here. So this morning,
We're not going to the Old Testament for our text, we're going to
the book of Titus. The book of Titus. I apologize,
I can't speak twice in a row and not overlap a little bit,
Brother Marvin. I'm going to read one verse.
Verse one. We started the book of Titus
about a month ago, and I thought we were just going to cut a swift
swath. I've spent a long time in the
book of Philippians, and we're just going to go through here.
And I've been a month and a half in verse 1. There's high cotton
here. There's heavy hay here. And you
have to go slow when the hay is high. Can't go too fast. You don't cut it. So I've been
spending some time here, and it's been a real blessing. And
I'd like to spend a little time in verse 1 this morning. that
shares with us these words. Titus chapter 1, verse 1. The apostle Paul, a servant of
God, a writer, a secretary. Now that's one of the things
that Paul would admit to. It's one of the things that the
other disciples would admit to. The other apostles, they would
admit to this. I'm a secretary. These are not
my words, they were given to me, just like we read Zephaniah,
Haggai, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, all through those books. Thus
saith the Lord. And all their job was to do was
to deliver the message, popular or unpopular, friendly or unfriendly,
deliver the message, leave it up to God. Now, here in the book
of Titus, chapter 1, verse 1, it says, Paul, a servant of God,
I'm going to give you what's given to me. I'm not going to
add a word. I'm not going to take away a
word. This is what was given to me, just like he wrote to
the Corinthians when he delivered them about the communion service,
the Lord's Supper. I'm giving you what I was given. And that's what he wrote. All
right? Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Apostle means one sent. Servant means a bond slave, a
bond servant. I've been sent. God sent me. I don't understand all the call
of God. Do you, Brother Marvin? I don't
understand it. I don't understand how he called
any of us out of darkness to the marvelous light. I don't
understand that. I know it's effectual. I know it happens.
But I don't understand it and I can't dissect it. I just say,
he calls. He called the Apostle Paul. An apostle is one cent. I've
had people say there are only twelve apostles. Well, there
were those 12 that the Lord dealt with during His ministry, but
we have other apostles mentioned in the Scripture. Barnabas is
called an apostle. He was once sent. The Lord is
called an apostle. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession. An apostle. I was sent of God
according to the faith of God's elect. Now, the Apostle Paul's
ministry To these saints that he wrote through Titus in Crete,
as well as any place he ever went to, he said, my job, my
work, my ministry, is to encourage God's people in the faith. According
to the faith. It's my job. Preach the gospel. That encourages God's people.
It is a miracle, though, that the same word that encourages
us is the word that God uses to bring in the lost sheep. Same
word. We don't have to differentiate.
We don't have, well, Sunday morning we're going to have an evangelistic
sermon. Every sermon better be about the same sermon because
that's what God uses to encourage the sheep. And that's what He
uses to bring us out of darkness into His marvelous light. I'm
thankful for preachers that understand that. and their ministry is to
comfort God's people and at the same time God uses it to break
stony hearts. My word is a hammer breaking
a rock to pieces. Thank God he does that. And then
we find here that the Apostle Paul is encouraging them, wanting
them to grow in grace, The Lord Jesus Christ, grace and the knowledge. We're given all the grace when
we're converted, when we're born again, all the knowledge, but
we just learn more about it. It's theirs for us. We're learning
more about it. As we go through the word of
God, God is pleased to turn on the light from time to time.
Once in a while, we get an aha moment. Oh my goodness, that's
what that means. And we say, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord. If he's given you a crumb, you
remember the Syrophoenician woman? Oh Lord, if you just give us
a crumb from the master's table. Could we have a crumb this morning?
Just a crumb from the master's table. That's all I want, is
a crumb. If it be pleasing to you, even
the dogs get the crumbs from off the table. Now in this verse
of scripture it uses the word, the faith of God's elect. And
the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. Now
God's elect acknowledge the truth. God's elect don't have a fuss
with the truth. There's one thing about God's elect. They will
never ever say, I don't believe that part of the Bible. Now,
I've had a lot of people tell me, I don't believe that. But
they're just identifying themselves as unbelievers. That's all they're
doing. If you don't believe the word
of God, if you don't believe a passage of scripture, you're identifying
yourselves as an unbeliever. Believers believe the Word of
God. We may not understand it, but
we believe it. It's given to us to believe it.
We don't doubt it. I don't doubt creation. God has
said it's in the Word of God. We don't doubt the first creation.
We don't doubt the second creation. It's the Word of God. God's people
believe the truth. Now, in that word, I'd like to
spend a little time on that word, elect. Because I sat back one
day in my study and said, Why study about election anyway? Well, we know right off it's
found many times in the Word of God. Election, elect, choose,
chosen. These are words of God. They've
been translated for us to understand a little bit. Now I can understand
us not understanding it if we're not born again. But I understand
that God's people, when they are born again, are going to
understand this and say, it has to be this way. Because we're
so totally depraved that on our own we have never turned aside
to God. Thank God that he had a had a plan before the foundation
of the world to deal with a problem that he knew was going to happen.
He had a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He had
a covenant of grace before the foundation of the world. He had
a purpose of grace before the foundation of the world. He has
all things in order before the foundation of the world, and
then he created Adam, and then he created Eve, and then Adam
sinned, and God's not caught off guard. Why? Because he has
an elect people. Now, there are several things
I'd like to bring out in the short time I have this morning
about why we study this. Number one, it is a theme that's
declared throughout the Old Testament as well as the New Testament,
and it is foundationed on God's sovereignty. This is foundationed
on God's sovereignty. I understand people not wanting
to believe God's sovereignty. I had a pastor one time who said,
God's sovereign if you let him. I found out that's a lie. God's
sovereign whether we let him or not. Thank God we didn't have
that control over him. God is sovereign. That means
he rules. That means he rules over heaven
and earth. He does his will among the armies of heaven and the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say,
what doest thou? Nobody can stop God. Nobody can
alter God. I've had people say, if we can
get enough people praying, we can change God's mind. I hope
not! pray, talk to people about praying about your issues, but
don't ever get this idea that you're going to change God's
mind because that's a God that's not the God of the Bible. The
God of the Bible is sovereign. He changes not. And He has a
purpose, and He has a plan, and He's going to carry it out. And
in that purpose and in that plan is, He has an elect people. It
declares His sovereignty. God can do what He wants to do
before the foundation of the world to the end of the world
and he is going to be in charge. Turn with me if you would to
Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 10. Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 10.
The prophet Isaiah, the prophet Ezekiel, the prophet Jeremiah,
the prophet Haggai, the prophet Obadiah, all the prophets of
the Old Testament declared Christ. They were the messengers of Christ.
They preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we
go over here, in Isaiah chapter 46, there in verse 10, the scripture
is shared with us again. It says, for that... I'll get
to 46 instead of 47. declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Now, I can't
help but saying this, again, the church says amen. We're so
thankful, God, that you do what you say you will do and you've
already got a plan ahead of time. Now, I would have been really
concerned if Nancy and I got on the plane in Portland, Oregon,
Friday morning, and we got up in the air and we asked the stewardess,
when do we arrive in Pittsburgh? And she just said, you know,
I really don't know where we're flying to. We're going to fly
until we run out of fuel and then we'll try to land. I would
have said, please take us back to Portland. I want to get on
that plane and have it predestined to land where I hope it does.
Now if it goes down, otherwise, that's in God's purpose too.
But I want a predestination. I want that plane to be run by
people who know where it's going. And the same is true about our
life. God's people love to know about a God that share, as we
read here, in Isaiah chapter 46, and there in verse 10, it
says, I'll get there, declaring the
end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will
do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east. Did you know
God purposed the armies to come up against Israel? Ravenous bird
from the east. A bunch of Israel says, he wouldn't
do that. God said, I've called a ravenous bird from the east
and I am going to overthrow this kingdom. God's in charge of that. Why is what's going on in the
Middle East God's purpose? That's God's purpose. I've talked
to enough people to know that God has moved people around the
world due to conflict so they can hear the gospel. I'm convinced
that there's some people from the Middle East that are of another
faith, which is not another faith, just the same as Paul said to
the Galatians. Another gospel, which is not
another gospel. He had the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ and a bunch of other people who claimed to know it,
didn't know it. These people, somebody is going to be moved
to somewhere where they can hear the gospel and God's going to
save them because he chose them before the foundation of the
world. There's enough people to prove that very thing. I'm
sitting out in Oregon in 1986 in the mully grubs, desperate,
dying on the vine because I found out my religion was worthless.
And God sent a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why didn't he take me to some
other religion? He could have. But you know what? He's sovereign. He moved a man
to come to Oregon who knew something about the gospel and he preached
and I got to hear it. Now, I didn't like it, but I
got to hear it. God and his purpose saved me.
I found out then he had chosen me before the foundation of the
world because I'd have never chosen him. All right. This is the theme, the elect.
It is because God is sovereign. Number 2. This subject begins
at the right place. The election starts at the right
place. Now out in Oregon, When they
came out there and started a territory, someone drew a line across Oregon
and said, this is baseline. We have a street in Hillsboro,
Oregon called Baseline Road. We go to Eastern Oregon, we can
get on Baseline Road again. It's a line drawn across Oregon
and every other survey measurement is taken off of that line. Every
piece of property that is ever surveyed started with baseline. Now, when we talk about God's
salvation, our baseline is God. It's a great error, and we do
it as natural citizens of this world, descendants of Adam. We
want the baseline to be us. And we talk about us being the
baseline and what we do. I've been taking a dear lady.
She's going to be 89 years old. I've adopted her as my mother.
Brother Marvin knows her. She's my song leader's mother. Her name is Rose. I've adopted
her. She's going to be 89. I take her to the Senior Citizen
Center on Thursdays to have lunch. Now, it's not because of the
meal that I get. But it's because I get to be
with this dear lady. We travel over there from where
she's staying and back. We sit down. I hate it when people
find out I'm a pastor. Because you know what they want
to do? They want to share their religion with me. All the good
things they've done. It just makes me sick. But you
know what? That's exactly what I used to
do. When my baseline was me, when the baseline becomes Christ,
when baseline becomes God, when we find out that He had a baseline
before time and all His measurements are from that point. We find
out, elect, the elect of God, election in Christ Jesus. We
find out that He had a purpose before the beginning of the world
for a group of people out of every kindred nation people and
tongue. We find that out, we are thankful
for it, and it takes away us wanting to be the baseline. It
takes away us wanting to be in charge. He strips us of that. He gets rid of our self-righteousness.
He gets rid of our works. Turn with me, if you would, to
the last book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, chapter
22. In here we have a beautiful picture of all the things with
regard to God, all the doctrines, all the teachings, all the things
about God. They begin with God and flow
to us. Revelation chapter 22 and verse
1, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And once
again, I can't help but saying, thank you, Lord. It all begins
from you. It comes from you. All grace
comes from you. Every spiritual blessing comes
from you. I have nothing in myself to offer. It comes down to me.
And that's a blessing. And that's why we find these
elect of God. Because it begins with God, elect
of God, begins with God and comes down to us. We find out what
God's already done. And we're so thankful because
at that moment we're just crippled of body and mind. We're brought
to the lowest ebb, raises us out of a horrible pit, sets us
on a solid rock, establishes our goings, puts a new song in
our heart. So it gives, it starts with God, it gives glory to God.
This gives glory to God. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. And that's one of the things
that's brought out in here, that no man should glory in His presence,
will glory about Him, but will not say, look what I've done. In fact, 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. Look at what I've done. How could
He love me? Because He wants to. Because
He's sovereign. Because He's King. Because He
gives glory to God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
26, through the rest of the chapter,
It says this, For ye see what 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, the base things of the world, the things which were
despised hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not to bring
to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, Jeremiah, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And so as Paul wrote
to the elect here in Crete, Titus was their pastor, sending a word
of encouragement to them and to the pastor. He wanted them,
first of all, to begin at the most important part, God. God is sovereign. It brings glory
to God. All things begin with God. And
it puts the results in the hands of God. Oh, I don't know about
you, but I used to hear, a million more in 64 or 94. Boy, work, work, work, get a
million more in the churches in 94. And then we find out when
God saves us, it's all God's business. I shared with you that
lady that I talked with last Sunday. She came and approached
me. She said, I've never been in a church like this. There's
no pressure. And I says, I know what you're
talking about. I used to go to church and the
preacher would stop me if he could. I was a wiggly one. I'm going to let someone else
get there first, and he's going to be all confronting him. I'm
going to wiggle out past him. How it was, you got to get all
the kids saved before they're three years old, I guess. Get
a number down, get it going, have it happen. Religion wants
to make God successful, and Christianity worships a successful God. Religion wants results. Got to
do something. Paul said he came to the Corinthians
not with enticing words of men's wisdom. He didn't go to psychology
class. One of the biggest classes that
you can take if you go to a Bible school is you got to take psychology.
Why do you got to take psychology? So you can convince people to
do something that they don't want to do. What does God do? He gives us a new birth and we're
convinced. He's in charge. In the Old Testament,
there's an account in 2 Chronicles that God said, you know, there's
a king down there and I want someone to go down and get him
to go over to this place here. And this lion spirit, he's called
a lion spirit. He said, I can get him to do
it. I can get him to do it, and he says, how are you going to
do it? He says, I'm going to talk to the prophets. And they're
going to tell him a lie, and he'll do it. And guess what? That lion spirit went and talked
to those false prophets, and that king did it. Now, a true
prophet that went to him, he said, I don't like what you have
to say. We like to hear what agrees with
our heart. And that lion king liked to hear
lies from lion prophets, and God used it for his glory. Romans chapter 16. Would you
turn there with me? Election. Elect. God choosing. Shares with us that God is sovereign.
It shares with us that it begins at the right place. Our salvation
begins at the right place. It begins with God. It gives
glory to God. God gets all the glory that no
man glorieth in his presence. And it puts the results in the
hands of God. God's going to save His people
from their sins without your pressure and without my pressure.
Now I was visiting with a preacher one time, and he told me that
he was in a meeting one time, and he's just hanging on with
white knuckles, and there was a dear lady said, don't you think
it's time for you to go forward? And guess what? He did. And I
says, oh me. It puts the results in God's
hands, Romans chapter 16. One of the most comforting things
that ever happened to me as a pastor in the Dalles was to come to
the realization that the results belong to God. You know that
liberated me? It set me free. All I get to
do is preach the gospel and leave it alone. I like what Moose Park
said, or maybe it was Don Fortner said about Moose Park's wife.
Just leave her alone! Let her go! There's a dear lady
we're going to visit down in North Carolina. She got in her
car and drove off. Henry Mahan was down there holding
a meeting and she just got in the car and drove off. Her husband
didn't know where she went. And Brother Henry said, just
leave her alone. Leave them alone. That's leaving the results to
God. The only people I've ever been
around that know about our own children are grace people. They realize they're lost just
like we were. And it's not our job to get them
to make a profession of faith. It's God's job. And if He doesn't,
that's pleasing to Him. If He does, it's pleasing to
Him. It's our responsibility to declare the Gospel. Alright,
I'm going to read here in Romans chapter 16, verse 17 and 18.
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned,
and avoid them. For they that are such serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly." How much religion
is in business for economics. God's not in business for economics.
God's preachers are not in business for economics. I see you do something
we do. We don't pass a plate. We're
not in business for economics. If the Lord touches a person
to give, there's a box somewhere in there. That's the way it is
out there. I've had people come to me and say, you didn't take
an offering. No, I found out that I can save about 16 hours
a year by not having an offertory. We can have one more song or
I get that much more time to preach. That's the way it was
in the Bible. Economics has driven this. Economics
has driven religion. God's not driven by economics.
He's driven by His glory. There it says again, verse 18,
For they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but
their own belly, and by good works and fair speeches deceive
the hearts of the simple. psychology, all the other things,
and yet the doctrine of Christ is left out of all those schools. Election shares with us that
God is in charge, that He gets the glory. The gospel is not
after man. It's not that we want to beguile
anybody. We don't have any hidden agenda.
We don't have anything hidden. We declare the whole counsel
of God. When the Apostle Paul was saved on the road to Damascus,
it's so interesting, the Lord appeared unto one of those guys
down in Damascus. You know what? He had, Paul,
Saul of Tarsus had a writ. from the priest to arrest this
man, I'm convinced. And the Lord appeared unto him
and says, there's a man over here I want you to go baptize.
Oh, whoa, whoa, Lord. He's down here to do no good.
The Lord says, he is a chosen vessel. You know what convinced
that man to go down to Paul? Election. God said he's one of my elect.
And he's, oh right! That's true! If that be true,
I'll go! And he went right down there.
When God says that he is one of my chosen, God's people say,
hallelujah! Now we have a dear friend that's
down in New Guinea, preaching a gospel down there, and there's
some people down there that used to be headhunters. That was a
savage place. Not like the Midwest, the West,
farther West, early days, even now. Chicago! Just a hard place. You know, out of that, God's
saving His elect. They don't speak our language,
but they want to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
their whole intent. Gospel came not through by word
only. 1 Thessalonians came not in word
only. We didn't try to convince you
of a thing, but the Spirit of God got a hold of you. This gospel
is not psychology. This gospel is not of men. This gospel is not for men's
glory. This declares the sovereignty
of God. This declares that salvation
begins with God. This shares with us that it's
not for men's glory, but for God's glory. This shares with
us that the results are up to God, and He said through His
Son, I'll lose none. There won't be one empty seat
in glory. They'll all be filled with those
who will bow down before Him and say, worthy is the Lamb that
was slain. Everyone will say the same thing. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Acts. Election is the secret to success. Right
here, talking about us, Gentiles. Whoa. Paul had preached and a
bunch of Jews said, we don't hear that anymore. And he said,
you've judged yourselves of unworthy of eternal life. Therefore, I
turn to the Gentiles. Gentiles, whoa, would you come
preach to us? Look here, Acts chapter 13, verse
48. Paul went to Corinth. He's down
in the mulligrubs. The Lord appeared unto him and
said, don't be too hard on yourself. Paul, I have much people in this
city. Guess what? He started preaching
the gospel and the Lord formed a church there that believed
the gospel. All right, Acts 13, 48. Paul and Barnabas whacked bold
in verse 46 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. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. Now notice the last phrase. and
as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. That was the secret
to success. All this whole group of Gentiles,
they'd been waiting on the edge. Did you know that the prophet
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the prophets of old all said
Gentiles would be entering in? And here it's taking place, and
because of that, you and I, as Gentiles, have heard the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life did what? Believed. It is the secret of
success of the church. It is God's elective grace. It declares He is sovereign.
A lot of people don't want to know that. They don't want to
believe that. I understand that. Only when God breathes on us
the breath of life and we become a living soul do we ever want
to even think about it. But once we're saved, we say,
I knew it all along. It had to be that way, because
I knew enough I wouldn't turn in to this gate. Declares his
sovereignty. Declares you're not going to
give yourself for my glory. It doesn't give glory to men. It gives glory to God. His great
redemptive work. Glory to the Savior. Glory to
the Father. Through the Savior. Glory to
the Holy Spirit. Through the Savior. It is glory
to God. It is the secret of success. We don't have to put dollar bills,
five dollar bills, ten dollar bills under the pew to get people
to come. The gospel is the invite. I don't know. You don't give
an invitation, do you brother? We don't either. You know why?
Christ is the invitation. We don't have to go through that
psychology. We don't have to try to convince anybody. If God
doesn't do it, it won't be done. A man convinced against his will
is of the same opinion still. It takes God to do that. It takes
the new birth to do that. And so the Apostle Paul was so
clear to preach elective grace, election, choosing, because it
is what gives all the glory to God. It gives men no glory. We just get the glory in it.
It is secret to success. God preaches, I know churches
have come and gone. You can't find the church of
Ephesus. One of the dearest letters in the New Testament was written
to the Ephesians. But there's no church there now
that I know of. That church is gone. Why? There
was no more sheep. It moved on to someplace else.
People moved out. Why? Because there is some sheep
there. Some lost sheep that need to
hear the gospel. That's just the way it goes on. We're going to see places in
Germany. Hardly find a place in Germany anymore where the
gospel is preached. Why? No more sheep. When there's some sheep that
are raised up, lost sheep, the gospel will be taken there. Election
is the secret to success. That's why it's here. That's
why it's in the Dalles. Churches are there. Why is there
a church here and not there? There's not one extra pastor
or church, and not one too few of any, that God would get the glory. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we can say, I know it's the gospel. because it glorifies
God. It is true to the Old Testament
Scriptures. It rests on the person and work
of Christ. It enables God to be just and
justifier by honoring the law and satisfying justice. It can
save the chief of sinners and it will keep a person saved.