It's good to have each of you
here this morning. And as always, it's a privilege
to be in the house of the Lord, to open His Word. And our prayer,
I know all of our prayer, is that the Lord might visit us
this day in mercy and grace. He might show us once again our
only hope. The solid rock, the Lord Jesus
Christ on whom we stand. Sure foundation. Tried. Sure. I would like for you, if
you would, turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I want to look at two verses here. And I've titled this message,
Chosen to a Blessing. Chosen to a Blessing. Begin reading in verse 13, We
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. And here's why. Because. Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you by our
Gospel. to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now tell me who does not rejoice
to know that he or she has been chosen to some great blessing? That's something that would excite
me. You've been chosen to receive
a wonderful, great blessing. That gets my attention, gets
my interest. Maybe for selfish and wrong reasons,
but nevertheless, it grabs my attention, my ear. And in the
scriptures, The word election and what it means to the elect,
it's the foundation dug deep for all the other doctrines of
sovereign grace to rest upon. And that didn't originate with
me. I read that from someone, but isn't that good? It's dug
deep in all the doctrines of sovereign grace. rest upon it. And we may disagree but truthfully
we are all free will work religionist by nature until God intervenes
and you can read in the scripture many times people came to the
Lord and they said first thing Lord what must I do to be saved? And the correct answer is nothing. trust and obey. We want to do something by nature.
We want to have a hand in our salvation. But the elect of God
rejoice in knowing that salvation is of the Lord. It takes the
regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. It takes the power of
the Word of God taught by the Holy Spirit to cause a man or
a woman to love the doctrine of election. It is deeply important that we
learn as believers that we should be learners. I know some people that just
seem to know it all. And they can't be taught because
they're always too busy teaching. You know people that way. But
the children of God will learn. They learn from their master. That God's sheep hear His voice,
Glenn. and they know to follow. They know to follow. That's a
certainty. Christ himself said in John 6,
it's written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. I stand here as a mouthpiece,
just a vessel God has to teach. God has to teach you. God has
to teach me. They shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father, do you know what? That cometh
unto me. Every one. Every single one. Have you heard with hearing ears? and you'll come to Christ. You
will come. You see, we're taught by the
superior wisdom of God whose thoughts are not as our thoughts.
The Bible was given to correct our thinking, to show us our
error. Repentance, the word itself means
a change of mind, resulting in a change of thinking. We don't come to the scriptures
as critics. The Bible criticizes us. It puts us in our place. It shows
us what we are by nature. And we cannot come to Christ
or in truth of scriptures by our will. It can't be done. Scripture is very plain. It's
not of him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but it's
of God that showeth mercy. I want to learn that in my heart. I want to rest in my Lord. He's
done everything for me that God requires of me. And to me, my
friends, that's good news. That's the gospel. We can't come
to Christ by our will, but by grace. We're taught of God that
we can come humbly, begging at His feet. Lord, if Thou will,
You can make me whole. Never saw one, you've heard me
say this many times, never once has a sinner come to Christ begging
for mercy that he was ever refused. God's in the business of showing
mercy. He delights in showing mercy. And I'm thankful for that because
we deserve no mercy. We deserve no grace. It's unmerited
favor. Unmerited. I want to just talk
to you briefly about this wonderful doctrine of election. I didn't even use a text that
used the word, but it's the same thing. God hath what from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. And that's my first point. Election
is not salvation. Election is unto salvation. Romans 11 says, What then? Israel
hath not obtained that which it seeketh for. All through the
Old Testament, God gave Israel the law. And in order to appease
God, they tried over and over continually to keep God's law
to no avail. They failed and they fail as
you and I fall and fail today trying to keep God's law. And
the law is strict and holy and the law says you can keep all
of it and you fail in just one little area, you're guilty of
the whole law. Boy, that didn't bring me much
comfort and hope, does it you? Because I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel I'm prone to leave
the God I love. Election is not salvation, it's
unto salvation. And if the elect attains salvation,
and if election is to salvation, then it just makes common sense
that election must precede salvation. That's not hard. But you'll never believe unless
God gives you a heart to believe in. Why? Because I want to have
something new with it. Men are saved when they believe
on Christ, not when they're elected. Not one president of the United
States has ever been president when he was elected, but when
he was inaugurated. There was not only an election
to, but there's an induction into the office. God's elect
are inducted into the position of saintship by the effectual
call of the gospel. The quickening work of the Holy
Spirit through which they became believers in Christ, who is our
gospel. Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians,
he said, you see your calling brethren. Stop, take a little
time, look around. You see your calling. How then
not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. I know the world must
think It's foolish for the Lord to save a man like me. I'm not
anybody that would deserve anything but death and condemnation. But
God, thank God, He's chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise. And He's chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And
the base things of the world, oh, you're talking my language
now. the base things of the world, and things which are despised
God hath chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are. Why? That no flesh should glory
in His presence. God will not share His glory
with another, dear friends. It would be wise for us to bow
at His feet and say, Lord, have mercy on me. Election is unto salvation. And election, secondly, is not
the cause of anybody going to hell. Because election is unto
salvation. Election sends no one to hell.
It's sin that sends men and women to hell. All men and women are sinners
by nature and by practice, and sin is the damning element in
human life. Election harms nobody. Election,
simply put, is God's right as God to choose, to rule, to reign, to work all things after the
counsel of His own will. Thirdly, election belongs to
God and His system of sovereign grace. In Paul's day there was
a remnant among the Jews who were saved according to the election
of grace. And Romans 11.5 says, even so
then at this present time there is a remnant. There's always
been and there always will be a remnant. according to the election
of grace. One writer wrote, the attitude
of men towards God's electing love, God's right to choose,
is the acid test of their belief in grace. Those who oppose election cannot
consistently claim to believe in salvation by grace. Because sooner or later it's
going to come back to where did it come from. Is it something
I worked up? That I merited in some way? No. God had to show mercy and
grace. And he did so in electing love. No, you can't oppose election
and consistently claim to believe that salvation is by grace. Those
that believe in salvation by works, they don't want anything
to do with this doctrine called election. Those that believe in salvation
by sovereign grace, apart from any human merit, they've embraced
it with loving arms. I did the sin and God did the
saving. Oh, my only hope of salvation
is that God save me on purpose by His own sovereign might. My only hope of salvation is
that God has shown me a son and that He's shown me He's high
and lifted up and I must look to Him to live. Only God can show that to you.
Only God can show that and reveal that to a man or a woman. And here's another thing, election,
that beautiful, wonderful word, doctrine, oh I love it. I love
the sound of it. But election does not prevent
the salvation of anybody who wants to be saved. A lot of people
have that idea. Well, if I'm not elected, then
no need to preach to me. I'm going, no. Election doesn't prevent salvation
of anybody that wants to be saved. Now, there is a distinction that
needs to be made between a mere desire to escape hell. Nobody wants to go to hell. Nobody
wants to burn. There needs to be made a distinction
between a mere desire to escape hell and the desire to be saved
from sin. Oh, there's a big difference. To be desired to be saved from
hell, that's a natural desire. I don't know anybody that wants
to go to hell. Do you? Really and truly, if they answered
justly and rightly, I don't want to go to hell. Nobody wants to
burn. But the desire to be saved from
sin, that's a spiritual desire. That's something only God can
rot in. And He's got to rot it in before
it can ever be accomplished. Oh, it's a result from the convicting
work of the Holy Spirit and God's electing grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ shows me my sin that so easily besets me and causes me
to hate my sin. My sin is against Thee and Thee
only, O God. Oh, we desire to be delivered from
sin. An old writer, C.D. Cole, once
wrote to represent election by saying that God has spread the
gospel feasts and a man comes to the table hungering for the
bread of life, but God says, no, this is not for you. You're
not one of my elect. That is to misrepresent this
wonderful doctrine altogether. And that's what men have done.
They've made it out that God has prepared a table and one
comes to eat. And he goes, oh no, you're not
one of mine. You're not one of my elect. But the truth of the
matter is God has spread the feast and the fact is nobody
wants to come to the table. Nobody wants to come. Not by
nature. You will not come that you might
have life. And even if you will to, you
cannot come. Unless, unless the Father which
sent me draw you. In Luke 14, 18, talking about
that marriage feast in verse 18, it says, "...as they were
bid to the feast..." That was amazing when I read this. I've
read it a hundred times. It said, "...they all with one
consent began to make excuse." I've heard excuses like that
most all my life. Well, you know, I need to straighten
up some things. I need to get my life right.
You know, I need to do this, I need to do... and then I'll
come. You'll never come. You'll never come. That's not how it works. They all with one consent begin
to make excuse. You know, God knew just how fallen
nature would act. So He purposed that His table
would be filled. He tells His servant in Luke
14, 23, He says, go out and compel them to come. Is that not what preachers are?
We're men who have been saved by the same grace, sovereign
grace of God. And God's put a message on our
heart and a desire in our heart to see God's people saved. And
we compel people, come to Christ. There's no other place for salvation. He is salvation. Salvation's
in a person. Come to Him. Come to Him. Oh, I compel you with all within
me this morning, if you don't know Christ, come to Him. Come to Him. Bow to Him. Acknowledge
Him as your God. Were it not for the redemptive
work of Christ, there'd be no gospel feast. If it were not
for the compelling work of the Holy Spirit, there'd be no guest
at the table. We all, with one consent, would
begin to make excuse. And I'll tell you this, a mere
invitation won't bring anybody to the table. It won't. Election means that the destiny
of man is in the hands of God. Well, I don't like that. Well,
you might as well get ready to go out and meet God unhappy then
because that's the way it is. I've heard many people say in
my lifetime that man's destiny is in his own hands. You've heard
that. You've heard that frequently.
But you know, that statement is to deny the whole tenor of
Scripture. And no time is the destiny of
the saint in his own hands either before or after he's saved. Was my destiny in my own hands
before I was saved? If it was, then I regenerated
myself. If it was, then I resurrected
myself. If my destiny is in my hands,
then by my own power, I delivered myself out of a state of sin
and death. And if that is true, that my
destiny is in my hands, then I'm my own benefactor and have
nobody to thank but myself for being alive and saved. Now you
think about that. Aren't you going a little overboard
there, brother? Not in the least. Just tipping the iceberg barely. Perish such a thought by the
grace of God the Apostle Paul said I am what I am By the grace of God John 1 13
says which were born not of blood Nor the will of the flesh nor
the will of man but of God But of God Paul wrote to Timothy, his son
in the faith, and he said, God who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works. The Apostle Paul had written
that so many times, but he just continued to write it. Why? Because
we want to think it's because of our works. We want to think
that we have something special to do with it. Well, you know,
I did finally decide You decided you was heading to hell as fast
as you could and God intervened. Oh, not according to works. Here's
the answer. But according to His own purpose
and grace. And that was given in Christ
Jesus before the world began. It sounds like God did the choosing. James wrote, of his own will
beget he us. Does that say, Tyler, of your
own will God beget you? No, it says, of his own will
he beget us, what? With the word of truth, with
the scripture, with the gospel. That's how God saves sinners,
by the preaching of the gospel. that we should be a kind of first
fruits of His creatures. Is my destiny in my own hands
now? Absolutely not. Then I will either
keep myself saved or I will lose my salvation. The Bible says
that we're kept by the power of God through faith. And He's
pretty clear about telling us where that faith came from. You
say, by grace, through faith. It's not of yourselves. There
it is again. Not of works. Lest any man should
boast. And we'll boast every time. You
give me enough time, I'll boast in my humility. I'll tell you
how humble I am. I've done it. Don't put it past
me. Our Lord said, My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Didn't sound
like no ifs, ands, and buts, and that, does it? My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them. I know them, and they follow. They follow. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. You know why? Because no man
can. This is God Almighty, and I'm in His sovereign hand. He said, My Father gave them
Me, which gave them me is greater than all." Greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. Now you can write that down and
you can take it to the bank. Under the blood of Jesus, safe,
safe, safe in the shepherd's fold. Paul wrote to the church of Philippi,
he said, being confident of this very thing. Now you want some
confidence? Here it is. That he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it. And we could stop right there
and be happy, couldn't we? But it says he will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ. One day I'm going to see Him
and I'm going to be like Him, conformed into the perfect image
of my great God, my great Lord and Savior. Oh, what a day that
truly will be. So who began the good work in
you? That's a good question. Being confident in this thing
that He which hath begun a good work in you. Who begun that good
work in you? Was it you? then you'll fall
and you'll fail. But if it was God, and I'll add,
it was. I'll just go on and solve that
mystery right now. It was God. He'll perform and
preserve us until our Lord comes with complete redemption. One day I'm going to have a body
without sin. All I do, all I think, mixed
with horrible, horrific sin, one day in my full redemption,
no sin. Representatively, now there's
no sin, but one day a body with no sin. Man, I can't wait. But I will. Because it's God's
will that we do. He told His people many times
in the Scriptures, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Now let me tell you something, you can take that personal. Now
if I tell you I'll never leave you nor forsake you, don't put
a whole lot of trust in it because there's too many things beyond
my control for me to promise that. Is there not? I may have
good intentions, I may sincerely say, I'll never leave you nor
forsake you. You're my friend. But I don't
have the ability to make that promise. But God does. And He said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. If my destiny is not safe in
my own hands after I'm saved, how then, I ask you, could it
ever be safe in my own hands before Christ was revealed to
me? Oh, my friends, God set His affection on some people before
the foundation of the world. And He gave them to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
love and in mercy, took them and brought their names upon
His heart. And He said, Father, I won't
lose a one. I won't lose nothing. All that
the Father given me. I want what is a one. That's
my confidence. That's my lively hope. That He
is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all I could
think or ask. Oh, the theory that one's destiny
is in his own hands. Sid doesn't do anything but get
self-confidence and self-righteousness. And let's just be honest, that's
what it does. But the belief that destiny is
in the hands of God brings forth self-denial and faith in God
every time. Who else could my faith be in
but a sovereign God? And I've said many times, and
I'll say it again because it's so true, He's sovereign over
everything. Not one square inch of this world
that He does not rule and reign. And that way I can be confident
that I am always standing on the ground that He intends for
me to stand on. He's sovereign over it. I don't
have to worry about it. And that's a whole other lesson
though, isn't it? Election means a choice. Why
do we have a problem with God being God and making a choice?
That's just how sinful we are. Election means to select from
among. God has a right to do. Christ
said one day, He said, don't I have a right to do what I will
with my own? If you've got something that
you've worked hard for and paid for, whether it be marbles, Those
are your marbles. If you want to throw one in the
trash and hang one up on the counter as a display or whatever,
you've got the right to do that. They're your marbles. But we
belong to God. And it's lawful for Him to do
what He will with His own. Election means to single out,
to take one and leave another. Now, if I got a dozen apples
in a basket and I reach in that basket and I take all twelve
of them, then there's really been no choice made. But if I take seven and I leave
five, there's been a choice made. An election, as it's taught in
Scripture, means that God has made a choice from among the
children of men. In the beginning, God set His
choice upon certain men and women. We read it throughout Scripture.
There was a certain man that lay at the pool of Bethesda.
There was a certain maniac in the land of Gadara. There was
a certain woman who was afflicted by infirmity for so many years. It's certain. men and women.
And God set His choice upon them. And He gave His Son to them. And Christ died as their substitute. And those whom He gave will,
in time, hear the gospel and believe in Christ's everlasting
life. He's going to cross. It's as
sure as He's going to cross their path with the gospel as it is
sure as you're sitting right there, Tyler. You can write it
down. You can count on it. So I'm going to leave you with
three questions. And I hope that it will help
you, didn't it? First, who does the electing? Who chooses the persons to be
saved? The word election is associated
with God, not man. God is the chooser. His people are the chosen. Grace
is the source God uses. The theology that God votes for
us and the devil votes against us and that we cast the deciding
ballot is entirely outside the whole realm of scriptures. And it's almost too ridiculous
to notice. And yet there are thousands upon
thousands that believe that very thing and have been taught of
God. Christ said, You've not chosen
Me, but I've chosen you and I've ordained you that you should
go forth and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain
that whatsoever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give
it to you. There ain't no ifs, ands, and
buts in that, is there? You've not chosen me, I chose
you. Who does the electing? God does. God does. According as He hath
chosen us and Him before the foundation of the world. that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. And
that word should there doesn't mean, well, you ought to, but
it's your decision. No, it means you're going to
be holy and without blame before Him in love. My second question,
when was the electing done? Well, for the answer, we turn
again to Scripture. We shut up ourselves to the Scriptures. And the Bible answers with sunlight
clearness. In Ephesians 1-4, we read that
He chose us and Him for the foundation of the world. That's what you
read, Brother Ray. He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world. And the expression, before the
foundation of the world, is found in John 17, 24 when it speaks
of the Father's eternal love for the Son. It says, Father,
I will that they also... Who's he talking about there?
His elect. Whom Thou hast given Me. God gave it to Him. Be with me where I am. that they may behold my glory,
and they will. which thou hast given me, for
thou loved me before the foundation of the world." And it's also
found in 1 Peter 1.20, you don't have to turn there, where it
refers to the eternal determination of the divine mind concerning
the death of Christ. And there are many similar expressions
in Scripture. Election, my friends, is eternal. Who has saved us and called us?
I read it to you with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace." We can't
hear that enough. Number three, why was the electing
done? Well, was it on the ground of
something good in the center? Is that why God elected you?
If you're one of His? There was something in you that
merited it? That got God's attention? That
caused God to look your way? If that's the case, then nobody
would have ever been elected. Not a soul. There's none that
doeth good. No, not one. We've all gone astray. We all come forth from the womb
speaking lies. We say in our hearts, I don't
know how I'm having that God rule over me. And the Son of
His, now that's where we are by nature.
It hadn't been all that long ago that that was our attitude. Why was the electing none? Well,
holiness is not the cause of election, but it's the effect
of election. I wasn't elected because there
was anything holy or good about me. But in His electing love,
I'm made perfect, perfectly righteous and holy. Not in my doing, but
in Christ's doing for me. We're chosen that we should be
holy, not because we are holy. Election is the cause of repentance
and faith. It's not the effect of these
graces. To say that God chose men to
salvation because He foresaw that they would repent and believe
and be saved is to attribute foolishness to an infinitely
wise God. Let me illustrate this if I can.
Let's say right here that I have a physical corpse dead. Is it free to get up and walk
around? Well, in one sense, yes, because it's not bound by fetters
or chains. There's no external restraint.
But in another sense, that corpse is not free at all. You know
why? It's hindered by its natural
condition. A dead man can do nothing. It's its nature. It's the nature
of death to decompose and go back to dust. It is not the nature
of death to stir about, to be alive, to be busy doing anything. Then on the other hand, we have
a spiritual corpse, a man dead in trespasses and sins. Is the
man free to repent and believe and do good works? Well, in one
sense, there's no external restraints. And God doesn't prevent, but
He gives inducements through His holy word. God says, whosoever
will. can come. God says, come now
and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. But you know what? This corpse
is hindered by its own nature. Must be a miracle Gary performed. God's got to give life to that
dead corpse. For except a man be born from
above, he cannot see, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Oh, I love the story, and you
know I do. I mention it often, but that
old leper that came to the Lord. He said, Lord, if I will, you
can make me whole. If you will. And you know what
he said? I will. I will. Is your desire to be made whole?
Do you see your terrible and your loathsome disease called
sin? So, if you do, will you be maho? Well, what if I'm not elected? If God has shown you your desperate
condition, And He's given you a desire to be made whole. And you come to Christ as your
all and in all. Guess what? You're elected. You're elected. I love that hymn. Come ye sinners
poor and needy. Weak and wounded, sick and sore. Boy, that describes me pretty
well. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and
power. Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty. Glorify true belief and true
repentance, every grace that brings you nigh. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. Well, I'm going to get things
straightened up. That's what I was talking about. I'm going
to straighten up and fly right. You ain't got any wings. You
can't fly right. You can't fly at all. Let not
conscience make you leaner, nor fitness fondly drink. All the
fitness He requires is to fill your need of Him. And He's got
to show you that. Salvation is of the Lord. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord. I like that, don't
you, beloved of the Lord? Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Do you believe these things that
we've discussed today? If you do, it's because God's
done a work in your heart. God's done the work. You've reaped
the benefits. Trust Him. I beg of you, trust
Him. He is our only salvation. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. And no man cometh
to the Father except by Him. Aren't you glad the Lord's revealed
that to you? And if He hasn't, pray that He
does today and come to Christ. Don't linger any longer, come
to Him.