Now, last week I preached through
the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and I want you to return there
this morning for just two verses and I want us to consider some
of these issues that we've been talking about over the last few
weeks on the last days and mainly what I want to talk about is the foundation of salvation and
God's grace salvation by God's grace, which makes His people
to differ from others. If we're not lost and deceived
by anti-Christ or an anti-Christian spirit, the false deception of... or the deception of false Christianity,
why is that, that we're not deceived? What makes the difference there?
Is it because we're better than others who are deceived, smarter,
done more? Is it because we're less obstinate,
less rebellious? You know, the doctrine of freewillism,
that's really what that teaches. And I want us to see what God's
Word says about this subject. That's the issue. Look at verse
13, just two verses here in 2 Thessalonians 2. He says in verse 13, now he'd
been talking about how when Christ returns, how before he returns
there's going to be a great deception, a great falling away by the man
of sin, the son of perdition known as Antichrist. We talked
about that, I won't go back into all that. He said that many will
be deceived by the deception of religion, the deception of
false Christianity. He talked about the mystery of
iniquity, that's an iniquity that Man by nature doesn't realize
and know unless God reveals it to him. It's the iniquity, the
sinfulness of false, self-righteous, legalistic works religion. That's
what it is. He talked about the deceivableness
of unrighteousness, the great lying wonders and signs that
Satan and his ministers would perform in that day that would
impress men but it would leave them in deception. And the reason
he said it would leave them in deception is because they received
not, verse 10, the love of the truth. The love of the truth. Do you love the truth? Do you
love God's truth? Well, what truth? And he said,
for that reason, God will judge them. He'll send them strong
delusion that they'll believe a lie. They've closed up their
ears. Now, why haven't I closed up my ears? That's what I'm asking. If you're hearing the Word of
God with a hearing ear, with a receptor, why? What makes the
difference there? And you can think about all kinds
of speculations that people will think about on that. Well, I'm
an American. Is that why? I was born in Kentucky,
West Virginia, Ohio. I'm born in the Bible Belt here.
Raised in a Christian home. What is the reason? If you hear
it and believe it, why? Well, he says in verse 13 and
verse 14. Now, here's your answer. Here's what the Bible says, all
right? I know what men say. You know
what men say. Here's what the Bible says. He says in verse
13 of 2 Thessalonians 2. But we are bound to give thanks
all way to God for you. Don't thank you, don't thank
me, thank God. Brethren, beloved of the Lord.
He doesn't say brethren because you love the Lord there. Now
we who know Christ and are saved by His grace, we do love Him,
don't we? Not perfectly, but we love Him. But that's not what
makes the difference, see. The difference is we're loved
by Him. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. So, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because, here's the reason why, God hath from the beginning,
from the beginning of what? What do you think He's talking
about there? From the beginning of what? From the beginning of
time. That's what He's talking about,
isn't He? He's not talking about your birthday. He's not talking
about 1776 when they signed the Declaration of Independence.
He's talking about from the beginning of time when we didn't even exist. You didn't exist. God hath from
the beginning chosen you. I know people don't like this
now. But I'm just telling you, you know, it's like Brother Henry
said when he was reading Romans chapter 9 in the Sunday school
class and fellas started arguing with him and said, I don't agree
with what you're saying. He said, I'm not saying anything,
I'm just reading the scripture. Chosen you to salvation. Somebody said, well, you've got
the translation wrong. Will you get another one? And figure it
out. That's what the word is, chosen
you. Now, not just chosen you now, listen to this now. You
know what that's talking about? It's talking about election.
You know that. But look what it says. Now read on. He says,
God from the beginning chosen you to salvation. See, election is not just God
choosing. It's choosing his people unto
salvation. Where are you going to find salvation?
In Christ. Chosen in Christ, the scripture
says in other places. Then he says, through. Now that
word through there, means, by means of, and he speaks of sanctification
of the Spirit. Now that's a set, that word sanctify
means to set you apart. God who chose you to salvation
has set you apart through sanctification of the Spirit. That's the Holy
Spirit and belief of the truth. Now those who are deceived do
not receive the love of the truth. But those who are chosen of God
to salvation and set apart by the Spirit They believe the truth. They love the truth. What truth? Verse 14. Now look at this. Whereunto
he called you by our gospel. That's the title of this message.
Called by our gospel. Called by our gospel. And this
is where we have to be concerned. Now this is where we... Listen.
He says, He called you by our gospel. to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, this is the glory of our
Lord... When we're called by the gospel,
we are brought by the power of the Holy Spirit under the preaching
of that truth of the gospel to see the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's described in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. Those who don't believe are blinded
to that by Satan because of unbelief. They don't believe. And what
he's talking about here is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
in His second coming. That's the subject here. That's
the context. So here's what he's saying. Here's
three things here now. God chose us, God redeemed us
and regenerates us, and God keeps us. There's the difference. There's the difference. Look
at it. Just as there are three specific
elements that he described back here in the character of Antichrist
and the followers of Antichrist back up earlier here, there are
specific elements and characteristics of those who are saved by the
grace of God. What's the first one? God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's the election
of grace from the beginning. from the beginning of time, chosen
for salvation in and by Christ from eternity past." Now, Becky
was telling me about a preacher she saw this morning on TV who
said this, he said, somebody asked him, can you explain election? And he immediately said yes.
He said, God cast a vote for you, Satan cast a vote against
you, and you cast the deciding vote. That's election. Now, here's my question to that
preacher and anybody who agrees with that. I mean, that sounds
good to the flesh now. Here's my question. Is that what the
Bible teaches? Is that what God's Word teaches?
First of all, if you ask me, if you come to me and say, can
you explain election, the first thing I'm going to tell you is
no. But I'll tell you this much. I'll tell you what the Bible
says about it. That's all I can tell you, what God's Word says
about it. And what is this thing about
election? Now, that preacher could have just as well said,
well, God cast a vote for you, Satan cast a vote against you,
I cast the deciding vote. Well, why did you cast the vote
yes and somebody else says no? Are you better than them? Are
you less rebellious? Is that what God's Word teaches?
Let's go to the Word of God. How about that? You see, I used
to agree with that fellow. I used to agree with it. But
I didn't really study the Bible. I didn't really study God's Word
about that subject. And you know, when I first studied
God's Word about that subject and found out what God's Word
said about that subject, I didn't believe it, didn't like it, didn't
want it, argued against it. I even come to a point where
I said, well, the Bible is a good book, but it's not perfect. It's just got some good things
in it, and we just have to extract what we need out of it. Now,
of course, I found out later on what we need out of it, according
to the flesh, is things that exalt ourselves, things that
make us feel good, you know. But what does God's Word say?
Well, let me give you this phrase about God's Word concerning election. It is God's election of grace. God's election of grace. It's
from the beginning. Turn over to Revelation chapter
13 with me. Revelation chapter 13. And listen to this. Listen to
the Word of God. This is John, the Apostle John
on the Isle of Patmos receiving the revealed Word, Revelation,
uncovering from the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 1. He says,
"...and I stood upon the sand of the sea." Now, that's representative
of all the nations in the world, "...and saw a beast rise up out
of the sea." That's Antichrist. That's the same one that Paul
is talking about in 2 Thessalonians 2, the man of sin, the son of
perdition. As I said, you can argue whether
it's one man or a succession of men or a spirit. I believe
it's a spirit. succession of religion, which
comes in the name of Christ, but it rose up out of the sea,
that is, out of the nations, out of the earth, having seven
heads and ten horns." I'm not going to go into all the metaphors
here and everything today. I've preached through Revelation,
get those tapes, but maybe we'll do it again sometime. But he
says, "...and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Names,
literally, of blasphemy. That is dishonoring God. And
the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet
were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.
And the dragon gave him his power, that Satan gave him his power.
This is talking about all the power and the deception and the
stealth of this deceptive person or spirit, and his seed and great
authority. Verse 3, I saw one of his heads
as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed,
and all the world wondered after the beast. Most people agree
that that's talking about the fall of the Roman Empire and
then the rise of Rome through Catholicism later on. And it may be, I don't know,
but that's neither here nor there. What we're concerned with is
we don't want to be deceived by the deception, the mystery
of iniquity here. All right, look at verse 4. It
says, "...and they worshipped the dragon, which gave power
unto the beast, Satan-worshippers." Now understand, when we talk
about Satan-worshippers, we're not talking about people wearing
black robes, dancing around a campfire, skinning cats. What did Christ say in John 8,
44 to the Pharisees, who claimed to believe in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob? Remember what He said in John
8, 44? He says, "...you are of your father, who? The devil."
Who did Adam take sides with against God? Satan. And what
was that message? Thou shalt not surely die. You
see what I'm saying? So don't get these images of... These images that people have
in their heads of this stuff is nothing more than the deception.
Did you know that? This is the mystery of iniquity.
So they worship the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who
is able to make war with him? And verse 5 says, there was given
unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And power
was given unto him to continue 40 and two months, and he opened
his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and
his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. And understand
now, this is a religious deception. This is coming in the name of
Christ but denying the doctrine of Christ. Verse 7, it was given
unto him to make war with the saints. Who are the saints? That's
the sanctified ones. What Paul writes over here in
2 Thessalonians 2, you are sanctified through sanctification of the
Spirit. That's the setting apart. Let
me tell you about a threefold sanctification of God's people.
We're set apart in God's electing grace from the beginning before
the foundation. That's what the Bible teaches.
We are set apart by Christ on the cross when he died for our
sins. Hebrews chapter 10 speaks of
that. By one offering he hath perfected them that are sanctified.
Sanctified by the blood of Christ. Set apart. And then in the new
birth, we're sanctified by the Spirit. That's what Paul's talking
about in 2 Thessalonians 2. So a saint is a sinner saved
by the grace of God, washed in the blood of Christ, clothed
in his righteousness imputed. A saint is a person who stands
before God not guilty. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of who? God's elect. Romans 8, what,
32 or 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? For it is God that justifies."
How could God justify such people? Well, who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died. Yea, rather, is risen again,
seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us. We stand justified before God
based upon the shed blood and the imputed righteousness of
Christ. That's a saint. called out by the Holy Spirit,
called by the gospel. And so he says, this beast makes
war with the saints and tries to overcome them and power was
given him over all kindreds and tongues as languages and nations.
In other words, there was no country that wasn't affected
by this. Verse 8, and all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him. Now is that all there, everybody,
without exception? You know, anytime that people
talk about the word all and every and world, when it comes in the
context of the blood of Christ, they'll readily say, that's everybody
without exception. Well, no, it's not. It's all
for whom he died and was buried and rose again, all whom he justified. So here it says in verse 8, and
all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him. No, not everyone
without exception. All, look at verse 8, whose names
are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. There's the difference. God's
electing grace in Christ. He says, well, whose names are
written in the Lamb's book of life? Well, look at verse 9.
If any man have an ear, let him hear. Do you have an ear to hear?
You hearing what I'm saying? I'm not just talking about audibly. There's people sitting here today
who are hard of hearing. But spiritually they are hearing
everything I'm saying from the Word of God. Better than some
people that are not hard of hearing. Do you hear? Alright, that's
what he's talking about. The Bible speaks of God who hath
saved us and called us, called by the gospel now, with an holy
calling, a special calling, the calling of the Spirit in the
preaching of the gospel, and it goes on to say in 2 Timothy
1, 9 there, it says, not according to our works. Now here's how
a lot of people get by this thing. They say, well, you cast the
deciding vote, but that's not a work. A work would be something
like tithing or baptism or giving to charity or doing, where do
you get that, where do they get that stuff? Whatever it is, listen,
when it's all over but the shouting, whatever it is for me or you
that makes the difference between heaven and hell, that's our Savior. Isn't that right? I mean, you
can talk about elections, sovereignty, free willism, whatever. Whatever
it is, when it's all over but the shouting, that makes the
difference between heaven and hell, saved and lost for me,
that's my Savior. If it's my will, then my will
is my Savior. Just say it that way. If I think I'm less obstinate,
less rebellious than those who won't receive Christ, then that's
my Savior. Because without my will, without
my decision, and without my goodness, and without my cooperation, the
blood of Christ really means nothing, does it? If that's what
I believe, why don't we just say that? Well, some do. Some
do. But it says, not according to
our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Look at Ephesians
chapter 1 with me. You see, election in and of itself
is not salvation, but election is unto salvation. Look at verse
3 of Ephesians chapter 1. He says, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's where
all blessings are, they're in Christ. They're not because I
do this or do that, it's in Christ. And it says, 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. That we should be set apart and justified before God
in Christ. And then he says in verse 5,
"...having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will..."
You see, whose will is this now that makes the difference? God's
will. "...to the praise of the glory of his grace..." It's the
election of grace. "...wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved." Accepted before God in Christ. Chosen in Christ,
adopted in Christ, justified in Christ, regenerated by Christ,
called to Christ, and eventually glorified. It's the election
of grace. Let me show you something in
the Old Testament. Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter
9. What I'm getting at is I want
us to study the scriptures. and see how God's Word speaks
on this side. I had a fellow down in Albany
one time say, well, why even preach on that? Why don't you
just leave that alone? I said, well, I don't think God's
given me the authority to pick and to choose. And if He has, let me tell you
something, I'm not your pastor, I'm a pope. That's right. I don't have that
kind of authority. If it's in God's Word, Paul said,
I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God unto
you. And this is important. In fact,
Paul told the Thessalonians later on in 2 Thessalonians, he said,
comfort one another with these words, didn't he? It's supposed
to be our comfort. Now here's, he's talking about
here in Deuteronomy 9, he's talking about Israel going over into
the promised land. Now that promised land was not
something Israel earned, and it's certainly not something
they deserved. And that's a great picture of salvation. Eternal
salvation, eternal life in Christ is our promised land, so to speak,
and it's not anything we earn or anything we deserve. And here's
what he says, look at verse 4 of Deuteronomy 9. You see, what
I'm showing you, this is not New Testament, this is Old Testament
too. This is the same message. He
says, Speak not thou in thine heart. After that the Lord thy
God hath cast them out from before." They're talking about the inhabitants
of the promised land before they went over. God was going to cast
them out. He said, don't say in your heart saying, for my
righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. Don't
say in your heart that the reason God brought me into this land
is because I'm so righteous. Because you're not. I'm not. Why did God save you or me? It
wasn't because of our righteousness. In any way, shape, form, it wasn't
the righteousness of our person, the righteousness of our works,
or the righteousness of our wills. You know why God saved us? It's
based on the righteousness of Christ. Period. Nothing added, nothing taken
away. And that's God's grace because the Bible says, as sin
hath reigned unto death, grace reigns through what? Righteousness
unto eternal life by whom by Jesus Christ our Lord You see
so it's grace And he says he says for my don't say for my
righteousness the Lord brought me in to possess the land but
for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out
from before thee and Verse 5, "...not for thy righteousness
or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess
their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy
God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may
perform the word which the Lord sware unto the fathers Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob." It was based upon a promise that was made
before these folks were ever even born. It was made first
to Abraham. And then it was confirmed in
Isaac and then in Jacob. Well, you know why God's people
are saved eternally, spiritual Israel? It was based upon a promise
that he made before the world began to his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, before we were ever born. Promise of grace. Look at verse
6. And you know when I read Galatians
chapter 3 there at the beginning, it talks about how we're children
of the promise, heirs according to the promise, that's the promise
God made to Christ before the foundation of the world and the
everlasting covenant of grace. And he says in verse 6 of Deuteronomy,
Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not
this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou
art a stiff-necked people. Now you know what stiff-necked
means? It means unwilling. You have children? Do they ever get rebellious? Do they ever say, I don't want
to do this? Well, the Bible would call that,
kids, being stiff-necked. You won't bow. You won't submit.
Right? You ever know any adults like
that? Sure. That's man by nature. Now God
said, I'm going to destroy those nations which I drive out because
of their sin. God is a just God. He punishes
sin. But He says, don't you think
that you're going to take that land because you're any better
than them? You're a stiff-necked people. You're unwilling. Why
did He say stiff-necked? Why didn't He say you're just
sinners? Well, that's what we all are, sinners. You say, well,
I'm willing to come to Christ. Who made you willing? God makes
His people willing in the day of His power. That's right. They were a stiff-necked people.
They were unbending, they were rebellious, they were obstinate.
So are we by nature. Or are you better than them?
We've been studying the book of Jonah on Sunday night. Jonah
went into Nineveh and he preached the gospel and God brought those
Ninevites to repentance. But if you read the book of Nahum
a hundred years later, you find out that the Ninevites in that
generation were not repented at all but were rebellious and
sinful and God pronounced destruction upon them. Now my question is,
what made the difference between the Ninevites who repented under
Jonah's preaching and the ones who would not repent under Nahum's
preaching? Well, there was just a better
generation of Ninevites under Jonah. It was like the fifties in this
country. They had Father Knows Best on TV. We've got cable today. And it's hard telling what people
are watching today on cable. Watch a lot of things they shouldn't
watch. Isn't that right? But here's the point. Did God
save the Ninevites in Jonah's generation because they were
better Ninevites? Less rebellious? No. Why did
he do it? God's grace in Christ. Who makes us to differ? That's the election of grace.
I want you to turn back to Romans chapter 10 that Brother Joe read. And here's what we're saying
now. This is what Paul said. Brethren, we're bound to give thanks always
to God. My friend, has God brought you
to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works? Has God brought
you to submit to Christ as the Lord, your righteousness? Well,
don't thank yourself, thank God, who has chosen you from the beginning
through sanctification of the Spirit, setting you apart under
the preaching of the gospel to show you Christ, to show you
your sin and show you who Christ is and to show you how God is
just to justify the ungodly. And then to preserve you in that,
to bring you unto glory, verse 13 of Romans 10, he says, for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Now here's, listen to, what is it to call upon the name of the
Lord? Well, you've got to go to the Bible to answer that question. And I want to ask you to turn
there. I'm going to deal with some scriptures in later messages
as we go along that show us the real issue between Christ and
Antichrist is grace and works. But here's one of them. If you
want to know what it is to call upon the name of the Lord, find
out through the law of first mention who the first one example
that we have in the Bible who called upon the name of the Lord
and found salvation, found forgiveness, found righteousness. And the
first example that you have of that is in Genesis chapter 4.
His name is Abel. Isn't that right? Abel called
upon the name of the Lord. He had a brother. His brother's
name was Cain. Cain called upon the name of
the Lord. They both came to worship. They
both came to God, to an altar. to be received, to be blessed,
to seek to be exonerated from their sins, to be justified. How did Abel come? How did Cain
come? Now, I'm going to tell you something
right now. When you see that, Really, there's
been a lot of changes and a lot of digression and progression
of man and religion and details and culture and traditions that
have been added to all this, but when you remove all of those
trappings and all of those outward shows, it's really no different
What did Cain do to call upon the night? Here's what Cain did.
He brought the works of his hands. That's right. You can speculate
on Cain's mind and heart all you want to, but the Bible just
simply said Cain brought the works of his hands. He brought
the fruit of the cursed ground that he worked hard for. His
blood, sweat, and tears. And God rejected it. Because
that's not really calling upon the name of the Lord. What did
Abel do? He brought the blood of the Lamb, which typified the
blood of Christ. Abel came as a sinner seeking
mercy. Like those lepers, Lord, if you
will, you can make us clean. They didn't presume upon God's
grace, they just simply said, Lord, if you will, if you will,
You can make me clean, if you will. You know what the Lord
said? He said, I will be thou clean. What do those blind men say when
they came to Him? They said, Lord, heal us, make
us see. And He asked them this. He said,
do you believe I'm able to do this? They said, yes, Lord, He's
able. I'm not able, but He is. Abel
came with the blood... Listen, to call upon the name
of the Lord is to come as a sinner seeking mercy based on justice
satisfied. The Lamb of God. It's to seek
mercy based on justice satisfied. That's why he brought blood.
It's not that God is some kind of a bloodthirsty deity. It's
because he's holy and just and he must punish sin. God must
be just when he justifies. So he says here in Romans 10,
13, How then shall they call on him whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him whom they've not heard? Now
there's some people going to hear and there's some people
who aren't going to hear. What's the difference? The grace of
God. Do you hear? Do you want to hear?
And how shall they hear without a preacher, a preacher of the
gospel? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is
written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace." That's the gospel, called by our gospel.
It's the gospel of God, it's the gospel of Christ, it's the
gospel of His Son, it's the gospel of our salvation, it's the gospel
of peace, it's the gospel of the cross, every bit of that,
the gospel of the kingdom. He said, preach the gospel of
peace and bring good tidings of good things to come. Now look
at verse 16 of Romans 10. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. Now that's, everybody hasn't
obeyed it. Isaiah spoke of that. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed our report? In Isaiah's day, there wasn't
hardly anybody that came to believe it under Isaiah's preaching.
Who hath believed our report, our preaching, our doctrine,
our teaching? Well, verse 17 says, So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Do I hear what God has
said? Well, I've got to be under the
preaching of the word of God. That's why you need to be where God's
gospel, God's word is preached. That's where he brings faith.
That's where he gives faith. And he says in verse 18, But
I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
Well, it's preached out. I mean, the message is preached.
But I say, verse 19, did not Israel know? What about Israel?
Well, he says, first, Moses saith, I will proroke you to jealousy
by them that are no people, but by a foolish nation I will anger
you. That's talking about other nations other than Israel when
God saved others. Verse 20, he says, but Isaiah
is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me
not. Now listen to me, listen to what
he says here. Isaiah is very bold. And he said, I was found
of them that cast a vote for me. Is that what it says? No, he says, I was found of them
that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith all day
long, I've stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsame people. That's man by nature. Well, here's
the question. Well, does that mean that no
Israelite can be saved? We'll look at verse 1 of chapter
11. I say then, hath God cast away his people? Has God cast
away his elect people? That's what he's talking about.
God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of
the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast
away his people which he foreknew. Now that word foreknew is not
what a lot of people think it is today. That's where a lot
of people get this idea that God looked down through the telescope
of time and foresaw. It's not foresaw. That word actually
is foreordained. That's what the word is. And
then he says, what ye not. That means, know you not what
the scripture saith of Elias. That's Elijah, how he maketh
intercession to God against Israel. Now Elijah, that's when he was
in trouble, being chased by Jezebel, and they were trying to kill
him, and he made intercession. God just get rid of the whole
bunch. That's what his intercession was about. And he says in verse
3, he says, Lord, they've killed thy prophets and dig down thine
altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. They want
to kill me. But what saith the answer of God unto Elijah? I
have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee
to the image of Belial or Baal." Well, now, why hadn't these men
bowed the image? Are they better? Did God save them because they
were better than the rest of Israel? They were less obstinate? Is that the reason? Well, now,
let's read on. Verse 5, here's the reason. Even
so, then, at this present time, also, even in that time, there
were 7,000 that God reserved. You see who did the reserving
here? Even at this present time, also, there is a remnant, a small
part of people, according to what? The election of grace. And he says, and if it's by grace,
then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
You can't mix the two. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
You can't mix them. That's the issue between Christ
and Antichrist. It's either works or grace. You
can't mix them. It's either self-righteousness,
man-made righteousness, or it's Christ's righteousness imputed.
You can't have both. What then, verse 7, Israel hath
not obtained that which he seeketh for. Now what was Israel seeking
for? Righteousness by works. Romans chapter 9, verses 31 to
the end. That's what they were seeking
for. If you're seeking righteousness by works in any shape, form or
fashion, you will not obtain it. How can man who's born of
woman be clean? So he says, but the election
hath obtained it. and the rest were blinded. The
ones were left to themselves. But the election hath obtained
it." Now, as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2, comfort one another with these
words. Thank God who makes us to differ,
not for anything in ourselves or from ourselves, but only by
His grace in Christ.