As I am, Thou wilt receive, With
welcome heart, Thy plans release, Behold Thy promise, I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come. Why are you singing that before
the message? I thought you gave that after
the message, an invitation, an altar call, you know. That's
what religion does. Because the one line says, in
waiting not, just as I am in waiting not, I come now. Come now. And we don't give an altar call.
2 Peter 1. Thank you, Patrick,
for reading that. Thank you for praying for us
and me. Look at verse 10. 2 Peter 1,
verse 10 again. Wherefore, the rather brethren
give diligence. to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. Give diligence." And earlier
he'd said, add to your faith virtue and knowledge and so forth. But he said, give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. Last Sunday, we looked
at the election of Grace. We looked at several Scriptures.
Very clear from Scripture. Very clear from Scripture, undeniable. God elected, God chose a people
whom He would before the foundation of the world. And He chose those
people and wrote their names in a book. It's called the Lamb's
Book of Life because Christ is the elect and all of them are
chosen in Him before the foundation of the world and given to Him. Saved by Him. This is the language
of Scripture. Election is the language of Scripture. The language of our Lord. Our
Lord said it often. He said, He said, Shall not God
avenge His very elect, which cry unto Him day and night? He
said, I tell you, He will speedily avenge them. He said, of the
false gospel, if it were possible, it would deceive the very elect. He said that. He said he'll send
his angels to the earth to gather his elects from the four corners
of the earth. This is the language of Scripture.
The very word itself is used 27 times in the New Testament
alone. Not to mention the word chosen
or choice. Why is that? Because salvation begins there.
And it's for God's glory. It's the truth which glorifies
God, that He chose us. And our Lord kept telling His
disciples, didn't He? You did not choose me. I chose
you. I chose you. The fact that there
was an election is undeniable, in fact. It's the language of
Scripture. It's the language of God's people. The language
of God's people. In fact, the faith, you know,
the faith is called the faith of who? God's elect. And I cannot imagine one of God's
people recoiling at hearing this. I don't think it's possible.
I don't think it's possible. I can't imagine that. Because
every one of God's people, if you read the quotes by Augustine
and Spurgeon said, I know the Lord elected me. because I didn't
choose him. And I know he had to do it before
the world began, because if he had waited until after I was
born, he sure wouldn't have chosen him. And those that know themselves,
like the writer said, praise God for choosing them. Jacob
sure did. Their names are written in a
book, the Lamb's Book of Life. They are his elect, his chosen.
But you and I cannot see that book. We can't see it. It's a fact. Their names are written in there
before the world began. And he tells us here to give
diligence to make your election sure. Make sure. You need to
know that you're one of the elect. Brother Bill Clark, looking up
his notes on this subject, he said, there's no one who's elect
that doesn't know it. And that's what Paul wrote in
1 Thessalonians, knowing, brethren, your election of God. Well, if
we can't see the book, how can you know? How can you know for
sure? He says, give diligence to make
it sure. Make sure. You need to make sure of this.
How can you know? Well, look at it again. In verse
10, he says, give diligence, that is, do everything that you
can to make your Election and calling, sure. No, it's not what
it reads. You're calling an election. You see, you may know your election
by your calling. This is how they're known. This
is what I read to you, we read together in 2 Thessalonians 2,
verse 13. He said, Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, didn't
he? Bless God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, God of
all mercy has blessed him for all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places or things in Christ. What's the first thing he blessed
God for? What's the first thing he blessed God for? According
as he hath chosen us. 2 Thessalonians 2, he said, we're
bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because, why? What, Paul? What are you giving
thanks to God for first? He hath chosen you. to salvation, to save you, through
sanctification of the Spirit. That is, the Spirit sets you
apart from other people. Through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. You believe the truth, the whole
truth, nothing but the truth. What part of the truth can you
not believe and be a believer? Can you just believe part of
the truth? Romans 1 to Romans 16 is the truth. It's the gospel
from start to finish. What part of that can you reject?
You believe all of it. Not that I don't understand it,
but you believe it. Through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel. Our gospel. He wrote
to the Galatians and he wrote to us. He said, there's another
gospel. It's not the gospel. But our gospel. And he said so
boldly, he said it twice, if any man preach any other gospel,
let it be a curse. Look at Romans 1. Here is the
gospel that we're called by. You know your election by your
calling. The call of the gospel. And I'm going to illustrate all
this in a little bit, okay? Look at Romans 1. Romans chapter
1. And if anyone would ask me, and
I heard my pastor say this years ago, and I believe it, and every
man I know that's been called to preach would say the same
thing. Give me one book, get one book in all of God's Word
for people to read that they might know, really know the whole
counsel of God, how a sinner may be saved, what the gospel
is. Without exception, I would say
Romans. The book of Romans, start there.
It starts with total depravity. And there's election all the
way through, and then particular redemption, and irresistible
grace, and perseverance of the Son. But Romans 1 verse 1, Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called, the reason he's a servant is
he's called, to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of
God. Called you by our gospel, Paul
said. The gospel begins with God. The
gospel begins with who God is. And this is good news. I've got
good news for you today. I never get tired of hearing
this. If you look around you at this world, this present evil
world, and look within you at your present evil heart, you're
going to be glad when I tell you God reigns. Thy God reigns. And if He's chosen
you according to His purpose, It's good. I mean, it's real
good. You just wait. And you'll see. Wait, I say. You're going to
see. It was all so good. Why? Because
God is God. It begins with God. The good
news. God the Creator. Aren't you glad
there's a Creator? What if evolution was true? What if that was so? Well, that's
not possible. But what if it were so? Anything
could happen, couldn't it? This whole gravity could just
stop. I'll fly off. I'm not being silly. Men are
silly. Foolish. This world, gravity
on, and it rotates at exactly the speed it needs, the tilt
of the axis and so forth, the exact distance from the sun.
Ain't we lucky? That's what the world will do.
How foolish is that? God says, it's all going to be
the same. It's all right in place, just
like I've made it. I'm the creator. I'm the owner. That makes Him the owner of all
things. And if He's a good owner, it's
all good. Sovereign. Oh my, you know the
only true government there is, is a monarchy. Democracy doesn't
work. Look at it. It doesn't work. Men cannot rule themselves. Why? Greed. But if you've got a good
king, God set up a monarchy, and He said, My people, I'm going
to send them a king and a good one. They're not going to rule
themselves. They're going to be ruled by
a good king. He's sovereign. Oh, and God is
holy, holy, holy, and just. Oh, that's good. The gospel of
God, read on, which He promised to for by His prophets in the
Holy Scripture. This is the old, old gospel.
Well, what is the gospel? It's concerning His Son, verse
3. It's concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, and all that He was,
and all that He did, and where He is now. That's what the gospel
is, concerning God and concerning His Son. God's elect, God's Son, God's
chosen one, God's Christ, God's covenant head sent by God. This
is good news. This is real good news. sent His only begotten Son down
here to save His people, and He did just that, and they can't
unsave themselves. They can't unsave themselves.
If He saved them, if He belongs to them, they're mine, He said.
They're mine, like Gomer, you know. It doesn't matter, you
know. They're going to wander off,
but He's the Good Shepherd, and He's going to find them. He's
going to come back and get them. This is good news. The self-righteous
and the self-independent and the people of free willers, they
don't need this gospel, but boy, sinners do. It's good news, good news. Romans 1 and 2 talks about the
depravity of man, whether you're religious, chapter 1, people
just filled with all manner of things. Chapter 2, if you're
religious, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew, you're still,
you know better than them by nature. Chapter 3 says now, here's
how you're saved. You're not saved by works, it's
clear. Nobody is justified by the works of the law, chapter
3. That makes it very clear, because you're dead. Chapter
4, chapter 5 deals about that. Dead, dead, dead. You're born
dead. You can't save yourself. You
can't save yourself by your work, filthy work. How are we saved
then, Paul? Through the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. through the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How are we saved, Paul? By Jesus
Christ alone. That's Romans. How can we know this? How can
we know He did it for us? Belief of the truth. And he goes
on in Romans 7, you know what you are, O wretched man that
I am. Who's going to save me? What's the answer, Paul? I have
a Redeemer. I know my Redeemer liveth. In
chapter 8, how do they know him, Paul? He sends the Holy Spirit.
Leads them and guides them into all truth. They trust Christ and Him alone.
They don't trust anybody or anything, not even themselves. They know
what they are. In chapter 9, he says, you know
why all this happened? Because God chose a people before
the world began. He said, I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. I'll be gracious. Best God is
gracious. Best God is merciful. He said,
I will do it to whom I will. It's not of him that willeth,
but him that runneth. You see, there's a remnant according to
the election of Christ. This is Romans. Romans 10. Shall
we go through Romans? That's what I'm doing. That's
all the gospel, you see. The good news of how the Lord
saves His people. And they're all called, called,
called, called, called. Romans 8, I do want you to look
at that. Romans chapter 8. Oh, how we love this. Romans
8. And this is our peace, our comfort,
our hope, the hope of our what? Calling. It's one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one Father of you all and in you all, one hope of His
calling. Let's just look at verse 28. We know, now we know He's talking
about God's people, that all things work together for good
to them that love God. They love God. They love His Word. They love
His sovereignty. They love God, His character.
To them who are the called, the called. According to His purpose. What purpose, Paul? The purpose
in Romans 9, according to the election, the purpose of God
according to the election. Not words. It's Him that calleth. Read on. For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate. That means, that's elections,
what that is. And He predetermined everything about them. Everything.
Down to the numbers of hairs on their heads. Some of us have
hairs. Some of you have hair. But don't
glory in it. Not a hair falls to the ground
that he didn't ordain it. I don't believe it. Boy, I do,
and I'm so glad. That's how I finally accepted
it. It's His will. I'm not being funny. I'm not
trying to be. It's just, brethren, a germ can
kill you. Cancer starts with one germ,
doesn't it? He's God over everything. Everything. It says that he did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son. Oh, I'm so thankful
for predestination. I can't conform myself to him.
But he said, I'm going to do it. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Verse 30, this call, call, call. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
he called. He called. He called. He called. He called. He called. Now, this call. is not an invitation. In fact, our Lord said, many
are called, they hear the Word, but few are chosen. Meaning, few are given faith
to hear the call, given ears to hear the call, given a heart
to receive the call. He said in John 1, if you receive
the Word, why? Because you're born of God, you're
given life. It calls. It calls. It's not an invitation.
I hate the word invitation. Why do you hate it, Preacher?
It's not in the Bible. Because invitation is denial of the truth.
Invitation is denial of man's death. An invitation says man
has the ability to answer and respond to it, right? If I send
you an invitation, would you please come to my house, meaning
that you have the ability to accept it or reject it. That's
the denial of the Scripture. That man's dead. Our Lord never
invited anybody. He called them. It's a command. It's a command. Look at John
5. John chapter 5. This call is a command. And as
I said, well, here's an illustration. You don't need mine. Listen to
him. John 5, verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath." Hath. Everlasting life. Didn't he mean,
shall have? No, no, no. Hath. You hear my
word. And later on in John, he said,
you believe. Why is it you don't hear my word,
he said? He says, he can't. He said, can't. He said, no man
can except the Father which hath sent me draw him. See, he said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And they'll
hear my word. They're my sheep. Read on. Hath
everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is,
is, is passed from death. Don't you like that, Janann?
Sister? is passed from, I've heard his word, and I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother John, we've already passed
from death to life. Read on, verse 25. Barely, truly,
I say unto you, the hour has come, and now is, the dead shall
hear the voice, the gospel. of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live." And he just said the reason they hear is
because they are alive. When our Lord went to Lazarus'
tomb, he who had been dead, it's obvious to everyone, he was dead.
Even his sister said, he's dead. There is no hope for him. He's
dead. You got any brothers that are
dead? Mindy and I have a brother that's dead. And we can't get
through to them. And they've been in that case
for a long time. But our Lord, bless His holy
name, He said to Mary and Martha, this sickness is not unto death.
But for the glory of the Son of God, the glory of Him that
calleth, that giveth life, that laid down His life. And He came,
this Christ came to Lazarus' tomb. Someone said if He hadn't
called Lazarus' name, everybody would have come out. He came
to this particular tomb of this particular man whom He loved. It said He loved him. And he
came to this particular man and he said, he cried with a loud
voice, Lazarus, your name's not in the Bible,
is it? Mine is. Sinner. Wretched. Miserable. Poor. Blind. Naked. Deaf. Dumb. A dog. A worm. unworthy, ungodly. That's my name. That's your name. Oh, that's who Christ came for,
to call from the dead. I ain't no sinner. I'll have you know I ain't no
sinner preacher. You haven't been called, have you? I used to be a sinner. Well,
you haven't been called, have you? Because any man say he hath
not sinned, there's no light in him. Lazarus, come forth. You know what the scripture says?
He that was dead came forth. He didn't say, what if Christ
would have gone to the tomb and said, would anyone like to come
forth? Lazarus, I'm offering you a choice.
I want to give you life. Would you let me? Preacher, don't
be facetious. This is what Elijah did on Mount
Carmel with all of those false prophets. He said, call on Him.
He's a God. Well, maybe He's visiting somewhere. Maybe He went to the bathroom.
He can't hear. He cried aloud. Not an invitation. It's a call. A call from the dead. A call
from the dead. And he that was dead came forth,
and you hath he quickened who were dead." There was a time
when you heard the Word and you heard the truth and you heard
the Scriptures, maybe even at random, but you didn't know yourself,
you didn't know God, you didn't know Christ, you didn't believe
the truth. If you heard it, you didn't believe
it, you didn't need it. You heard of Christ, you heard
of Him crucified, you thought, oh well. And the Lord called you. Nice grace, nice sovereign electing
love, mercy, and grace. I'll give you a good illustration
of this. Some of you have heard it. I still love it. And I can't think of a better
one. Some of you haven't heard it. Years ago, I had a dog. His name was Abner. And I know
now why I had that dog. So I can use this illustration.
But I purposed to have that dog. One day, didn't I? I said, I'm
going to go get a dog. Not, I'm going to wait on the
dog to come to me. I'm going to go get a dog. Now,
don't let me offend you dog lovers. Yes, let me offend you dog lovers.
Nobody needs a dog. It may have been a time years
ago, you know, when you might need a dog for something, you
know, but not... I didn't need a dog. In fact,
me and Dad made a covenant that after this one, no more dogs. We want to have some shrubbery. That's all God's dogs are good
for. I predetermined to have a dog. It was my determination
to have a dog. God, the Scripture says, predetermined
before the world began to have a people. What does Scripture
call us? Dogs. No, it calls us worse than
that. Worms. You know what the word worm is?
Maggots. I predetermined to have a dog,
okay? I love dogs. I do. I love dogs. I don't love all
dogs. And some dogs I'd shoot if it
was awful. Oh, but they can be rehabilitated. I don't love all dogs. Should
I? Some dogs will kill you. Who did Jesus Christ come to
save? Good people? We killed His Son. Good people? Hmm? Does it not make you mad just
to think about that? That people have the audacity
to say that God ought to save us? No, God ought to kill us
all. But, God, for His great love, what kind
of love? Even when we were dead in sin, Christ hanging on the cross,
praying for the one that just spit in his face. That game that
told him, we hate your guts. And John, can you get a load
of this? Can you get a load of this? Hanging
on the cross, he said, Father, forget them. The reason I despise it, God
despises this false gospel, saying everybody deserves a chance to
be saved. No, they don't! Salvation is not by chance, and
salvation is not because people are worthy. It's mercy! To the praise of the glory of
His sovereign mercy, who spared not His own Son and delivered
us all because Christ was not... Back to the dog. I went where dogs were. I determined
to have a dog. I went where they were. And they were a bunch of dogs.
And our Lord came into this place. He said, I'm surrounded by dogs.
He came to this place. You know how dogs live, don't
you? It's not pleasant. If you didn't clean up after
your dog, you couldn't stand to be around. Our Lord came to
where dogs were, and they were in a cage, all of them. They were in a cage. They were
in bondage. That's a good illustration. So
were we, held captive. But I determined to have a dog.
Now I want you to note with me now, this dog I chose is absolutely
passive. This dog doesn't have anything
to do with anything. He doesn't know me. He doesn't
know why I came. He doesn't know until it's all
over. Until it's all over. Oh boy. He chose me. There were a bunch of dogs in
this particular litter that I think there were eight or nine or ten,
something like that. You know how dogs breed dogs. And they were in this cage, and
I chose. Not one of those dogs. They were
all wallowing around. You've seen puppies wallowing
around. Ain't they cute? Yeah, they are. They're cuter than
man. Wallowing around, you know. They're
innocent. Scripture says animals are innocent.
But they're wallowing around. Not one of them say, Hey, choose
me, choose me. Not one of them say, Hey, we
need a home. Hey. Not one of them. You know the
one I chose? They were all red murals, there
were blue murals, there were brown and white ones, and there
was one little dog sitting in the corner, and he was black
as black could be. I said, I want that one. Right there. He's sitting there
all alone. One of the rest of the dogs didn't have anything
to do with it. He was sitting there all alone. I said, I want that
one. And I chose him. I bought him. I paid good money
for a dog. I paid good money, hard-earned
money. I signed papers for that dog.
I signed a covenant. I signed an agreement. People,
our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth where dogs are, and
the Father chose them and gave them unto Christ. He came looking
for them, and they're all black. All of his sheep were black.
Black-faced sheep. And he chose them. And he paid. He bought them with his precious
blood, redemption's pride. And he signed a covenant. He
signed an agreement. He signed a covenant with the
Father. He said, I'm going to keep them forever. When I signed
those papers, what I was saying was, this is my dog. I'm going
to keep this dog. I'll pay for it. I'll take care
of this dog. I'm not going to give it back up. It's my dog
now. No matter what. I brought him
home to me. He's mine. I set my love on that
dog, and I loved him to the end. Oh, how I loved him. And you know what? He loved me. He loved me. And I believe He knew. I believe
He knew that I did it all. I know He knew that. That's why
He loved me. But I brought Him home. Those whom Christ died for, He's
going to bring them home. There He is. He loves them. I
named Him. I named Him. You say, why did
you name Him Abner? Well, I like the name. You say, Abner was... Abner was... David's enemy for a while, wasn't
he? Yes, he was. But, in the end, David brought
him back. Abner. I taught him. I trained
him. I gave him a new nature. You've
got to train a dog or it'll be wild. You know that? You know
what they are by nature? They're wild. They're wolves.
Nancy and Joe used to have a dog that looked just like a wolf.
Samson. If you don't train a dog, he's wild. He'll kill you. He'll
kill anything. He's bloodthirsty. He's no good.
No good. Right? The only way a dog's any
good. The only good dogs and children are trained ones. I trained him. I taught him.
I gave him his name. I gave him a new nature. I taught
him. You know what I taught him first? I taught him sit. When the Lord comes to you, he
brings you to himself, he gets you to sit at his feet. You're going to hear from me.
Beg. Lie down. He maketh us to lie
down in green pastures. Here's what I taught him. Come. me. You know what? He did. I had that power. It's just a dog,
but I had that much power. Come and he came. He came. I called him and he came. I told him, stay. Stay. Don't run off now. I taught him to heel didn't I
Mindy? Taught him to heel, that means follow. Taught him good. Mindy used to, she was like the
Pied Piper of dogs in our neighborhood. She'd go for a walk out there
on the farm. It was almost a mile down the
road. The road was almost a mile long. And she would go walking
with Abner and Annie and go walking up that road. Well, lo and behold,
several dogs would fall in. The neighbors' dogs, Blue Heeler
here, and this dog here, and this dog there, and they would
all follow it. It was a pack of dogs, wasn't it? It was a
pack of dogs. He'd walk down and get to about
a quarter mile from the end of the road, though, there's a steep
hill, and there's Route 40. Dangerous. Okay? We taught this
dog, taught Abner to heal, to stay for his salvation. You stay where I put you. or
you'll get killed. You stay by my side or you'll
die. Don't run ahead. You wait on
me." Well, she'd get to the end, right to the end of that quarter
mile and tell Abner, stay. And she'd walk on with him a
quarter mile down the road. The rest of the dogs would run out in the road and all that. Look up the hill and there he
sat. There he sat, right where she told him to stay. She get
down there, she left him. She said, she's coming back. Our Lord said, sit, lie down,
follow me, but stay. I'm coming back. She came back, now let's go home. This is a good illustration of
it. This is exactly what God teaches all His dogs. Exactly. Oh, I loved him, I loved that
dog. You know, but the Lord, His people,
like dogs, are prone to wander, aren't we? Don't we love that
song? Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. That dog loved me. I know he
did. He loved me. I know he did. He
kept coming to me. He wanted to be with me. He wanted
to be by my side, but he's a dog. And every now and then he'd run
off, wouldn't he? Your dog would do that. Do you do that? Born
to wander, Lord, and the Lord said of Jacob, his beloved, Jacob,
Israel, his people, they've sinned against me. They've turned away
from me. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
Like sheep, we've gone astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way. Oh, but the Lord laid on him the iniquities. Then how
do you know they're the Lord's? Backslide in or wander off? As
I told you, as I told you to begin with, I taught my dog to
come when I called. Come. And he always came when
I called. No matter what happened. No matter
what trouble he got into, he'd come. One day, there was a pack
of dogs outside, and some bad dogs. Most of them didn't have
collars on them. And I went out there and there
they were. And a pack of dogs, you get two
dogs together, you've got trouble brewing. You get three dogs together,
there's going to be trouble. You get a pack of dogs, something
needs to be done about it. Right? And I looked in the middle
of that pack. My dog, Abner, was in the middle
of that pack. Can believers act like unbelievers? Ask Lot. Lot, what are you doing
down here? Ask David. David, what are you
doing in Ziklag? David, what are you doing in
Gath? David, what are you doing acting like a madman? What's
wrong with you? Well, it's a pack of dogs. One of them's mine. One of them. Listen to me now. One of them's mine. I chose it. I loved it. I bought it. I taught it. How do you know
which one's mine? I said with a loud voice, Elizabeth, one dog came. One dog came. My dog. He came. Oh, Mac had a tail between
his legs. A little stub between them. But he was tucked in. His head
was hanging down. His ears were low. He was afraid
to look in my face. He thought, oh, I could have
been destroyed with them, the rest of these dogs. I could hear
him. If he could talk, I could hear him. He was saying, oh,
what's wrong with me? But in spite of his sin, in spite
of himself, like Peter, who just denied the Lord, they were all
in that boat. Peter said, I'm going fishing. In that boat were the rest of
the disciples. Somebody said, it's the Lord. Peter dove in the water. in spite
of his sin, because of his sin. Oh, Abner, I can hear him now.
He comes back to me. He came back right up to me.
He's nestled right up between my legs. And I put his head right
there. And I can hear him now. I said,
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Have mercy on me, please. I don't
know what I'm doing. What came over me? I do. I know you're
praying. You're a dog. That's what you were when I called
you. It's what you wear when I chose you. I know your frame. But how do you know who belongs
to the Lord? Call to the gospel. Call to the
gospel. I'd love to have that power.
I do have that power here, but the Lord is the one that applies
it. The gospel is the power of God and the salvation. I'd love
to be able to stand up like our Lord and say, come forth. Someone call their name and they
come forth. I can't do it. But I can just
repeat our Lord and if He's pleased to do it, He can do it, you know. So I'm going to do that right
now. Christ said, come unto me. Oh yeah. I don't know who the Lords are.
He has an elect. But we'll find out as they come. And they believe him. And they
get in that pool. And they confess him. That's all I can say. What number? 323. 323. Let's sing the first and last verse, okay? 323, first and last
verse.