Jewish nation. Now he had sheep
in the Jewish nation. All of his disciples were Jews. The Apostle Paul and John and
all of them were Jews by descendant. So he had sheep of Israel, that
nation. But he said, other sheep I have.
That's what he's talking about you. You who are believers in
Christ, he's speaking of you. Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them I also must bring. I must bring. And they shall hear my voice.
And there shall be one fold and one shepherd. This was the purpose
of Jesus coming to lay down his life for the sheep. And that
He must bring them. He must bring them. Now, to say
that God must do something is amazing. But listen, Jesus said,
I must. Why? Because He purposed to do
so. And whatever God purposes to
do, He does. He must do. And Jesus said, I
must bring you. You realize you're here because
Christ must have brought you? Do you realize you will be saved
completely and receive heaven and glory because Christ must
bring you? Not because of your merits, but
because of his divine purpose, because he willed it so. He said,
I will have you, and I will die for you, and I will bring you
to myself. I will do it. He says this in
Ezekiel, he said, therefore will I save my flock. and they shall
no more be a prey. And I will be judged between
cattle and cattle, and I will set up one shepherd over them,
and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed
them, and he shall be their shepherd. You know that David was dead
when he had made that statement. He's talking about Christ, David's
son and David's Lord. He said, I'm going to set up
my son. I'm going to set up my king over my people, and he shall
rule them. He shall be their shepherd. And
they will be His sheep, and He will feed them. He will feed
them. This morning, He's feeding you.
This is our food. Our food is to understand the
purpose of God, to understand the salvation that God gives. That's our food. That's our life.
That's what sustains me and keeps me going day to day to day, is
Christ. That I am in Christ. I must know
that I'm in Christ. I must trust in Christ. Therefore,
election and salvation are not according to the will and works
of man." That's what he says. It's not of him. It says in verse
11, "...the children not yet being born, neither having done
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." And in
verse 15, he says, Verse 16, he says, So then it is not of
him that willeth, or him that runneth, but God that showeth
mercy. The elect, the sheep, these are the elect. And in verse
23, Paul calls these elect vessels of mercy. Vessels of mercy. Of four prepared. Afore before
the world began, you were prepared. You were aforeprepared by God
putting you in Christ, giving you to Christ, putting you in
union with His Son. You were aforeprepared unto glory. Vessels of mercy. Well, now that
we know God has an elect, that that's Israel, that God will
save Israel, then who is this Israel? Who is this elect? Who
are the vessels of mercy aforeprepared unto glory? Listen to what Paul
says in verse 24, "...even us." Even us. Even sinners. Rebels. Haters of God by nature. Rebels by birth and rebels by
choice. which is the state of all of
us by nature, all of Adam's race had fallen into ruin and death
and darkness, ignorance, but this is the mark of election,
even us whom he hath called. What is the mark, then, Paul
is saying about election? What is the mark of the elect?
It is this, they are called. It is not of works, but of him
that calleth. You see, he's going right back
to that verse that he stated back in verse 11. It's of him
that calleth. And so then, only the called.
Israel were by nature captives of sin, by birth born servants
and haters of God, and we could not and would not come to Christ
alone. Isn't this true of modern religion? Can't you see this? Everybody
in this nation believes in Jesus. I don't know, very few would
say that, that they don't even believe that He existed. They
know He did. So many believe in Jesus. But how many are actually called?
Called. We, by nature, are servants of
darkness. It's so dark. that even though
they know there is a Christ and there is salvation and the Word
of God is preached, man is so corrupt to still try to add to
it. He's so vile, so wretched, that
he would look at Christ's offering and say, yeah, that's good, but
yeah, I need to do something to that. I need to modify it
in some way. I need to contribute my work
to it. This is the proof of man's depravity,
is that God, in grace, sent His Son to save sinners, and yet
they still would not believe it. They're trusting to be accepted
by their works, by holding on to the salvation of their souls,
by some carnal action, some religious ceremony, some ritual or obedience
to the law. This is the corruption of man. Now many do confess to need Christ,
they confess to be sinners, to need His blood to redeem them,
His righteousness to cover them, but they feel so compelled to
work for it, to earn it. Well, Jesus saved me, but I've
got to keep it! I've got to do it! You won't do it. You can't do
it. It's impossible. They're compelled
to add their obedience to His work. These men are supposed
that the blood of Christ is without power except their will regenerate
themselves. Except they regenerate themselves
by their will. Like Christ's blood is over here
in the corner. Unless they avail themselves to it, it does nothing. It doesn't really redeem them
until they make it effectual to themselves. Now I'm going
to tell you this, the Lord pictured those people. He did. In that
wedding feast, do you remember? He said, go and call them and
tell them what? All is ready. Now what does that mean? Well
that means everything's ready. So what do I need to bring? No,
you're missing it. Everything is ready. Nothing
is required of you. Nothing. Come. Come and everything
is prepared for you. And you remember there was that
one man that came to the wedding feast and he had not a wedding
garment on. He brought his own. He brought
his own. It may have been one of his mama
fashions. He thought that was really neat.
I'll just put this one on. This is good enough. I made this
with my own hands. I'll put it on and I'll go to
the wedding feast. And you remember what happened
when the king saw him, he said, Whither comest thou without a
wedding garment? You see, the wedding garment
was provided. He didn't need to bring anything. All he had
to do was cast off that old garment he had and put on the wedding
garment. It was ready. It was prepared
for him. And yet he would not. You remember
he was cast out. Took him, bound him, hand and
foot, and cast him out into outer darkness. Now we know then that
that's not a real thing. We know that this is a parable
now of a spiritual matter, isn't it? What could earthly king do
to cast a person out? He can't cast a person out of
darkness. This is talking about a spiritual matter. Friends,
all is ready. All is prepared. Come. I tell you this morning, all
is ready. Every one of you, look at me. Every one of you, look
at me. Everything is ready. Salvation's accomplished. You
need nothing to bring. Come now and Christ will save
you. Now, I called every one of you,
didn't I? But listen, many are called, but few are chosen. That's the end of that parable,
you know. Many are called, few are chosen. You know who the
chosen are? The ones who have the wedding
garment on. The ones who believe in Christ. The ones who rest
in Christ. The ones who trust in Christ.
These are the vessels of mercy. These are the vessels of four
prepared for glory. These are the ones Christ came
to live and die for. Those who are called. Are you
called? Then you are the elect of God. Chosen, redeemed, loved eternally
of God. Purpose to salvation. You should forsake everything
and cleave to Christ. Come to Christ. You know what
the heart of the elect does? They come. Now listen, you who come, can
you answer this question? Could you do anything else? Where else do you want to go? Where? Is there any other place
to go? But see, I'm not just going out
of desperation. I want to come. I want to come. Don't you see that's a miracle?
He said, "...and his people shall be willing in the day of his
power." To come to Christ is no small feat. It is impossible
to come. And if you come, it's so simple. Because you don't have any place
else to go, and you don't want to go anywhere else. Christ is
all. Christ is all. To who? The elect. Even to us whom he hath called. Now then, look at verses 25 through
verse 29 here. He says, As he saith in Hosea,
I will call them my people, which were not my people. and her beloved,
which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, You are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Now consider for a moment, consider
for a moment the great darkness that covered the earth before
Christ came. Have you considered how great that darkness was?
The multiplied billions of people that died in their sins. That only that small family,
that small nation, God gave His covenant, His law, and the prophets. And so they were the only ones
that had the gospel. Out of all the world, they were
the only ones who had the gospel. And not all of them believed
it. Now tell me, how great was the
ruin of man? How great was it? And the billions of people who've
never heard the gospel, I want you to understand this, they
are in hell. I know this offends men, doesn't
it? You take the man out there in the heathen nation, and he's
never heard the gospel, never had what they call an opportunity
to believe, never had any word from God, and he dies in his
sin. They say, oh, surely God would
be merciful to him. No. No, what light he had, he
still rebelled. That's what he says, and all
of Romans chapter 1 and 2 is built on that. He's already explained
that to you. He said, look, they know that
there's a God by creation, and yet what do they do with that
knowledge? They worship Him not as God, but bow down to Him as
some four-legged beast, or they think of Him as the sun, or the
moon, or the stars, or the trees. Some created thing. That's how
they view God. And so their foolish hearts were
darkened. Now who do you suppose blinded
them? Now they were blinded by nature, but who kept them in
that darkness? God did. God did not give them
his light. And they died in their sins. Now listen friends, these were
our fathers. And you, in this civilized frame,
say, I would never bow down to those. You would if God let you alone. If God left you alone, that's
exactly what you'd be doing. You'd be bowing down to trees
and stumps and birds and bugs and rats. You'd be just like your fathers.
How thankful then should we be that we live in this time where
the gospel is now openly preached. Where the light, they that sat
in darkness saw a great light. Jesus said, I am the light of
the world. So thankful that we did not live
in the days of our fathers, but now live in the light of the
gospel of Christ. We who have been called to faith
in Christ have seen the great light. We see that God, who has purpose
to save, has fulfilled His salvation in Christ, and by the new birth
we believe on Him. Now then, is election a harsh
or a cruel gospel? If you understand the nature
of man right, you know it's not. If you understand the darkness
and corruption of our nature, then you see election as the
only hope for sinners. It is the only way God could
save us, is if He purposed to save us. If He left salvation
to us, then none of us could be saved. None of us could be
saved. Well, that's saying a lot, but
I'm not saying anything the Word doesn't say. Read in verse 27. Isaiah also crieth concerning
Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said
before, except the Lord of Sabbath hath left us a seed. We had been
as Sodom and had been like unto Gomorrah. Now, he's first of
all talking about the children of Israel. He's saying, look,
the seed of Abraham, that was the promise of God. He said,
your seed shall be as the sand of the sea. And it was. That nation was very large. That
nation had grown from one little family and to millions of people. God fulfilled that promise. But
though they be in that number yet, God says this, Only a remnant
shall be saved. Now listen to that. Only a remnant
of Israel shall be saved. And listen. For he will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. Now he's talking about
the destruction of all of the Jewish nation and ordinances
in the tabernacle. He said, look, that work is going
to be cut short in righteousness. That work, our Lord says, except
that work be done quickly. He says it's done for the elect. I'm trying to remember exactly
the verse. But He's talking about the destruction
of that temple and tabernacle. And then he says this, but I
want you to consider what Isaiah said, except the Lord had left
us a seed, we, he's talking about the nation of Israel, we would
be like Sodom and Gomorrah. Had he not had a remnant, had
he not had a people, and so it is among us, consider that we
would have all been as Sodom and Gomorrah. We would have none
of us come to Christ. Jesus said, no man can come unto
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. So then is
election harsh? No. It's great, because if there
were no election, there would be no salvation. And any gospel that has salvation
without election is no gospel, because then it's dependent upon
you. Oh, salvation! It originated
in the election of grace. Otherwise, we would have all
been in Sodom and Gomorrah. And this we know, as believers,
as though we've been called, we understand this. All we deserved
was hell. But Jesus Christ seeing Jesus
Christ, we are made hopeful. Didn't that, when you first found
out you were a sinner, when you heard of Christ, didn't that
make you hopeful? I think of those lepers, those
lepers sitting out that gate, and they knew if they went in
the city, they'd die, and if they went to the enemy, they'd
die, and they said, look, I don't know what to do. If we go in
here, we'd die. If we go out here, we'd die, per venture.
And so they went out to the Assyrians, and you remember, they found
them all slain. Listen, peradventure, Christ may receive me, he may
not. But I got no place else to go. And you know what you
find? I know what I found. I found
mercy. You, who have went to Christ,
what did you find? This is what you found. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. Why? Because as those Assyrians
were slain, so are all our sins slain. In Christ, all our sins
are gone. All our sins have been redeemed
by the blood of the Son of God. So then there's nothing to impede
us from coming to God. Nothing to stop the veil has
been rent entwined, the way has been made open, and who come?
All who are called, all who are chosen, all who are redeemed,
they come. They come. By the power of the
Holy Spirit, we come. So to us, this doctrine is precious.
I'm thankful for election. Thankful for it. And so then
Paul says, what shall we say then? Look at verse 30. What
shall we say then? As a result of all that was discussed
before, what shall we say? Here's the conclusion of the
whole matter. Here it is. That the Gentiles which followed
not after righteousness have obtained righteousness. Even
the righteousness which is of faith. These Gentiles, those
who hated God, were vile and wicked men who never thought
to seek after God. Not one thought to seek after
God. Never knew God. Never heard of
God. Never thought to be righteous.
Always desired to be wicked. You know what God said? These
are the ones that attain righteousness. These are the ones that attain
righteousness. Wicked folks. Sinners. Haters of God. These men who were so vile, they
did not even try to constrain their evil deeds, yet God, by
grace, to manifest His grace, He made them to attain righteousness."
Now, how? How is a righteousness attained? Now, the elect are predestinated
to righteousness, but how is it attained? Well, I'll tell
you this, how it was merited It was merited by the faith of
Jesus Christ. You remember I told you all is
ready? That's what the scripture says about everything, the wedding
feast, all is ready. That robe, that wedding garment,
it was sewn by the hands of Christ. When He obeyed the law of God,
He was making the wedding garment, the righteousness of God, by
His faith, He made it, He merited it. Now then, how then should
you who are without God, you that are sinners, obtain it,
attain to it? Not by merit. Listen how. By
faith. Faith. They attain the righteousness
of God through faith. Now the righteousness was merited
by faith, not yours, by the faith of Jesus Christ, but it is received
by your faith, believing, not meriting. But now then, listen to this
other group. He says, but Israel, talking
about the nation, they followed after the law of righteousness,
but did not attain, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Now you take those Jews, they
were the most moral people in all the world. They were the
most upright. Now if anybody, they had this
saying, if anybody go to heaven, one would be a Sadducee, the
other would be a Pharisee. They were righteous outwardly. Do you consider yourself moral?
I tell you what, they would condemn you in a heartbeat. They were
moral men. They, with all their soul, wanted
to be righteous. They were very sincere. In all
their efforts, they were sincere. Can you imagine that man out
there counting leaves, making sure he gives a tenth to God
every time? That's zealousness, man. That is determination. They
were determined to be righteous. They knew God required it. They
wanted it. But how did they try to attain
it? By the law. And what did God say? They did
not attain the righteousness of the law. Why? The law was never meant to save.
Merit is never a way of salvation. Self-righteousness, self-work,
self-ceremony, religious deeds, works, that is not how righteousness
is attained. If you try to attain righteousness
by that way, you will not attain it. You will not. God will not
permit it. You are already ruined. We're
already ruined from birth. How can you ever hope to attain
righteousness by the law? Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Paul says, wherefore why didn't
they attain it? They worked so hard for it. Why? Paul said in
the next chapter, I bear them record, they got a zeal for God,
but not according to knowledge. Why? Because they sought it not
by faith, but as it were by works, for they stumbled at the stumbling
stone. Friends, Jesus Christ is the
way to righteousness. Jesus Christ is righteousness.
And to believe on Him is to attain righteousness. I like this, you know that scripture
in 2 Corinthians 5, it says, he was made sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Brother Don wrote this, I thought it was good, he said, in spite
of all I know of myself and my nature, my sinful corrupt nature,
even that still abides in us who are believers. You know that.
That didn't change anything that old man when you believed, did
it? He's still corrupt in spite of this. Even when the corruptions
of my heart are most vilely manifest, I am to look upon myself as one
with Christ, completely righteous before God. Yes. With His spotless garments
on, I'm as holy as the Holy One. Do you trust Christ? Do you believe
on the Son of God? Is His blood your only atonement
for sin, His righteousness your only righteousness before God?
Is He your only hope for the eternal life? If so, God reckons you to be
the righteousness of God in Him, and tells you to reckon yourselves
to be so too. Now let me ask you, believer,
do you reckon yourself to be righteous? You should. God tells you to. Likewise, Reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin, and alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. We who believe in him have confessed
him in baptism. Isn't that the picture of baptism?
to be submerged in union with Him in His death, His burial,
His resurrection, to be raised with Him incorruptible. You are
as righteous as the Son of God. He has made you. You who are
wicked, who did not seek righteousness, have attained righteousness. Why? You sought it not by law,
but by faith. This is the object of our salvation. Look at this. For they stumbled
at the stumbling stone, as it is written, Behold, I lay in
Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense." To this religious
world, I want you to understand Christ is offensive. The true
Christ is offensive. The Christ of modern religion
is not offensive. He is pitiful. Look at that poor weak figure
standing at the door, knocking at the men's heart, but man just
won't let him in. He wants to save, but he just
can't do it. He can't overcome the will of
man. That's not Christ. When Christ
wanted to save me, He saved me. When Christ wanted to raise you
from the dead, He raised you from the dead. And listen, if
Christ wants to raise anyone in this building from the dead,
spiritually He does so without hindrance. He does it in spite of your will.
In fact, He makes you willing by giving you a willing heart
and a new nature. This is what men stumble at.
They say, well, I've got to do... No, you don't got to do anything.
Matter of fact, you can't do anything. Fall down. Can you
just fall down? How much strength does it take
to fall? Lay down. Plead for mercy. I lay in Zion a rock of offense,
but whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed. This is
the evidence of election. Whosoever believeth in him, the
rock, the foundation. I like that. He is a stone and
a rock. He is not only the foundation, but he is the walls that surround
us. He's our refuge, protection. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. I'm going to ask you one question,
you who are believers. Do you suppose God will not save
you? Is there any chance God would
not save you? Do you believe? Is there any possibility Christ
should fail? Is there any sin left unpaid for? Is his righteousness too short
to cover your sin? Stop doubting. The election is a glorious gospel
doctrine because it assures us of complete victory. He who hath
begun a good work in you shall perform it on the day of
Jesus Christ. Election. Glorious doctrine. God bless it.