I want to preach on one of my
favorite subjects, subject I love, biblical subject, gospel subject,
the truth, something that all of God's people
love when they hear it. it, find great comfort and assurance
in it. And it's right there in verse
thirteen. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called by
our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Talk about election. I love that blessed truth of
election. Bible truth, gospel truth, God's truth in God's blessed
Word. And he talked here about the
gospel. He calls you by the gospel. He
chose you from the beginning. throws you through the spirit
and the belief of the truth. But he done this through the
calling of the gospel. And the gospel can't be preached
unless there's certain things that men are confronted with.
You can't preach the gospel unless you preach man's ruin. There's
three R's, you know, the old-timers called three R's. Ruin, redemption,
and regeneration. And man is totally ruined. You
can't preach the gospel without man's absolute, utter ruin. He's
dead in trespasses and sins. He can't save himself. He can't
raise himself up by the bootstraps. And you can't preach the gospel
without preaching unconditional election. If elections conditioned
on anything, then there would not be an election. And you certainly
wouldn't have been elected because we couldn't have met the conditions.
If it was for good people only, we couldn't have qualified. And
if it was conditioned on you having faith before God chose
you, and Him foreseeing that He would, then that wouldn't
have been election either. God taking credit for something
that you've done. And so you see, we've got to
preach man's utter and absolute ruin, man's unconditioned election,
and then without, you know, you've got to preach the particular
redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ, or what the old timers
called limited atonement. limited atonement. Now, it's
not limited as to its power to save. It's unlimited. The atonement of Christ is unlimited
as to its power to save a sinner. But it's limited to whom it will
save. Christ, when He died, He had
no intention of making salvation possible, or opening a door for
everybody, he died in order to save a particular people. His
death was limited, not in his power, because he's got power. He had power to save me, had
power to save you. Has power to save a multitude
that no man can number, but it's limited to power as to who it
does save. And then there's this, we can't
preach without preaching irresistible grace. If man's totally ruined,
how in the world is he going to come to this gospel? He's
got to be called. And it says he's called. It's
an effectual call, irresistible call. It's God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure in the day
of His power. His power, His people are made
willing. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and then causes to approach unto thee. And then,
you know, we got to preach the perseverance of the saints. Those
whom God elected, Christ died for, and
effectually called them, they will persevere. There will not
be one of them that will be lost. They will not only be saved eternally,
but they will persevere in the faith. And I've said this time and time
again, if you can't leave, you will leave. If you can turn away
from the gospel, you will turn away from the gospel. But there
is a people in this world, they cannot and will not and dare
not turn away from Christ, because that's the gospel. And you know,
and I said all those things to say this, T-F-U-L-I-P, Tulip. Not, he loves me, not get a little
old flyer like this here and say, well, he loves me, he loves
me not, he loves me, he loves me not. That's not the way it's
done. Oh, no. Some say it's the death
and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. No,
that's not the gospel. Norm Wells told me that. He was
talking to Henry when Henry first went out there to preach. And
Norm got lost. He'd been a preacher for a long
time. Landmark Baptist preacher. And he had, oh, Henry come along
and tore his playhouse down. And he hated him with a passion.
And he says, now what is it? Henry kept talking about the
gospel, the gospel, the gospel, the gospel. And he says, well,
what is the gospel? He said, I know what it is. He
said, it's the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And then he said, that's some
facts about the gospel. That's not the gospel. It's the
death of Christ according to the scriptures. It's the resurrection
of Christ according to the scriptures. Everything has to be according
to this book. Now, the death, burial, and resurrection,
that's the facts, but you've got to go into the book to find
out what actually took place in the death of Christ, the burial
of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. And so let's talk
about this business of election. I say, I say, beloved, I love
it. He says, therefore, in verse
13, we are bound to give thanks. All the way to God for you. And
look at this, Branton, you're beloved of the Lord. That's what
he told the Romans. He says, beloved of God. Called to be saints. Beloved
of God. And oh beloved, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Why in the world Would
God elect anybody? What's the cause of election?
What's the cause for God to choose somebody? He said here that He
asked, and He talked about a people. Paul said these Thessalonians
were people knowing your election. He said to the 1 Thessalonians
1, knowing your election of God. And here He says, give thanks
for your election. What is the cause of election?
The will of God. God willed to do it. It pleased
God to make you His people. Ain't that what it says there,
God has from the beginning? It don't say nothing there about
your will, your power, your right, your merit. It says God has from
the beginning, according as He has chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And I tell you, beloved, it said
in Romans 9, He says that that the purpose of God, according
to election, must stand not of worth, but of him that it calleth,
said, Jacob hath a love, Esau hath a hate." So what was the
cause of Jacob's election? The purpose of God, according
to election. That's why it was. And, oh, beloved, first there's
election, and then there's predestination. Look over in Ephesians 1, right
back to your last used dilemma. in Ephesians 1. You know, there's
election first, and then predestination. You're chosen first. And then because you're chosen,
there's a destination predetermined for you. That's what predestination
means. You know, I bought an airplane
ticket to go out to Macedonia. So I was predestinated to go
to Medford, Oregon, as far as that ticket says. That was my
predestination. I got there several weeks ahead
of time. Now, there's lots of things that could have happened
that kept me from getting out there. Airplane, you know, could have
crashed. Weather could have got bad. I could have got sick and
not been able to go. Something happened out there,
and they said, well, we can't have you out at this right time.
But, beloved, when God predestinates something, He can do it because
He knows the end from the beginning, and there ain't nothing can hinder
Him from the time He starts till the time that He gets to the
end of this thing. And that's what He says here in Ephesians
1, 4. Look at this together with me. Talking about election and
then predestination. Bless, according as, in Ephesians
1, 4, according as He has chosen us in Him, before the foundation
of the world. Now how long ago that was, I
don't know, before this world got here. And then he goes on
to say that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. Now listen, chosen first, having
predestinated us, then to the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
So he shows me in Christ, and then he says, not only will I
choose you, but I'm going to adopt you and make you one with
my son, and you're going to be a legal heir in my family. That's what adoption has to do
with. So you see, we were chosen, and the election is by the will
of God. And let me tell you, the head of election. Do you
know the head of election? Well, look over at Ephesians.
You keep this. Look over at not Ephesians, but excuse me, Isaiah
42. I love this right here. We were
chosen in Christ our head. Christ our head was chosen first.
There has to be an elect, and that's why it says we're chosen
in Christ. Elect in Him. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died. Who is
He that condemned Him? It's God that justifies. And
look what he said here now, in Isaiah 42, 1. Behold my servant,
whom I have hold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I
have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. And look down in verse 4. He
shall not fail nor be discouraged till he hath set judgment in
the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. So you see,
beloved, election starts out with Christ. Christ was God's
first elect, and then we were chosen in Him. And so you see,
the will of God made Christ to be God's first elect. All spiritual
blessings are in our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's said in Colossians
118 that He's the head of the body. He's the head of this body,
and as the head of this body, we were chosen to be in Him,
members in particular, with Christ being the head. And, beloved,
that's why Christ is the head. And we're chosen in Him as members
of His body. We were chosen in Him as the
pattern we should be conformed to. God says, for whom He did
foreknow, them He also did predestinate. And whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And then they call else so justified.
And He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His
Son. So Christ was God's first delight.
We were chosen in Him, and God's going to conform us to the image
of His Son. Now that don't mean when we get
there we're all going to look like what Christ does physically,
but we're going to have that holy, pure, sinless nature once
and for all that we long for, that Christ had all the time.
We're going to have it forever. That's the way we're going to
be like Christ. We're going to do the will of God perfectly.
We're going to love Christ perfectly. We're going to enjoy God perfectly.
We're going to worship perfectly. And there'll be no threat to
hinder us ever again from our worship of Him. And then we were
chosen in Him to the glory of Christ. That was the final end. Romans 9.23. Look at this. Oh, we're going to, you know,
Chosen in Him to the glory of Christ. I love this. I love this. You
know, God chose me to the glory of Christ, chose me in Him, chose
you in Him, to bring glory to His holy name. And that's the
final end of this thing, that when we get to heaven, and we
get in the presence of God, everything that's said and done will be
all to the praise of the glory of His grace who first trusted
in Christ. Look what He said in verse 23.
And that he might make known the riches of his glory. The riches of his glory. How
rich do you reckon God is in glory? How much glory does he
have? How much glory does he possess?
That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. He had that done before you and
I was, had us prepared for glory. Our Lord, listen to me, our Lord
was chosen as God's elect over the angels. He never chose an
angel. There's some great and powerful angels, Michael and
Gabriel and others, and then beloved and out of Abraham. He
chose Abraham. Then he chose Isaac. And then
he chose Jacob. And out of the twelve types of
Jacob comes Judah. And Judah was chosen. And our
Lord Jesus Christ was chosen out of Judah, sent to be King
of kings and Lord of lords, to reign from all eternity. And
so our Lord is God's elect. And O beloved one, the world
is God-elect, people like me and you, individuals. And I'll
tell you, people, You know, a lot of these dispensationalists and
fundamentalists and the pre-millennials, they say that election is national,
that God chose the Jews, and that it's national. But listen, ain't a nation made
out of individuals? They're made out of individuals.
Because they want to deny election, but God chooses individuals one
at a time. He chooses them and calls them
one at a time. And why did God elect certain
people to salvation? First of all, it pleased Him
to do it. He said over in 1 Samuel 12, 23, it pleased the Lord to
make you His people. You weren't any better than anybody
else, He said. You weren't any more righteous.
You wasn't any powerful, you had nothing going for you at
all. You know what you had going for you? Me! I chose you, and
you pleased me to make it, to do it so. And then He chose us
to the praise of the glory of His grace, where He has made
us accepted in the beloved. And then, and I've done read
it to you there, according to the good pleasure of His wills. Ah, bless His name. And I'll
tell you, and some folks, they fuss and fight about election.
But I tell you, the election is just. The election is just. Oh, look in Isaiah 45. You all
need to see this. And you all ought to mark this
in your Bible. Next time somebody wants to argue with you over
elections, say, well, you know, I don't, you all believe you're
all God's elect and the rest of us ain't. Well, I don't know
if you are or not, but I believe I am. But look what it said in Isaiah
45 and verse 9. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Oh, a fellow wants to argue with
God over election. Will the clay say to him, That
made me? why hast thou made me thus? Shall
the thing form say to him, Why did you do this till a month?
And, and, and, and, oh man, who hath resisted? Who art thou that
replies against God? Woe unto him that striveth with
his Maker. You see how that's capitalized?
That's a title of God, Creator, Maker. He made us. It's He that
made us and not we ourselves. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. That's what He called men. That's
why, let these old claypots argue with claypots. Let these fellas
that ain't got this, let these old claypots argue with one another. Shall the clay say to him that
fashions it? What makest thou of thy work?
He hath no hands. And woe unto him that says unto
his father, What have you beget? Or to the woman, what have you
brought forth? Oh, so I tell you what, they
don't like the justice of God's election. But oh, beloved, woe
unto him that striveth. God said, Use all together. Thought
I was one like you. But I tell you, there's so many
objections to God's electing grace, they say it's unjust.
They say he's a respective person. Just not fair. What about all
the good that I've done? I heard a fellow say today, I
heard it out with my own ears. This fellow's worth a couple
billion dollars, and he gives away four billion here, and five
billion there, and ten million here. And that's just him. You
know, he thinks he's really doing something. But he just, he ain't
even giving away the insufficiency of two billion dollars. You give
away five billion dollars, you ain't even give, it'd be like
me giving five dollars. But he, you know, this is what
he said. He said, I don't know if there's
a heaven or not. A lot of people believe there
is. And he wants to give away half
his money before he dies. But he said it's a good thing
to give it away just in case there is. Just in case there
is. All, all the money, all the money
of all the people in the world could not save one soul. And he, what a shock he's going
to get when he gets there and finds out he gave away all that
money, and he's going to stand before God and say, that's not
what I've done! And oh, one of the favorites,
one of these today is, well, my gods are not of blood. Well,
mine is too. And I tell you what, we must
be careful never to set one of God's attributes against the
other and salt one above another. You know, like God is holy, but
He's also gracious. God is just, but He's also merciful. God is angry, but He's also loving. God is omnipotent, but He's also
compassionate. Oh, so you see, beloved, we don't
want to pick one. Well, God is love. Yes, He is.
But it's a holy love, and He only loves righteousness, and
He only loves holiness. And what He loves, if we have
holiness and we have righteousness, then He's got to give that to
us, or He could not love us. And where does He give that to
us at? He gives it to us in Christ because He did love us to start
with. Oh, not unto us, not unto us,
O Lord, but unto Thy Name be glory and truth, for Thy presence
is glorious and true. Oh, my God's in the heaven and
does whatever pleases Him. But let me tell you something.
Every time somebody argues with a legend and don't like it, I'll
tell you what you do with them. You say, well, you proved me
wrong. You take the Bible and you show me that you're wrong,
that I'm wrong. If God is unjust in electing
some to salvation, you show me how that's unjust. Show me how
that's unjust. You don't charge God with not
being just. You know, what it amounts to
is a lawbreaker wants something good at the hands of the lawgiver.
And I tell you this, God's salvation is not a matter of justice, but
pure, free grace. He does what he wants with his
own? Is that not right? In Psalm 103, verse 10, it says,
This he hath not dealt with us after our iniquities, or rewarded
us according to our sins. Huh? And look at Matthew 20.
Look at Matthew 20. You know, every time somebody
makes an argument against election, if you ever talk to them about
it, you say, well, you show me that I'm wrong. You prove it. You prove it. You say, if God's
not fair, well, then you prove that it's not fair. You say it's
unjust, you prove that it's unjust. Look what he said here in verse
15. And you all know the story. How
did he come out in the morning, six o'clock, hard of fell to
work in his vineyard, hardy for a penny. Went out nine o'clock,
hired some more, hired him for a penny. Come out at noon, hired
some more, hired him for a penny. Come out at three o'clock in
the afternoon, hired some more, hired on for a penny. Come at
five o'clock, and he went out, one ladder left to work, and
he hired another fella, hired him for a penny. Well, they got
up there and getting ready to receive their pay, and the fella
that got there first, Well, the fellow got there last, he said,
bring that last one up here, so let me pay him. And that fellow
got there first, when he saw that fellow that worked an hour,
he got a pity. He said, that ain't fair! We've worked all
day long, and this fellow's worked one hour! And we've worked from daylight
now, but we've worked twelve hours! And he's getting the same
thing! Well, look what our Lord said
here. He said in verse 14, Take that that I am is, and go
thy way, I'll give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it
not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye
evil? Because I'm good, because I treat,
give everybody the same. laborers in my vineyard. You
take, you take top riches and labor years and years and years
and years and years. And he's gone on the go and he's
got his penny. And I'm still laboring, but I
get there, I'll get a penny. David Mayhead's labored for over
50 years. He'll get there, he'll get a
penny. And Herman, he's 77, and Henry's been on the way for years
and years and years, and he'll get the same penny that a fellow's
been on the way for 60 years. Ain't you grateful for that?
I don't want to fight no problem with that. If I'm last, I don't
care. If I'm first, I don't care. It's
the Lord's He's the one that called me at six. He's the one
that calls at nine. He's the one that calls at noon.
He's the one that calls at five. And He's the one who gives you
what He agreed to give you. And what did we agree to have
from Him? Mercy, praise. And all that's what He gave us.
Bless His Holy Name. And I'll tell you, and let me
tell you this if somebody wants to find fault with election. Do you ever know anybody that
God's refused His mercy to that really, really sought it? Huh? Oh, has God ever refused mercy
to somebody that's really come and said, I want your mercy.
I need your mercy. I'll be a mercy beggar. How many
times you find in the scriptures where somebody said, Oh, Lord,
be merciful to me. Have mercy on me. And I'll tell you what man's
problem is. He refuses to lay down his weapons.
He refuses to divorce his sin. He refuses to lay down his weapons. He won't let them go. And I'll
tell you, in every war that's ever been fought, whenever somebody
gets whipped real good, it's an unconditional surrender. And
I'll tell you what, when you come to Christ and we come to
Christ, it's an unconditional surrender. We ain't got nothing
in our hands to break or fight or resist anymore. And then they'll
say, well, it's not right. It's unjust for God to save one
and one to be lost. Well, who made them to be lost? Who made them to be lost? God
never made them to be lost. God never caused anyone to sin. It's God who finds the lost.
It's God who saves the lost. It's Christ who seeks and saves
the lost. God never made a man to be lost.
And that's why, you know, beloved, if a man's worth Christ and God
wants to save a man and leave another, he ain't done no damage
to him because he just left him in the condition he was born
in. And if he chooses to save one out of Adam's fallen race,
it's his business, ain't it? And they say, well, he's a respecter
of persons. He was a respecter of persons.
Well, I'll tell you what, if he was a respected person, he
never would have chose me, that's for sure. Would he have chose
you? And you know what they said about
him? They came to him and said, Master, we know that thou art
true, and we teach the way of God in truth, and you don't care
for the person of any man, and you carest thou not for any man,
nor do you regard the person of any man. There's nothing about
a human being that impresses God. Now, and oh, beloved, well,
why in the world do you all then harp so much on election? Why
do you delight in it, rejoice in it, say you can't preach the
gospel without it, without teaching it? And that's why Wayne Boyd
preached last Sunday night in a, in a, in a mission. And about sixty, about seventy
men there, sixty-five or seventy, You know, alcoholics, drug addicts. And he got up there and preached,
and every single time he talked about Christ dying for his people.
He dealt with two things over and over again. Substitution
and satisfaction. Christ dying for his people.
Dying for his people. And all his people were sinners,
but he's the one that makes them know this. And he never, never
wants never once compromised the gospel
in his preaching. Man, he's among all these lost
people, and he never brought it down to make Jesus acceptable
to them in any way. He preached Him high and holy
and lifted up that salvation was in the hands of the Lord,
that Christ died for His people, and if you're interested in God,
if you are a sinner and you need mercy, there's only one place
to go, and that's to come to Him. I love that gospel, don't
you? And why do we do it? Oh, folks
don't like it. It makes enemies out of people.
It hurts the church. Makes folks despise the church. And those who believe it, they
say, well, don't go over there. Nicole told me after she left
here for a while, she went to a couple of churches. She told
where she'd been. And they said, oh my goodness, don't go back
over there. Don't go over there. And I'll
tell you why we believe in preaching, because it's Scripture. Didn't
I just read it to you? Huh? Beloved, knowing... Paul told the Thessalonians,
brethren, knowing your election of God. I know you're God's elect. How do you know? Because our
gospel. He called you by our gospel. Our gospel came unto
you. not just in words, but in power. It came to your heart
in power. It came with the power of the
gospel, the power of God, the power of Christ. And when it
came in the Holy Ghost and in power, it came with such assurance
that what you was hearing was so that you said, this is the
salvation of the Lord, and I'm going to believe it, sink or
swim, I'm casting my lot in with Jesus and Ashley. And that's
why Paul said, I know your election, because you heard the gospel
with power, and you believed it. And that's why he said, as
many as were ordained to eternal life, what'd they do? Well, I
just don't know if I'm going to set Jesus for nothing. I'm
going to let him into my heart. He ain't lost hard enough yet.
No, as many as were ordained to eternal life, they believed. And oh, beloved, the verses of
scriptures are full of verses of elect, chosen. I told somebody
out there the other day, I said, you know how many times election's
in the scriptures? And then the proof of it's all
the way through the scriptures. He said, no, I don't have any
idea. I said, well, you start with Cain and Abel. Abel was
chosen. Cain's passed by. Enoch was chosen. Passed by and murdered him. Noah,
out of all that's fallen to him, Noah's just as weak as the rest
of them. But God, he found grace in God. Abraham, Jacob, Paul. You go through the scriptures
and you see over and over and over again, God's electing grace. He chose people. And all beloved,
he said, and this is what they didn't understand. When our Lord
Jesus was preaching, when he first started preaching, he said
there were many winners in Israel in the time of Elijah. But Elijah
was only sent to war. And there were many, many lepers
in Syria in the time of Elisha, the prophet. But he was only
sent to one. And they got so angry that they
were going to throw him off the cliff. And it wasn't because
they didn't understand what he said. It was because they despised
him. You mean to tell me that God
passed by all them other people in Israel and just saved that
one widow and saved that one leper? Yes, that's what I'm telling
you. And they didn't like it. And,
oh, you take the synonyms of elect, chosen, over 100 times
in the Scripture. In the New Testament, believers
is used, the word believers is twice. Christian, three times.
Elect, 14 times. Our Lord says this, oh, you must,
you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. And I'll tell you another reason
why we love it and cherish it and preach it and believe it,
find great joy in it. Because it gives God all the
glory. It gives God all the glory. Man has nothing to boast in.
Who may be to differ? What have you got that you didn't
receive? God has chosen the foolish to
confound the wise, the weak to confound the mighty, that no
flesh should glory in His presence. And let me ask you this, can
we give God too much glory? And I tell you also, beloved,
why we love it and preach it and delight in it is because
with the gospel cannot scripturally be proclaimed without preaching
election. You can't preach the gospel clearly
and plainly without preaching election. Christ died for sinners,
but He qualified the sinners that He died for. Called them
His sheep, called them those that were given to Him, called them those chosen, called
them those beloved of the Father, called them His elect, and He
accomplished salvation. For he is elect, and I'll tell
you something, beloved, God saves on purpose, not by chance or
not by accident. Folks just don't bump into God
and God bump into them. God does everything on purpose.
And I'll tell you, this comforts me, it gives me such assurance,
and I know it does you when it comes to salvation, when it comes
to you witnessing, is that the success of the gospel is not
left to chance or to the power of men. He says, you know, brethren,
we're bound always to thank God for you, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel. Your salvation doesn't depend
on me. It depends on the death and person
of Christ and the gospel coming to your heart. Not to me. And
then, you know, somebody says, well, if somebody, and this is the
way religion is, this is, and you all know this, but you've
all been mixed up in religion before. If somebody comes in
that's just visiting, three or four people, and somebody brings
their neighbors in or their family in and they're not converted,
fundamentals and religion gets all in a tizzy. I'm going to
have to, I'm going to have to try to say something. We're going
to have to try to do something to win them while we're here. We're
going to have to say something to try to convince them to accept
Christ while they're here. We never get a shot at it. We don't have to do that.
With all the impeachment that was here the other night. And
listen, I know those folks for all their lives. They're kids. And they were all here, their
in-laws and out-laws, and you know I was going through the
Leviticus. You all don't mind me calling you outlaws and in-laws.
It's just like you all. Sometimes you're outlaws, sometimes
you're in-laws. But anyway, you know, and I was going through
Leviticus, doing that survey on Leviticus. Now, you think
I should have changed my message? You know, was I not going to
deal with the gospel? Was I not going to deal with
Christ? And we went through there, and we went through the offerings,
and all the offerings, Spoken by Lord Jesus Christ. And sinners
need an offering. A sin offering, a burnt offering,
a peace offering, a meal offering. And then we talked about all
those animals as they were typical of Christ. I preach Christ and
we never have to change our message when somebody comes in. If somebody
comes in, we're going to preach the gospel we preach ever service.
We don't have to change our message just because somebody else comes
in. And that's comforting when it comes to the gospel. And the
gospel's not dependent on our success. Oh, my. I could just see somebody trying
to win Paul, who had sold his horses to Jesus. The boy went, God! Separated
from his mother's woman on that Damascus road, called him by
his grace. And the first thing that Ananias told him says, you
go tell him he's a chosen That's the first thing I want you to
tell me. He's a chosen vessel unto me. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
and he shall save his people from their sins. Well, how in
the world's time to get away from it? And let me quickly go
through these things right here. Why do we love and preach it?
Because it promotes humility. What in the world have we got
to be proud about, to glory in? You know, God saved us, and all
we can say is, bless his name. We got nothing done. You know,
why me? Why me? Paul said, by the grace
of God, I am what I am. And it strips men of their boasting
and their confidence in the flesh. Job said, he had taken the crown
off of my head. We are them which have no confidence
in the flesh. And I tell you what, when you
understand election, and God's purpose in that, and God's will
in that, and God's glory in that, and Christ's death in it, it'll
make you fearless and bold. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Huh? And I tell you, it promotes
praise and thanksgiving. That's why Paul says we're bound
to give thanks. Oh, thank you, Lord. Blessed
be your holy name. It's you that chose me. You set
me apart. You love me. You called me. And
I tell you, it's a doctrine of praise and thanksgiving and a
doctrine of means of sovereign mercies. And of all the truths
that's in God's blessed book, You know, there's two that's
despised more than anything else. Two. And I think the first one
is, is the particular redemption of Christ. When you preach that
Jesus Christ only died for His elect, for His people, laid down
His life for you, folks despise that truth. They hate that. And the second one is, is the
truth of God's elect and grace. They despise it, they hate it.
And you know, and since they so hate it in thought of the
devil and of the flesh, that in itself tells me that it's
true. Men don't fight error. Error can walk hand in hand with
error, but truth, truth can never walk hand in hand with error.
Can't do it. And boy, the devil despises it
so, it must be so then. Amen.