Turn in your Bibles this morning
to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy, the first chapter. I'll begin reading in verse 8
these words that are written to this young preacher named
Timothy. And of course, not only to him,
to the Lord's people in every age to follow. Verse 8, he says,
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner. He writes these words from prison. But be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel, according to the power of God, 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. but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel." I've entitled this message, Neither
Chance Nor Choice. I've thought about it oftentimes,
and it seems like more than ever this week, how that church signs
are a real commentary on religion in our day. And they are a sad
commentary. They have their clever and very
catchy phrases, But they are most all anti-biblical statements. They reveal what is preached,
what is believed, and what is practiced by both the pastors
and the people. Our Lord made this statement. He said, out of the heart, out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And he also gives us in Matthew's
gospel some words that we would do well to lay to heart. He says this, "'For by thy words
shalt thou be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
And we know, if we have any understanding of the truth, we know that what
we say is not actually the basis or the ground of our justification
before God. But what he's saying there is
that our words actually reveal what we hold to be the ground
of our justification. And these signs, as I mentioned,
they are all around us. Literally, they are all around
us. And this past week, there have
been two One on each side of us. One of those signs read like
this, Jesus paid the price and gives you the chance. The other one read in this way,
if you make the choice, God will make the change. And I thought
as I was trying to set down some things concerning this, I thought
about it in this light, am I just always being too critical? Do I somehow entertain a secret
jealousy over their outward success and numbers? Or as has been claimed,
do we or do I think we're the only ones that are right? No. I know and I trust that most
here believe that God is the only one that's right. that the standard by which we
are to measure, and yes, judge, a righteous judgment concerning
all things is His Word. And one of the reasons why these
statements are wrong, fundamentally wrong, is because they are contrary
As a matter of fact, they are the exact opposite of what God
says in His Word. And when I say that, I know that
the question arises oftentimes, why then do people believe them? Why do they take the time to
post them publicly for everyone to see? Well, it is simply because,
on the one hand, they are ignorant of the Scriptures. Our Lord said
to those Pharisees, He said, you search the Scriptures, and
in them you think you have eternal life. And they testify of Me,
but you won't come to Me that you might have life. But they
are ignorant of the Scriptures because they take the word of
men. It will be a lazy bunch of people
that perish and die in their sins, who let men do their studying
for them, who let these preachers do their Bible reading for them,
and they simply take the Word of men rather than the Word of
God, and even as the Word of God. The Apostle Paul, who, humanly
speaking, is one of the greatest preachers of all time, and certainly
used of God in a multitude of ways, when he preached, the Scripture
says, of a group called the Noble Bereans. Now that's something
when God refers to them in that way. The Noble Bereans. And he said they were such because
they searched the Scriptures to see if the things that Paul
had preached were true. He was a man standing up there
before them, claiming to speak for God. How did they know if
he was actually speaking for God? They searched the Scriptures
and all they had were the Old Testament Scriptures. Because
the apostle tells us that Christ died and was buried and rose
again according to the Scriptures, and that is the gospel. And not only that, but because
they want to. Men by nature want to believe
error rather than truth. As a matter of fact, Paul again
tells us, writing to the Corinthians, he says, "...the natural man
receiveth not the things of God, and neither can he, because they
are spiritually discerned." He tells us that our natural mind,
the carnal mind, is enmity, not against an idol, but against
the true and living God. And they heed these things, they
delight in them, they have comfort in them, because also natural
man thinks that he is the captain of his fate. He thinks his will
is free to do what he will, but what he doesn't know is that
that will is only willing to do those things and believe those
things that are against God. The will of man is bound to a
depraved nature like a ball and chain. And rather than being
free, it's imprisoned, and man acts as he does also because
he wants the glory and salvation. Let me do just a little something. Let me add my part in just a
little way. I know that salvation is every
bit of God, but, you know, we have to do this or that or the
other. They say that God gives everyone
a chance, or that Jesus paid it all, but you have to make
a decision for Him. And Jonah, as we read in our
reading, by the grace of God, through much conflict, was brought
to find out what they never have found out. He said, salvation
is of the Lord. It's not him doing his part and
then you doing your part. It's not even 99% of God, it
is 100% all of God. Salvation is of the Lord. As has been said often, it is
of the Lord in His purposing, it is of the Lord in its planning,
it is of the Lord in its purchasing, It is of the Lord in its producing. It is of the Lord in its perpetuating. It is entirely of the Lord. And they're wrong because they
make man to be in all of this his own Savior. They're wrong because in all
of this, it is every bit man-centered. It is dependent on something
that the sinner does. Let me ask you, if as they say,
God loves every person, And ultimately and finally, so
many of these that they say He loves, they finally and eternally
perish. What good was the love of God? They say that Christ Jesus came
into this world and He died for all men, and yet they say that
the difference between those that are saved and lost has something
to do with the sinner's part. They say Christ died for everybody. They say things like that. Jesus
paid the price. And then He offers you the chance. So it would necessarily be that
if Jesus paid the debt for every person, what ultimately and finally
determines whether one is saved or lost is not what He did, but
what they do. It has to do with the work. The
Bible says that salvation is the work of Christ. And yet they
turn in all these things because they believe that it is a mixture
maybe, if not entirely of man, it's at least a mixture of the
work of Christ and the work of men. God's done all He can, they
say, and now it's up to you. So finally and ultimately, regardless
of what might be said before that, it's left in the hands
of rebel sinners who are in every way unable to save themselves. It's ultimately and finally held
out to them as being left up to them. And I can tell you this,
if it is in any part, in any measure, to any degree, left
up to sinners like you and I, if it is in any way dependent
on something we can do to please God, satisfy God, we will everyone
perish. Perish. But God's salvation,
which He describes as eternal salvation, which he says is salvation
from sin, it is neither by chance or by man's choice. Now, I looked
and there were lots of portions of Scripture, there were lots
of verses, but I settled on this verse, this ninth verse especially,
to look and to see what God says that is contrary to what they
say in the matter of salvation. In one verse, he describes God
in this way. He encourages the young Timothy
to preach the gospel, which he calls here, the testimony of
the Lord. That's what's on the signs is
the testimony of men. But the gospel is the testimony
of the Lord. And so he describes God and the
message of the gospel in this way. He says, "...who have 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." Now, men may think
salvation is in a hundred different ways or formulas or whatever
it is. But everyone who is truly saved
by God, everyone who is saved as the Apostle Paul was, everyone
who is saved as Timothy was, they are everyone saved in this
way that he describes, and in no place do we find that salvation
is by chance nor by man's choice. You see, the gospel is not God
giving anyone a chance or offering them a choice. It's not. It is, as it is described in
this book, the gospel concerning His Son. It's the gospel of God. And it is absolutely, from A
to Z, repeated time after time, shown to be time after time,
the gospel of God's grace. Now, I know that everybody almost
say they believe in grace. But grace has to be defined. And we have a view of grace that
is dependent on how we view God. It's God's grace. And Paul writing
to the Galatians who had been subjected to a mixture of works
and grace, to a mixture wherein men said, we're saved by grace
altogether in Christ, but you have to keep the law. To those
people, he said, I marvel that you are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. What's he saying there? He's
saying that any other gospel, any other set of beliefs, any
other doctrine, other than the grace of Christ is another gospel. He says, which is not really
another, because there's only one. It's the grace of Christ. It is the gospel of God declaring
not what you and I are to do, but what He's done in Christ. Now, what does that verse, more
than that, what does this whole book say? It says, He saved us. Men say, if you do this or that,
or follow this prescription, or make this choice or decision,
He'll save you. What does this say? Paul said,
He saved us. You see, that's what the gospel
declares. It's the gospel, according to
what Paul writes in Ephesians 1, Paul calls it to believers,
the gospel of your salvation. Not the gospel of how to be saved. It's not the gospel of God giving
a choice. Not the gospel of God giving
a chance. It says, He saved us, and He
does so because we have to be saved. Somebody said, well, if
you'll take the first step, then God will take all the rest. But
the truth of the matter is, if you have life enough to take
the first step, you can make the rest of them. I remember
reading one time about an old Roman Myth, that's what it was,
about, I think he was called Saint Demas or something like
that. And supposedly he was beheaded,
but then he took and picked up his head and walked all the way
around the world, holding his head. Somebody said, that's foolishness. And some wise fellow stood up
and he said, well, he said, to tell you the truth, if he could
take the first step, he could go all the way around the world.
If you could take the first step, if there's a sinner somewhere
who could do the first thing, if you could make the right choice,
if you could do something to even call attention to God that
would be favorable to you, you could certainly do other things
and there's no need then of you being saved. We have to be saved. There's none other name given
among heaven, given among men, Peter says, whereby we must be
saved. And it's by His choice and not
ours. Salvation is not by chance, it's
according to God's will and purpose, which He determined in Christ. It's in that purpose accomplished
by Christ, and it's about His gift to His people that He gave
in His Son. When our Lord prayed, oh, if
we would go through the gospel accounts and just pay attention,
to those prayers that our Lord prayed that we were enabled to
eavesdrop on, they would be so revealing to us. In John 17,
He said, Father, glorify Your Son. He said, You've given Me
in the flesh power over all flesh, that I might give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me." To everybody? No. To these that you have given
me. They save the whole world. He
just a few verses later in his prayer says, Father, I pray not
for the world, but for these that you've given me out of the
world. He said, thine they were, and
you gave them to me. He's talking about a people out
of Adam's race. He's not talking in universal
theory. He's talking about a particular
people for which a particular sacrifice was offered to redeem
them and save them from all their sins." You see, here's the truth
of it. It's not about free will. It's about Christ doing the will
of the Father, and the doing of that will is all our salvation. That's why I'm not going to stand
up before you and say, do this or do that, or God has given
you a chance, or He's done most of it, He gives you a chance.
If you make the choice, He'll do the rest. That's so anti-biblical. Paul describes the Lord Jesus
in this way. He says that He gave Himself
for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our Father. According to
the will of God. Christ doing the will of God
in its entirety. especially as it pertains to
the salvation of His people, that's our salvation. It's what
He did. It's what He accomplished, not
what we're to do. As a matter of fact, Paul says,
"...who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose." and grace,
God's own purpose, God's own will, God's own decree. He did it all in the accomplishment
of the will and purpose and grace of God. It's not about a chance. In Ephesians 3, he says, "...it
is according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord." Do you think that God has left the fulfillment
of His purpose, that purpose which is His greatest glory,
in the hands of a bunch of rebels who by nature hate Him? Turn
over to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. And look
down at verse 5. All these epistles were written
as the apostle was led by the Spirit of God to these various
churches, to believers. Verse 5, it says, having predestinated
us." Does that sound like chance to you? You see, men and women
by nature hate that everything is in the hands of Almighty God. They hate that He rules. That was the first cause of their
rebellion against Him. But it says, "...concerning these
He saved, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."
You think a notion such as man has devised out of his fallen
faculties, such as so-called free will. Do you think that
that is going to be able to stand against the will of God? Never
happened. Nebuchadnezzar was brought to
confess that he does whatsoever he will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of men, and none can stay his hand."
The book of Job says, whatever his soul desires, that he does. And yet men say, well, he desires
the salvation of all. If He desired the salvation of
all, all would be saved. I promise you that. None can
stay His hand. He does everything according
to the good pleasure of His will. He says, "...to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood." the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure,
which He purposed in Himself." What does that mean? It means
the fulfillment of God's purpose doesn't depend on us. Not one
iota. He will not have any empty seats
in heaven. His will, His purpose, His desire,
all of which are one and the same, and He Himself unchangeable,
they'll never be thwarted. Not one jot or tittle. He says
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in Him in whom also we've obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."
Someone says, well, that means that God predestinated or predetermined
that you'd have a chance. Or God predestinated or predetermined
that you'd have an opportunity or a choice, or that something
would be available. But the truth of the matter is,
associated with these references to his predestination is not
some things so much as some people according to the purpose of him. who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will." If you like universal statements,
that's a good one. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. You see, it's not by chance in
any way. It's of the Lord, of His purpose,
of His will, of His determination, of His eternal purpose which
He purposed in Christ before the world began. And not only
is it not by chance, as they would say, our choice doesn't
determine our salvation, His does. Look back up at verse 3,
Ephesians 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according, according."
I remember a deacon telling me one time, many years ago, he
said, I don't know about what you're preaching. He said, it's
not according to Hall. I believe Hall was the bridge
authority, wasn't he? Card game authority? This is
according to God. It is according as He hath chosen
us in Him, that is, in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. One can only imagine, if this
is what is put on the church signs, what goes out from the
pulpit. Lies, lies. I told someone this
morning concerning a lie that a preacher had said. I said,
we ought not be surprised if a man who will lie to us about
God, if he'll lie about every other thing too. The Lord Jesus,
as plainly as it can be said, said to those disciples around
Him in His day, you have not chosen Me, I've chosen you."
When Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, he says to them
in that second chapter of II Thessalonians, after he had contrasted
them to those who received not the love of the truth. I don't
believe that just simply means that they didn't love the truth,
but also that their want of love for the truth was because they
didn't love the love of God that's demonstrated in the person. They
didn't love that the love of God's an everlasting love. They
didn't like that the love of God's in Christ. Outside of Christ,
He's a consuming fire. They didn't love the fact that
His love is a particular redeeming love. Paul rejoiced. He writes
to these believers at Thessalonica, verse 13 of chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians,
he says, "...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." Not that He chose to give you
a chance, or a choice, or an opportunity, or make something
available to you, or help you, none of these things. He said,
He's chosen you to salvation. But He always said, well, I guess
that means if I'm going to be saved, I'm going to be saved.
Not a chance. He says, through sanctification
of the Spirit, This salvation not only involves the choice
of the Father in the redeeming work of the Son, but an effectual
work of God's Spirit, what Paul calls in our text, a holy calling. How? By His Spirit through the
truth and belief of the truth. whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus." It's
his choice. Somebody runs back. to Joshua's
day, and they pick them out a verse, and they say, well, you remember
what Joshua said? He said, choose you this day
whom you'll serve. Resting the Scriptures, Paul
said, to their own destruction. Instead of the Word of God speaking
to them, they take bits and fragments of the Word and use it to say
what they want. They take biblical words like
justification and righteousness and salvation, and they apply
their definitions. Men by nature never choose anything
but man-made idols, and not one of them ever of themselves chooses
You see, such signs deny that salvation, Paul says, were by
grace are you saved. And they say things like this.
Well, salvation is conditioned on faith. Salvation is not conditioned
on faith. Salvation is in Christ. Those
who are saved, they have faith They have faith only because
God gives them the gift of faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. You see, grace isn't a response
to man's act. It's not of man's works, not
of his worth, not of his will, not of his decision, not of his
acceptance. That you'll be saved if you accept
the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior. Show me that. In this book, show it to me.
What this book says is that God has to do the acceptance. It's
not ours to accept Him. It's His, whether He'll accept
us. And His people, He says, that
He has made us accepted in the blood. He accepts them in Christ. If you look over in Titus, page
over from our text in Titus, in that third chapter, in the
fifth verse. He says, "...not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us." not by works of righteousness that we have done. All our works,
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And religion sets
up what you would call a platform or a vehicle wherein man can
be exalted in glory in what God says Filthy, filthy. Such signs deny what the Bible
says about man's condition. What happened in the garden?
Did man fall sick? Did man fall weak? Did man lose
everything but faith, so that now he has faith And all he has
to do is exercise it? Is that what happened in the
garden? God said to Adam, He said, in
the day that you eat of that tree, you'll die. And not only
that, we're told in Romans 5, that not only did he die, but
all his race died in him. He didn't die physically right
then, did He? He died spiritually. How do you
know He died spiritually? Well, number one, because God
said He'd die. And number two, because He demonstrated
it immediately. He began to run and hide from
God. He began to offer up excuse to
God. He began to lie to God. He began
to blame His fall on the woman. That's why when Paul writes in
Ephesians 2, he sets forth the state in which those Ephesians
were before the Lord came to them in grace, and he said, you
were dead in trespasses. And that's the state of man without
God. Dead. He cannot perform any life
act because he has no life. He's described as being blind. as being lame and halt. He is in a state of being lost. As those Pharisees were told,
he said, you will not come to me that you might have life. The greatest evidence of being
dead is that we come not to Christ, It denies what Christ says in
John 6. He said, No man can come to Me
except the Father which hath sent Me draw him. And again He
says, Therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto Me
except it were given unto him of My Father. If that was true,
Jesus paid the price and gives you the chance. You're a goner.
If it is true that if you make the choice, God will make the
change, you're a goner. You're on your way to hell. Not
only that, such signs make a mockery of God's justice. Jesus paid
the price. If He died for all men, if He
paid the price for all men, all men are going to be... You can
just mark that. Because God Above all things, literally above all
things, He sets forth Himself as a just. He's got to be just. Justice crowns His throne. Righteousness He is the righteous
God. He said to Moses to tell all
those judges of Israel, all those that are appointed heads of groups,
when you are making a decision, you judge a righteous judgment,
you get out the scales that are accurate, and you call a pound
a pound and a bushel a bushel, and don't you show any partiality
of God. They say He died for all. He
paid the price for all. He gives you the chance. But
who does the Scripture say He paid the price? The ransom. He
said, the Redeemer Himself said, I lay down my life for thee.
Well, God will take some of these goats and make sheep out of them.
No, because He turned immediately and said to those Pharisees,
the reason you believe not is because you're not of my sheep.
Salvation is not about God taking goats and changing them into
sheep. Salvation is about Him saving
these that He calls His sheep. He said, My sheep, hear My voice.
They follow Me. I give unto them eternal life.
They'll never perish. If one goes to hell, that Christ
died for their sins, God will then cease to be. And on the
other side of that, if those He died for are not saved, He
won't be judged. Because Christ's death is a ransom. It's a redemption price. He said,
you're bought with a price. Plain and simple. That's what
redemption is about. In divine justice, if Christ
paid the price for my sin, I must be saved. I will be saved. And
then such signs make Christ to be a failure. I got to thinking
about it. You would think that Christ's
death on the cross simply established a lottery or maybe a drawing.
Christ paid the price, all these sins, all these people, but you
got to come and you got to draw out the lucky numbers. You've
got to make the right statement, make the right choice, make the
right decision. The angel said to his earthly
parents, thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sin. When he cried out on that cross,
it is finished. What could a sinner add to that?
Did he die so that it could be left in the hands of sinners
to determine whether or not his work was a success or a failure. The Apostle says that in his
death he obtained eternal redemption. He died as a substitute in the
place of a people, and they all must go free. He satisfied every
claim of that inflexible and eternal justice against them,
and there's nothing left to their account. but the very righteousness
of God imputed to them in Him." They have a lot of crosses, but
I am determined to preach the cross. Paul said, I am determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross, not a piece of wood, but in the one who hung
on that cross, and the work that He accomplished on that cross. Who He is, and what He did, and
who He did it for. And such signs as these are nothing
but a devilish attempt to steal God's greatest, God's glory. You see, His grace, His sovereign,
free grace in the salvation and redemption of whom He willed.
They are His great Lord, who precedes all His work and creation. all His work in providence, His
salvation in Christ through the praise of the glory of His Word. And the truth of the matter is
that such notions as these signs reflect and say that's what we
have to be safe from. Why? Because that's the chief
rebellion against God. And our Lord said Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of
my Father." That's my people, that's who will be saved. And
he said, many will say unto me in that day, Lord, I mean, they're
going to go all the way to the judgment. That is what is so
frightening. They are going to be so confident,
so deceived, so self-blinded, so Satan-blinded, so wrapped
up in this, so convinced of it. They are going to go right to
stand before the Lord of glory and say, We preached Him. And we cast out devils in your
heart. And we did many wonderful works. Christ said, I'll say unto them
in that day, depart from Me. You that work iniquity, you that
offer to Me that which is not equal to Me, that which is not
equal to what I require, that which is not equal to what I
give, I never, which literally means something more like, I
never loved. They'll have a sign. God loves
you. We want you to know. He'll tell
them then, I never loved. My love was in Christ. My love
was in an eternal purpose. My love was such that it glorified
me, made men exalt me, not themselves." You see, the Gospel is good news
concerning what Christ did. He hath saved us, called us with
a 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. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality." What do dead sinners need? Life and immortality to life. He showed us where life and immortality
is. It's in Christ. How do we find
it? How is it revealed? In the Gospel. In the Gospel of Christ. He's
brought life and immortality to life in the Gospel of Christ
crucified, because therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Therein alone is true hope, peace
made by the blood of this cross, eternal life, salvation, joy,
real and lasting, and an inheritor. God hath saved us. That's what
Christ is doing on the cross. Saving us. That's your hope.
Believe that. That somebody outside of yourself 2,000 years ago hanging
on the cross, that's the hope of it. God's grace to you, not
your decision for Him. God help us not to believe what
you're talking about. Salvation is neither by chance.
Father, this day we praise your high and holy and most gracious,
loving name. We thank you for your Son, who
loved us and gave Himself for us. We thank you for your purpose
of grace, which was given to us in Him before the world began. May we be enabled to trust Him,
to believe You, to have understanding of Your Word and rest in Him. For we thank You and pray in
His name. Amen.