It was just about 87 or 88, I
can't remember. Right in there. And I'm so thankful he brought
his wife. Boy, this woman waits on this man hand and foot. Literally. Thank you, Shelby. Brother Fortner,
we just tickled to death, buddy, to have you here. Soon as I check your wiring,
we want you to preach to us. Thank you, Pastor. All right. Let me see. I haven't
seen it. You won't be still. See there? You got one of them still off
it. Well, you can never turn but one on. All right. It's so good to be
with you folks. I commend you every time I'm here for what
you do with this property. I was talking to your pastor
earlier today. We recognize this building is
just a building. God's church are the people who
meet here. And there's nothing holy or sacred
about the building. It's just brick and mortar and
wood and paint and all that. But as a man, a woman, as the
way they maintain the place they live tells a whole lot about
their attitude toward one another, the way we maintain the property
Where we meet to worship God says a whole lot about our attitude
toward God, our respect and reverence for him and the seriousness with
which we approach the ministry God's committed to our hands.
And I can't commend you highly enough for taking good care of
this property, always so attractive, so appealing to the eye, and
I appreciate it more than I can tell you. I appreciate your faithfulness
in supporting the cause of Christ here and around the world. Now
turn if you will back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Just hold your Bibles open for
a minute. This is Paul's first written
word of inspiration. This is the first epistle, the
Apostle Paul was inspired of God the Holy Spirit to write. First things are always very
important. If you're preparing a manuscript
or writing a letter and you give thought to it, the first thing
stated is as important as anything stated in the letter or the manuscript. The first thing stated gives
direction as to where you're going. That is, it should give
direction to where you're going. The first thing stated sets the
tone of things. The first thing stated ought
to somehow sort of summarize everything that's to be stated.
What do you suppose is the first thing the Apostle Paul wrote
by divine inspiration? The very first words he spoke,
what was his subject, his theme? Your pastor read it just a little
bit ago, and it's my subject tonight. Look at 1 Thessalonians
1 verse 4. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. Your election of God. The apostle Paul was the instrument
by which God raised up this church at Thessalonica. After ministering
there for some time, saw the church established, and he left
them and went about his other works, preaching the gospel,
and sent Timothy to establish the saints more fully in the
faith. And he wanted Timothy to They're rooted in the Word
of God and established and settled. While he was at Corinth, Timothy
came to Paul to give him a report concerning the saints at Thessalonica
and how things were going. And he spoke about these believers
at Thessalonica with such glowing turns, with such delight, with
such satisfaction, telling Paul how God shows his grace in these
people, how God had worked manifestly in them, how the grace of God
is reflected in them, in their conduct toward one another, in
their attitude toward God, and in the furtherance of the gospel.
And Paul picks up his pen and writes this letter to Thessalonians. He writes to them about their
election, first and foremost, knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. Since this is the first subject
addressed by the Apostle Paul as he writes to Gentile believers
under inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, I presume it is
a very important subject. Since it is the first thing he's
inspired of God to write about as he takes up his pen to write
by divine inspiration, I presume it is a subject about which all
God's people ought to be made very familiar. These days, not
many folks who attend church know much about the Bible period,
let alone about election. This is a true story. This is
a true story. I'm not stretching it a bit.
I'm not telling a fishtail now. This is the truth. A friend of
mine, her son was out working his yard down in Dallas, Fort
Worth, Texas area. And some folks came by from one
of the whoopee churches wanting him to come to church, and he
was trying to get his yard work done. And he said to them, said, y'all
don't want me down there. They said, oh, yeah, we'd love
to have you come down there. And he said, well, what do y'all
believe about election down there? This is a big, fundamentalist,
independent Baptist church, lots of goings-on, thousands of people.
And the boy looked at him like, why would you want to know that?
And he said, you know, I'm not sure, but I believe almost everybody
down there is Republican. And that's what he knew about
election, nothing else. And yet this is the very first
subject addressed by God's servant as he writes the books of inspiration,
giving us the Holy Scriptures. The very first subject he mentions
is election. Listen to this great hymn by
John Kent. "'Twas with an everlasting love
that God his own elect embraced before he made the worlds above
or earth on her huge columns placed. Long ere the sun's effulgent
ray, time evil shades of darkness drove, they on his sacred bosom
lay, loved with an everlasting love. Then in the glass of his
decrees, Christ and his bride appeared as one, her sin by imputation
his, while she in spotless splendor shone. O love, how high thy glory
swell, how great, immutable, and free! Ten thousand sins,
as black as hell, are swallowed up, O love in thee. Loved when
a wretch defiled with sin, at war with heaven and league with
hell, a slave to every lust obscene, who living lived but to rebel.
Believer, here thy comfort stands. From first to last, salvation's
free, and everlasting love demands an everlasting song from thee. If you're a child of God, I believe,
Judy, you're the youngest babe in the kingdom here, a child
of God. Somebody in here just, oh, thank
God. If right now you believe on the
Son of God, It's because God chose you from
the beginning. Now, if you have fought with
that, you've got a real problem. You've got a real problem. The
whole of our salvation arises from and was determined by God
Almighty before the world was made in sovereign, free, electing
love. And I want to talk to you about
it as plainly as I possibly can this evening. I'm not interested
just in you knowing the doctrine. I want you to rejoice in it.
I want you to rejoice in it. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. And I want to make three statements.
First, election, I want you to see, is a blessed doctrine of
Holy Scripture. Second, election is a doctrine
that's often misrepresented and therefore misunderstood. And
third, I want you to see and see clearly that your election
of God is something that you may know. All right, here's the
first thing. Election is a blessed doctrine taught plainly in the
book of God. This is not something that's
obscure, written in some dark corner of the scripture You know,
you just have to search for it to discover it. It's written
on every page in the book. It's displayed everywhere in
the book. It's written so plainly that
you cannot possibly miss it if you just read the book of God. Is that true, Pastor? More than
anything else, more than anything else, God's people are referred
to in this book. more than anything else as elect. More than saints, more than believers,
God's people are referred to as the elect, the elect, the
chosen, God's elect. And yet there are people who
will tell you the Bible doesn't teach election. I mean, they'll
stand with a Bible in their hand just like this and say, that's
not taught anywhere in this book. Now, anyone, anyone, and if anybody's
visiting here and your preacher makes such a statement, you go
back and challenge him with it. I dare you to. I dare you to.
Anyone who says this book doesn't teach election is either a bald-faced
liar or is ignorant and has never read this book. And in either
case, he's got no business preaching to anybody. This book plainly
teaches the doctrine. Let me show you. Just listen
to the scriptures. Listen to what the book says. I'll give
you the references. You read them. I know your pastor does
his sword drills all the time, so you can just write down the
references this time. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest
and causest to approach unto thee. Psalm 65, 4. Oh, blessed
is the man. whom thou choosest and calls
us to approach unto thee." Our Lord Jesus, the very last thing
he speaks to his disciples before he leaves this world, he says
to his disciples, don't forget this, you have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you. John 15, 16. Acts chapter 13,
verse 48, Paul is preaching at Antioch and He's telling folks
about the result of the preaching of the gospel and what God did.
And this is what it says in Acts 13, 48. As many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Several years ago, and I don't
make this a practice. I don't listen to sorry preaching.
I don't read bad stuff. I get things all the time. Folks
say, I want you to read this. I say, why would I read that when I
read something good? But I got a hold of a tape that somebody
wanted me to listen to by this fella up in Lynchburg, Mr. Falwell.
Jerry Falwell, not many folks know this, he and I went to the
same school together. Now, not at the same time. I
was only five when he was in school there. But we went to
the same school. And he was called on the carpet. As I was, first
week I was in school out there, he was called on the carpet.
They were going to kick him out of school for being a hyper-Calvinist. That's Jerry Falwell, who was
up here in Pittsburgh, Virginia. He was kicked out of school for
being a hyper-Calvinist. And he was persuaded that he
couldn't build a big super church and couldn't make it in the,
runs of the latter in the religious organization, unless he toned
things down a little. Well, I listened to this sermon
by Jerry Falwell on Acts 13, 48. Not once, not twice, every
single time he read the text or quoted the text, every single
time he read it like this, as many as believed were ordained
to eternal life. Well, that doesn't make any difference.
Oh, yes, it does. Oh, yes, it does. Because he
made the scriptures to say what he taught, and that is that if
you believe, your believing causes God to choose you. But the book
says God chose you, therefore you believe. And your faith in
Christ is a direct result of God choosing you. And your being
chosen of God has nothing to do with whether or not you choose
to believe. Nothing at all. Election is God's
work. Listen to this, Ephesians chapter
1. 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 as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. in love having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Turn to this passage, 2 Timothy
chapter one. Your pastor mentioned first time
I was here, I don't remember the date. I do remember what
I preached, because I keep such records. Second Timothy chapter
1 verse 9 was my text. That had been a long time ago
and nothing's changed. The book hasn't and my doctrine
hasn't. The book hasn't changed and my
doctrine hasn't changed. Paul is writing here his last
inspired letter. 1 Thessalonians 1 is his first
inspired letter. 2 Timothy is his last inspired
letter. Here is his last word to this
man whom he esteemed his son in the ministry, who had learned
the gospel from his lips as from his mother and his grandmother,
whom Paul had carried with him throughout his days on this earth
as God's servant and taught him all things he knew that God had
taught him. And he writes to Timothy this
last word. I can't think of anything more
important than the first words with which he began writing the
book of God in the New Testament. And the last word he writes as
God's servant before he left this world. Here's his word,
2 Timothy 1 verse 9. Paul's talking about the gospel
of 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 God of our
Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel. I repeat, there is
no question, the Bible teaches this God-honoring, soul-cheering
gospel doctrine of election. Oh, God help you to rejoice in
it. If you believe, you believe because
God chose you, because God has done for you what he didn't do
for your brother, or didn't do for your mother, or didn't do
for your sister, didn't do for your father, Didn't do for your
neighbor. He did something for you. He
loved you with an everlasting love. He chose you as the object
of his love to be his son and made you his son in adopting
grace before the world began. He redeemed you with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus. He bought you at the price of
Christ's precious blood. brought you out from under the
hand of his own offended law and justice, and called you by
the omnipotent power of his sovereign, free, irresistible grace, causing
you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Election is that by which
God distinguishes his own from all others. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
5. Verse 9, God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Who
maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? God Almighty
and God alone makes the difference between men. The separation was
made in eternity. The whole of Adam's race divided
into elect and reprobate. divided into sheep and goats,
wheat and tares, the whole race. And never shall the reprobate
become elect or the elect reprobate. Never shall sheep become goats
or goat sheep. Never shall tares become wheat
or wheat tares. Between the two, there is a great
gulf fixed and there's no crossing that gulf. And God Almighty rules
the world and all things in it for the saving of His elect.
Constantly separating the sheep from the goats, the wheat from
the tares. And he does it by marvelous works
of grace and providence every day throughout the ages of time
according to his purpose of grace in old eternity. Oh, God makes the difference. He's not appointed us to wrath.
You know, there's some people, Doug, The wise men said, God
set the world in their heart so that they cannot find God. Is that what the book says? There
are some people from whom God has hidden these things, hidden
them. So, you know, that would happen. I'll tell you what, you go to
work tomorrow. Well, maybe you're off tomorrow. Go to work Monday.
and try to show, take your Bible with you on your lunch break.
Now don't waste your boss's time. On your lunch break, take your
Bible with you and try your best to show any religious person
you work with, this book teaches God's election of his people
before the world began in sovereign, irrefutable, immutable, free
grace. And you read the scriptures I
just read to you and try to convince them. And then tell me God didn't
blind their eyes. Folks, He blinded their eyes
so they cannot see. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent. How come you know? Oh, I've studied
and I've learned. No. God revealed His Son in you. And that's all the difference
there is. God chose you. That's all the difference there
is. God called you. That's all the difference there
is. Now, let me make 11 brief statements about this thing the
scriptures call election. I want you to find you a piece
of paper and jot them down. They're important. I want you
to get these 11 statements. I'm not going to preach on them.
I'm not going to elaborate. I'm just going to make the statements.
Number one, number one, election is in Christ. We read together Ephesians 1
a minute ago, a portion of it. Fourteen times in the first chapter
of Ephesians. Fourteen times. There's 23 verses,
I think, in that chapter. Fourteen times in 23 verses,
the Spirit of God tells us that election is in Christ. Grace
is in Christ. Blessings are in Christ. The
church is in Christ. Redemption is in Christ. Calling
is in Christ. Fourteen times He tells us everything
is in Christ. God shows us in Christ, as one
with Christ before ever the world were, so that from eternity we
were one with the Savior in sovereign electing love. Christ chosen
and we chosen in Him. Number two, election is unto
salvation. Now, there's no question there's
a sense in which God's elect have been saved from eternity.
That's not guessing, that's not theology, that's not logic. That's
what the book says. We read it in 2 Timothy 1.9. God hath saved us and called
us within 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. And this now is that immortality
and light that is brought to light through the gospel. All
the way that reads, Brother Don, it looks like this was done in
eternity. And when we come to believe on
Christ, we just experience it. Isn't that amazing how the Bible
looks like it says exactly what it says. Isn't that amazing? It was done in eternity. There's
no question about that. Romans chapter 8, 28, 29, and
30 tell you plainly we were justified from eternity. Now, that's just
what the book says, so I don't understand that. I don't understand
most of what this book says, but that doesn't mean I don't
believe it. It was done in eternity. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 3, all
the works relating to our everlasting rest in Christ, everything related
to this everlasting rest we call salvation. were finished before
the world began, Hebrews chapter 4 verse 3. But election is unto
salvation. Election is not all there is
to salvation. We think about salvation and we generally think
about the day the Lord revealed Christ in us, the day we began
to believe. Sadly, we think about a time
and a place and an experience. Don't ever think about salvation
that way. That's kind of like thinking
about marriage as the day your wife said, I do. There's a lot
more to it. There's a lot more to it. It's
a life together. And all that's involved in bringing
us from the fallen ruins of humanity in our father Adam at the very
brink of hell into everlasting glory and resurrection with Christ,
the whole thing is God's salvation. And we are elected unto salvation
in Christ Jesus. Third, election is an act of
divine sovereignty. What you do or don't do doesn't
have anything to do with God choosing you. God chose you before you had
any being. He chose you, the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. This is
the reason the illustration is given, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand not of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. God chose you freely as an act
of absolute sovereignty. Why would the Lord choose me?
Because he wanted to. Because that was his will. Because that was his purpose,
nothing else. Election, fourthly, is eternal. Eternal. We try to think about
eternity and we just can't really get it. That's because we're
creatures of time. And so we talk about eternity
past and eternity future. Well, there's no such thing as
eternity past and eternity future. Eternity is eternity. Sometimes
in the scriptures, though, the same word translated eternal
is translated everlasting. Because there comes a time when
we begin to experience this thing called eternal life. And it is
now with us everlasting life. But election is always spoken
of as that which is eternal. God chose us and he'll never
change his mind. He'll never be persuaded to un-choose
us. Election is eternal. It is God's
eternal choice of his people in Jesus Christ. It is an act
of God's love, in love having predestinated us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Oh, the Lord God says,
I loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. And God's election is unconditional. There are people who will tell
you, well, election is like this. God looked out in eternity with
his great foreknowledge and he foresaw who would believe on
Jesus and who wouldn't and he chose you, who he foresaw would
believe on him. Never. Foreknowledge is not an
attribute of God. Omniscience is an attribute of
God. Foreknowledge is an act of God. It is God having foreordained
you unto eternal life. God having loved you with everlasting
love. God's choice of his people is
free and unconditional. The Lord Jesus Cried to the father
and said, I thank thee, oh father, lord of heaven and earth. Thou
hast hid these things and wise and prudent and has revealed
them unto babes. Even so, father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Seventh, election is personal. Personal. I just caught Johnny
Tindall's eye. God chose us all at once, but
Johnny Tindall, he chose you. Personally, personally, can you
grasp that? If God chose you, personally, the Lord God chose
Abel, but not Cain. He chose Noah, but not his neighbors. He chose Abraham, but not Nahor. He chose Isaac, but not Ishmael,
and Jacob, but not Esau. He chose Lot, but not his wife.
He chose David, but not King Saul. He chose Peter, but not
Judas. He chose my nearest companion,
or chose me, but not my nearest companion. and God's election is irreversible. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Number nine,
election is effectual. Read the 8th chapter of Romans.
Everyone chosen has been redeemed and shall be called and being
called shall persevere in the faith because we are preserved
in Jesus Christ, sanctified by God the Father, preserved in
Jesus Christ, and called. And tenth, election is distinguishing. Some people, most people, talk
about God's universal love and God's universal benevolence and
God's universal providence. And his providence, I'm sorry,
his providence certainly is universal. We're talking about God's universal
goodness toward men. Read the 43rd chapter of Isaiah
and explain to me how there's some sense in which God loves
everybody. Just read it. Isaiah chapter
43. Well, there's some sense in which
God wants to save everybody. There is a sense in which God
is benevolent to everybody. God said, I gave Egypt for you.
I gave Ethiopia for you. I gave Saba for you. I gave men
for you and people for your life. And He still does. He still does. I have a friend who lives down
close to Charlotte now, down in Matthews, North Carolina.
He's from the former Soviet Union. He was born and raised in Siberia. His wife was from Poland. Back
in 1993, I believe it was, two or three, some folks aired some
messages of mine on 126 radio stations around the world. And
this fellow heard the first one aired, and God got him. God got him. He picked up the
telephone. This was back when he had to
pay whatever it was per minute charge. Called his wife, Natalie,
said, you've got to hear this. And put the tape recorder up,
played the whole thing. Hours of minutes. Played the
whole thing on basic Bible doctrine. And to make a long story short,
God saved her. They got married. They wound
up moving down to Florida where Brother Greg Elmquist is pastor.
He's a carpenter by trade. And then ran out of work, came
up to North Carolina. is in the church where Brother
Ralph Dale's pastor. I was down there a few years ago and met
him face to face for the first time. And the boys were, I'm
going to guess, eight, nine years old, maybe 10 or 11 years old,
right in that area. And I said to him, I said, boys,
you won't understand this for a long time, but I want you to
hear this man and remember what I'm telling you. God Almighty
destroyed a nation. God destroyed a nation so that
you could hear what you're hearing right here in this church every
Sunday. God destroyed a nation to call
out His elect, brought them to this country to hear the gospel.
You don't really believe that, do you? Oh, I do believe that. He still raises up nations. and treads down nations as he
will for the saving of his elect every day. Election is distinguishing
and election is blessed. Oh, how blessed this gospel doctrine. Invariably, if I'm preaching
somewhere where folks aren't commonly exposed to the gospel
as you are here, Somebody will come up and they'll say, well,
I don't like that. That's a hard doctrine. And I
always tell them before they ever come up so that I beat them,
hit them off ahead of time. And folks, I don't like that.
If you ever get in on it, you'll like it. I don't understand why anybody
possibly might object to God's free sovereign election of his
people in Christ Jesus. You can't imagine that, all right?
Here's the second thing I want you to see. Not only is this
clearly a Bible doctrine, it is a doctrine that is often misrepresented
and therefore misunderstood. Let me make three brief statements
in this regard. Number one, election is not the
first thing to be learned. I mentioned almost in brevity
a little bit ago trying to convince somebody about election. Really,
I wish folks would quit trying to. Don't argue folks about election. Our mission is not to get folks
to believe in election. You can be a five-point Calvinist
and go to hell just like you can being an Arminian. You can
go to hell believing the five points of Calvinism just like
you can go to hell being a Pentecostal. Religious titles don't mean a
thing. Our mission is not to convince
folks of election. Our mission is to convince sinners
to believe on the Son of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, the book says, and says plainly.
Now, we're not bashful about preaching it. We teach it to
our children. We taught them at our home, taught
them sitting on our knees as babies. And we teach them the
earliest ones in the Bible classes in the church. I preach this
everywhere I go. I preach it incessantly, all
the time, everywhere, rejoicing in it. But this is not the first
thing to be learned. The first thing to be learned is faith
in Christ. You cannot know your election except you believe on
the Son of God. You cannot, I can't tell you
how many times I've had folks say, well, brother, I don't know
whether I'm elect or not. Well, you can't. You can't read
the last book of life. You can't know you're elect except
by believing. But Donna, as surely as you believe
on the Son, do you believe on the Son of God? You're elect. I know, cause faith is the evidence
of things hoped for. The substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. We know our election believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ and not until then. Well, I don't
know whether Christ dies with me or not. No, you don't. Not
till you believe. But if God gives you faith to
believe, it's because Christ redeemed you, because the spirits
called you, because God chose you under everlasting life in
Jesus Christ. Number two, God's sovereign election does not in any way contradict,
and is not in any way inconsistent with all the promises of God
to sinners in the gospel. Listen to this. The master says,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. Come to me. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out." Mike, I reckon that means if
you come to Christ, you're His. Brother John, I don't know whether
I believe or not. Oh, yes, you do. Yes, you do. Everybody sitting here, you know
whether or not you trust Christ. I do trust Him, but I don't trust
Him like I ought to. That's another story. That's another story. I do trust Him, but I have a
lot of trouble with sin. That's another story, too. I
do trust Him, but how can a man who's saved have such a hard
heart, such a cold, unbelieving, vile nature? Do you trust? There are a lot of things I don't
have much certainty about. But this I'm absolutely certain.
I believe on the son of God. I have no righteousness but him.
I have no atonement for my sin but him. I have no acceptance
with God but him. What do you trust? What do you
trust to give you peace before God? What's your hope? Who do you trust? Election in
no way contradicts any promise of God in the gospel. Him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Our Lord Jesus said,
if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. And he that
believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. Believe and life bubbles up in
your soul. Believe and salvation is yours. What must I do to be saved? I
don't have any question that Philippians didn't ask the right
question, but Paul gave the right answer. He said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Election is not a barrier
to faith. Election opens the door to faith.
Election is the cause of faith. Election doesn't hinder men from
coming to Christ. You couldn't come when you're
not chosen of God to come. Except by election, none shall
be saved. I'm getting a little weary. I've listened to fellows
preach doctrine, just doctrine, election, particular redemption,
predestination. As if they're scared to death,
some of the non-elect might get saved. I'm not too worried about
that. If God calls you by his grace,
if you believe on the son of God, it's because he chose you.
Number three, election is in no way inconsistent with responsibility. You might say, well, I don't
believe we ought to talk about men being responsible. Well,
you are. You've heard the gospel. Some
of you have been sitting here hearing the gospel for many,
many years, faithfully preached to you, and yet believe not.
Yours shall be the greater condemnation because you've heard that which
other men haven't been privileged to hear and despise the grace
of God. You're responsible to believe.
This is His commandment that you believe on His own. You're
responsible to. Well, you can't tell men they're
responsible to do what they can't do. Can any of you make yourself
holy? Anybody? God commands you to
be holy, doesn't he? That means you're responsible
to be. Can you make yourself perfect? The Lord God says, walk
before me and be thou perfect. For I, the Lord, your God am
perfect. That makes you responsible. That makes you responsible. But
Brother Dodd, you tell us we can't believe except God give
us faith. You can't. You can't be perfect
except God make you perfect. You can't be holy except God
make you holy. It looks to me like that shuts
us up to God's free, sovereign mercy and grace in Jesus Christ
the Lord. That's where you are. Shut up
to God doing for you what God alone can do for you. God must
give you life. and give you faith in Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer, else you will not believe. I like what my dear
friend, Brother Harry Graham, used to tell me. I asked him
one time about this matter of responsibility. And he said,
he said, well, best I understand it, responsibility is our response
to his ability. God comes. in the omnipotence
of free grace and gives life to dead sinners. And you know
what happens when it gives life to dead sinners? The dead arise
and come to Christ. Lazarus, come forth! Well, look
at that. What's happened? Lazarus is coming
forth. Well, he can't do that. Watch
him. He did. He did. You can't believe? No, but if God the Son by the
power of his grace sends his spirit to you and calls you,
you will believe. And here's the third point. Your
election may be known. Paul writes these Thessalonians.
I'll let your pastor preach this point. He writes these Thessalonians
and he says, I know your election of God. I know your election
of God. Well, how could he know? He couldn't
read the Lamb's Book of Life. He couldn't ascend the stairs
of heaven and open Lamb's Book of Life and say, now, there,
I read your names. How did he know? He said, your work of faith
and your labor of love are proof that our gospel came to you not
in word only but in the demonstration of the Holy Spirit in power with
much assurance. So that there came a time a man
comes and preaches the gospel to you. And you've all your life
kind of been a skeptic and a critic and smart, smart. You poor ignorant country folks
all need a crutch to lean on so you believe in God and believe
in the Bible. It's a pretty good book, but
nah. And then suddenly you hear the
gospel and you hear it. And for the first time in your
life, you're convinced. That's God's Word. That's God
speaking to me. God spoke to me. That wasn't
Pastor Raffi Barth. That was God Almighty spoke to
my heart. And you became followers of us
and the Lord Jesus. And you turned to God. to the living God from your idols,
your dead, useless idols. Quit rubbing crucifixes and kneeling
to an imaginary deity and worshiping at the altar of your will and
you worship God in his character as God Almighty and you're waiting
for his son, waiting for his son, waiting for Christ. I left Brother
Tommy Robbins last Sunday evening Shepard and I drove down, spent
a couple of hours with he and Robin. He laid there waiting for the Savior.
And you know what I did, Ed? I came home waiting for the Savior.
And I'm gonna go to bed tonight, if the Lord doesn't come before
I go to bed, waiting for Him to come. That's what we're doing,
but we're waiting on Christ. Waiting on Him to come. If He
comes and takes us by death, that'd be fine. I'm waiting for
him to come again in his glorious second advent, that'd be fine.
Boy, I don't want to die until the Lord comes. I want to be
alive when the Lord comes. Paul says it's best to go ahead. He said those that are in the
ground, they shall rise first. The dead in Christ rise first.
Then we'll be caught up with the Lord in the air. However
he comes for me, it'll be all right. Whatever messenger he
uses, it'll be all right. We're waiting for the Lord. And
until he comes for us, God make us, like these Thessalonians,
to be standing boards for the gospel. Paul said, from you,
the word of God went into all the world. That's what we exist
for. Local churches don't exist except
for two purposes, to worship God and gather in his children. Just worship God and gather in
His event, a sounding board for the gospel. That's our mission
in this world. God make us faithful to Him.
Amen.