I love the positive information
we get from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at Deuteronomy 7.
When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, whither thou
goest to possess it. Some of you are in here like,
man, I hope I make it. I mean, sometimes I'm right on. Sometimes
I love the Lord. You know, sometimes I don't love
the Lord so much. I mean, sometimes I... There's none of that here. There is no if you hold out.
It's this, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the
land, shall, I love the shalls of God. Like John six, all the
father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. I'll tell you this, God has an
elect and they are going to inherit the promised land. They're going
to be in heaven, there is no doubt about it. You know, Carolyn,
I remember the day you came in. You were a mess. But think about
this, for 18 years, There was a change on the inside
that took place. Best I remember, you had never
received a check. Is that right? You never worked
and received a check. And best I remember, your first check
came from working at the thrift stores. Was that right? Or yeah,
the very first check, 18 years ago, she's ever gotten. Now,
she didn't know I was gonna tell this kind of stuff on her, but
what a great God. who brought her a mighty long
ways, and he's worthy to be praised. All right. And he's cast out
many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Gragashites, the
Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the
Jebusites, and all the otherites. And when the Lord God shall deliver
them before thee, that is, defeat your enemies, thou shalt smite
them and utterly destroy them. Isn't that something? Look at
this over in verse six. For thou art a holy people under
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. Carolyn, you are special, honey. God has chosen you. Can you imagine
18, 19 years ago to go back in your life, totally lost out there
without God? And his eye was on her all the
time because he had chosen her. Isn't that something? People
fight over this. I am so happy about election
that God actually chose a people under salvation. And you say,
well, pastor, you know, what about Carolyn? I mean, was there
anything good in her? She says there wasn't. I take
her testimony. Well, why did God choose her?
Isn't that something? Why did God choose her? What
reason are you going to give for God choosing Carolyn? I'm
really picking on you today. He chose her in sovereign grace. Don't you understand? You are
saved by sovereign grace. You didn't deserve it. You didn't
merit it, but God chose you. You are here in spite of all
your mess, because before the foundation of the world, according as he has chosen us,
elected us, who makes you to differ? Carolyn, do you have
brothers and sisters? I don't know for sure, but I
don't know whether they're in God's house today, but I know
she is here. Do you have brothers and sisters
and you marvel that you're converted and they're out there doing their
own thing? Just wild as a goose, living their own life. But here
you sit in spite of all of your past. rejoicing in a God who
came down to earth and died in your room and place and stead
and paid your sin debt, went back to heaven and now is seated
at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you.
You have a lawyer. Chosen us. Isn't that something? I love to say that word. Look
at this. The Lord did not choose you or
set his affections upon you because you were more than any number.
You know what's entering my mind right now? It's amazing how a
preacher's minds work. I preached this as a 19 year
old boy in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, 54 years ago. Just in my head. You preach this at Hopkinsville.
Julian Baptist Church. And I saw something happen there
that I've never seen. Right in the middle of my sermon,
this guy got happy and started going, whoo, whoo, ha, ha, ha. This is the first time I've ever
seen this exactly happen like that. He came down the aisle
and I thought to myself, he's gonna get me, sure as the world.
He danced all over the front of that building. I'm 19 years
old. I'm standing there like this. Help me, Pastor Dempsey. This
guy has lost his mind. Finally, he calmed down. He got
happy about being chosen. Think about what a mess you were.
Why would God choose you? It'll make you happy. I'm saved
because he chose me. And he keeps me and he loves
me. And he's going to bring you to
the promised land.