All of the religions of this
world, no matter what their name, all of the religions of this
world fall into one of two categories, works or grace. This is the teaching
of the Word of God. They fall into one of two categories,
works or grace. He says, if by grace, then it
is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. Romans 11, verse 6. These two
religions are opposite. They are contrary. There is no
common ground. They're like water and oil. You
pour them together, they will not mix. They're contrary one
to the other. The doctrines of the Bible are
represented by these two groups into two systems of theology. The two systems are called in
our day Arminianism and Calvinism. That's how they're titled. Neither
are named for the people who began the teaching, but they're
named after the people who made them prominent in the world.
They're named after the people who promoted them and brought
them into prominence in the world. There was a man, his name was
Jacobus Arminius. He lived in the mid-1500s and
died toward the last part of that century. He was a Dutch
Protestant theologian. He gained a following resisting
the doctrines of Calvinism set forth in the first part of that
century by John Calvin. And he resisted the doctrine
basically and fundamentally of predestination and election. He resisted those things. And
which is always the case when you compromise the truth, he
calls the collapse of all the doctrines of grace in that religion. You cannot tear it down. If you
remove one stone from the temple, the whole thing comes down. You can't accept this teaching
and not accept this one. God is either all God or he's
no God. That's what this Bible teaches.
John Calvin was a French theologian who lived in the first half of
the 1500s, and his ministry emphasized the supremacy of the Scriptures
in the revelation of truth. I'm taking this right out of
a dictionary. These two men, what they stood
for I thought maybe it might be best just to take away the
bias of religion, and I just looked it up. I have a kind of
an encyclopedia-type dictionary, and it will give you a little
bit of information about men. And so I looked it up, looked
these two men up, and I'm reading you exactly, word for word, what
it said. John Calvin was a French theologian
who lived in the first half of the 1500s, emphasized the supremacy
of the Scriptures in the revelation of truth. Not your reasoning,
not your logic, not what the popular belief was of the day,
which in his day was Catholicism. But the supremacy of the Scriptures,
thus saith the Lord, let God be true and every man a liar. Also, he emphasized the omnipotence
of God. the sinfulness of man and the
salvation of God's elect by God's grace alone. Now that's what
the dictionary said is Calvinism. Calvinism. Arminianism is free
will, man-centered, works religion. Ask them, they'll tell you. They're
proud of it. They're proud of it. And it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be the religion of this world. It's
represented in the Bible by Cain at the first gathering before
God. Cain and Abel, the first two
men to ever hear the gospel proclaimed by another man, heard what he
said, gathered what they would, and approached God. One approached
him by the works of their own hands. approached him with the
crops and the fruit and the vegetables and all the things that was appealing
to the eye he brought, and they were beautiful. There was no
blood involved. There was no cutting of the throat.
There was no skinning of the animal, no burning and smelling
of that old rotten flesh. It was just beauty. There was
just beauty. And he brought these, whatever
it was, these watermelons or carrots or whatever he brought,
he brought them all out there, and there's no doubt in my mind
they were beautiful to look on. And he sat him down, and God
spit on his sacrifice. And Abel brought a lamb and slit
its throat. Trembling before God, he looked
on that dying lamb and saw his substitute standing in our room
and our stead before God. And by faith, God had respect
unto Abel and had not respect unto Cain. Works and grace. It was demonstrated in a universal
flood which destroyed the world and saved eight souls, Noah being
a preacher of righteousness and this world preferring their own. In the ministry of Enoch, the
seventh from Adam, he warned of those who walk after their
own lusts, their mouths speaking great swelling words and having
men's persons in admiration for gain. Free will works religion. set forth in picture an example
of professing Israel who came out of Egypt but died in the
wilderness putting their wills and wants and ways above God.
And all through the early church in the New Testament with the
Judaizers and the lawyers, you find the religion of works assaulting
and opposing those who believe God and preach His gospel without
compromise. This free will works religion
is represented in the Bible as a prostitute as a prostitute
willing to sell herself for gain as Babylon. Go back to Daniel,
I think it's in chapter 4, and read about what Babylon was all
about. It was the city and the kingdom
made by the hand of the great Nebuchadnezzar. And when he finished
it, he stood on the wall and said, It's not this great Babylon
that I built by the power of my hand and for the glory of
my name. That's what Babylon was all about.
That's how he describes free will works religion. Babylon
the Great, and the Great Whore. Free will works religion. This free will works religion
is the religion of Satan. He's the author of it, he's the
influence of it, and he's the power behind it. The Pharisees
and the scribes, the elite of Israel, gathered together, who
set themselves in opposition to God's King, to God's Anointed,
to His Christ, And they argued with him, argued back and forth
with him about this and about that. And in John chapter 8 verse
44, he told them, he said, You are of your father the devil.
Ain't that what he said? That's what you're about. That's
what you're about. You are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning and a bow-dot in the truth because there's no
truth in him. That's your daddy. That's your
daddy. He's the God of this world. He
stands for everything this world loves and feels and longs for. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul
teaches us in verse 2 that those who walk according to the course
of this world also walk according to the prince of the power of
the air. And you might have been able
to take that scripture and apply it to drunks and drug addicts
murderers and thieves and robbers and that sort of thing, except
that Paul, who was a very self-righteous religious man, who said his touching
the law, he was blameless, who could trace his roots back to
Abraham, who was a Pharisee, who was a master of theology,
he said, we are all, this is where we all had our conversation
in times past. And the religion of those who
truly are born of God, who love God, and who believe God is a
religion of truth. Truth as it's declared in the
Scriptures. Truth as it's revealed in the
person and work of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Truth as it's
declared in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
it's based on grace alone, Scriptures alone, and Christ alone. That's
it. It has no other basis. No other
basis. And my hope in these messages
that I'm bringing to you, last week on total depravity and this
week on unconditional election in this series, is that at least
in your head, you'll be able to be aware and understand the
difference between free will works religion and the gospel. At least in your head, understand
the difference. Last week I brought the first
of these messages on total depravity using Psalm chapter 14 and Romans
chapter 3 to show you how God sees and testifies of man's condition
because of sin. And the heart of man's sin is
this. He says, No God for me. No God
over me. And he says no to God. That's
what he does. He reads. They understand. I
read to a fellow one time, 2 Corinthians 5, and he said, it never says
in there that Christ was made sin. I said, well, you might
not understand what it means, but it does say made. It uses
the word made on it. And he said, no, it doesn't say
it anywhere. So I read it to him. Oh, he said,
that's the old King James Version. It ain't the old King James Version
keeping you from understanding that. It's the old man in your
heart. That's what keeps you. Made is made. It means now what
it meant 2,000 years ago. The heart of sin is that man
says no to God. He says no to his gospel, no
to his grace, no to every opportunity God lays before him. Paul lumps them all together,
every last one of us together in one big lump, and he says,
we have together become unprofitable. We're characterized as snakes
full of poison under our lips, mouths full of cursing, feet
swift to shed blood, nothing but destruction and misery in
our ways, no fear of God before our eyes, and our standing, none
righteous, none good, none that understandeth, and none that
seeketh after God. That's your standing before God. Guilty, he said, before God. My message to you this morning
is the election of God. Unconditional election. Unconditional election. Election is the eternal, free,
sovereign choice of God to save a people out of Adam's fallen
race, out of this corrupt race of men, this fallen race of men,
for the glory of His name. That's what election's all about.
Election's not an opinion, it's not an idea conceived of man,
but a very prominent Bible term and Bible doctrine. Oh, you say,
salvation's not by doctrine. It ain't without it either. You
better get adjusted to that. God's not going to save you in
your ignorance. He's going to teach you, and
you're going to hear, and you're going to understand. It's not
an opinion. The word elect, elects, election,
and elected appears 27 times in the Bible. Besides all the
variations where he talks about the circumcised, where he talks
about true Israel, where he talks about being chosen of God, besides
all of that, I don't even know if you could number all those
references. It's expressed in other terms. Set apart. appears throughout the scriptures.
And election is a Bible doctrine, and I hope you'll see it as we
go on, as a very necessary and blessed doctrine, and one well-beloved
by all those who have been manifested by it. Election is not a harmful,
hurtful, bitter doctrine. It's a blessed doctrine. It's
a blessed doctrine. Paul blessed God in Ephesians
chapter 1. He blessed God for having chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And he said that
election in Christ was in order to bless the church with all
spiritual blessings. Election is altogether a blessed
doctrine and has to do with the blessings of God, not the cursings
of God. It's a blessed doctrine. And
let's look at this first. I'm going to give you seven things
this morning. Consider this first. Election is vitally connected,
joined to, and never to be understood apart from the one in whom all
God's elect were chosen. Christ. Christ. I want you to turn with me to
Isaiah chapter 42. While you're turning, to the
book of Isaiah chapter 42. I want to read you something
here in Ephesians 1 that states what I just said. In verse 3 of Ephesians 1, Paul
said, 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 has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that you should be holy and without
blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will." Election has to do with people. Predestination
has to do with the means. With the means. Election is God's
right of blessing all those He has predestinated to be children
by way of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
all of God's elect are chosen of God in Christ, who is the
embodiment of God's elect. Now look here in Isaiah chapter
42, verse 1. Here are the prophets. He said, Behold my servant, whom
I uphold, mine elect. Do you see that? Mine elect. In whom my soul delighteth, I
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. Now wait a minute. He didn't
bring judgment to the Gentiles. He brought blessing to the Gentiles,
didn't he? He brought grace to the Gentiles. He opened up a
mystery that had been hidden from all times and all the past
history. He opened up this mystery of
the Gentiles and brought salvation to them and revealed who true
Israel was. So he is not talking here about
judgment as we think about judgment being condemnation or judgment
of wrath, but here the word judgment has to do with understanding.
Here the word judgment has to do with judging right from wrong,
truth from error. Here the word judgment has to
do with a right understanding. A right understanding. The prophet of God said God's
elect is going to bring a right judgment to the Gentiles, give
them an understanding between right and wrong and evil and
truth and error. In particular, now listen to
me, in particular, he's going to give them a discernment about
the living God by way of the work of redemption. In short,
he's talking about himself coming in the person of a man to establish
his gospel to the heathen, to the sinners. Isaiah 42, 2. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street, not in a contentious
way, not in an aggressive person, not calling men to sedition against
their government or authorities. Verse 3, a bruised reed shall
he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He was tender-hearted
toward the weak and ignorant Gentiles. He was patient and
kind. You don't find that attitude
toward those proud Israelites. He said, you vipers. He called them snakes. He wasn't
tender. He was hard. He was hard to them. Talked hard to them, but he was
tender to those Gentiles. He was tender to those weak,
ignorant sinners. He shall not fail, verse 4, nor
be discouraged till he has set judgment in the earth, and the
isles shall wait for his law. That is a right understanding
of the law and a right understanding of the justice and judgment of
God. This saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and
stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth and that which
cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it,
and a spirit to them that walk therein. Now watch this, talking
about Christ who is his elect. I the Lord hath called thee in
righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people. for a light to
the Gentiles to open blind eyes, bring out the prisoners from
the prison, and them that sat in darkness out of the prison
hath. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I
not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."
That is his elect. Election finds its beginning
in Christ who is God's elect. This is the glory of it, the
strength of it, the assurance of it, and the certainty of it.
It is all about that covenant. What justifies election is the
just one in whom we are chosen. Secondly, election is not the
cause of anyone going to hell. It is not that cause. If any
man or woman, boy or girl, wind up in hell, it will be because
of your own rebellion against light and truth, and your love
of darkness, which you prefer over the testimony of God. Election
has to do with saving, not damning. It has to do with letting the
prisoners free, not locking them up. They are already locked up. They are already condemned. He
that believeth not is condemned already, the Scripture says.
Already. Never in the Scriptures is this
more clearly declared than at the coming of Christ into this
world to die on the cross. In John chapter 3, listen to
this, verse 17. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. That's why He came. He came. God's elect was sent here to
save. He was sent here to redeem. He
that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is condemnation, that
light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. Election is no excuse
for condemnation. And this is equally important,
this is the third point to this thing of election. Election does
not prevent, does not prevent the salvation of any man or any
woman who truly wants to be saved. You know, I was talking to a
man one time about election and he said, You mean even those
that want to be saved can't be saved unless they're elect?"
I said, no, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is there
is no want to in man. It doesn't have to do with his
want to. It has to do with God's want to. If God leaves him alone,
he's going to hell. He's a sinner. He's fallen. He's
corrupt. He's judged already. He's just
waiting on execution. He's running around in the jail
cell and don't know it because he's in darkness. Man says no to God. No God for
me. None that seeketh after God. Fourthly, election, as it's described
and defined in Romans 11, is an election of grace. Free, sovereign,
unmerited favor of God. It's not God looking down through
the telescope of time and seeing who would and wouldn't choose
him, and who would and wouldn't do good, and all this kind of
nonsense. Election is an election of grace,
and it cannot in any way be attributed to your works past, present,
or future. It's all by grace. He said of
Jacob and Esau in Romans chapter 9, he singled these two men out.
This is why they were born. This is what their life declared. It was an allegory to us, if
you will. And he took these two boys and
he said to their mama, who was carrying them, they weren't born
yet. He said to his mama, before they'd ever been born or done
any good or done any evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. This is what their whole birth
was about. He said to them, the elder is
going to serve the younger, as it's written, Jacob have I loved
and Esau have I hated. It's an election of grace. And then fifthly, election declares
to this world that the destinies of all men are in the hands of
God. Man's a creature. He's not a
creator. Man's a servant. He's not a sovereign. He's been told he's a sovereign,
but he's not. He's a servant. Man's under a
higher power, whether he's willing to admit it or not. A man is
responsible and accountable to God whether he admits it or not.
He thinks because he can set his jaw like a flint and resist
what you say that somehow he's going to be able to avoid that
day in which God is going to judge every man. You're not going
to avoid it. You're not going to avoid it.
You're one germ from standing in front of God. One germ. You
can't even see. He'll take you out that quick.
One breath. How long can you hold your breath?
You're one breath away from standing before the judge of heaven and
earth. And still, you want to set yourself
in opposition to God. You want to bring something that
you've done, something that you've said, something that you believe
is in you before God and say, here I am. Here I am. He says over in Acts chapter
17, God has appointed a day in which He will judge this world
in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained by His
elect. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
10, in the dispensation, Paul said, I would that God would
give you some understanding of this. that in the dispensation
of the fullness of the times, he's going to gather all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in him, now watch this, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Man's destiny is in the hands
of God. That's where it's at. Not in
your hand, it's in His. In His. Now let me ask you something. Are you a sinner? That's where it starts. Are you
a sinner? That's why I preach that doctrine first, because
this is where it begins. Are you a sinner? Do you see
yourself, as Paul describes us in Romans 3, without understanding,
without willingness, without love, without understanding,
ruined, fallen, separated from God, none good, none righteous,
no fear of God before your eyes, guilty before God? Are you a
sinner? Can you see God in the Scriptures,
holy and just and good, unchangeably good, uncorrupt, All-wise, all-powerful,
all-knowing, in whose hands would you rather your destiny be? You'd rather they be in yours
or His? Folks call me all the time and
they talk to me about their mother who just died or their brother
or sister or son or different ones over different periods of
time. And they call and they're worried about them because they
didn't come to church and they didn't hear and they didn't submit
and they didn't bow and all these different things. Do you think
for this reason, that reason, some other reason, where do you
think they are? How do you think they wound up
in the judgment of God? I don't know. I don't know. I just know what the Scripture
declares. But I tell you this, leave them
in His hands because that's where they're at anyway. He can't do
wrong. Take them out of your hands.
Take yourself out of your hands and see yourself in His hands
who can't do wrong. If He elects you, it's a righteous
election. If He damns you, it's a righteous
damnation. He had every reason in the world
to hate Esau and no reason to love Jacob. Except grace. Grace. Those who oppose the election
of God, they're not only making a front on the character of God,
but they're declaring themselves to be wiser, better, more loving,
and more concerned than God is in His perfection of glory. They turn their backs. on the
manifestation of it in the death of Christ and in the life of
Christ and in the resurrection of Christ. Man challenges God
as to his own character and goodness and right to do with us what
he will. And God says to us, Who art thou,
O man, that replies against God? Huh? Who art thou? I forget which famous hymn writer.
I don't know if it was Augustus Toplater or which one it was,
but one of them said he was sitting and listening to the pastor preach
on Genesis and he said, when he read those words of God calling
out to Adam, he said, Adam, where art thou? That's what he's talking
about over here in Romans chapter 1. Who art thou, old man? Where art thou? That replies against God. Shall the thing formed say of
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? I tell you
that the destinies of all men are in the hands of God, and
all the rebellion and animosity this world can produce is not
going to change it. Sixthly, and in close relation
to the last point, election stands or falls on these two things,
God's absolute sovereignty, absolute sovereignty and man's total Now,
when you come to understand those two things, the election will
look good, won't it? It'll look good. God's absolute sovereignty, man's
ruin. Does God have the right to be
God? His book says He does. The appearance
of His Son says He does. The preaching of the gospel says
he does. The Holy Ghost testifies to the
heart that he does. And the judgment of God will
close the book on the issue. He has the right to rule. And then lastly, how are God's
elect to be known? How are we going to know who
they are? If God elected them, how is God going to reveal them?
How is he going to manifest them? Well, this book teaches that
the elect of God are manifested in this world by repentance from
sin. Now, he's not talking here about
being scared of going to hell. He's not talking here about fear
of punishment. That's a natural desire. There's
nobody in this world who wants to burn or be judged. Go down
to prison and ask them. They're not a guilty man in the
prison. The first thing Cain said when God judged him, he
said, My punishment, my punishment. He was talking about his punishment.
He wasn't repenting about what he did. He wasn't repenting about
what he was. He was repenting over his punishment.
Nobody wants to be punished or burn in hell. That's a natural
desire. What I'm talking about, repentance
is born. when a man recognizes what he
is and he turns from it. He recognizes what this world
is and he turns from it. He turns from his sin. It's a
desire to be saved from sin and from what you are. And I'm telling
you this, believing in election does not identify you as God's
elect. I'm going to make a statement
to you. The nation of Israel was a nation of men that God
elected outside of Christ. Don't you think about what I
just said. They experienced an election outside of Christ. It was a natural election for
temporal things, to temporal lands and bounty, to temporal
blessings, It was an earthly relationship. It was for earthly
reasons. Now God used them as a picture
to picture true Israel and justifies that election. But that election
was outside of Christ and it ended in disaster. Do you see
what I'm saying? It ended in disaster. Paul prayed
for the salvation of Israel and he talked about it and he talked
about the fact that they needed to be saved and they had a zeal
of God and had all these things. But here's what Paul said, he
said, does their unbelief make the Word of God without effect? Does that change the will of
God? Have they defeated the will of God? No. For not all Israel
are Israel. There's nobody in Israel that
would fight you over election like a Jew. He'll fight you over
election. We've got people right here in
this country, they'll fight you over election, but they don't
know Christ. It's an election outside of God's
true elect. It's an election outside of Christ. Just because you acknowledge
election doesn't mean you're elect. That's not how God manifests
His elect. Paul said, we are the circumcision,
the elect. which worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. I'm going to read this to you
and then I'll close. In Galatians chapter 3 verse 29, and you really
need to read all through that chapter, but in chapter 3 verse
29, he said, And if you be Christ's, are you? Have you bowed to Him? Have you
submitted to Him? Have you embraced Him? Have you
come to see yourself under His dominion? Have you come to rejoice
in Him? If you be Christ, then are you
Abraham's seed, and as according to the promise, you're elect. And Paul, he saw those Thessalonians,
he said, I know your election of God. for these very reasons. And he names them. Six or seven
reasons he goes through. Turn to God from your idols.
Receive the Word in power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost.
Receive that Word in much affliction. Become examples to all that believe. From you sounded out the Gospel
into all that country over there. You patiently wait on the Lord
from heaven. That's how God's elect are manifested.
In Him in whom they were elected, they embrace Him, believe in
Him, rest in Him, and rejoice in Him. God give us hearts to
do that.