I was really, really hoping the
Lord would have brought a man here that was a guest yesterday
at the house. He gave me such encouragement
with his questioning. He told me about some churches that
he had gone to and why he wasn't going to them anymore. And the
reasons why were the very reasons you and I can't go to them anymore
either. It's all about men. He described
how one church had turned from preaching from the Bible to entertaining. Then they left that church and
they went to another one. It was all about how the worship
of music with the rock and roll band, the youth groups and what
they could do for the youth groups, and so on and so on. It had nothing
to do with Christ and Him crucified. I told him when he asked me the
question, is that what you are, just a Baptist? Like that's all
there was to this ministry, just being a Baptist. And I said,
no. I said, no, we actually would love to change that, if we could,
to Sovereign Grace Church, if we could. But the hoops that
the government requires to change the name of a church are bigger
than we could jump through. In our conversation, and I shared
all that with you because I wanted to express this. Everything in
Scripture, including what we're going to talk about today, is
for one purpose. One purpose. You take everything
that you can talk to the folks about from the Bible, and there's
one purpose for all of it, and that is to glorify the Son of
the Living God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn in your Bibles to
1 Corinthians chapter 1 for just a moment. These are familiar
words, but I would like you to read them along with me. When we read things for ourselves,
they just kind of sink in a little better, don't they? Than we do
when we listen to somebody else read them to us. The last part
of chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians, verse 29, we read these words
that no Flesh should glory in His presence. I shared a conversation with
you of a relative back east who couldn't believe that God would
change the will of men. That God would make a choice
on who He was going to save. Isn't that our choice, is what
I was told? Are you telling me that God would
save somebody against their will? And I pointed out from the Psalms,
the Lord makes us willing. He changes our stripes. He gives us what is called a
new nature. It's called being born again.
That's what the Lord was talking about when He was talking to
Nicodemus. You must be born again. We all come into this world with
the nature of that dark heart that says, I will not have this
one to rule over me. And we all grew up to a certain
time when the Lord came to us and broke us. He broke our hearts. Not like we have when we have
a broken heart when somebody's hurt us. But He broke us of that
evil, wicked heart. and gave us a broken and contrite
heart that looks to Him, that no flesh, including my will,
including the will that I was born with, should glory in His
presence. Verse 31, that according as it
is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That was my statement to that
young man yesterday. That's what we preach here. We
glory in our Savior. We glory in our Lord. The question
is, is He your Lord? The very one of this book, the
very one of this Bible, is He your Lord? Turn over now if you would to
1 Peter chapter 1. Why is a let so offensive to the religious
of this world. You know, everything the Lord
said that made those Pharisees mad when He walked this earth,
everything He said that made them mad was this, it's me, not
you. Everything He told them was something
to do with salvation is of the Lord, it's not of you. Well,
that's what election is. If you boil the word election
all the way down to its very essence, it's this. It's not
you, it's Him. Isn't that what we just read
in the book of Corinthians? It's Him. It's Him that gets the glory.
And He takes it away from man. And they get either angry, or
they love it. I don't know about you, but I
love it. Because I know. I know that if He left me to
myself, I would not choose Him. Peter's writing from the church
of Babylon, the small group of folks that had gathered together.
They had been captured by Babylon and dragged up there. And he
was writing from this. And in chapter 5, verse 12, we
get that. He states his purpose for this
letter. He says, I have written briefly exhorting and testifying
that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand. Now here in verse 1 of 1 Peter
chapter 1, read with me if you would. Peter, an apostle of Jesus
Christ to the strangers. Now I want to stop there for
just a moment. This word strangers When it's boiled down to its
true meaning, it means God's people. You see, they were preaching
the grace of God, the sovereignty of God. They were preaching it's
not you. It's God who saves. That's exactly
what they were preaching. And the world around them said,
oh, wait a minute. You're weird. This small group
right here, we're all weird compared to the guys across the street.
Because the guys across the street are saying, I can do better.
I'm going to heaven because of what I do for the people around
me in helping the poor, or because I decided to do this, or because
I came down to the front and said a prayer, or maybe because
I got into some water and got wet. They're saying, what do
you mean I don't have a choice? Folks, I'm telling you, you do
have a choice. I've never said you didn't have a choice. I'm
just telling you that if you were left to yourself to choose,
you would choose exactly what you were before the Lord chose
you. You would have chose the same thing. Peter calls them
strangers because they're strangers amongst the religious people
of that time. You think it's any different
today than it was then? There were all kinds of religions
then, just as there are today. Remember the story where, I believe
it was Apostle Paul, was walking down a street, and every so many
feet, there was a post to this guy, another post to this guy,
another post to that guy. All the way down the street,
he said, you fools! He got all the way down to the
end, and just in case you missed one, you made a post to the unknown
God. Guess what? That's the true and
living God. He's the one who's unknown. He's
the one who can't be known unless He reveals Himself to you. I
have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore, in loving kindness
I draw you. That's the Lord's Word, not mine. Peter goes on, he says, scattered
throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Notice that Peter does not call
himself a vicar of some kind, a successor of Christ, the head
of the church. No, he calls himself an apostle. A messenger. A messenger. That's all we are. That's all
we are. Messengers of who the true and
living God is. We can't change the hearts of
anybody. We're not the head of any church. Some folks asked me down there
in San Diego, would you be our pastor? And I had to tell them
the same thing I told you folks when I came here and you asked
me I'll tell you what, I'll stand
in the pulpit, and I'll lead the singing, and I'll tell you
about the Lord that I know. How's that? That's the best thing
I can do. That's all I know. That's what
Peter did. He was a messenger. A messenger
of who the Lord is. Not like what some people say
he did, to be the head of the church, the head of the Vatican,
the first pope, and all that. No. By this time, Peter had been
humbled, humbled many a time. He writes to the people of God
who were driven from their homes, they were driven from their lands,
they were persecuted for the sake of the gospel because they
preached Christ and Him crucified alone as their salvation. They were strangers in the land
of religion, the land of what must I do to be saved? Luke records this in the book
of Acts where he says, and Saul was consenting unto his death
and that at that time there was a great persecution against the
church which was at Jerusalem. That's what Luke was writing
about. And they were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
And the devout men carried Stephen into his burial, and they made
a great lamentation over him. For Saul, he had made havoc of
the church, entering into the house and hailing men and women
committed to them in prison." Aren't you thankful that they
don't do that today in our world? I thought about that as I was
reading these words from Acts. It wouldn't surprise me at all
if they thought they could get away with it if they did it again.
They could shut down these little congregations, even though we're
no threat to those great, big, old, monstrous churches. I'll
bet you they'd shut us down if they could. They that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word, is what Luke said in
Acts 8, verse 1-4. He also speaks of this persecution
over in Acts 11-19. Folks, persecution is anything
that attacks the truth. I'm pausing. I want you to understand
that. Have you ever doubted? Have you ever doubted God's Word? If we were raising hands, I'll
bet you everybody would have their hands up. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Persecution doesn't always come
from without. Sometimes it can come from within. Look at verse 1. I'm sorry, verse
2. Peter starts this second verse
with this word. He says, elect according To the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. The elect, he says, the chosen,
the called out, the sanctified, the justified, the redeemed,
the preserved in Christ, he says, listen up, believers are called
the elect of God because God had chosen them unto salvation. the very thing. Several verses
if you'd like to write them down and read them again in your own
time. Let's begin with 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. We're talking about
the elect, the chosen, the called. He says, Paul writes in the letter
to the Thessalonians, But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. God has chosen you, not
you. You didn't make the decision.
God made it for you. I was asked yesterday, do you
think men have the ability to run from God, to leave salvation
on their own? And I said, absolutely not. God
won't let you. He shed the blood of His Son
for you. Do you think He's going to let
you go? He gave His only begotten Son
for you. Do you think He's not going to
give you everything? Can we run from God? Oh, absolutely. Jonah is our perfect picture
of that. Trust me though, He didn't let
him run far. He ran into some ship and he
got on the ship. He thought he was still running
from God. He got out there in the middle of the ocean or the
sea and the ocean boiled all up and ran over. He was right
where God wanted him to be. Exactly where He wanted him to
be. People call me up and say, I'm
sorry I can't be at church today. You know what folks, don't call
me up and tell me you're sorry. You don't need to be. I trust
the Lord. You're right where the Lord would
have you. If He wants you here, you're
going to be here. When He wanted me here, He went to an extreme
to bring me here. It was a hard extreme to go through,
but it was really good afterwards. Because that's when I heard about
the Lord, and I come to know who He was. Oh, if the Lord wants
you, He'll bring you. Oh, verses. Verses that declare
the elect of God. That's right. Sorry about that. Mark. How about Mark 13, verse
20. Listen to these words. And except
the Lord hath shortened those days, no flesh should have been
saved, but for the elect's sake. Isn't that interesting? Look
how God works. For the elect's sake. For those
that He chose in His Son from before the world was. except
the Lord has shortened those days, no flesh should have been
saved. But for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, just in
case you didn't catch that, what the word elect means, whom He
hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. So God does things
for us. He's not shy in what He would
do for His people. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 4, Knowing,
brethren, beloved, The election of God. Oh, how about Romans
11, verse 5-7? Even so, then, at this present
time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more
work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, But the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded. Is that soaking in, the importance
of election? Why is election so important?
It gives God all the glory. It gives God all the glory. To
say that I'm so thankful that I made a decision is to glory
in what you have done. To glory in what you have thought. To glory in what you have felt. God's people have no confidence
in the flesh. That means everything about this
body. Everything about the mind, everything about the feelings.
We have no confidence in that. Our only confidence is in the
Lord Jesus who has provided all. His name is Jehovah Jireh. God
that provides. God that sees to it. How about
this one? I got a couple more. Let me give
them to you if I can. We got time. Romans 9, verse
11, for the children, speaking of Jacob and Esau, for the children,
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. In other
words, before they were ever born. God chose us, folks, in
His Son before the world was made. We were predestined before
the foundation of the world to be made like His Son. Before those two were ever 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." See how it glorifies the Lord? See how the glory goes
to Him? One more, Acts 13 verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many
as were ordained. That's the same thing. Purposed,
chosen, elected, ordained to eternal life, believed. They love to use the Verse John
3.16, for God so loved the world. But they stop there. They stop
there. They pay no attention to the
next two words. That whosoever. See, that's the
key to that whole phrase. It says, whosoever believeth
in Him should have everlasting life. The Lord just told us here
in the book of Acts that as those as many as were ordained, chosen,
determined to eternal life, believe. Folks, election. God choosing
whom He will be gracious to is a doctrine that magnifies His
grace. It magnifies His grace and it
gives Him all the glory. He that glorieth, letting glory
in the Lord is what we read. The cause of election is according
to the foreknowledge of God, as we see there in that verse.
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification. The reason for our election is
not found in us, but it's found in God. Mark your spot there
in 1 Peter. Turn over Ephesians chapter 2
if you would. Ephesians chapter 2. I go too
fast sometimes, I apologize. I've been reminded I read too
fast when I ask somebody to turn somewhere. Ephesians chapter
2, beginning at verse 4, we read these words, even when we were
dead in sin. Folks, that's the way we come
into this world right there. Go back and read in your own
time verses 2 and 3. And you'll see that this as we were born into this world,
but here in verse 4 it says, but God... What did I do? Did I start in verse
5? I meant to start in verse 4, I apologize. But God, who
is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. That means made alive. What part
of making alive do you have a part of? What part of making spiritual
life in you do you have a part of? It's the same thing as being
born again, isn't it? What part of being born did you
have any part of? Even when we were dead in sins,
have quickened, made alive, us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved. Let's look at one more, shall
we? Turn over to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11, two verses if you
would. Look at verse 25 and 26. And
at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and hath revealed them unto babes." Do
you see the elect? Do you see the chosen? These
are the very ones for whom God sent His Son to redeem. These babes. Look at verse 26,
Even so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight. Go back to our text in 1 Peter
if you would. Folks, God knows because God
foreordains. Let me read for you from Romans
chapter 8. Let me read these words beginning
at verse 29. For 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. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, Them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. The means that God uses to carry
out the design of election are very simple. We read in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. That's how. That's how. Sanctification, that means being
made holy, set apart for holy reasons of the Spirit and belief
of the truth. The Holy Spirit quickens, convicts
of sin, reveals Christ to the heart, and works true repentance
and faith in a sinner. And you can read that in Ephesians
chapter 1, Romans chapter 10 as well. For time's sake, we'll
go ahead and I'll let you read that in your own time. The election
is not salvation, but it is unto salvation. Those who are elect
will hear His voice, and they will believe on Christ, and they
will be saved. Turn over to John chapter 10,
if you would. John chapter 10. Look with me
at verse 24 through 28. John chapter 10, beginning at
verse 24, Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto
him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? How long do you
hold us in suspense? When are you going to tell us
the truth? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Verse 25, and
Jesus answered, He says, I told you, and ye believed not. The
works that I do in my Father's name. I told you, plain, right
out, who I am. And then I did works in my Father's
name. They bear witness of me. It says,
then in verse 26, but ye believe not, because you are not my sheep. You're not my elect. You're not
the ones that I chose from before the world was. Well, that's not
right. How unfair is that? Here's a
better statement. Who are you to question God? Who are you to question the Creator
of all that is? Has He not got the power of the
potter to create a vessel unto honor and a vessel unto dishonor? Absolutely He does. Where do
we think our wisdom has anything to do with this? Thankfully, He chooses some.
by His grace and mercy. He doesn't leave all of us to
ourselves. He comes to us in the love that He's had for us
from before the world was. He says, You are My sheep, as
it says in verse 27. They hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. You got doubts? You got doubts
of your salvation? How could God save a sinner like
me? How could God save one who forgets
who he is as quick as I open my eyes in the morning and get
out of bed? Why would God save anything like
me? Well, here's the deal. The Lord says, My sheep hear
My voice, I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them
eternal life. They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand." Those who are loved of God with an everlasting
love according to the Word of God, we read these words in Jeremiah
31.3, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee, with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee." Why am I here? Because God loved
me. I didn't just get smarter. I
didn't just say, you know what? I need to turn my life around.
I need to quit doing this. I need to do that. God brought
a... He brought me here. He brought
me here by the power of His love and He had planned on doing it
from before the world was ever made. Oh, this letter that Peter writes,
if you turn back there if you would, 1 Peter chapter 1, this letter
is an address to you. Peter's writing to you. He's
writing to all of those who are strangers in this land of religion.
He's writing to God's chosen, the elect who were chosen to
the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ. He's saying to you, grace to
you and peace be multiplied. Oh, how I pray that the peace
of God will be with you today And then in verse 3 and 4 we
read these words, Blessed be the God and Father. This is an
exalting that Peter's doing, a salutation to our Lord. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy. Aren't you thankful that God's
got abundant mercy to us? I need it more and more every
day. How about you? He's merciful. It's abundant. He has begotten us again unto
a lively hope. That's my only hope is that I
remember, is when I remember who Christ is, what He's done,
and who He's done it for, and where He is now representing.
A lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
to an inheritance. My brother Cass Hodgson, laying
there in his bed three weeks before the Lord took him home,
said these words. He said, I'm so thankful that
the Lord gave me 70 good years, but I'm ready to go home. I'm
ready to go and receive my inheritance. He didn't say that part, but
he said, I'm ready to go. And that's what he meant. I'm
ready to go home to be with my Lord and Savior. I know some
here today are very ready for that. I've been reminded many a time
in these last couple of weeks this world is not my home. I'm
just passing through. Lord keep teaching me. Don't
stop, keep teaching me. My treasures or laid up somewhere
beyond the blue. What an inheritance. Let's get
the next words after that. This very inheritance that is
ours is incorruptible. It can't be polluted by John.
It's perfected by my Savior, my substitute. It's incorruptible,
it's undefiled, and it fadeth not away. You know, we look at
this world and everything dies, everything fadeth away, like
the grass out here. Come back in six months, it'll
be dead. It'll be dead. Just like the trees seem to be
dead now. Just like everything we see when
we look out that window. It all fades away. Our inheritance
will never fade away. It's reserved. It's reserved
by our Savior, the Lord Jesus. It's reserved in heaven for us. Our inheritance is incorruptible.
Neither moth, nor rust, nor decay, nor the years have any effect
on it. It's undefiled. It's pure and
it's holy. It's untouched by sin. It fadeth
not away as the world does in its fashion. Look at verse 5. Speaking of you, you who God
is abundantly merciful to, You who have the lively hope of Jesus
Christ, you who have an inheritance that is incorruptible, who, it
says in verse 5, are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Our Lord Jesus
has assumed the full responsibility of His people. His elect, His
chosen, to redeem them, to keep them, to intercede for them,
and finally to present them all before the Father. Let me read for you here from
Jude. Look at verse 24 if you're over
there with me. Now unto him that is able, to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Our Lord has assumed
that responsibility to present us faultless. We are kept through
faith, not in rebellion or disobedience, but looking unto Christ. living
by Christ and leading on Christ. We have been saved, we are being
saved, and our final salvation, our final point of deliverance
is ready to be revealed in us. There is a preservation of the
believer by the power of God, and the perseverance of that
believer is faith. He will not leave us, we believe,
and we will not leave him. It is impossible to have one
without the other. Turn over to Jeremiah 32, verse
40, for just a moment. Jeremiah in chapter 32, we read
in verse 40, and I will make an everlasting covenant with
them that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but
I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from
me. Folks, it's impossible to leave
the one who first loved us. We sing that song, Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound. And in that song we sing, once
I was blind, blind to the depth of my depravity, blind to the
fact that I had no righteousness in me, but now I see. I was blind
to the love of God in choosing to save me. But now, I see. Blind to the perfection of His
atonement, His payment, the perfection of it, the totality of it, the
accomplishment of it. I was blind to all these things
in saving His people to Himself. I was blind to the power behind
His calling. Just as He had the power that
He used when He called Lazarus from the dead, He calls each
and every one of His elect by His power. I was blind that it
was His power in the calling. I was blind to the binding love
that keeps me for His inheritance. He gave His only begotten Son.
How shall He not give us all things? Isn't that the Word of
God? Oh, the blindness that we were
once in, but now we see. We see who He is. We see that
He's God in the flesh. We see what He's done. He has
saved His people. And we see where He is right
now. You know, there's people who love to talk about this thing
called Christ returning and sitting
on His throne for a thousand years. He's sitting on His throne right
now. My God's not coming back here
to establish a throne for Himself. He's on His throne right now.
He doesn't need to come back here He's saving His people from
the throne that He sits on right now. He's sovereign over all
it is right now. The question is, will you bow
to Him now? You will eventually. If you don't
do it now, you will when you go through that door marked death.
Everything on the other side of that door knows who the Lord
is. Every knee shall bow to Him. I have no doubt. I have no doubt
that all that the Father giveth the Son shall come to Him. Amen.