2 Timothy 1, 8 and 9 read, Not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God, the gospel according
to the power of God, who hath saved us and called us within
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began." This is the passage of scripture that the
Lord used to open the eyes of a dear friend of mine, a man
who was a Pentecostal preacher for years, but didn't know the
Gospel, didn't know the true and living God, didn't know Christ,
didn't know the truth. And he began hearing my pastor
preach and other men who preached the Gospel, this Gospel that
Paul spoke of, the Gospel according to the power of God. And this
young man who was a Pentecostal preacher heard the gospel, the
truth, and began to read his Bible carefully, King James Bible. And he started reading and began
reading this passage and came across these verses. And he said,
the Lord opened his eyes. God who hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Fact is, folks, nearly every
preacher I know, and I know quite a few, every true preacher I
know who preaches the same gospel I do, was before A preacher of
a false gospel didn't know the truth, and the Lord opened their
eyes, and once He did, when He finally opened their eyes to
His absolute sovereign grace and sovereign power, the true
gospel, or that is, who does the saving, every one of these
men renounced all of their former preaching and knowledge, renounced
it, saying that the Lord truly had revealed Himself to them
Finally, see the salvation of a human being is completely of
the Lord. It's according to His will and
His purpose. It's by His power. The salvation
of any and every human being is of the Lord completely and
for His glory. He gets all the credit or glory
and all the honor because He is the Savior. A very simple
illustration of this is a person is asleep in a burning building.
And a fireman risks his life, goes in after them, picks them
up and carries them outside to safety. Now, who did the saving? Who gets the honor? Did that
person cooperate with that fireman? Did that person get any credit
for their own salvation? No. Or a person who's drowning. A person drowning and a person
dives in after them and drags them back to shore. Who did the
saving? Does the person that was drowning
get glory and credit for choosing that person as their own personal
Savior? That's absurd, isn't it? Absurd. Salvations of the Lord. God the Father purposed it, willed
it, chose a people. God the Son redeemed them by
His blood, justified them. imputed His righteousness to
them. God the Holy Spirit regenerates, that is, gives life from the
dead, calls them by His gospel, sanctifies or sets them apart,
gives them repentance and faith. It's not of themselves. It's
a gift of God. Salvation is not a cooperative
effort between God and man. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
Jonah 2.9. Salvation is not God doing His
part and us doing ours. Salvation is of the Lord. And so the apostle writes to
a young preacher named Timothy, Be not thou therefore ashamed
of this gospel of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be a
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. The afflictions of
the gospel are this, all who believe this gospel, the one
I'm declaring this morning, all who preach it, all who publicly
declare it, will be hated, persecuted, and maligned. simply for believing
and telling the truth, simply for believing and telling folks
what happened to them, that God does the saving. You see, those
who are truly in this for the glory of God, they glorify God. They just don't say so. They
actually do it. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
was killed by man for what He said about God, what He said
about Himself, what He said about man, for declaring the truth. And Christ said to His disciples
and all who preach the same gospel, He said, You shall be hated of
all men for My name's sake, for My glory's sake, for My honor's
sake. Where is the offense in the gospel
today that talks about God loving everybody and Jesus dying for
everybody? Won't you let Him into your heart?
Nobody hates preachers that say that. But they do hate preachers
such as myself who are saying this, that God does the choosing,
God does the saving, Christ did the redeeming, the Holy Spirit
does the calling, the sanctifying, the giving of life. That man
is a dead creature, worthless creature, doesn't deserve saving,
but salvation is by the sovereign mercy and grace undeserved favor
of God Almighty, that salvation is a divine, supernatural, powerful
work of God upon a helpless, hopeless, dead, doomed creature,
mankind, and it's God's prerogative, God's choice who He does it to. And people will hate you for
saying that, merely saying what God says. And they've got all
kinds of problems with verses like, whosoever will. The emphasis
is not the will of man, because God's Word plainly says it is
not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. It plainly says if anybody will,
it is God that worketh in them both through will and due of
His good pleasure. But ignoramuses that call themselves
preachers twist and rest the Scriptures, as Peter said they
would, to their own destruction and the destruction of them that
hear them. Salvations of the Lord, 100%. You say, if I believed
that, why preach? I believe it and I'm preaching
it. And every man I know that preaches the truth, believes
it, and goes all over the world telling it. And people can't
understand how that God calls people in. God saves people without
so-called giving them a chance or asking them or pleading with
them or bribing them or begging them and all that because they
don't know the power of God. They don't know the God of the
Bible. That's why. God's not a beggar. Man is. God
is not waiting on man to do something. Man is waiting on God. Paul tells
young Timothy, God saved us and called us. Who saved who? Who called who? Joel 2.32 is
a prophecy that is quoted again in Romans 10.13, Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord, But folks don't know the rest
of that verse, Joel 2.32. It says, let me read the whole
verse to you, Joel 2.32. It shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount
Zion and Jerusalem shall be deliverance. Now Zion and Jerusalem has always
been a prophecy, a type, a picture, a symbol of the church, the New
Jerusalem. He goes on to say, ìIn Mount
Zion and Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call.î Did you hear that? ìThe
remnant whom the Lord shall call.î And Paul says the same thing
in Romans 9, if the Lord hadnít left us a remnant. Even so, at
this present time there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. A remnant, who calls on the Lord,
and whosoever shall call shall be saved. No one is saved without
calling. Well, why do they call? Because
God called them. You see, He gets the glory. We are not even going to get
glory or credit for doing the calling. No, because nobody calls
unless they are called by God. Nobody repents lest the goodness
of God leads them to. No one believes unless God gives
them this gift of faith. It's not an offer, it's a work
upon them. He says to young Timothy, God
says through Paul, God saved us, called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works. That is, not according because
we're good boys and girls. The gospel call is a powerful
call, a supernatural call, an effectual call, a particular
call to His people, just as the Lord called Lazarus at that tomb
that day, Lazarus. Then Lazarus came forth. If he
hadn't called a particular man, they all would have walked out
of that grave. But no. And Paul says in Ephesians
2, 1, You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin.
God Almighty calls a particular elect people out of trespasses
and sin. He quickens them. That means
gives life. Which comes first, faith or life? Does faith give
life? No! Faith is proof of life. Proof of life. Repentance is
proof of life. Babies don't call until they're
born, do they? Babies don't cry until they're
born, do they? Oh, that's which is born of God.
What's this new birth? What's a new birth? Being born
from above. Something that wasn't there before.
Given supernatural life by God the Father. What could be plainer? He says here, God called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works. God doesn't call
to tell us since we've quit this or quit that and turned over
a new leaf and trying to do better and good little boys and girls
now living right and accepting Jesus, we've earned heaven. No,
it's not according to works. But according to His own purpose
and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
before we were ever around, God Almighty purposed, made a will,
a covenant concerning a particular people. Gave them to Christ in
that covenant according to His own purpose and grace. Salvation
is by grace. Nobody deserves it. These pinhead
preachers say everybody deserves a chance. No, they don't. Nobody
deserves to be saved. Being saved means saved from
your sins. God doesn't need to save anybody.
No one deserves it. That's where everybody misses
this thing. Salvation is mercy. The mercy of God upon guilty,
undeserving, unworthy wretches. John Newton wrote that hymn to
amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. God needs wretches. Do wretches deserve a chance?
No, they're rebels against God. As I was, as every true saved
person was, they realized they were rebels against God. Man
doesn't deserve a chance to be saved. There are real problems
with that. Number one, they don't deserve
to be saved. Number two, salvation is not
by chance. He says this was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began. Before the world began. before the world began." Have
you ever heard that? Preachers have, but they are
so corrupt they twist it and rest it. Ephesians 1, verse 4,
"...according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world." God has a Lamb's Book of Life written with names
in it before the foundation of the world. Now only unbelievers
would argue with that. God's people love it because
they love God and they love God's glory. They realize who did the
saving, who did the calling, who did the choosing, and who
gets the glory. And for ever throughout eternity,
they'll be giving Him the glory. Everybody in heaven realizes
they were there by the sovereign, electing mercy and grace of God
Almighty. Well, that's the truth. May God
enable you by His grace to believe it. Amen.