This church at Thessalonica was
very dear to the heart of Paul the Apostle. And by the church here, I do
not mean a building. He wasn't in love with the building.
They didn't even have church buildings in those days. They
met in homes and out in the field and wherever they could. But by the church is meant the
people. And he dearly loved these people, had a heart for them. Matter of fact, five times in
these two epistles, he thanks God for them. Here in verse two,
we give thanks to God always for you all. He's not talking
to Adam's race. He's talking to all the saints,
all the believers here. And then in chapter two in verse
13, for this cause also, thank we God without receiving, without
ceasing. And then chapter three in verse
nine, for what thanks can we render to God again for you,
for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our
God. And then in the second epistle
chapter one in verse three, we are bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, as it is meet. And then in chapter two in verse
13, but we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you to sanctification or chosen you to salvation. through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. So five times, he thanks the
Lord for these people. He repeatedly calls them brethren
and he repeatedly refers to them as beloved of the Lord. We are living today with a religious
world. That's got so much going on. They get along just fine without
the very things God warns us not to neglect. And I'm thinking of doctrine,
the word doctrine as used in the New Testament. It means our
teaching, our instruction, what we believe, what we stand on
doctrine. I've heard preachers say we don't
emphasize doctrine. We just preach love. Multitudes are going to hell,
but God loves them. He's not doing anything about
it, but he loves them. He'd like to save them, but they
won't let him. He loves them. Poor old God can't get much done
in this day and time. Well, that's just not so. People don't believe the Bible.
And the way many of them operate, they don't even need a Bible. In Acts 2.42, on the day of Pentecost,
Luke says four things about those who were regenerated that day.
He said they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. and fellowship, and breaking
of bread, and prayers. Four things, and the first thing
on the list was doctrine. In 2 Timothy 3.10, Paul wrote to Timothy, but thou
hast fully known, and he names nine things. Doctrine, my manner
of life, purpose, Faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecution, and affliction.
He said, you know all this about me, Timothy. But again, the first
thing on the list is doctrine. In 2 Timothy 3.16, Paul wrote,
all scripture is given by inspiration of God. and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
four things. And once again, doctrine is the
first thing on the list. So what we believe, why we're
here, what we stand for is so very important. And my subject
this morning is here in verse Thessalonians chapter one. And
verse four, the glorious doctrine of election. Paul says to this
church, knowing brethren beloved your election of God. Two words in this brief verse
always go together. Beloved and election. God elected His
people in eternity past because He loved them. And because they're
His elect, He continues to love them. Because His love is not
something that's spurious or changing. He hath loved us with
an everlasting love. You might wonder, well, did he
not take into account all that we would do to violate
his love? He certainly did. He certainly
did. But what you do, have ever done
or ever shall do, don't change him. You see, he didn't just see you
and I. that we'd fall in the ditch a
few times along the way. Oh, no. He saw our whole life
as nothing more than a sewer of corruption in this flesh.
And apart from loving us in Christ, his son, he couldn't love us
at all. He couldn't. He just couldn't. Without ceasing to be holy. without
ceasing to be God. He just couldn't like and love
the likes of you outside of His Son. He loves His elect in His Son
in His everlasting love. Whom God loves cannot perish
and cannot go to hell. If He ever loved you, He still
does. If he ever loved you at all,
he loves you enough that you live as long as his son lives. This blessed and glorious doctrine
of election is the very thing that separates us this morning
from almost, almost every other congregation in this county. And it is my business that you
understand it clearly, what the Bible says about it and how important
it is to our faith and our worship. To believe God's word concerning
this doctrine, as most people don't, but to
believe this does not make us better than anybody else. It does make us more blessed
than many. more blessed than many. A building
full of people is very desirable for any preacher. A church full
of talent is very desirable. A church full of children is
a very precious thing. It thrills me when they walk
in. Tice thinks he's grown, but he's still a children. Abigail and Rebecca, these young
ladies come in this morning, so precious in our midst. And I confess to you, your pastor
grieves over these things, but to have been blessed to know
and believe the truth of God's word is greater blessing than
anything else and everything else. I don't want to believe
a lie. about the gospel of God's son.
I just don't. And most people don't mind believing
a lie. Most people are content with
it. I'm not. So what is Bible election? What does Paul mean
when he says this church knowing brethren beloved your election
of God? What is it? It is the work of
God alone. Who before time in eternity past
has chosen a people, a specific number of Adam's fallen race
before the race was even created. A specific number to be his children
and to be the subjects of everlasting life. God elected everyone, everyone
would be saved. It is impossible for one of God's
elect to perish. You say, what if they don't believe?
The same God that elected brings you to believe. Election don't save us, Christ
saves us. But God's elect are brought by
the Holy Spirit to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust
in him and to rest in him, rest all our hopes of eternity and
everlasting life on him. So don't listen to the religious
lie that takes salvation out of God's hands and puts it in
your hands. There's nothing you can do to
twist God's arm in the matter. Don't listen to the so-called
fairness issue that election is unfair. Our father, Adam, as it were,
shook his fist in God's face and rebelled. And he didn't just
do that as an individual. He did that as a federal head.
We were all in him. When he shook his fist in God's
face and said, I don't need you. You did it. And I did it. We're fallen in Adam. And if
God puts us all in hell, he's fair. If he takes us all to heaven,
he's fair. If he takes some to heaven, he's
fair. And that's what his purpose to do. And that's what his word
teaches that he has an elect people. Someone asked, well,
now does God, does election mean, and a lot of times they'll put
it in these words. Does election mean that God predestinated
some to go to heaven and some to go to hell? He didn't have
to predestinate anyone to go to hell. Adam started a campaign that
we all go to hell. And every last one of us voted,
yes, we're with you. Not only in Adam then, but we voted with Adam ever since
in our old nature. Yeah, we can make it without
God. And if God don't interfere in
the individual's life, if he didn't take the initiative to
change our lives, we'd still be voting yes today. Yes, we
can make it on our own. We don't need God. Let's all
forget God. So election is God's mercy and
grace that's decreed and determined that his elect people are not
going to hell. He's the one determined that.
I'm so glad he did. I'm so glad. You say, what about
whosoever will? What about it? It's true. Whosoever will may come, but
by nature, no one will. There is none good. There is
none that seeketh after God. By nature, everyone prefers to
ignore God till it's time to die. And many have said, then
I'll get serious. But may I say left to yourself,
you'll never get serious. Left yourself, you'll still die.
You'll still be running the other way when you die. From God, not
toward him. election, a dear black preacher,
DJ Ward from Lexington, Kentucky, who went to be with the Lord
in 2008. He said this, and I put this on the back of the bulletin.
He said this in a sermon I was listening to, were it not that
God had chosen some, heaven would have none. And then he got loud and repeated
it. Were it not that God had chosen
some, heaven would have none. For if he hadn't chosen you,
you certainly would not have chosen him. We love him because. He first
loved us. The reason these church doors
are open today is because of election. The reason any one of us has
any heart for God at all is because of election. The flame of His love, the flame
of His love for His own cannot be quenched by the foolishness
and the unbelief of His own. Apart from Him, we're all nothing
but a bunch of quitters. Oh, I'll be hanging there when
the going gets tough. Yeah, it don't have to get too
tough. It's done got too tough for me
many times over, but I'm giving God the credit.
God's the one to be praised that they hadn't turned this into
a nightclub and by God's grace, they're not going to. As long
as I'm able, I'll be standing here preaching to you that God
is God. God is God. He keeps us. He never saved us
to watch us get home on our own. He saved us to bring us home.
And He will. And He will. Notice here in verse
4, that election belongs to God. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. It's called the election of God because He's the only one who
votes in that election. Did you ever hear of an election
where there was just one vote cast? Well, that's God's election. One brilliant preacher said,
God voted for me. The devil voted against me and
I cast the deciding vote. No, this is God's election. Oh,
brother Caldwell, B.B. Caldwell. He said, the devil
was not a registered voter and you were too young to vote. So I guess it's just whatever
God wanted to do. That's how it's always been and will always
be. It's God's election. It's God's
election. When you listen to any word except
God's word and take salvation out of God's hands, you're on
the wrong road. And I encourage you this morning
to go home and read Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. Jesus went to Nazareth, his hometown. The Bible says where he had been
brought up. And they're so proud of this
young prophet. Word gets around the village,
just a small place. And they're so proud, one of
their own. Oh, he's made, he's having an
impact throughout the region. And he's coming here to preach
back to his hometown. But things changed quickly. Why? He preached on election. This is Luke 4.25. He said, in
the days of Elijah, When that severe famine was on in Israel,
three and a half years, it didn't rain. And Jesus, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ preached in that famine. God's, he said there was many
widows in Israel. Good old Israelite widow women. There were many of them. The
famine was bad. Some were starving to death. But Jesus said that God sent
Elijah to just one. And she was a Gentile. Well, that never went over so
good. The next point in his message was In the time of Elisha, this
is the Lord Jesus Christ preaching now, Luke 4. In the time of Elisha,
there were many lepers in Israel. Leprosy was so awful. In Israel,
good Jews had leprosy. But said Elisha, the prophet, never cleansed, but one, Naaman, a Syrian, a Gentile. He was captain of the army of
a long time and fierce enemy of Israel. The Bible said the
Lord by him had given victory to Syria many times. And there's many people in Israel
with leprosy. And in the sovereignty, the providence,
the will of God, the prophet Elisha just cleansed this one, a Gentile military captain. What am I saying? You can't tell,
you can't tell God what to do. You can't tell God who to love. You can't tell God when he's
wrong. He loves his elect. And they're made up of every
kindred, nation, and tongue. I've already talked about elections
springing from God's love. It's, you see, it's not our right
to decide who God loves. He said whom he loves he chastens.
Well, I think that leaves some folks out. And scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. It's not in our ability to make
him love anybody. But he declares clearly in scripture
his love and his hatred. Romans 9.15, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. I love who I love and it's my
business. It's what God says. That's his right. Romans 9.13,
as it is written, Jacob Have I loved, but Esau have I
hated? Was God wrong to love Jacob?
No. Was God wrong to hate Esau? No. Would he be wrong to hate you?
No. Is he wrong to love you? No,
he's never wrong. He's never wrong. Now, election is unconditional. It's unconditionally God's choice. If you could do anything to make
him choose you, it wasn't really his choice. It was yours. You
manipulated him into loving you and choosing you. That cannot
be. Romans 9, concerning Jacob and
Esau, verse 11, the children being not yet born, having done
neither good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. Jacob is in, Esau is out, before
they're ever born. Is God wrong? No. No. If you reject this book, if you
don't give God the right to put you in hell, he will put you
in hell. Because God's elect are brought
to understand and to confess that that's exactly what we deserve. God's choice is unconditional. Some explain election like this,
that God looked down through the pages of time. He's got this,
he's got this telescope vision. He can see through all the generations. He looked down through the pages
of time and he saw you behave a little better than somebody
else and said, I'm going to pick him. I'm going to pick her. She behaves a little better.
He behaves a little better than the average buyer. No, no. If you're chosen, God never looked
at you at all. He looked at his son and he sees
his chosen in his son. And that's the only hope any
of us have. That's why we continually sing and preach that we're chosen
in Christ. Ephesians 1.4. before the foundation
of the world. Dear old preacher, Henry Mahan
used to ask, did you choose God or did God choose you? He chose me. When did he choose me? Before
the foundation of the world. Mr. Spurgeon said, if he hadn't
chosen me before I got here, I'm sure he wouldn't have after
I got here. And then Mahan would ask, did
he choose me accidentally or did he choose me on purpose? He did it on purpose before time
began in his son. It is God's election. That's made his word effectual
in your heart. Isn't it strange that many people,
many, many, many people, just as intelligent as you are, can
hear God's word and it go in one ear and out the other. Never have any effect, whatever,
in their heart and in their lives. Well, God's election is what
has made his word effectual in your heart. And not in everybody's
heart. And this is how Paul could say
to this church at Thessalonica, I know you're God's elect knowing
brethren beloved your election of God. How did he know by the
effect God's word has had in your life? Chapter 2 verse 13,
for this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because
when you receive the word of God, which you heard of us, Paul
said, you heard it from me. You heard me preaching. You heard
my voice, but it's the word of God and said, when you heard
it, you received it not as the word of men. You understood that
it was not just my opinion. and some public speaker up babbling.
No, you understood it not as the word of men, but as it is
in truth, the word of God, which affectionately worketh also in
you that believe. It affectionately worketh. It
gets the job done. You say, well, I've always believed
the Bible, but it never really had much effect in my life. Well, then you don't really believe
it in your heart. You can't. Head maybe, but not heart. Romans 10, 9, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth, that's easy enough. And believe in thine heart, that's
not so easy. God has to do that. Romans 10, 10, for with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness. This glorious doctrine of election
means that those whom God has chosen, he has chosen unto salvation. They will be saved every single
one. Listen to the second epistle,
chapter two. In verse 13, but we are bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. As far as salvation. He hadn't chosen anyone to possibly
be saved. His elect are chosen to salvation,
as far as salvation. His choosing went that far and
cannot come short. Let me finish that verse, 2 Thessalonians
2, 13. from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Two things in the end of this
verse and this is how it works. This is the effect of election
or the sanctification is the beginning of it and the beginning
from eternity. The sanctification simply meaning
the setting apart of the spirit by the spirit. I know a lot of
denominations, especially in modern times, use that term sanctification
to talk about your cleaning up a little bit. In other words,
you quit your bad habits and stuff. I remember growing up,
Church of God, they talked about being sanctified. What they meant
was women had hair down to their, below their waist, and they didn't
wear makeup. and didn't wear breeches and
men didn't smoke. That's pretty much what they
meant by sanctification. They called it sanctified holy.
Well, this word sanctification is used here. It's not, it's
not the sanctification of you, you doing something, but it's
a sanctification of the spirit. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. Through, here's how it's going
to come about. Through the sanctification of the spirit. When did the Holy
Spirit mark you off and separate you from the multitude of Adam's
race? He did it in eternity past. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. In Genesis chapter one. the Spirit
of God, the same one we're reading about here, brooded over the
face of the deep and moved upon the face of the waters and he
did a separating work. He first turned the light on,
go read Genesis 1, and then he called the earth out and the
dry land appeared. And even so, in the hearts of
God's elect, He first turns the light on. The rest of the world
is left in darkness, spiritual darkness. But He turns the light
on in the hearts of His elect. And 2 Corinthians 4, 6, He shines
it in our hearts. Ever had anybody turn a flashlight
right in your eyes? He shines. into our hearts. And he calls
us out of our bondage to Satan and to sin. And every one of God's elect
responds to that call. It's the separating work, the
sanctifying work of the Spirit. And then he said something else,
not only through sanctification of the Spirit, but also belief
of the truth. This is how God does it. The
Holy Spirit sets us apart. calls us and we believe. You
don't try to believe, you disbelieve. The devil says you don't believe
enough, but you believe. And we cry and grieve over our
unbelief. We wouldn't do that if we didn't
believe. We believe. God's elect believe and believe
in the heart. Oh, how blessed to be numbered
among God's elect. Little boy came home from school
one time crying. His mother asked him, what's
wrong? And he told her, the other kids at school are making fun because I'm adopted. The mother sat him down and said,
son, you don't understand that those
kids' parents didn't have a choice of a son or a daughter, blonde hair, black hair, beautiful or not so beautiful. Those parents had to take what
they got. But as I've told you before,
son, your father and I, we couldn't have children naturally. So we adopted you. And here's
what I want you to remember. We chose you. We elected you. You're the one we wanted. There
was over a hundred kids in that orphanage. And we chose you. We didn't have
to choose any, but we loved you. Election is God's love. That's what it is. The church is his bride. He don't go to bed with the whole
world. He makes love to his bride, his church, his people, his elect. He don't speak peace and comfort
to a rebellious soul, but he comforts his own. Genesis 14, when the war was
over. The Lord never met all those
kings on their way home. They were all tired. They were
all hungry, but he came and met Abraham and
he brought bread and wine and said, let's set a spell fellowship this morning. when this hell-bent world has
beat you up pretty good. God's not going to reward them
for that. But he will be over at your house
in the stillness of the night when you can't sleep. And he
will remind you that I've been here all along. And I'll be here from now on. I tell you this morning, I'm
not ashamed of the 23 times the words elect, elected, and election
are found in the New Testament. This is who God is. You can turn on your radio and
TV. Listen to some preacher five
days a week, some of them seven days a week, and you can listen
for years and years. And miraculously, they'll never
comment on one of these 23 mentions of God's election. And if they do happen to run
across it in reading, they'll play leapfrog and move on. Why? They deny God's authority. in the matter. They'd rather preach that there's
something in you that's able to back God in the corner if
you'll just do it and get him to save you. No, no. That's what's wrong with this
country. That's what's wrong with this world. People don't understand that
we're at God's mercy. He's not at ours. Try to talk to people, they say,
oh, we have different beliefs. No, we have different gods. Our God runs things. We don't. Our God does as he wills in all
things with all people. He never fails to do so. So people who fight God's sovereignty
and God's right to election and fight it till they die. drop off into hell, they were
never chosen for anything else. But to do that. Pharaoh, the
book said, was raised up to do exactly what he did, fight against
God and God's people until he died in his sins. The dangerous thing this morning,
I hope I'm not talking to anybody here. But the dangerous thing
this morning about you wanting God to leave you alone is that he just might. That's
dangerous. I don't want him to leave me
alone. The glorious doctrine of election. In any generation,
it's a chosen few. despised and rejected like our
Lord. But in the end, it's a company
innumerable that no man can number. Where He's redeemed, that He's
redeemed. He's ransomed, that He's ransomed. He's chosen ones, that He chose. Nobody's going to walk into God's
presence and be able to announce what all they did. Oh, no. Anything worth remembering forever,
he did it. It's his elect that he elected. The secular world this morning
says nothing about this. The religious world this morning
says it's damnable doctrine. They've said it to me. But the saints call it, this
is what I've called it this morning, the glorious doctrine of election. It's the reason I'm not perishing
in my sins today is because of what he's done, not what I've
done. Bless his holy name. Thank you
for listening. Let's stand together.