In order to understand the Word
of God, the Holy Spirit of God must reveal the meaning of the
Word. The Bible is not like reading
any other book. The Bible is a spiritual book
with a spiritual meaning. because the Scripture says God
is Spirit. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2, verse
13 and 14 as I read it to you. It says that the words we speak,
Paul the Apostle is writing here under inspiration of the Spirit,
and he says, the words which we speak, we teach not with man's
wisdom, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. It says, The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned," or understood. Now, from a human
standpoint, there are three things that we must consider when reading
God's Word in order to begin to understand it aright. Three
things we need to consider when you read the Bible. First of
all, who is speaking? Secondly, to whom is the person
speaking or writing? And thirdly, what is the subject?
There's a general subject that's being dealt with. All right?
damage has been done in misusing God's word, misapplying it or
taking things out of context, misapplying it. You see, the
word of God is written to some people, not all people. Take
the epistles, for instance, epistles like Romans, Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians and so forth. Epistle means letter. And the
epistles are written to the churches. They're written to believers.
Let me give you an illustration. Suppose I write a letter to my
wife. And when I write that letter, I address that letter to her,
just like everyone does when they write to someone, they address
it, they begin it in this way, Dear so and so. So I write to
my wife, whose name is Mindy, and I say, Dear Mindy. And in
that letter, I write to her, I love you and everything I have
belongs to you. I am your husband. I love you. I will provide for you. I will
never leave you. And I sign it. Your loving husband,
Paul. Now, what if? Some other woman
intercepted that letter. And began to apply that letter
to herself. just totally disregarded the
address, or to whom it was written, and began to apply it to herself.
Well, she would not only be lying on me, bearing false witness
against me, but she would be lying to herself. And so it is
happening with God's Word. Every epistle is addressed to
believers. It is not addressed, the Word
of God is not written to every person without exception. Do
you understand that? Well, look at Ephesians chapter
1. Here is a good example of what I'm saying here. In Ephesians
chapter 1, this epistle is addressed, or this letter is addressed,
to certain persons. And there's a subject that's
being dealt with. The writer of it is the Apostle Paul. But
Paul was writing under inspiration of the Spirit. No man wrote the
Scriptures, but they were moved by the Holy Spirit. All right?
This is God's Word. All right, let's read it, all
right? And see what the subject is and to whom he is writing.
All right? Verse 1, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints, which are
at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. All right, there
you have who he is writing to, to the saints at Ephesus. Now, one is a saint, not because
a man in Rome makes him or her a saint, but because God sanctifies
them. Romans 1, 7 says you're called
to be saints, called by God saints. All right. And it says to the
faithful in Christ Jesus or those who have faith in Christ, full
of faith, faithful in Christ Jesus. All right, this is written
to believers. It's written to God's people.
Not everyone, but God's people or believers. And you'll notice
little words like us and we all the way through here. Personal
pronouns is what those are. Us, we, who hath blessed us,
chosen us, that we should be without blame and so forth. Personal
pronouns which apply to certain persons. Do you understand that? I hope you do. If not, you will
not understand this work. All right? Let's see how and
why these persons are considered God's people. All right. And
what all God promises to these persons. All right. Verse one
says to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. He says, I'm
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He wasn't so
by man, made so by man. He wasn't so because he became
educated in a seminary to become an apostle. No, but by the will
of God. As everything is. God worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. And he says
to the saints and the faithful. All right. Grace, he says, verse
two, grace be to you and peace. Now, remember who he's writing
to, to the saints and to those at faith in Christ. Grace to
you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ
to you, to you saints, to you believers. Now they are saints,
and they have faith by the grace of God. Grace to you. You see, they're saints. They're
made so because God graciously made them so. They have faith
because over in chapter 2 it says it's the gift of God. By
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. A man doesn't
believe because he decides to. He believes because God gives
him the grace of faith. That's what Ephesians 2.8 says.
All right, so they're saints because God decided to make them
so, and they have faith because God gave them faith. And he goes
on to say, Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace from God and from Christ. Now, the Scripture says that
God is angry with the wicked every day. Scripture says, God
hateth all workers of iniquity. Yes, that's persons God hates. Not just the sins, but sinners.
God punishes persons, not just sins, but persons. They're people
in hell, not just sins. All right? And it says here that
some people have peace from God and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
God declares peace. with some people. He's not angry
with some people. In fact, he loves some people.
Not all, but some people. He doesn't hate them, but loves
them. He will not punish them, but will save them. All right? Why? Why do they have peace with
God or from God? Why? Because they make peace
with him? Is that it? I'm sure you've heard
people say that all the time. He made his peace with God. Well,
let me give you an illustration. Suppose I were to haul off and
hit or strike a man. I would just haul off and strike
a man without provocation. I hit him. And then a little
while later, I go up to him and I say, Sir, I have decided to
declare peace with you. I have decided to accept your
forgiveness. Do you see, it's not within my
power to declare peace with him. He's the one who has been offended.
He's the one who has been violated. He is the one who must declare
peace. He must decide to do so. And
it is God who has been offended. It is God who has been violated. God alone, then, must declare
peace. But wait a minute. God just can't
up and forget and forgive. God must punish sin. God will
punish sin. Scripture says He will by no
means clear the guilty. Well, look at chapter 2 here
in Ephesians, verse 13 and 14. It says, "...in Christ Jesus,
ye who sometime were far off..." Now, remember who he's speaking
to. He's not speaking to everybody. He's speaking to the saints.
He's speaking to the faithful. He says, "...you who were sometime
far off..." And in another place it says, "...aliens and enemies..."
Enemies. It says, "...are made nigh or
brought near by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace."
In another book, it says, he made peace by the blood of his
cross. You see, what God did was God
killed his Son instead of some people. God killed his Son instead
of killing some of us. Not all, but some. And therefore,
our sins against God, or the sins of all those whom Christ
died for, were punished. And therefore, God is at peace
with them. The sentence has been carried
out. They've been killed in Christ, in their representative. All
right? This is all an undeserved gift.
It's the grace of God. Well, look at verse 3 here in
Ephesians chapter 1. So Paul says, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. Who? He's blessed us, the saints,
the faithful. He's blessed us. these individuals
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. All these blessings from God
are to those in Christ, those who are found in Him, those who
are represented by Christ. How did they get in Him? How
did they get represented by Christ? Did they decide to do so? Was
this an act of their own will? Did they let Him be their peace
for them? Now look at verse 4 here. Look
at verse 4. It says, This is all according
as he hath chosen us in him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. Now remember who the us and who
the we is. Not speaking about everyone without
exception. No. He's speaking of those whom
God has called to be saints and given the grace of faith in Christ
Jesus and those whom Christ came to die for and represent. All
right? It says they are chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world to be holy and without
blame before God in love. All right? This is sovereign
election. That's what this is. Sovereign election. This is God
Almighty sovereignly Yes, discriminatingly, choosing some persons to save. All right, let me ask you three
questions from this verse of Scripture, three questions from
God's word concerning election. Number one, did you choose God
or did he choose you? If you claim to be a believer,
answer this question from the word of God, not from what you
think, but from the word of God. Verse four says, according as
he hath chosen us. All right, verse 2 says, or the
second question is, when did he choose us? When did he choose
these persons? Did he do it after they believed?
Well, verse 4 here in our text says, according as he hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, before the world
began. All right? The last question,
why? Why did he choose anybody? Why
did he choose us, or believers? Why? Because they're good? Because
he needs them? Because they're worth something?
No. Verse 5 says it's according to the good pleasure of his will.
Because he decided to. That's why. Verse 6 says to the
praise of the glory of his grace. To the praise of his electing
grace. Verse 12 says to the praise of his glory. Verse 14 says to
the praise of his glory. You see, salvation's by grace.
It's God choosing whom He will and Christ doing it all for them,
and salvation is for God's glory. The glory of His grace. The glory
of His mercy. The glory of His love. See, salvation
is by grace. It's undeserved. And it's for
some. For some. God did not have to
save anyone, but He, in mercy and in grace, chose some to save. And he gave them to Christ to
save. And he did just that. He saved
them. Well, if you would like a cassette
tape of this message, write to us. We'll send it to you free
of charge. Until next Sunday, good day. Thank you. Okay.