If you would, go back to the
book of Ephesians, the first chapter. Our subject this morning
is election unto everlasting life. Verse 4 says, according
as He had chosen us, that is, God has chosen us to be His people,
to be the recipients of His salvation. He has chosen us to be redeemed
by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has chosen us
to be the objects of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit within
us. He chose us in Him, in Christ
Jesus. Know this, every facet of salvation
In every part of God's salvation, it always centers around the
Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, as you read through
this first chapter, and most of you know this, you should
pay attention to the in Christ, in Him, in Whom. You'll find over and over and
over again There are references to our Lord Jesus and the fact
that God's salvation, whether we're talking about election
unto everlasting life, or redemption by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, or the work of the Spirit by which He does a magnificent
job within us creating life. Every bit of our salvation has
as its center the focal point is our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no salvation, there
is no forgiveness of sins, there is no acceptance with God, there
is no righteousness to be had except in, through, and by our
Lord Jesus. Notice again verse 4. It begins,
according as, or literally even as. These two words, according
as, connects the previous verse with this and verses 5 and 6
as well. All of this is bounded or bonded,
joined together by God Himself. And while verse three tells us
that we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, verses
four and five tell us the way, the way that we have been blessed,
the results of these blessings. And then the sixth verse tells
us the reason, the reason for these blessings and the reason
for the results, and that is for the glory of God. If you
know anything about the Bible at all, everything that God does
for sinners is for the glory of His grace. In this portion
of Scripture, it is often divided into three sections. This first
chapter is the work of the Father in salvation, in election, and
in redemption, in salvation and in predestination. And it's for
the glory of His grace. It's to God be the glory. At
no point does man get any glory. And then, beginning with verse
7, we find redemption in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we're saved, by Him we're
saved, through Him we're saved, and it all has to do with His
sacrifice by which He satisfied God and He put away the sins
of His people. And that's all to the glory of
His grace. And then we read about the work
of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God does a work
within us to enlighten us, to give us life. to raise us from
spiritual death. And that which the Holy Spirit
does for us, He does to the praise of the glory of His grace. At
no point in salvation does the creature receive any glory whatsoever. And the way to tell if a preacher,
if a minister, if an evangelist, a radio preacher or a television
preacher, whoever it is, the way to tell whether they're being
honest with you according to the Scriptures is to ask yourself
this simple question. In His message, who gets the
glory? That's the issue. Who gets the
glory? If they say salvation is ultimately
up to you, that God has done the things that He has done,
but now He awaits your decision to bring salvation to fulfillment,
well, that's giving the glory to the creature. At no point
in salvation do we receive any glory, and the saints of God
are thankful for that, and the saints of God acknowledge that.
as we sing, to God be the glory, great things He hath done. We don't say of ourselves, to
God be the glory and to us also for the things that we've done.
No, we evaluate all that we've done and we say, Lord, everything
we've done is contaminated with sin. I'm a sinner within and
without, from top to the bottom. There's only wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, as he speaks of our natural depravity, likening
our spiritual diseases to a disease of the body, from the top of
the head to the bottom of our feet. Spiritually speaking, we're
defiled. So no glory goes to us, but all
of the glory goes to God. You see, one of the questions
we should ask is this, in light of our sinfulness, our depravity,
our spiritual death, in light of the fact that we're rebellious,
we're wicked, we're alienated from God, well, how is it that
all of the spiritual storehouses of God, all of His spiritual
blessings that He has reserved for us, how is it that He gives
those to us freely when we are not deserving of the least of
His favors? In fact, we should ask, how is
it that even one single spiritual blessing would ever come our
way? Do you not recognize the fact
of your own wickedness, your own depravity? Do you not recognize
the fact that in Adam's transgression we all fell? Do you not agree
with the scriptures that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God? And if you agree with those things,
then I ask you this, since we were alienated from God, how
can any spiritual blessings ever come to us? How could even one
spiritual blessing come to us? And the answer is, according
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. We must trace every spiritual
blessing back to our God who blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, if you ask about any person
who professes to be a Christian, If you ask Him, to what do you
attribute your salvation? Perhaps you began by asking,
are you a Christian? They say, yes, I'm a Christian. You're forgiven of your sins?
Oh yes, I'm forgiven of my sins. I'm a child of God. Well then,
to what do you attribute your everlasting life and the spiritual
blessings that are yours? And invariably, the answer you
will get will be something like this, I repented of my sins. I believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I have confidence in the Son
of God. But hang on a minute. Neither
repentance nor faith nor confidence in the Son of God is the origin
of spiritual blessings or everlasting life. Now, indeed, repentance and faith
and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, those things are real. But those things are the results
of the election of God, not the cause. And you need to be straight
about that because most of this religious world has it all wrong. And they almost always leave
God out of it except for giving Him a little credit for His part. What the Word of God teaches
us is that salvation is all of God in its origin. or I'll say in
its purpose. When did God purpose salvation? Before He made the world. In
fact, He made the world to be the habitation of those He chose
under salvation. He chose a fit environment, a
fit planet, where His people that He chose unto salvation
would live, and then by His grace, hear the gospel of Christ Jesus, and by the power of the Spirit,
believe. And in the end, He's going to create a new heaven
and a new earth that will be a fit environment for us to dwell
in eternally. The origin of salvation is God. And as He is the author of salvation,
He is the finisher of salvation. Therefore, to God be the glory. Let me ask you this, the original
creation, go back to Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. Did anyone assist Our God in
that first creation? Well, no. Because there was nobody
there but God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, working in unity. One in power, one in
essence, one in will, one in purpose. God is one. And God is the one who chose
the people unto salvation before any of us ever existed in and
of ourselves. We only existed in the mind and
the heart and the purpose of God. So this election unto everlasting
life had nothing to do with us and what we would do What we
would think, what choice we would make, had nothing to do with
us whatsoever. Of God's own will, He showed
mercy to a multitude which no man can number, and He did it
before He ever made the world. I say again, in the original
creation, did anyone assist God in that creation? Of course,
the answer is no. Well, so it is in a spiritual
creation. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says we're
new creatures or a new creation in Christ Jesus. Well, if nobody
assisted God in the creation of all things in the physical
realm, Does anybody assist God in the spiritual realm, in the
creation of spiritual life, in the creation of salvation? And the answer is the same. Before
anyone existed, God did something. He chose a people unto salvation. Look at a reference over here
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. or chapter two, rather. 2 Thessalonians
chapter two and verse 13. The apostle has spoken of what's
going to happen to this apostate world, people who lived and died in
sin. And though they had heard the
gospel, they had no interest in the gospel. and God therefore
damned them. In fact, they were damned before
they ever were born. But he says this in the 13th
verse, but we're bound to give thanks always to God for you. He doesn't say I'm bound to give
thanks to you because of what you did for God. but rather we're
bound, we're determined. We're determined to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
that the setting apart, the work of the setting apart of the Holy
Spirit in belief of the truth, Whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Before anyone existed, God purposed
to save. First of all, he chose a savior.
And in Isaiah 42, God calls him his elect. Behold my elect, my
servant. God chose to save and God chose
the Savior. You're not the Savior. You can't
save yourself. Through Adam's fall and through
personal transgressions, we have doomed ourselves, as it were.
If we die in our sins and perish forever, that's our fault. That's
our fault. But God, according to His eternal
purpose, He chose to save a people. And as in the physical creation,
we stand up and say it was all of God. So in the spiritual creation,
we say it was all of God. Now let me give you three or
four things here real quick. A right view of the Word of God leads us to
agree that election is unto everlasting life. So let me state this doctrine
biblically. The reality and the truthfulness
of the doctrine of God's election of some unto everlasting life
is only as valid, it is only as true as the word of God. You agree? I know you do. So
the first thing we should ask, is this taught in the Word of
God? If it's taught in the Word of God, without taking something
out of context, without just going back and finding an isolated
statement here or there, if this is the general consensus of all
of the Word of God, then you're bound to believe it. None are saved except those that
God has purposed to save. Some say this was unfair of God. And they say things like, well,
surely everybody deserves a chance. Let me tell you something, salvation
is not by chance. It is by choice. It is by God's
choice. So the issue is very simple.
I say to you and to those who are watching, the issue really
is very simple. Is this taught in the Word of
God? If it is, I'm bound to believe. If it isn't, then I'll just cast
it aside. Psalm 65 verse 4 says, Blessed
is the man that thou choosest and causest to approach unto
thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied
with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. When
our Lord Jesus was talking about the end times, he said in Matthew
24, 22, but for the elect's sake, the days shall be shortened.
Our Lord Jesus believed in the elect. He believed election unto
salvation and preached it. In Mark 13, 22, when our Lord
was teaching about false preachers who would deceive people, He
said, if it were possible, they would even deceive the very elect. In Luke 18 and verse 7, our Lord
speaks about His people being persecuted. And He says, Shall
not God avenge His own elect? In Romans 8, He talks about those
who are predestinated and justified, called, glorified, all of His
grace. Do you know the Scriptures speak
about elect angels? There were some angels, many
angels, who were chosen of God not to follow in the rebellion
of Lucifer. And the Bible calls them elect
angels. There was only one reason why
about two thirds of the angels did not fall, did not follow
Lucifer. And the reason they did not follow
Lucifer was because God chose them to abide faithful. The Bible
talks about an elect nation of all the nations of the earth
back in Abraham's day. God chose that man, and He chose
that nation that would come forth from His seed. And it would be
through that nation that the Word of God would continue to
go forth, and eventually the Son of God would be born of one
of the tribes of that chosen nation. See, God chooses in many areas. You know, we talk about God's
providence. God has a choice to send us any
kind of weather he wants to send us. I know men would like to
think that they could control the weather and they'd love to
be able to do that. I'll tell you what, a couple
of days ago when the wind was blowing, it felt like it was
blowing right through me as I walked toward the post office. If I'd
had my choice, I'd have stopped the wind, but I thought about
this. That's my Lord sending the wind. He sends the physical
wind, and He sends the spiritual wind, the wind of His Spirit.
He causes the wind of His grace to blow to some and not to blow
to others. Let us learn from nature a little
bit about the things of God, the things that are spiritual.
As God reigns in everything physical, not a bird can fall from the
sky apart from His purpose. Every hair on your head is numbered
by God Himself. If God is in control of, if He
rules in all of these things, how much more in the realm of
grace? In the spiritual realm. Do not
ever, do not ever attribute salvation to a sinner. It's to our God
in His purpose. It's to the Son of God in His
particular purchase price of redemption. Who died for us? Christ did. Did you pay your
sin debt? No. Could you pay your sin debt? You're a beggar. You've got nothing
with which to pay. Well, then who paid it? If you're
a believer, who paid it? Well, the only one who could
pay it was one who was perfectly God and perfectly man. The God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't take credit for redemption. Don't take credit for reconciliation. Christ saves. And if you're brought
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, don't take any credit
for your faith. Faith does not naturally abide
in the heart of man. It is a gift. It's a gift from
God. And when God gives you the gift
of faith, you see by faith the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
in His person and in His work. You see your need for His bloody
redemption, for His perfect righteousness, and you say, that's the Savior
I need. That's all of God. The scriptures teach election
of everlasting life. Our Lord said in Matthew 20,
16, so the last shall be first, and the first last for many be
called, but few are chosen. Romans 11, five and six, even
so at this present time, also there's a remnant according to
the election of grace. And if by grace, listen now,
if by grace, then it is no more works, is not of you. Otherwise,
if it is of you, then grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. No question about it. The Bible
teaches the doctrine of election. if you're able to read, and if
you're able to put two thoughts together. Some of us can barely
do that, but we can do that. We have some natural understanding
of words, at least. And if words mean anything in
the Bible, and it is God's word, I remind you, then salvation and everlasting
life is due to election. Here's the second thing, and
I'll give it to you quickly. A right view, not only of the
scriptures, but a right view of the character of God leads
us to agree election unto everlasting life. We don't have the time
to turn there, but in Romans chapter 9, we read this. The
Lord has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will,
He hardens. What are you going to make of
that? You just have to take it as it
is. After all, Paul goes on to say
that God is the potter. Jeremiah speaks of the Lord as
being the potter. and all of the world as a lump
of clay. And He has molded each of us
under that kind of vessel He has ordained that we be. Some
vessels under mercy, other vessels that He hardens and just leaves
them alone. See, the doctrine of election
means that some are called, some are chosen, some are redeemed
unto everlasting life, and the rest are just left alone. Why
did God deal with you? Huh? You say, Jim, I'm a believer. I trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, why did you trust Him? Why do you trust Him? Why do
you see the preciousness of the Lamb of God? It's not of you,
but it's of God. It's because he chose you under
everlasting life. God molds everybody into that
which he purposes them to be. And sometimes it just involves
God just leaving somebody to their own will, their own thought,
their own sinfulness, their own covetousness. See, God used Judas. He used Judas. Everything ordained
that would happen to our Lord Jesus Christ, God had purposed
it all, and He purposed to use Judas. Judas was not a vessel
of mercy. He was a vessel passed by. Did
God use him? Sure. And I've said before, people
say, oh, I pray the Lord will use me. He will. He will. He uses everybody to
accomplish His purpose. I sure would love to be used
for the glory of His grace. That's how I want to be used.
So right view of the character of God leads us to agree with
this. After all, did not the Lord say, cannot I do what I
will with mine own? When Nancy's daddy, many years
ago, he was asking me about these things, sovereign grace and election
and so forth. And I said, God has a right to
do with all of us what he will. And, you know, he had a farm,
and I said, why do you plant alfalfa in that field and corn
over here in this field, and then this part of the field is
a lot of tomatoes and green beans and such? Well, he said, it's
my farm. I can do with it what I want.
I said, why do you have Black Angus cattle? Why don't you have
some other kind of cattle? He said, because I like the Black
Angus. I don't want any other kind.
I said, it's because you own it all, right? He said, yeah.
I said, here's what the Bible teaches. God owns everything. See? No limitations. Nothing outside of his ownership. It's all God's property and every
person is God's property in that he owns them. And I said, Duval,
just like you, do what you will with that which you own. God
does exactly what He wills with His own, and that's everything.
That's everything. You know what he said? I get
it. That makes sense, doesn't it? When I was in the insurance class,
the teacher said, that makes sense, doesn't it? We said, yeah.
He said, no, it makes dollars. But that rings true. And then I'll say this, a right
view of the sinfulness of man leads us to agree, election of
salvation. If you know anything about man's
spiritual condition, you know it's gotta be this way. It's
got to be this way. And the last thing is this, a
right view of the Lord Jesus and his death upon the cross
will lead us to the truth of election and to everlasting life. You see, our Lord Jesus, He's
the source. He's the conduit. He's the channel
by which all of these spiritual blessings flow to us. Every blessing flows right through
the Lord Jesus Christ, right from His heart and due to His
faithfulness in redemption. We just came through Christmas
and about everybody was talking about the fact that Christ came
into the world. Do you have any idea why He came
and what He did? Do you realize that He came to
do a work, a sign to Him in the covenant of grace? He was the
surety of the everlasting covenant. He came to save God's elect.
He came to save God's people. The shepherd came to lay down
his life for the sheep, not the goats. Our Lord said there in John chapter
10 concerning the Pharisees of Judaism, they were questioning
Him as they always did and mocking Him. He said, you believe not
because you're not of My sheep. He didn't say you're not of My
sheep. as a result of your unbelief. He said the reason you don't
believe is because you're a goat. That's what he's saying. You're
a goat. You're not sheep. We were lost sheep. He found
us. We were sheep in debt. He bought us. We were sheep who
were dead in trespasses and sins. He gave us life. Let me just give you this in
closing. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is vital. There's no question about that.
But that's not the cause of salvation. I call on you to believe on the
Lord Jesus as he's revealed in the Word of God. And if you do,
your faith is the result of election unto everlasting life. And something else, there was
not back years ago when we believed on the Lord, and there is not
anything in us now that would move God to show mercy to us. So Jim, why did God save me?
Because He willed to. That's it. Because He wanted to. I tell
you this, if He doesn't want to save somebody, they're not
going to be saved. The will of God will always be
accomplished. And I'll tell you this, we were
chosen to grace here and glory afterwards. And all of the glory goes to
God. I'll give you this one last verse
back here in my text in Ephesians 1, verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us, and the word is graced, wherein
He hath graced us, and graced us in the beloved. This salvation
is full of grace. And I had somebody tell me one
time, that's just too much grace. I don't think you can have too
much grace. In fact, I know you can't. That's what I need. I
need grace. And that grace comes from God
through the conduit, through the channel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And in Him, I've got every spiritual
blessing that God can give a sinner. Don't mope around and talk about
what you don't have. You're a child of God. You have
an inheritance undefiled, eternal in the heavens that fadeth not
away. Shame on us for ever fussing about anything, right? God chose
us an everlasting life. Well, get your psalm books out.
And we're gonna sing One verse of 295. He leadeth me. Just one verse. Number 295. Be safe going home. Somebody told us about an hour
or so ago that snow had moved into the Lexington area and it's
coming this way. So be careful going home. And be careful through the throat
storm if there are elderly in your neighborhood And you say, give them a column. I may have crossed over into
that. But may the Lord keep us safe. And you be careful, OK? Let's
sing just one stanza. OK.