I'd like for you to take your
Bibles this morning and turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 1. And you might want to just place
a marker there in 1 Thessalonians 1. My subject this morning is knowing
your election of God. And any honest person who reads
the word of God, who has a sincere desire to know and understand
the message of this book, it's not going to take him very long
before he's confronted with this thing of election, of God choosing
certain individuals. He's going to run into it. It's
in every book. It's in the four Gospels, every
one of them. It's in the book of Acts, all
through the book of Acts. You're going to find it in Romans.
You're going to find it in the Corinthians. You're going to
find it throughout the Bible. You're going to find this thing
of election, election, election, God choosing a people. And they're
called in Scripture by many names. They're called his church. Sometimes
they're referred to as his bride, his sheep, my sheep, he told
them. They said, If thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. He said, I told you. And you
believe not, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear
my voice. Some men hear, some men don't.
His sheep hear. They are called in Scripture
his body. He is the head of the body, the church. They are called
in holy priesthood. They are called his garden, his
beloved. But most of the time, they're
referred to in the scripture as God's elect. That's how they're
identified, God's elect. Talking about the end of time
to his disciples who were confused, they were raised in that legalism,
that Jewish legalism. They were raised in that hollow
form of religion. They believed in a Christ, but
they didn't know what the Christ was all about. They believed
in a salvation, but they didn't know what salvation was about.
They believed that there was a judgment coming, but they didn't
understand what that judgment was about. And our Lord talking
to them and talking to them about the end of time and talking to
him about those things, he said to his disciples, those days
shall not be shortened except for the elect's sake. He said
that he was going to gather from the four winds and from one end
of heaven to the other his elect. And then talking about the Jews
who seemed to, for the most part, turned against Christ and so
totally that if you viewed the multitudes walking away and the
tiny remnant that stayed, you just have to say that the Jews,
if you want to just talk about them as a natural people and
as a nation, had fallen completely and apostatized. They just fell off and rejected
the Christ and rejected His teaching and rejected all the miracles
that God did. All those things that were done
before their eyes, they were blinded and they couldn't see
it. And talking to him about those
things, he said in Romans 11, verse 5, he said, even so, he
went back and talked to him about those days when Elijah prayed
and said, well, I'm the only one left. Nobody else is left,
just me down in the cave. Just go ahead and take me home,
because I'm the only one left." And the Lord said, you're not
the only one left. I've reserved some folks. That's election.
That's election. And Paul, referring back to that
in this time of apostasy and this time when the Jews had just
fallen away for the most part, totally. But he said, even so
at this present time also, there is a remnant. according to the
election of grace. You are just going to keep finding
that word, election, election, election. I remember Brother
Mahan talking about teaching a class at Pollard before that
church split. He was teaching one morning and
there was so much division in that church over these things,
they had never heard anything about the sovereignty of God
and election and all these things. And there was so much controversy
that he decided that morning that he was just going to read.
He wasn't going to teach anything. He was just going to read. And
so he read the first chapter of Ephesians. And he got down
to about verse 4, and the old deacon stood up and he said,
Hang on. He said, I know what you're trying
to teach. And Henry said, I'm not trying
to teach anything. Oh, yes, you are. He said, I know exactly.
You're trying to teach a lecture. Henry said, I'm not trying to
teach anything. Oh, yes, you are. He said, I'm not stupid. I sit here. I hear what you're
saying. You're trying to teach election. Henry said, I'm just
reading to you the first few verses of Ephesians chapter 1. Is election what you got out
of it? He said, that's what I got out of it, too, because that's
what it teaches. That's what it teaches. And you're
going to find this doctrine of election no matter where you
go in the Scripture. God has a people. Now hold your
place there in 1 Thessalonians. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. What is election? What does it
mean to be elect? Well, ignorant men, I believe,
have done much to muddy the waters over the years about election.
One of my neighbors came over and talked to me about it as
though it was a filthy word, election. You don't believe in
that doctrine of election, do you? Well, I don't know what
you mean by election, but according as it says forth in the Word
of God, yes, I do. Yes, I do. Ignorant men have done much to
muddy the waters of election, but when rightly understood,
election is a beloved doctrine. Now listen to me. Election is
not the cause of any man going to hell. Now write that down. It's not. It's not. No man is going to stand before
God and say, I would have followed you. I would have believed on
you, except for election, I wasn't elected. That's why I'm... No.
No, you're not going to be able to plead that. You're not going
to be able to plead that. Election is not the cause or
the reason For any man is going to hell. Sin is why you're going
to hell. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so that death passed upon
all men, and the evidence is clear. He's given that evidence
for thousands of years in all sorts of situations and nations
and circumstances. For all have sinned. There's
no getting out of it. There's no getting around it. put me in America. If God hadn't put me in Africa,
if God hadn't put me in Europe, no, that ain't it. That ain't
it. I don't care where He puts you. He gives you a whole world,
and He gives six or eight thousand years of evidence. All have sinned. I don't care where you are, where
you were born, what the government was. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. I don't care if you're Jew or
Gentile. Paul said it didn't make any difference. Ain't that
what he said in Romans chapter 3? No difference. No difference. It says it twice. We're sinners by nature, inherited
through the curse of our father Adam. We're sinners by choice.
It's what we want to do. It's what we want to do. Look
back on your childhood. Look back before conversion.
Was there ever a day when you woke up and said, I want to follow
the Lord? Not one single day was there.
Not one day did you wake up praising His name, thanking Him for His
grace. Not one single day did you wake
up with an understanding of who He was, marveled by His grace
and His glory and His majesty. Not one single day. We do exactly,
exactly what we want to do. And what we want to do as sinners
is sin. And we are sinners by practice.
We practice sin. We practice it in our hearts. We practice it in our minds.
We practice it in our lives. We practice sin. Election does
not prevent the salvation of any man who wants to be saved.
Election has to do with being saved. Election has to do with
being blessed. Did you know that? In Ephesians
chapter 1, Paul talks about the Father blessing us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. It has to do with
blessing. It doesn't have to do with curse. You won't find
that word curse in there anywhere. Go to Romans chapter 9. He's
talking about these vessels. You're going to find this vessel
to be a vessel of mercy, afford prepared unto glory. You won't find the same language
where he talks about that vessel of wrath. You're going to find
that the Lord was long-suffering toward him. He put up with him.
He left him. He didn't curse him immediately.
He didn't cast him out immediately. He didn't bring down that final
judgment immediately on him. But he lived in a world where
God's grace and glory was demonstrated day after day after day, and
he loved darkness rather than light. You won't find that word election
talking about him. Election has to do with salvation.
It has to do with being saved. Here in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, if you care to read that chapter at your leisure after a while,
you'll find out that this old man of sin, Paul said, has not
fully demonstrated himself. He's not fully manifested himself
yet. And Paul said, don't be thinking
that the Lord is going to come back tomorrow. He's not coming
back tomorrow. Some people have told you that,
trying to strike fear in your heart. Some people have told
you that, trying to get you to be a legalist. He said some things
have to happen, and one of those things is that this man of sin
is going to manifest himself. He's going to be fully manifested.
How is he going to do it? In religion. Read the chapter. He's going to manifest himself
in religion, and that religion is going to go out like an ocean.
It's just going to pull in and cover and take in all the nations
of the world and the kings and the people, and they're just
going to be saturated with religion. And for this cause, because they
receive not the love of the truth, for this cause, God is going
to send them strong delusion and give them over to believe
a lie. and damn them for believing it. But he said, I thank God. I thank God. Now, watch this. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Isn't that what it says? Not damnation. Salvation. Not
to have a chance to choose. Salvation. You see that? Salvation. And this salvation
is through, see that? Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. And we separate these two all
the time for study purposes. But let me tell you something.
These things aren't separate in your experience. In the experience
of grace, these two things are not separate. They're not going
to be a sanctification of the Spirit apart from a belief of
the truth. Not going to happen. What am
I saying? I'm saying that you're not born
again and then ten years later come to a knowledge of the gospel.
You'll be born of God and given ears to hear at the same time.
The purpose of the birth is to hear. The purpose of the birth
is to have eyes. The purpose of the birth is to
have a new man created in you who is willing in the day of
his power to fall and become a commitment out of your heart
to be willing to serve and to be willing to obey, to be willing
to listen, to be broken, to have an understanding. Oh, through sanctification of
the Spirit and belief of the truth. Without the one, there cannot
be the other. The one that sanctifies also
teaches. Isn't that what our Lord said
over in John chapter 16? If I go away, I'll send to you
the Comforter. What's he going to do? He's going
to teach. He's going to take the things of mine. He's going
to show them unto you. He's going to show them unto
you. So to be identified as the elect
of God, two things have been fixed and ordained from eternity
concerning the right to election. We have no right to talk about
being the elect of God apart from these two things. Now, you
read through the 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John. You read through
those epistles and tell me if that's not the story behind it.
You have no right to election. You have no reason to believe.
Peter said in 2 Peter, he said, make your calling, give all diligence
to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things,
you'll never fall. How do you make them sure? How
do you do that? Well, he tells you back there,
you add to your faith. How do you add to your faith?
Because these things are the fruit of faith. If you have real
faith, you're going to have patience, kindness, gentleness. All these
things are going to accompany true faith. False faith doesn't
have these fruits. Up in our part of the country,
up in Kentucky, we have what we call wild cherry trees. And
they promise fruit, but they can't produce it. They just got
this little hard thing that birds like to eat and then leave their
droppings all over everything in the country. That's all the
good they are. They promise fruit, but they
can't produce it. False faith promises fruit. He talks about
it over there in those epistles. He said they're like clouds that
you see, and it's been dry, and you're wanting for water, and
everything's wanting for water, and the streams are down, and
the grass is dying, and you look, and here comes the clouds, and
they promise water, but when they get there, they're clouds
without rain. Ain't that what he talks about?
That's false faith. False faith. Real faith produces
fruit. To be identified as the elect
of God, these two things must take place. There must be a sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And I don't care how much
you know about the doctrine or how much in agreement you are
with the doctrine, to be a partaker of it, to have a right to it,
these two things must come to pass, and these two things are
of God. They are of God. You can't produce
each one of them. You can't do it. Now, I know
churches all across the land, they're having folks come down
an aisle and make a commitment, make a decision, and they call
that being born again. I've had them sit and tell me
that. I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, and I was born
again. You're no such thing. No such
thing. Listen to this, verse 14. Right
here where I'm reading, verse 14, "'Whereunto, because God
hath chosen you to salvation, and to the sanctification of
his Spirit and belief of the truth for this cause, he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" See where election brings the sinner?
It brings them to Christ. It brings Him there, John, because
that's where the glory is. It brings Him there because this
is where the salvation that you were elected to is. It's in Him. It brings Him into a vital saving
union by faith to receive the benefit and glory of His Redeemer
in whom God chose Him and put Him before the world began. And
I don't care where you go. You can go over here to the last
book of the Bible. Go here to the last of that book,
and he's talking about judgment and he's talking about these
men being judged, and what do you find there? You find those
whose names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the foundation of the world. This thing, when it's done and
when it's complete and when it's settled and when the judgment
of God confirms it at that day, all things are going to go back
to that book in whose name And he's not talking about a book,
he's talking about a person. A person. Now, let's go back
to our text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Now, we know by the Word of God
that God has chosen a people. You find that, you discover it
all through the Scriptures. We know what this election is
about. It's unto salvation. It's not salvation. It's unto
salvation. means to set apart to be saved. And we know what are the means
to accomplish the end, sanctification of spirit, belief of the truth.
Now, here is the question that every God-called sinner wants
to know. How do I discern this election? Paul said he knew their election
of God. How do I know? How do I know? How can I have hope that this
blessed election of God concerns me? Nobody else is going to be
saved. Nobody else. Why? Because, as
Paul said, we have before proved that all men are under sin. They
are not going to break those chains, those bounds, that darkness. They are not coming out of it.
They have no eyes, no ears, no life. They are called in Ephesians
chapter 2, he uses three things to describe a sinner. First,
they're dead in trespasses and sins. Under the judgment of God's
holy law, they're guilty and sentenced to death. Number two,
they walk according to the course of this world. This world is
under the judgment of God. It's under the condemnation of
God. By one man's sin entered into the world, and death by
sin. They're walking according to the course of this world.
That's all you'll ever do unless God intervenes. is walk according
to... You can get religious or stay
irreligious. You can do what you will. There's
all kinds of variations for it. It's a broad road, he said. But
you're all going down the road, and you ain't going to leave
the road. You're going to follow the course
of this world. And the course of this world
is according to the God of this world. I know folks like to joke and
make light of Satan, but I'm going to tell you something.
Satan was the cause of a third of heavenly beings falling right
out of the presence of God. That's why when contending over
the body of Moses, the archangel wouldn't enter into a conversation
with him and wouldn't dispute with him, he knew the danger. He knew the danger. Our Lord turned to Peter and
he said, Satan hath desired to sift thee as wheat, but I prayed
for you. The only thing that separated
Peter from Jesus Both of them influenced by Satan. Both of
them shifted by Satan. The only thing that separated
these two men and what they did, the only thing that separated
them was the Lord prayed for them. He said, I pray for you
that your faith fail not. Him pray for Judas. Christ, He's the only difference.
And I tell you this, nobody else is going to be saved. Not now,
not in some millennium, not out of purgatory, not ever. Not ever,
because God has condemned this world in judgment. Had not God
made provision to save a people for his glory, man just continue
on his way. The prophet said the Ethiopian,
he said he can't change the color of his skin. And the leopard,
he can't change his spot. And you that are accustomed to
do evil, you can't break that evil. Just like that leopard
wears his spots and that Ethiopian carries his brown skin, so you
that are accustomed to do evil are going to do evil. It's set
and you ain't coming out of it. The only thing that's going to
bring you out of it is that the eternal God chose to save a people. And He determined and engaged
everything in His own character, including His oath to save your
soul. And he's determined he ain't
going to let you go. He's not going to let you go. Oh, to be ignored is certain doom.
To be left to yourself is certain doom. To throw myself into the
hodgepodge of worldly religion is to throw myself into a pack
of wolves. They're wolves in sheep's clothing,
our Lord said. To continue on my way is to follow
the broad road that leadeth to destruction. There's a way that
seemeth right unto man in the end of his destruction. You're
not going to figure it out. You're not going to find the
answers. Our only hope is that God has made an everlasting covenant
ordered in all things and sure. David said, this is all my salvation. He'd been down the road, hadn't
he? Man after God's own heart. Writer
of Scripture. He didn't talk about in his dying
breath all the Scripture he wrote. He didn't talk about the Spirit
of God being in his mouth as he penned those words. What did
he talk about? He talked about that covenant.
He said, this is all my salvation, all my desire. If there is any
possibility for God's elect to fall, they will. If there is
a way they can be lost, they will be. But he did not leave
us to chance and circumstance. He took us before the foundation
of the world and put us in Christ. and were kept in Him, preserved
in Him, sealed in Him. And in His time and according
to His good pleasure, He is going to call those out whom He put
in Christ. And He is going to send His Spirit
in power, in power. Oh, He didn't leave us to chance
and circumstance, but He chose us to salvation. How then can
I, doomed and dying sinner, how can I find reasonable hope that
I am somewhere in that number for whom Christ died? He gives
us five things here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. First, he tells us,
he said, I know your election of God. Brethren and beloved,
knowing your election of God, for our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power in the Holy Ghost. and
in much assurance. And I suppose we could talk for
days about that. But the word power has to do
with several things. It has to do with permissive
authority. Everybody doesn't have permission. When he left, he said, if I go
away, I'll send a comforter to you. The comforter doesn't come to
everybody. The gospel doesn't come in power
to everybody. It doesn't come in the Holy Ghost
to everybody. It doesn't come in murky shirts
to everybody. It comes to those he chose, to
his elect. He knows who they are. I don't
have a clue who they are. had not crashed by his authoritative
power, called Lazarus out of the tomb, he never would have
come out, would he? That's authority. That's authority. There's an official call and
there's a general call. The gospels pray. I'm preaching
to everybody in the building this morning. God's preaching
to his elect. Had not Christ said, Lazarus,
everybody in that cemetery would have come out. But He didn't.
He told Lazarus to come out. And there comes a time when this
people that He chose before the foundation of the world for whom
He died, was buried, raised, intercedes in glory, sent His
comforter to, to teach, to receive a new birth. There comes a time
when He calls them, and that calling is an effectual call. They come. They respond. That's what he's talking about
here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Here's when the gospel comes
to you in power, when it affects you, when it affects a change. You're going this way. God stops
you with that call, and you turn. You were obeying Satan. You were
doing his will. They're in the way of the will.
Pow! He stops you. You start going this direction.
There's a change effected. There's a power that gets hold
of you. All of a sudden, the Word of God means everything,
where it meant nothing. It was like a mystery. You know
the book? You read it when you was a kid, and it's like a mystery.
You see these things and wonder about them. I used to sit at
home. Of course, the only thing they
ever taught us was about the ark and creation. But I'd sit
out by the old campfire, just a little old kid, and dream about
these things. They were magical mysteries to
me. And think about a flood that
encompassed the earth and this ark and all these things. And
all of a sudden, those things that were mysteries, those things
that were just almost unbelievable, become true. They become true. They mean something. Sin means
something. Righteousness means something.
Sovereignty means something. All of a sudden, you discover
God's God. And you're a sinner, and you've got to face this God,
not the God of your imagination, but the God of Scripture, the
God of revelation. It comes in power. It affects
a chain. It has to do with ability. I was thinking about that man
at the pool we talked about this morning. He lay there on that
bed. The Lord said, rise up and walk. He couldn't, but he did.
He told that man with the wizard hand, he said, stretch forth
thine hand. Huh? He couldn't, but he did. He told Lazarus, come out of
the tomb. He couldn't, but he did. Because with the command
comes the ability to do the command. That's what happened. That's
what he's talking about when he said the gospel came in power and has to do with the will.
He conquers the will. I'll tell you this, when the
gospel comes to God's elect, it's received. It's recipient. How many hear this gospel and
go out the door unaffected, unchanged, unmoved? unconvinced. I might as well stood up here
and read you a story about whatever. It had no effect, no change. Nothing happened. But when that
word comes in power, there is a change. It is received. Its commands are submitted to.
Its truth is bowed to. And I tell you this, it's rejoicing. I don't know so much about folks
who can hear the gospel and not rejoice. You've got a problem.
If you can do that, if you can sit and listen to this gospel,
I just don't see how you can do it and not rejoice. How can
you not rejoice? I tell you, old Barabbas, he
laid down there in that prison. And I don't know how much he
could hear, but he could hear something, and he could certainly
hear that mob outside when they got angry and began to shout,
Give us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! And I can just
picture him down in that dungeon hearing that angry mob. He knew
what he was. He knew what he'd done. He knew
what he'd been judged. And he knew what he had to go
out there and face. But my soul, this mob wanted to rip him to
pieces. They wanted to tear him apart.
And he heard those soldiers coming down that aisle, and he heard
them marching, and he heard them unlock the door and call him
to come. And he come to them, and they
unlocked those chains. And he said, you're free to go.
Another has been chosen in your stead. You're free to go. You think he went home rejoiced?
You think that fellow laid there for 28 years in his paralysis
at the pool when the Lord told him to rise up and walk, and
he did and took up that bed, you think he rejoiced? You think
blind Bartimaeus who sat there and heard all this stories about
the beautiful seas and the mountains and the streams and the colors
and all this stuff that he heard when people walked by, you think
when he received those eyes and he could take it in that he didn't
rejoice? He rejoiced. What does it mean
for the gospel to come in power? It means that it comes and it
effects a change, and that man experiences that change, and
he rejoices in the gospel. He rejoices in Christ. He looks
forward. David said, I was glad. I was
glad when they said to me, it's time to go up to the house of
the Lord. He was ready to go. Can you rejoice? You will if
you have ever experienced grace in your heart. You'll rejoice.
Oh, a new birth takes place, a new man created within. That
old stony heart's replaced with a heart of flesh and it can be
touched. There's a persuasion, there's a knowing involved. They
hear the truth about sin and the truth about the character
and name of God, about substitution. And these things begin to make
sense to them. They begin to see themselves
for what they are. Representation, all of a sudden,
is the only way out. All of a sudden, at the same
time, there is a dissatisfaction with yourself and a perfect satisfaction
with Christ at the same time. Both faith and repentance are
born simultaneously. Turning from ourselves, we turn
to Him. We find ourselves hopelessly
lost. yet perfectly assured. We find
ourselves empty but full, guilty but justified. And then he said, Because your
son's God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart,
and you cry, Abba, Father. What's that mean? That means
you pray. You pray. You pray. Nobody can pray but
a child of God. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
You can't pray. You get up and recite words. I'm so sick sometimes of my prayers,
I can't understand it. It's no wonder He said in the
Scriptures, you know not what to pray for as God. You don't
know. You don't even know how to pray. We stand up and just
babble on, babble words we're called on. We have to eat, so
it ain't going to look right. Everybody's going to think we're
sinners if we don't say a prayer. So we'll stand up and say something.
We muddle some words. That's not prayer. Prayer understands
that it has an entrance made unto the Father. I am a son.
That old prodigal son that laid down in the mud and ate the husk
and the corn and wallowed with the pigs, he sat down there in
his mind and had wasted his living and threw away and walked on
the grace of God and the things his father had given him. Even
the servants back in my father's house got it better than I do.
I'm just going to go back and maybe he'll just let me have
a place out in the barn. And he got back and the father
came running out and put his arms around him and kissed him.
And he said, this is my son. My son. Get a hold of that. Your sons. Sons of God. My soul. Sons of God. He put His arms around him and
just smothered him in kisses and brought him into the house.
Here it is. He's got the calf already in
the stall prepared for it. Bring forth the ring and put
it on his finger. It's my son. This thing of the new birth,
God sends forth His Spirit into your heart because you're a son
and you cry, Abba, Father. Abba, Father. Oh, what was it
that satisfied God? He looked down from heaven upon
his son dying, agonizing on the cross, and he saw the travail
of his soul like a woman pregnant and about to deliver a child.
And he looked down to see this pain and suffering trying to
produce this life that God put in him, going to bring forth
a son. God looked on the travail of
his soul, and he was sad. Oh, you'll be satisfied when
He sends the Spirit of His Son into your heart and you cry,
I have a Father. I have a Father. What hope God puts into the hearts
of His children. Oh, and because you're sons,
He sends forth that Spirit. He teaches you those truths.
He brings about that change. On the Phoebus ship, I think
about him sometimes. They done killed all the other
relatives of Saul. They're gone. They're gone. Nobody's going to be left who's
going to dispute the kingship of David. Nobody. And they went
out. He said, what about, does Saul
have any left? Yep. Got one little boy laying
on his feet. He said, go get him. Go fetch
him. I think his word is. Henry brought a message one time,
fetch him grapes. That's what it does. And brought
on Mephibosheth to the house. Mephibosheth thought he was sure
for the sword. They're going to bring him there. He was the
last of the heirs. Going to take his head, put him
to death. Came to that door. David said,
make him a place at my table. Me? How come? Because I entered into
a covenant on your behalf long before you were born. And I'm going to honor that covenant.
And you're going to sit at my table, and you're going to live
in my house. That's what it is. It comes in
power. It comes in the Holy Ghost. It
comes with much assurance. And then in verse 6, he said,
And you become followers of us and the Lord. You'll never bow
to a man. I'm telling you the truth. Some
of you sitting here week after week looking at me, and you shake
your head. That's just a man. That's just
a man. That's just a man. He'll be just a man until the
Lord comes to you in power. Until you need that message more
than you need water. When you need that grace more
than you need your necessary food, He'll be a whole lot more
than a man. Paul said, you'll leave that
place that day and cry to Him in your heart, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. Bring to
us glad tidings, y'all. Yeah, when that gospel comes
in power, He'll be more than just a man. He'll be God's ambassador. That's right. Those mean set
aside, he's got no honor of his own, but if God gives him honor,
you better honor him. I don't care who he is. This is God's elect. I'm not talking about people
of the world. I'm not talking about religious folks. I'm talking
about God's elect. He said, they become followers
of us and the Lord. You can't separate the Lord from
his people. They're one. They're one. I'm going to separate them. I tell you that in, I think it's
in Jeremiah, and I can't quote you the scriptures, but you can
look it up in your concordance. In one place he said, and this
is the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our righteousness.
And you go over there a little bit more and it says, And this
is the name whereby she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. They're one. You can't separate
them. And you'll never come to know
your election in God until you hear and submit yourself to his
ambassador. We have to hear. Until you there came a time in
this preacher's life when I knew I was lost. And thank God, thank
God for a pastor who told me over and over and over and over,
you're not going to hear without a preacher. Every Sunday, you're
not going to hear without a preacher. You're not going to hear without
a preacher. And I got that up here, but I didn't get it down
here. And one day God brought me to
that place where a man comes to himself.
He realizes what he is. He understands something about
sin and something about God and something about His eternal glory. And I went and blew the dust
off my Bible and went down to the place where I believed that
gospel was being preached, and I parked right there on that
bench. And I opened my ears, I inclined
my ears, David said, incline your ears and I'll speak to you.
Incline my ears, the Lord said, and you'll hear. And that's where
I parked. And I waited. It didn't come
that morning. It didn't come the next morning. It didn't come the next week.
It didn't come the next month. But it came. And if it was to
come, that's how it was going to come. You become followers of us, he
said, and the Lord. Thirdly, you become examples
to all that believe. Examples of how God saves sinners.
Examples of His love, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His
gentleness, His long-suffering. I wouldn't give you ten cents
for a man who talks grace who is ungracious. Just throw that testimony out
on the walk. Throw that testimony. That man
says, I believe I'm a partaker of God's love, but he doesn't
love anything or anybody. Throw that testimony out. He
don't know God. He don't know God. Herein is
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. Send his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, in spite of our sins, in spite of our rebellious attitude,
we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time,
but if we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love
is perfected. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
We partakers of the divine nature, we love, we love. I know there are many and varied
ideas about how the Spirit of God is evidenced in the believer,
but in the Scripture it is faith, repentance, the affections of
the heart, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Thirdly, he'll be a specimen
of grace, a vessel of mercy, workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that he
should walk in. Nothing left to chance. There
it is. Nothing left to chance. Fourthly, he said, for you sounded
out the gospel, the word of the Lord in every place. You know,
the one thing I find in common with everybody that the Lord,
all of these healings that He did were manifested of the Father
for two reasons. One is that He might be singled
out and be approved of God or ratified of God that this was
the Christ. The other reason was that He
illustrates in the healing of these men how God saved sinners. Every last one of them, and most
of them, He said, go thy way and tell no man. They didn't
make it anywhere before they started telling. When that effectual calling of
the Holy Spirit and that power enters into a man's heart and
affects that chain, he can't wait to tell. He can't wait. Everybody in this place that's
been called of God and experienced this grace could stand up here
and preach this morning if God gives you the gifts and ability
and the calling. There's not a one in here that
wouldn't be willing, and there's not a one in here that's experienced
that grace that couldn't stand up and tell it. That's what he's talking about.
From you sounded out. They all couldn't be preachers.
They all weren't called to be preachers. They all weren't anointed
or gifted to be preachers. But they're involved in that
preaching and they support it and they promote it. And they
promote it with their attendance and their money and their service
and their witness. And then fifthly, he said, you
turn to God from your idols. They don't hang around where
they was. They don't hang around. All of a sudden, you know, at
one time my plea was this. Because I didn't know anybody.
Maybe I can do some good. Maybe I can do some good. You
can't do any good in idolatry. Hang it up. Ain't going to happen. Ain't going to happen. You turn
from those things. You turn from those idols. You
turn from that idolatrous type of worship. And you turn from
those concepts of idolatry. From those concepts of religion,
you turn to the true and living God. You turn to Christ. If you
don't, you don't know anything at all about this grace. I've asked our people not to
buttonhole visitors and things outside, and not to question
what folks say or how they say it, because the parking lot is
not the place for this. The pulpit is the place for this.
And God will effect the change. My desire is not, I don't sit
up here and expect folks to walk in this door and walk out believers.
I don't expect that. Because that's not how it happened
to me. Not how it happened to most of you. It takes time. It takes time. But I do know
this. The only way that change is ever
going to come about is for God to give you an interest of heart
and bring you in here and sit you down and make you willing
to hear. That's what I want. I want folks
to come and sit and hear. If He calls you here to this
place to hear, maybe He'll give me something to say. Huh? Maybe if we gather together in
His name, and all agreed in purpose, and all agreed in that grace,
and in His glory, and in His Son, maybe He'll send somebody
to hear. You reckon? It would be something,
wouldn't it? Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. How are you going to hear without
a preacher? And when you do, I'll tell you
this, your language is going to change, your habits are going
to change, your attitude is going to change, and somebody is going
to look who knows the difference, and they're going to say, I know
your election of God.