Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. And let's begin in verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Now in continuing the study of
our God's character, we're studying his attributes, his character,
the way he is. We're going to look this morning
at the way he chose to choose his people. The way that he in
and of himself chose to elect. Did he have a criteria? Was he influenced in some way
in his election? Verse 2 tells us that the ones
he chose are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. Now, when the subject of election
comes up, If God has not revealed the truth about it to a person,
the truth about election to a person, usually you'll get one of three
opinions on it. All right, I'm going to give
three opinions on it and then we have the truth. All right,
but usually this is what you'll get. One of these three opinions. The first one is, I don't believe
in it. I just don't believe in it. God
chose a people. God elected a people, all right,
to save. And the first response is, I
don't believe that. I'm sorry to say it all you want
to, but I don't believe that. That's fine. Believe it or don't
believe it. It doesn't change the fact that
God chose a people. God elected a people. Who he
would save. Now we just read right here in
verse 2 that they're elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. If that's not enough that we
read that, go with me to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 verse 4 says, For Jacob, my servant's sake,
and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name,
I have surnamed thee. Though thou hast not known me,
even though you don't know me, even though you don't know me.
And that's where we all started. No idea who God was. Even though
you don't know me, I'm going to do this for you because you're
my elect. Look with me at Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65 verse 9 says, And I will bring forth a seed
out of Jacob and out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountains. And mine elect shall inherit
it, and my servants shall dwell there. Verse 22. They shall not build, and another
inhabit. They shall not plant, and another
eat. For as the days of a tree are
the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work
of their hands." Turn with me over to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 33 says, Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Now
I could show you 23 other verses of Scripture. I just showed you
4. I could show you 23 other verses of Scripture that have
the very word in the verse. But God's election is on every
single page in this book. Every single page. So that's
just wrong. The first opinion of, I don't
believe it, is just wrong. It's just wrong. God did choose
a people. All right, now for those who
say that they believe in God's election. Yeah, it says it in
the Bible. I believe it. All right, for
those who say they believe in God's election, there are two
ways of looking at it that are still wrong. All right? First, men will say this, God
cast a vote for you, and the devil cast a vote against you. The choice is yours. All right,
you have the deciding vote. If that's the case, that's not
God's election, that's yours. That's your election. If that's
the case, God and the devil are just campaigning. All right,
the deciding vote is yours. And if that is the case, then
we could say, no, God did not elect a people. The people elected
God. Isn't that right? the people
elected God. Now is that the truth of how
election went? Turn with me if you would to
John 15. John 15 verse 16. Our Lord said, ye have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain.
That's whatsoever you shall ask of the father in my name. He
may give it you. I ordained you to that. I chose
you to that. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him. before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. So this thing of us having the
final say is just wrong. It's just wrong. We just do not
have the final say. God did all of the choosing in
salvation. In this election, God did all
the choosing. All right, now, the other opinion. The last one
on election, the one that is still wrong. This opinion says,
OK, all right, God did the choosing. OK, election did take place and
I didn't choose him. God is the one who did the choosing,
but he knows everything. And he does. He knows everything. So he looked
down through time. You see, he knows the end from
the beginning, and he does. So what he did is he looked down
through time to see who would obey him, and see who would believe
on him, and see who would choose him, and that's who he chose. All right? He saw what man would
do, and that influenced his election. Is that the truth of how it went?
Turn with me to Psalm 14. Psalm 14. Verse two says, the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become
filthy, there is none that doeth good." Do you mean to tell me
in so far roughly 6,000 years there has not been one that would
seek God and do good? He said, no, not one. Not one. The Lord looked down
through time, all right. He sure did. He does know the
end from the beginning. He does know everything. And when He looked down at every
soul that would ever be born into the world, He saw that there
wasn't one of them that would seek God and do good. Not one of them. So the truth
about how God chose to save his people is this. Here's the truth. He did not put a standard or
a condition on any of them. Not on any of them. If he had,
they would not and they could not have kept it. Not only could
they not keep it, this old cold heart right here would not have
kept it. They would not. Had he said,
if they choose me, I'll choose them. Well, we read it. He said, you didn't choose me.
You didn't. If they believe on me, I'll elect
them. We can't. Faith is not of ourself. It is the gift of God. I mean,
there's no faith there. Well, if they'll just obey me,
the commandments are written. If they'll just obey me, if they'll
just honor me and give glory to me, I'll choose them. Romans
3.23 says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No condition could be put on
a man. There was no requirement that
man was able to meet, not one. Turn with me over to Romans 9. Romans chapter 9 verse 10 says, And not only this,
but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, Not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, so then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. You know, we read that, he said,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. We all know the story
of Jacob and Esau. I still to this day read that
and say, But I like Esau better than Jacob. Esau wasn't better than Jacob. I know we like him better, but
he was not better. Esau, both of those two men deserved
damnation. Both of them. Esau got what he
wanted. You know that? He got what he,
of his own free will, which man doesn't have. chose. The choice
was put in front of him. Do you want the blessing or do
you want the world? He said, give me the world. He
got what he wanted. His own flesh chose damnation. And but for the grace of God,
so would we. So would we. Man is totally depraved. Therefore, God's election had
to be unconditional. It had to be unconditional. Some unworthy sinners were just
chosen to salvation. That's all there is to it. They
were redeemed from the pit, plucked from the fire. That's all there
is to it. Now, how did God make His choice? If there was no difference in
any of them, aren't we all from the same lump? Is, are any of
us better than any others? No. If there was no difference
in any of them, what made him choose this one and not that
one? Turn to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, this is God the Father
speaking. Isaiah 42 verse 1 says, Behold
My servant. He is talking about His Son.
He is talking about Christ the Lord. Behold My servant whom
I uphold, Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. I have put
my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor
be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and the
aisles shall wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord, he that
created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth
the earth and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath
unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, I
the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thy
hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people
for a light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes to bring
out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness
out of the prison house. God said, I choose my son. I choose my son. He is my elect. Every soul in him is in my choice. It all hinges on Him. Every soul
in Him is in my choice. Every soul outside of Him is
outside of my choice. It all hinges on my Son. We just read in Ephesians 1 which
says, according as He hath chosen us in Him. That's how He chose us. That's
why we were chosen in Christ and He did it before the foundation
of the world. Can His choice now be altered? He is the Lord, He changes not. So somebody will hear that and
say, you mean either I'm chosen or I'm not? Do you remember ever
thinking that? So you mean to tell me that either
I'm just chosen or I'm not? Yeah, that's right. Well, how can I know if I'm chosen? This is a piece of this message
that is becoming more and more important to me. This news is
awful. It's very awful. And I need to
know. I need to know if I am in Christ. How can I know if I'm in Christ
and in the election and choice of God the Father? How can I
know that? Go with me to Acts 13. Acts 13, look at verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. As many as were chosen, elected,
ordained to eternal life, believed. They believed. What did they
believe? God's Word on the matter. The Word of the Lord. They believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed what God says about
the whole thing. The start, the middle, and the
end. They believed it. It does not say, and this is
something to really take notice of, it does not say as many as
believed were ordained, which is how everybody goes wrong. That's that's the switch right
there. Now you got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
right. That's exactly right. But let's not forget that faith
is not of myself. I'm at the mercy of God to give
it to me. If he'll give it to me, he will
make me believe. I will believe. And it does not
say as many as believed were you believe and I'll ordain you
as many as were ordained. Believe. So the glory goes to
God. It goes to God. Faith is the
evidence of election. If I want to know, did God choose
me? Faith is my evidence. It's the evidence of election.
A heart to bow to God's word. That's the evidence that we're
in Christ. God sends his spirit with that faith to every single
child that he chose. Every one of them. And this right
here is the result of God's election. Here's the result of his election
on the center. Go with me to Romans 8. We started this with Peter saying
we were elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
the foreknowledge of God the Father, the forelove, the forechoosing
of God the Father. Here's the result of it. Romans
8 verse 29 says, for whom he did foreknow. And you notice
that that does not say what he did foreknow. looking down through
time and seeing what he saw. It says, whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. He did not
look down through time and see who was already conformed to
the image of his son and then choose him. He set his affection
on some sinners, Romans 5 says, while we were yet sinners. He
set his affection on some sinners, he loved them, he chose them
in Christ and he predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of his son. He chose that for them, that's
what election is unto. Verse 29, the end of it says
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's how,
that's how, that's the way that God chose to choose. That's the way He chose to do
it and we love it, don't we? Not only do we believe it, it's
one thing to believe it and you still not like it, but I believe
it. Not only do we believe it, man we love it. Thank God. Alright, you're dismissed.