There are doctrinal words and
theological terms that have been and continue to be spoken from
this pulpit for probably close or over 50 years now. You won't
likely hear these words or these terms or these doctrines in other
local churches unless they're used to be refuted. And let me
say in the beginning that I don't say that proudly or arrogantly
in order to make us seem spiritually superior or more enlightened
than others. We're accused of that often.
I've heard it said several times over the years. Well, you think
y'all the only one that knows anything. Well, that's not it. But I make that statement really
with great sadness and regret. Words like Sovereign and sovereignty
and election and predestination usually meet with much objection
and not only objection, but resentment and certainly misunderstanding.
couple years ago, I inquired with a local, quote, Christian
radio station here in town about airing our radio program on their
station. And they asked me for a demo
that they could listen to before they would even consider, and
so I took them a copy of our program to listen to, and a day
or two later, never heard back, and I called them, and they said,
sorry, our station manager has decided not to let you broadcast
on our station. And it turns out that the station,
the radio station, quote, Christian Radio Station, is actually owned
and operated by a Baptist church here in town, and the station
manager is their pastor. So I asked to speak to the manager,
the pastor, or whatever he was, and asked him why they wouldn't
let us broadcast on their station. And his answer was, well, in
your intro and in your exit, the announcer, which by the way,
if you don't know, is Gabe Stoniker. He recorded it for us several
years ago. He said, but in your intro and
exit, you use the term sovereign grace. And not do you only use
it once, but you use it twice. And I said, okay. And he said,
well, that's why I said by using the word sovereign before the
word grace, you're not going to let us be on your station.
He said, no, I'm not. He knew by using that word what
we believed and preached concerning the electing grace of God and
the Lord Jesus Christ. So I asked him this point blank,
so you have a problem with the term sovereign grace? And he
said, yes. And I replied, I didn't know
that there was any other kind. You know, people will say things
like, why preach on such a profound and controversial subject as
election or predestination? Why preach those things at all?
I've heard men ask. Shouldn't we leave those issues
to the theologians and to the Bible scholars? Shouldn't we
keep those deep doctrines back from the people? We better not. And the first and most obvious
reason is because these things are found throughout the Word
of God. And they are the foundational truths that must be believed
in order to understand how God saved sinners. And that is the
real issue. How? God save sinners. That's what the apostle Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 3, he said, for I delivered unto
you first of all, that which I also received, how? That Christ died for our sins
according to the scripture. Not simply that Christ died for
our sins, but how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scripture. And that being according to the
Old Testament scriptures, because that was the only scriptures
they had when Paul wrote that letter. And this is how God saves
sinners according to the scriptures. He does so sovereignly and on
purpose. And the Old Testament declares
plainly that it was according to His sovereign and eternal
counsel. Why, even the first words of
the Scriptures in Genesis 1-1 shows us God's omnipotent power
in not only creating light on the earth, but picturing the
almighty power that God creates light in the heart of a sinner.
The earth was without form and so is our dead hearts, void and
dark. And just as the spirit of God
moved and God said, let there be light and there was light.
It's no different, none at all different than the matter of
creating light in the formless void and dark heart of a dead
sinner. Same power, same power, sovereign
power. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4, 6. And in the book of Revelation,
John talks there about a book called the book of life that
belongs to the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
And every chosen and saved man and woman's name were written
in that book of life before time ever was. And those written in
that book of life must be saved for God purposed his beloved
son to die. He who is the lamb slain, he
purposed for him to die in their room instead. And we've talked
many times about the twins, Jacob and Esau. Paul wrote, for the
children not yet being born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand not of works. How then? But of Him, they call
it. Before those boys were ever born
in this world, before either of them had done anything good
or anything bad, God's purpose of election stood firm. and it
was not by their good works that they were chosen and it was not
by their bad works that they weren't. How then can any be
redeemed? Even so, at this present time,
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Election
is simply God being God. It's a demonstration of God's
sovereign rule as God. Concerning those twins, the sovereign
God of heaven and earth said, the elder shall serve the younger,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And salvation has never been,
nor will it ever be of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but always of God that showeth mercy. And it was even for this
same purpose that God raised up Pharaoh. Why? That he might
show forth his power in him and that God's sovereign name might
be declared throughout all the earth. And it was. When God got
through with Pharaoh, the world at that time knew who he was.
Rahab and the people in Jericho knew. We've heard, we've heard
what your Lord did to Pharaoh, what he did in Egypt. Friends,
these aren't doctrines that need to be avoided because they're
too deep or too controversial. They're the very heart of a gospel
message that declares God to be God, who God is and what man
is and how the two can be reconciled. Turn with me, if you would, to
Ephesians chapter one. I bet you knew I was heading
there next. Ephesians chapter one, I want
to just look at a few verses here, beginning in verse three. Ephesians one, verse three. Paul here writes in verse three,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. Who has blessed us? The God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What has God the Father blessed
us with? Well, he's blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now let me
just say, and I know this is the same with you, I've been
broke and I've had a little money and I'd much rather have a little
bit of money so I could at least pay my bills, buy something to
eat. I'd rather be healthy than to
be sick. I think all of us would. But
physical blessings may not always be blessings. Let me ask you
this way, who was blessed? The beggar Lazarus who soars
the dog's lick or the rich man whose gate he laid at? Who was
blessed, that man who said, I'll pull down my barns and build
greater, or that little poor widow that put two mites into
the treasure? You know, I'm becoming more and
more convinced that spiritual blessings, spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ are the only true blessings.
Now I want you to notice here the first spiritual blessing
that Paul mentions here in Ephesians 1 is found in verse 4. He said
in verse three, that God the Father has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in Christ. Now look at verse four. According
as he had chosen us and him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. The
very first spiritual blessing, the very first heavenly blessing
is being chosen by God in Christ. When? Before the foundation of
the world. before we were born, before we
had done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according
to election, read it to you a moment ago, might stand. So that we
might know that the only reason that we're saved is because God
purposed and chose to save us. Doesn't have anything to do with
us. God determined it before we were ever born, before we'd
ever done anything. that the purpose of God, according
to election, not of works, not for doing good or doing bad,
but of Him, but of God, they called Him. Paul went on to say,
for whom He did foreknow, He did also predestinate, and whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
He justified and glorified. So my question this morning to
you is, can you preach the gospel without preaching the election
of God? All of the other blessings that Paul mentions here in Ephesians
chapter 1 proceed from being chosen and elected by God. According as he hath chosen us
in him, Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be what? Holy. and without blame before Him
in love." You see, God choosing us in Christ and revealing to
us His substitutionary work of blood atonement. Now, none are
gonna be saved apart from the blood of Christ being shed for
them. And the reason why we are made to be holy and without blame
though, is because Christ was that lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. The Lord Jesus said in John chapter
15, verse 16, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. It's
so deep and what is so complicated about that? It's not controversial,
it's the plain gospel truth. The Lord said, you didn't choose
me. I chose you. I chose you before the foundation
of the world, before you were ever born, before you ever done
anything good or bad. I've actually heard with my own
ears, men actually say with their mouths that God chose us because
we chose him. That's not what the Lord said.
He said just the opposite. These same folks insist that
God loved his people because they loved him. John the Beloved,
who knew something about loving Christ, said, we love him because,
this is why we love him, because he first loved us. Not only do
we love him because he loved us, but we love him because he
first loved us. And if he hadn't, we would have
never loved him. I was reading some quotes by
Mr. Spurgeon yesterday and one in
particular about God's election of grace. And he said, I am quite
sure that if God had not chosen me, I would have never chosen
him. And he said, and I am most certain
that God chose me before I was born or else he would have never
chosen me afterward. Isn't that true? If it's based
on anything that I do, He definitely wouldn't have chosen me after
I was born. The election of chosen sinners
in Christ is all through this book. All through. The relationship
between God and the saved sinner, it began with God. Salvation
is of the Lord. It had to be because man is dead
and trespasses in sin and can do nothing to save himself. You
know, when my dad was sick and dying, my mother had a stroke
and I being the only child moved in with them to help take care
of them. Some of you remember that. It's been, that was 1996.
So it's nearly been 25 years ago. But in that, I think it
was 13 weeks, every day I'd tell my dad about how salvation was
by the choice of God. I knew what his preacher believed,
and I just bring it up a little bit. Daddy, you know that God
chose us, don't you? We didn't choose him. It was
God's purpose and decision to save us, not ours. Every Tuesday
of every week, my mom and dad's pastor would come and visit them,
and I have to give him credit for that. He was faithful to
do so. But I'll never forget what transpired
on one of those Tuesdays. My mother had undoubtedly been
listening to me talk to my dad. And when her preacher, pastor
got there, she said, what about this election stuff? I was shocked
that my mother asked that, but I was even more shocked by this
man's answer. And he said, well, Sister Sally,
he said, God looked ahead in time and he saw who would believe
and who would let Jesus into their heart and who would accept
Jesus. And God chose them based on what
they did and what they decided. Friends, if that's so, then salvation
is of the sinner and not of the Lord. If that is so, then salvation
is of works and not of the grace of God who shows mercy and grace. God said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. And the scriptures say, so then,
if that's so, and it is, so then it's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Man
has a will, but it's not free. And it's in bondage to man's
sin. The natural man receives not
the things of the Spirit of God. They have to be supernaturally,
they have to be divinely discerned and revealed. And only when God
gives a dead sinner life and makes them willing in the day
of His sovereign power, will that sinner believe and be saved
by the electing grace of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, election is a declaration of God's love for those that
He gave to Christ. He gave them to Christ before
the foundation of the world. And what an encouragement to
know that there's never been a time that God didn't love you,
if you're one of His. And there'll never be a time
that God stops loving you. When God says something, he means
it. And he said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, this is why, with
loving kindness have I drawn thee. You know, I immediately
think of what our Lord said there in the gospel of John. He said,
no man can come to me except the father which sent me draw
him. The Lord also said, all that
the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to
me all in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the father's will, which had sent me that of all
which he had given me, I should lose nothing, not a one, but
should raise it up again at the last. Oh, I am so thankful for
God's electing love. I'm so thankful that he did it
before the foundation of the world, before I ever had done
anything good, because if it was because of that, then I would
be taking glory in what I did and not what God has done. So
let me ask you, has God drawn you? Has God revealed the gospel
to you? If you say yes, then you know
that it was initiated by God and not by you. Every child of
God knows that. We love him because he first
loved us. We didn't choose him, he chose
us. Our heavenly father said, for I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, because I am the Lord and because I change not, ye
sons of Jacob, you chosen sinners are not consumed. I love the
thought that my salvation, my eternal redemption is based upon
His faithfulness and not mine. Now, election is the fountainhead
of all spiritual blessings. Election in Christ is what makes
us, according to verse four, holy, without blame. Verse five is what makes us adopted
into His kingdom. Verse six is what makes us accepted
in Christ, our beloved. It's what makes us redeemed,
verse seven. It's what gives us the forgiveness
of sins, also verse seven, and the riches of God's grace. Verse
eight, it's what makes us wise and prudent, gives us wisdom
and prudence, verse eight, and inheritance, in verse 11. The
praise of His glory, or in other words, trophies of His grace,
verse 12. Verse 13, we hear the word of
truth, the gospel of salvations, and we're sealed with the Holy
Spirit. All these spiritual blessings and heavenly places come from
the election of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, must election
be preached in order for the gospel to be preached? Well,
let me just make a few statements and ask a few questions of my
own from the scriptures in the time we have left. Can you preach
the sovereign character of God without preaching election? Without
the preaching of God's sovereign choosing, you know what we'd
hear? We'd hear what we're hearing from most people today that don't
believe in the election of God. And that's that God loves everybody,
and that Christ died for everyone, and Christ made salvation possible
for all, and that the Holy Spirit is striving with all men everywhere
to be saved. Those who preach such things
don't believe in the election of God. You know, when God destroyed
the earth with a flood, you can read about it in Genesis chapter
six. Do you remember what God said?
He said, my spirit shall not always strive with me. They're
telling men and women today that the Holy Spirit is striving with
everyone. Won't you just believe? Won't
you give your heart to Jesus? There in Genesis 6, we read,
and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I'm gonna destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth, for it repented me that I've made
him. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now it
was Noah that found grace because God's grace found him. And when
did God preserve that grace for Noah? Before the foundation of
the world. Secondly, can you preach the
inability of man without preaching election? Is man's will over
God's will? Without God's electing grace,
there's no life. Those who don't believe in election
preach a universal redemption. Without the preaching of election,
there's no true understanding of how God saves sinners. You
see, election comes to a man where he is, dead in trespasses
and sin. A dead man can't do anything,
neither can a dead woman. He's dead in sin, no life within. The Lord took Ezekiel to that
valley of dry bones and he asked this question, son of man, can
these bones live? Do you remember what Ezekiel
said? He said, oh Lord God, thou knowest. Now how does God know? Because he's the one who ordains
life. He's the one who ordains it.
He's the foundation of God's standard sure, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. Election is the foundation for
salvation. None can be saved apart from
the atonement of Christ's blood, but none will be atoned that
God did not choose. Who he foreknew, he did predestinate. And those he predestinated, he
called. And those that he called, he
justified. And those he justified, he glorified. Paul said, what shall we say
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now be sure you understand this
about election. We are elected only in Christ. God said this, He said, behold
my servant in whom I uphold mine elect. Speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, in whom my soul delighted. Remember, He's chosen us in Him. All spiritual blessings, Paul
says here in Ephesians 1 are where? They're in Christ. He's
God's elect and we're elected in Him. Third thing, without
election, there's no understanding of the cross of Christ. There's
just not. On that first Passover, was the
blood over every door in Egypt? No. It was only on the houses
of God's people, Israel and Goshen. We studied that in Exodus. Do
you know why? Well, as we saw in that study,
well, let me just read to you why. God said, and all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maidservant that is behind the meal, and all the firstborn of
beasts. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall be like it anymore. but against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." Child of God, it's the Lord who makes
you to differ from another. And you know what it's called?
It's called election. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Was the blood upon every door?
No, it was on the doors of God's chosen people. And God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. He didn't say, when
I see your sincerity, or when I see your love, or when I see
your faith, or when I see your faithfulness, when I see your
good works, when I see your church membership. No, when I see the
blood, innocent blood, not just any blood, the blood of the Passover
lamb that was slain, when? Before the foundation of the
Lord. Oh, if you don't preach election, soon you'll have the
Holy Spirit knocking on the doors of men and women's heart asking
to come in. Heard that all my life. Don't
you hear him knocking? Won't you let him come in? And
then pretty soon the Spirit of God is begging to come in because
your natural tendency is to not let him. And then when you finally
let go and let him in, you are the reason for your salvation.
You'll start trusting in the fact that you let him in as your
reason to be saved. Without election, there is no
effectual calling of the Spirit of God. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, Romans 8 14.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God, Romans 8, 16. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. That's the election of grace. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life believed. When were they ordained? Before
they were ever born. There's no faith, there's no
repentance at all apart from God's electing grace and mercy
in Christ Jesus. Men say that election destroys
a zeal for evangelism. No, it does not. It guarantees
the success of evangelism and salvation. Those who hate the
glorious teaching of election say ignorant things like, if
you believe that God only saves the elect, then why did the Lord
say, preach the gospel to every creature and not just to the
elect? Have you ever heard that? I have. Again, Mr. Spurgeon once said, well, if
God would have painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the elect,
I'd go around lifting up shirts. But since he didn't, I'm gonna
preach to whosoever will. And when whosoever believes,
I know that they are the elect of God. We don't know who God's
elect are, but God does. And we simply preach the gospel
to every creature and God draws his elect into himself and they're
saved. And we know that they're elect
of God. So do you believe? If not, will you believe? Well,
I don't know if I'm the elect of God or not. You are if you
believe. Oh, may God be pleased to make
it so for his glory, for our good, and for Christ's sake.
I love the election of God. That's the only way this sinner
was saved, in the Lord Jesus Christ. God set his affection
upon me and he wouldn't let me go. And I'll endure to the end,
Chris, for that very reason, that no man can pluck me out
of his hand. That's a sure salvation, isn't
it? Yes, it is. Yes, it is.