Lord willing, this evening I'm
going to be preaching on this subject, have you received the
Holy Spirit? Paul asks some people that in
Acts chapter 19, have you received the Holy Spirit? And this morning I am going to
preach on three things regarding the elect. Three things regarding the elect. Look in verse 20 once again.
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh
should be saved but for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen. There's the first thing regarding
God's elect, He chose them. I love the simplicity of that.
He chose them. Verse 22, For false Christs and
false prophets shall rise and show signs and wonders to seduce,
if it were possible, even the elect. Now, the second truth
regarding God's elect, it is not possible for them to be seduced. And here's the third thing, verse
26, this is talking about the Lord's second coming. And then shall they see the Son
of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Don't you love to think of that? And then shall he send his angels
and he shall gather together his elect from the four winds from the
uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
The elect shall be saved upon the second coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's three things regarding
the elect. They're the ones he chose. They
can't be seduced and they shall be saved. Now, is there any doubt
reading those verses of scripture we just read, is there any doubt
that Christ taught election? Not only did he teach it, he's
the one who did the electing. Somebody says, I thought the
father did. Well, he did, according as he had chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. But the Lord also said, you did
not choose me, but I chose you. He said to his disciples, after
he watched the multitudes leave, And they stayed, he said, did
not I choose you 12? And one of you is a devil, the
one that will deny me. He points that out, but the reason
they didn't leave with the multitudes, did not I choose you? If you would have said to someone
in the early church, I don't believe in election. What? What rock did you crawl
out from under? Election. God's eternal choice
of His people is clearly and unmistakably taught in the Word
of God. It's God being God. If God is, election must be. The angels that did not fall
are called in 1 Timothy 5, 21, the elect angels. That's why they didn't fall. You can't read the Old Testament
and fail to see that God chose Israel. over all the other nations
against any of the children of Israel. This is Exodus chapter
11 verse seven against any of the children of Israel. This
is God speaking against any of the children of Israel shall
not a dog move his tongue against man or beast that you may know
how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians God made a difference. It's so clear from the scriptures
that they who are saved were chosen by God to be saved before
the foundation of the world. Second, Thessalonians 2.13, Paul
said, but we are bound to thank God. Election is a doctrine of
divine praise and thanksgiving. We are bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. In two of the Lord's parables,
the parable of the 11th hour workers, the workers in the vineyard
and the 11th hour workers, and the parable of the man without
a wedding garment that was cast out, he ended both of those parables
by saying, many are called, few are elected. Few are chosen. Same word. Shall not God avenge his own
elect? The Lord said, I love the language,
his own elect. Paul said, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's almost like he's saying,
I double dare you. Who can lay anything to their charge? Put on therefore as the elect
of God, he said to the Colossians. Paul wrote of the faith of God's
elect, the faith which all of God's elect share. And then when
Peter wrote his general epistle, he writes to those who are elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. And then he ends that same epistle
with the church that's at Babylon elected together with you, salutes
you. That's the way they use this concept, thought, word in the
early church. While when John is writing to
an individual, he says, the elder unto the elect lady, And then
he says, the children of thy elect sister greet thee. Now
that could be speaking of a church that he calls the elect lady
and the other church, your elect sister, that could be speaking
of that, but it could be an individual, but it doesn't make any difference.
Election. Election. Paul spoke in Romans
11, five of the election of grace. And indeed it is impossible. Listen to this statement. It
is impossible. to believe grace and not believe
election. If you don't believe election,
you don't believe in grace. It is impossible to not believe
election and believe grace. I repeat, election is God being
God. And if I ever think of election
without all Wonder and praise. It's because either I'm in some
kind of hard-hearted, back-slidden, dried-up state, or I'm not saved. One of those two things are true. Election is the doctrine of divine
thanksgiving and divine praise. Now, as clear as this is in Holy
Scripture, most so-called churches, and I'm going
to call it a so-called church because it's not a church of
the living God, most so-called churches and most people who
profess to be Christians do not believe in election. I was in a place of business
recently, and Lynn was with me. There was a man that was talking
to us and he was telling us where he went to church. And then he
said, well, what do you believe? I said, well, I believe what
your church professes to believe. And it was in their document. There's a Presbyterian church
there. They have some kind of document that says, you know,
we believe in what they call reform theology and election. And I said, well, I believe what
your church says they believe. He said, well, what's that? I
said, well, I believe God elected people and they were predestined
to be saved. He said, he was shocked. Where'd that come from? I said,
what's in your church? He shut the conversation down.
I don't wanna go there. Well, I guess you don't, but
it is still the very truth of God. Now, somebody may ask the
question, why do men not believe election? Well, somebody thinks,
well, it's because they don't understand it. No, no, no. How hard is this to understand?
You did not choose me, but I chose you. Is that a difficult concept
to grasp? According as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. Everybody in his
room knows what that means. You can't say you don't understand
it. You might not like it, but you can't say you don't understand
it. Somebody says election's deep. Election's so. It's so. It's who God is. It's not that
men do not understand election, they just don't like it. And
here's why. Let me give you two reasons.
Here's the only two reasons why men would not love the holy,
God-exalting, Christ-honoring truth of election. There are
only two reasons. Number one is because they can't stand a
God who has complete control. They have no love for a God who
has complete control. You see, they don't love God.
If you love God, you're glad he has complete control. If you
have any idea of who he really is, you rejoice in that. Number
one, it's because you don't love a God who does have complete
control. Here's the second reason. You
don't need election. You don't really believe you're
totally to pray. You don't really believe that
you're completely unable to do anything to save yourself. You
don't really believe that! If you don't love election, and
if you don't believe election, it's because you don't need election. If you really believe that you
yourself, personally, are evil, totally depraved, and unable
to save yourself, you need God to elect you. It's a thing of need. Now there are three simple, powerful
things taught in our text regarding election. I love the way the
Lord says, the elect whom he hath chosen. He actually lets
us know what he means by that. He doesn't just say the elect.
He says the elect whom he hath chosen. The elect are the ones
he chose Secondly, the elect cannot be deceived. Not finally,
they cannot be deceived. If it were possible, they would
be, but it's not possible. And thirdly, when the Lord comes
back in power and glory, He shall gather His elect. That's what the Lord says. There's
a lot of words He could have used. He could have said those
who believe, those who persevere, And those would have been true,
but that's not the word the Lord chose to use regarding his second
coming. He said, he shall gather his
elect from the four winds and the four corners of the earth. All of the elect shall be saved. The elect are the individuals
whom he hath chosen. Ephesians 1, 4 says, according
as he hath chosen us. In him, before the foundation
of the world. Two questions, who chose who?
He chose us. Second question, when did he
make this choice? Was it when he foresaw you would
believe and therefore he chose you? That's foolish. This choice was made before the
foundation of the world. For the children, being not yet
born, Romans 9, 11, For the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works, but of him that
2 Timothy 1.9 says, he saved us and he called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Now, any thoughtful person must
ask the question, why? And any saved person will ask
the question, why me? Why did he choose? Well, the first answer is if
he chose you, it's because you were in Christ. You can never
separate election from the person of Christ. Christ be my first
elect, he said. Then he chose us in him, our
living head. He said, behold, my elect. Christ
is the choice of the Father and everyone in him. This thing of
election is not some arbitrary choice on God's part. No, the
elect have always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternally
united to him. If he chose you, there's never
been a time when you were not in the beloved. Why did He choose us? Because
He would. I love when the Lord says, I
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You've
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy
sight. He did so because He would. And then He did so because He
loved you. We just heard that song, Relentless
Love. What a name for his love. Relentless
love, whom he did foreknow. Now that doesn't simply mean
he knew about you, it means he knew you, he loved you. Remember
that group he says, depart from me, I never knew you. Now he
knew all about them. He knew every detail about their lives,
but he never knew them. Whom he foreknew. We love him, why? Because he
first loved us. You know that so, don't you? here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter
7 for just a moment. I want you to see this. This
is not something we quote all the time, but it's so important. Verse 7, The LORD did not set
his love upon you, nor choose because you were more in number
than any people, for you were the fewest of all people, but
because the Lord loved you. Why did he love you? Because he did. That's who he
is. Because he did. And let me say
this with regard to God's love. You're not the reason for it.
The reason is found in himself. I think of those words of the
Lord in John chapter 17, verse 23, thou has loved them as thou
has loved me. Now I want you to think about
that. However it is, the Lord loves his beloved son. That's how he loves those in
his son. Now that's where our confidence
comes from. That's where our confidence comes from. His love
to his son. That's how he loves me. Now,
he looks at his son and he says, he's altogether lovely. He's
perfect. He's my beloved son. And every
one of God's people, he loves them. as he loves his son. There's
no such thing. You know, people talk about unconditional
love. There's no such thing as unconditional love. I love Lynn. I hate when preachers start trying
to use their family as examples of that. I'm not doing this to
say, I've got this better love. No, but I do love Lynn. But let
me tell you why I love her. I love her because of the way
she benefits me. There's all kinds of things about her that
makes my life better. That's why I love her. Somebody says,
my love's not like that. Yeah, it is. You've never loved
anybody in your life unconditionally. There's no such thing. And God
doesn't love anyone unconditionally. He loves them as they are in
his Son. That is God's love. Why did he
choose you? Because he loved you. He said, I will love them freely.
Hosea 14 three. Why did he choose us? To the
praise of the glory of his grace. Everybody that he loved knows
that they are trophies of his grace. Now, when I stand in glory,
when I stand before thy throne dressed in beauty not mine, when
I love thee as thou art, See thee as thou art, love thee with
unsinning heart, then Lord shall I fully know, not to then how
much I owe, but I will know this as I stand before his throne.
I am the biggest example ever. And I know every believer feels
like this. I am the biggest example ever of just how much salvation
really is, all of grace. That is why he chose us. And look what verse 22 says in
our text in Mark chapter 13. For false Christ and false prophets
shall rise and show signs and wonders to seduce if it were possible. Question, is it possible? to seduce if it were possible,
even the elect. The elect cannot be seduced or
deceived. Now, why is that? That's a good
question. Why is that? Because if you're
elect, you know you're just as sinful as any other son of Adam,
and just as stupid as any other son of Adam, and just as easily
led astray as any other son of Adam. So how is it that the elect
cannot be seduced? Well, first and foremost, it's
because it's God's purpose for you to not be seduced. That's
why. You can't congratulate yourself
about this. You know, I love that scripture. Romans 9, 11,
I've already quoted it once. The children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil. Now listen to me. Any good that
you suppose you've done cannot possibly recommend you to God's
favor. Any evil that you've committed,
I don't care what it is, cannot keep you from being saved if
he purposes your salvation. No good works recommend you,
no bad works disqualify you. You see, if God has purposed
your salvation, you cannot be deceived. If Christ Put away your sins. You see, the atonement of Jesus
Christ can't really be understood apart from the doctrine of election,
can it? I mean, if you think Jesus Christ was just simply
making salvation possible, if you do your part, you have no
idea what he accomplished. You see, he died for the elect
and put away their sins and they can't be deceived. You see, if
you've been born of God, you've been given a nature, a holy nature
that cannot be deceived. It's impossible. Now, does that
mean a believer cannot be deceived temporarily? Well, you know better
than that. Of course you can. Of course you can. We're like
sheep, easily going astray, aren't we? Every one of us. But here's
the reason why we won't finally be deceived. We have a shepherd
who won't let it happen. He comes after us. I love that
passage in the last verse of Psalm 119 when David says, I've
gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not
forget thy word. The elect can't be deceived because
they've got a shepherd who protects them. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I won't be deceived. I won't
fall away because the Lord is my shepherd. I love that passage
of scripture where John says, they went out from us, but they
were not all of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be manifest, that they were not all of us. Who's the us? The same us as
if God before us, who can be against us? That's the us. You see, everybody that God has
saved can say, we know. We know. They may not, but we
do. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
call according to his purpose. We know. How many times do you
find that statement in the scripture? We know. You see, you have an
unction from the Holy one and understand all things. I know my sheep and have known
of mine. This is why they won't be deceived.
The sheep follow him for they know his voice, a stranger's
voice will they not follow? For they know not the voice of
strangers. They have ears to hear. They
know the gospel and they know what's not the gospel. You know, you have a gate that
everything that goes through your ears has to come through
this. Christ is all. And if it's contrary to that
in any way, you won't hear it. You run, you flee. Do not know
the voice of strangers. It's impossible for one of the
elect to be finally deceived. And then I love verse 26. And then shall they see the Son
of man coming in the clouds with gray power and glory. You know, I love the way John
ends up the book of, you know, the last thing the Lord said
is behold, I come quickly. And John said, even so come Lord
Jesus. He's going to come in the clouds
with power and great glory. You know, everybody's going to
know who he is at that point. Folks who didn't know him, they're
going to know now. Folks who hated him, they're going to find
out who he really is. Everybody's going to know he's,
oh, the second coming of Christ. And who is it he's coming for?
Verse 27. And then shall he send his angels
and shall gather together his elect. How sweet. How powerful. He shall gather
his elect. Now, as I said, he could have
chosen other words that would have been accurate. He could
have said those that he could have, his believers, the ones
who are justified, the ones who persevere. There's all kinds
of things he could have said that would have been true. But
what is the word that he chose to describe the people that he's
coming back for? His elect. from the four winds from the
uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. He said in John chapter six,
verse 39, this is the will of him that sent me that of all
which he has given me, I should lose nothing. And that will be
so clearly demonstrated that he lost nothing. He's going to
gather together His elect. They all must be saved. You see, they have eternal life.
It's not temporary life. It's a life that can't die, that
must be in heaven. You know, I was thinking about
this. You know, if you were, if you didn't know the Lord,
if you were an unbeliever and you were brought into heaven,
do you know you'd want out right now? You wouldn't want to be
there because that place is holy. according as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him. Only people who have holy
natures would be happy in heaven. And oh, how happy they are because
he made them so. Now, three things with regard
to The elect, God chose them. They can't be deceived. They
must be saved. I love the simplicity of that.
Now, let me close with this. Am I elect? And scripture says you can know. Examine your calling election,
Peter said, and make them sure. You can know. Peter said to the Thessalonians,
knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. Now, how? You know, there's something called
the Lamb's book of life. And it's got the name of every
elect sinner in it. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, the book of life. When John describes judgment
day, he says, everyone whose name is not found written in
the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire. Everybody
found written in that book will be saved. There is such a thing
as the lamb's book of life. And I do not know whose names
are written in it because I've never seen it. I believe there
is that book. I know there is that book. The
Bible says that, but I have never seen that book. And I know that
if I did have access to that book, I'd be looking under in.
If it were in alphabetical order, I'd be looking for my name. I'd
look for you after that, but first I'd be looking for me.
But the fact of the matter is, I don't have any access to that
book. How can I know if my name is
written there? Hebrews chapter 11, verse one. says that faith is the evidence
of things not seen. Now the irrefutable for sure
evidence that my name is written in that book is not that I believe
I'm one of the elect. It's that I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. the second person of the blessed
Trinity, the creator of the universe, the only and the complete sufficient
savior of sinners. Now, do you know for sure that
you're saved? Well, as soon as I say I do,
I'll question it. I know I will. Do you know, do you believe? Here's the question, do you believe?
that Jesus is the Christ, God's Christ, the Son of the living
God. Yes, I do. I really do. Do you know that is 100% guaranteed
that my name has already been written in the Lamb's Book of
Life? Yeah, you can know you're elect.
You can know for sure. and it's by believing Him. May the Lord work saving faith
in every single one of us for Christ's sake. Let's pray.