We turn back to Ephesians chapter
one. Tonight, I'm going to preach upon this subject. Who is Israel? Who is Israel? You know, there
was an article in the paper this morning about the fact that Jerusalem
is now the capital of Israel, and they think that that's going
to usher in the coming of Christ and all this stuff about the nation of Israel.
Who is Israel? May the Lord teach us who Israel
is, but let me say this at the beginning. The Lord said, they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel. And he said, he is
not a Jew, which is one outwardly. How many different ways are there
to take that? He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, but he
is Jew, which is one inwardly. But we're going to consider on
who is the nation of Israel. Now this morning, I'm going to
preach upon the subject, must election be preached? Must election be preached? That's the title of this message
now. Short answer if the Bible teaches it, yes, it must. That's
the short answer. But. I would say that at least 9 or
90% of the churches in Lexington and. And this is very generous. At least 90% of the churches
do not preach election at all. I know some churches that do.
I know some people would say, yes, we believe the Bible does
teach election. And that's a good thing, but
you know, you can believe the Bible teaches election and miss
Christ all together. But the question I'm asking,
even the churches that do preach election in this town, all the
ones that I know of would say that you don't have to preach
it. You could be saved through, say,
the preaching of Billy Graham or some Armenian fundamental
conservative religious preacher. They would say, yes, I believe
the Bible teaches election, but it's not essential to preach
election. And so I'm asking this question, must election be preached? Now let's look in our text, Ephesians
chapter one, verse three. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, let me say a
couple of things about spiritual blessings. They're the only blessings. Well, isn't health a blessing? Yeah, I'd rather be healthy than
sick, but I can't tell you how I've benefited by the sicknesses
the Lord has brought my way. And health is a curse if it makes
you not care about Christ. Well, what about wealth? Isn't
wealth a blessing? Well, I'd rather be able to pay
my bills than not be able to pay them. There's no doubt about
that. And I'd rather have, you know, a good car than a car that's
breaking down all the time. But wealth is not necessarily
a blessing. As a matter of fact, it may be
a curse. If it keeps you from Christ, it's a curse. You can't
even call that a blessing. Well, what about wisdom? That's
what everybody wants. Healthy, wealthy, and wise. What
if you are smart enough to make sure you really achieve things
in this world? One of these days, if you live
long enough, all that wisdom will disappear and you won't
even be able to think. So remember, temporal blessings are that.
They're temporary and they're not necessarily blessings. The
only true blessings are spiritual blessings. They're the only blessings
that last. Oh Lord, give me your spiritual
blessings. And the Lord makes this promise.
He says, he hath blessed us. This is talking about every believer.
He hath blessed us. with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. A couple of weeks ago, we looked
at verses three through 14 to see what all those spiritual
blessings were. And I want to take them one at a time for the
next several weeks to look at those blessings, those spiritual
blessings. And the first one he mentions
is election. Now let's read this verse, verse
four. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. Now, I personally think
the in love ought to be in verse five, in love having predestinated
us. But let's consider this question,
must election be preached? Well, first, what is election?
Well, here's the first question. Who chose who? Who chose who? According as he
hath chosen us. That's what election is. God
chose who HE WOULD SAVE. THAT IS ELECTION. NOTHING HARD TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT
THAT. John chapter 15 verse 16, the Lord said, YOU DID NOT CHOOSE
ME, BUT I CHOSE YOU. I heard someone say, or I heard
this definition of election. Election is, if you chose God,
that means He chose you. Well, the fact of the matter
is, you didn't choose God. Tis not that I did choose thee, for
Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, had thou not chosen me. Who chose who? He chose us. Now, second question, why did
he choose us? Some say, well, he looked through
the telescope of time and he foresaw who would believe. And
when he saw you'd believe, he said, well, I'll choose them.
Now that's just nonsense. That's all that is. It's absurd.
That's being dishonest with the scriptures. You can't get anything
like that from the scriptures. He chose us to the praise of
the glory of his grace. I'm going to read a verse of
scripture from Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six. For thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. Now there's God's choice. The
Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you
were more in number than any people. For you were the fewest
of all people, but because the Lord loved you. That's why. Because the Lord loved you. Not because you were better.
but because the Lord loved you. I think of that scripture where
the Lord said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because you've hid these things and were wise and prudent
and revealed them unto babes even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. That's the reason it was good
in his sight. Now, third question. Why? or what the choice was made
before the foundation of the world. But the next question
is, why? Why? Why did he choose you? Well,
I love the simple answer. According his chosenness in him. Election is not God looking out
over a big group of people and saying, I'm going to pick out
this one and save him. I'm going to damn that one. That's not
election. If that's your understanding of election, you don't have any
understanding of election. According as he hath chosen us in him. You see, the elect have never
been viewed independently of Jesus Christ. Christ be my first
elect, he said, then chose us in him our living head. And this choice was made by God
before the foundation of the world. Not because He saw you
to leave, He just saw you in Christ. And this choice was made
before the foundation of the world. That's what it says. According
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Now the doctrine stated clearly is this. God in His sovereignty
chose in Christ who would be saved before time began. Christ stood as their surety,
as their representative before time began. He agreed to take
their place. He agreed to be their Savior.
In time, Christ came for those people. put away their sins,
God the Holy Spirit, in time, comes to those that God elected
and Christ died for and gives them life. They will believe,
they will repent, they will persevere all the way to the end, and when
time shall be no more, they'll be in that great heavenly choir
singing, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Now the fountainhead
of their salvation is God's choice in Christ. Now, what I want to
do is show how crucial election is to preaching the gospel. Now, listen to this statement.
The gospel cannot be preached and this holy truth denied. There has never been a preacher
that God called to preach that did not preach the election. Not a one. Not that God's called
to preach. I love what Henry Mayhem said
about election. Election's not deep. It's subtle. I like that. I love the simplicity
of it. People try and hide under the
banner of deep theology, hard to be understood, and that's
nonsense. What's hard to understand about this? You've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. Is that hard to understand? Not
at all. Now, men might hate this, but
it's not because they don't understand it. The reason they hate it is
because they do understand it. And I want us to think about all,
there's so many implications of election that are involved
in the preaching of the gospel. Now I realize there's a prejudice
in the mind of the natural man against this doctrine, but still,
it's not hard to understand. God chose who would be saved
before time began. Now you might not like it, but
you understand it. And if you're one of the elect,
you like it. You like it. You'll come to like it. I have
no doubt about that. Somebody that argues against
it, we're going to deal with that. But first, election. Here's the first reason why this
is essential in preaching the gospel. Election, God's choice
of his people before time began, is a declaration of the character
of God. Now think about what I'm saying.
Election is a declaration of the character of God Almighty. Election says God is God. He's sovereign. He's in absolute
control of everybody and everything. And he is the cause of all things.
He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? All election says is God is God.
Election says God is eternal. He's eternal. He's not bound
by space or time. His choice of His people was
before the foundation of the world. God is love. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I called thee. God is holy. His people were
chosen to be holy. God is immutable. His love to
His people can never change. I am the Lord. I change not.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now you see, election
is nothing less than a declaration of the character of God. And
if I deny Preaching this? I'm not preaching the character
of God. I could take this a lot further, but to not preach election
is to not preach the true character of God. Election is God on the
throne. God being God, the fountainhead
of all spiritual blessings. In reality, election is the starting
point of evangelism. You know, people say, you shouldn't
preach election to unbelievers. It'll confuse them. It'll scare
them off. That's the exact thing they need to hear. That's exactly
what it is. You need to hear. I need to hear
that salvation is not in my hands. It's in God's hands. And the
only way I can be saved is for Him to have mercy on me and do
something for me. And it's only when I see that
salvation is in God's hand, Salvation of the Lord. Then I'm going to
cry for mercy. I've got nowhere else to go.
I can't present my works. That's what election declares.
You can't anymore preach the gospel, not preach election.
It's impossible. It's impossible. That's the first
point of election. It's a declaration of the character
of God. And someone who does not preach
election does not preach the character of God. Secondly, without
election, there's really no understanding of the nature of man and of sin.
You know, if you don't believe in election, if you don't preach
election, that God chose who would be saved before time again,
here's what you're left with. Salvation's in your hands. That's it. Salvation's in your
hands. God wants to save you. He's made
salvation available. He's offered salvation to you.
And now you need to of your own free will accept what he did
for you and you'll be saved. Salvation is in your hands. That's
a denial of total depravity. It's a denial of total inability. You have man's will being sovereign
over God's will and God's will thwarted by the free will of
man. That's what you have. If anybody that doesn't believe
election does not believe in the sinfulness of the human condition
and deadness in trespasses and sin. But here's what's so glorious
about election. Election comes to the sinner
where he is, dead in sins, and says, live! And that sinner lives. That's the glorious thing of
election. It comes to me where I am. Not where I ought to be. I'm never where I ought to be.
but where I am. You cannot preach the true character
of man and not preach election. You make man his own savior.
You give man the ability to save himself if you do not preach
this holy, glorious truth of election. Take away election
and you can no longer say salvation is of the Lord, but you say glory
be to man for his glorious free will. Ain't gonna be, is it? Thirdly, without election, God
choosing who would be saved before time began as an act of his sovereign
will, you have no understanding of the cross. You can't separate election from
Christ and him crucified. You have no understanding of
the cross. The vast majority of what goes on under the name
of Christianity teaches what is known as universal redemption. God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. He wants to save everybody. That's
his desire. That's his purpose. But the determining
factor of salvation is your acceptance or rejection of what he did for
you. If you reject what he did for
you, you'll be damned. If you accept what he did for
you, if you accept Jesus as your personal savior, you'll be saved. If that is what you believe,
I pray that God will grant you repentance. But if that's what
you believe, you've never believed the gospel. There's no gospel
in that message, and there's no way anybody can be saved hearing
that message. There's no salvation apart from
hearing the truth. That is a false message, and
there's no gospel in it. Now, turn with me for just a
moment to 1 Corinthians 15. I want to give you an example
of what I'm talking about. You can't preach the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't understand what the
Lord was doing on the cross unless you believe in election. You
just can't do it. It's impossible. This can't be separated from
the gospels. One, many truths that make the
one truth. If you take away one of them,
you no longer have the truth. Now look here in 1 Corinthians
15, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. Well, we're going to get here
what the gospel is, aren't we? Paul says, I declare unto you the
gospel. which I preach to you, it's always
the same, it's not a modified message, it's what you heard
in the beginning, which also you've received, wherein you
stand, by which also you're saved, if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you believed in vain, for I delivered
unto you, first of all, of primary importance, that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the
scriptures. Now there's the gospel. Christ, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. And he's talking
about the Old Testament scriptures, isn't he? New Testament had not
yet been written. Here's the gospel. It's how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Now I'm going
to bring you one Old Testament example, the Passover. You know
the story where blood was to be put over the house. God was
going to come through in judgment. Wherever there was not blood,
there would be the death of the firstborn. Wherever there was
blood, God would pass by in mercy because of the blood of the lamb,
the substitutionary sacrifice. That's the gospel. Now, I've
got some real simple questions. Was the blood over everybody's
door? No. No. Just the children of Israel.
The blood was not over everybody's door. The blood of Christ is
for the elect. That's how He died according
to the Scripture. Now here's the second question.
Where the blood was? Was anybody in the house where
the blood was Was anybody judged anyway? Say someone in that very day
committed some vile sin. If he was in the house with the
blood over the door, was he saved? Yes. Here's the third question. What's
the one thing God was looking for? When I see the blood. Not when I see your sincerity,
not when I see your faith, not when I see your repentance, not
when I see how you've straightened up your life. When I see the
blood. Who had to see the blood? God
said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now that is how
the Christ died for our sins according to scripture. And to
look at it in any other way is to take the meaning away from
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel. You can't preach
Christ crucified and not preach election. You don't even know
what He was doing. You think salvation was making an offer
rather than an actual accomplishment of salvation. Go into the New
Testament, Matthew 121. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. His people,
the elect. The Lord said, I lay down my
life for the sheep. There are goats. He didn't lay
down His life for goats. He laid down His life for the
sheep. Feed the church of God which
He purchased with His own blood. He didn't make salvation available.
He purchased salvation for them. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it that
He might cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word
that He might sanctify it and present to Himself a glorious
church. Christ died for the church. Hebrews 10, 14, wherefore by
one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,
them that are set apart by God in eternal election. You can't
preach the cross and not preach election. Listen to the words
of our Lord. For this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. Now, the point is, Christ's death
on Calvary's tree was an accomplishment. It wasn't a roll of the dice.
It wasn't trying to make something available to me if I do my part.
It was an accomplishment. They spake of the deceased, which
he should accomplish. When he said, it is finished,
The salvation of everybody He died for was finished. Accomplished. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. It is finished. Do you hear those
words? Nothing for me to do. It's done. It's finished. You can't preach the cross and
not preach election. One of the things I hear preachers
say a whole lot, and I hate this statement, Christ died for those
who believe. I hate that statement. Well,
it's true, isn't it? Yeah, it's true. I wouldn't take
away from that. He did die for those who believed,
but where's the emphasis? those who believe, as if Christ
sees your faith and He dies for you. It's really a way of compromising
the truth of Christ's effectual redemption for His elect. Call it particular redemption.
Call it limited atonement, definite atonement. It's the gospel. It's
substitution. That's all it is. And there's
no understanding of the cross without election. You cannot preach—here's the
fourth statement I want to make about this. You cannot preach
the invincible work of God the Holy Spirit and not preach election.
It's impossible. Now quickening, that means giving
life. It's not a word we use much today,
but it's in the scripture a lot, quickening. Quickening is attributed
to God. And you hath he quickened, hath
he given life to, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Quickening
is Attributed to God the Son, the Son quickeneth whom He will. Quickening, life-giving is attributed
to God the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profits nothing in this thing of quickening. Now,
who does God quicken? Those He elected, those who Christ
died for, those who God the Holy Spirit gives life to the sin. The Spirit comes to chosen sinners
who were dead in sins and gives them life, births them into the
kingdom, gives them faith and repentance because God elected
them and Christ died for them. There's really no understanding
of the work of the Holy Spirit without election. How does this
happen to somebody? Through the preaching of the
gospel. Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it,
the gospel, is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. God, the
Holy Spirit, takes the gospel and gives life. Now the issue of election, when
it comes right down to it, is grace. It, and listen to this statement
very carefully, it is impossible to preach salvation by grace
and not preach election. It is impossible. It cannot be
done. Why? Election is even called
in Romans 11, 5, the election of grace. The election of grace. You know,
what's so glorious about election? All of this is God's gracious
choice. It's unconditional, it's not conditioned upon you doing
anything or being anything, it's truly the election of grace.
Listen to this scripture, 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 calleth. Your works, good or bad, have
nothing to do with election. It's God's sovereign choice of
his people according to his will. Now you take the word grace.
Remove the G and what are you left with? Race. Where only the strongest and
the swiftest win. Where does that leave you? That's
kind of an evolutionary view, isn't it? When it comes right
down to the fittest survive, the strongest win the race. But
that's not the way grace works. Grace is for sinners, for those
who cannot save themselves, for those who are guilty, for those
who have no merit at all. That's who needs grace. You take
away election, you take away the character of God, you deny
the sinful character of man. There's no understanding of the
cross. There's no understanding of the work of the Spirit of
God, and there's really no belief in salvation by grace. You know,
even faith is the gift of His grace. Repentance is given by
His grace. Now, people will object and say,
this doctrine will just kill men and turn them into the frozen
chosen and leave them indifferent about holiness. I just read in our text, according
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be, what? Holy. There's no holiness without
election. But election makes every one
of God's people holy. Holy. Every one of them, they're
called saints. holy ones. And oh, holiness is
their desire. Holiness is their character.
Oh, they got the old man, I realize that, but they got a new man.
And there is no holiness without election. So to talk about election
killing holiness, that's absurd. It's absurd. It's meaningless.
It's nonsense. But this belief in election will
destroy zeal for evangelism. Nonsense! Paul said, I endure
all things for the elect's sake. I'll go through getting beat
up, whipped. Every town I go to, that's going
to happen to me. But I'm going to do it for the elect's sake.
Why, the very reason to be an evangelist is because God elected
a people. Remember when God said to Paul,
be not afraid in Corinth, be not afraid, hold not thy peace,
no man's gonna sit on thee to do thee hurt, for I have much
people in this city. Oh, you reckon Paul said, well,
then I'm not gonna preach any. No, that's what motivated him
to stay there, because God told him, I have much people in this
city. Remember, when God said to Ananias,
he said, you go, You go preach to Paul. Ananias said, I know
what evil that man's done. He's killed many of your saints.
He's scared to death. I know what kind of man he is.
God said to Ananias, go thy way. He's a chosen vessel unto me
to bear my name. And what's the first thing Paul
heard from Ananias? The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. It is too ridiculous to even
give any credence to that election destroys missions. All the great
missionaries have been people who believed in election. You see, it's to be used in the
preaching of the gospel because it's the one stripping doctrine.
It strips you of everything, doesn't it? You don't have any,
if you really believe in election, you know you don't have anything
to bring to the table. And it's not until you really
see that God chose who would be saved and salvation totally
in His hands and there's nothing you can do, only then will you
cry for mercy. That's the only time. You see,
this is, this is, I can't save myself. My sin's my fault. I'm
not blaming God. I'm not blaming His sovereignty.
But I see salvation's in His hands. I can't save myself. God,
be merciful to me. Don't leave me to myself. You
see, the elect need election. Don't you need God to choose
you? All the elect do. Somebody says, well, I think
it's unfair. The only reason that somebody would say it's
unfair is self-righteousness. That's it. If you think it's
unfair, it's because you think God owes you something and that
he's obligated to you for some reason. Because if you really
believe you're a sinner, you will not say this is unfair. And I understand this about election.
Election doesn't prevent people from being saved who otherwise
would have been. And they come to God for mercy,
says, nope, not elect, not going to do it. That never happened.
That's a complete misrepresentation of the truth of God. Election
secures the salvation of folks who, if there were no election,
they would have been damned for sure. Amen? You know that's the case regarding
you. You know, I think it's interesting.
In the early church, this word was used conversationally. When
Peter opens up his epistle, his general epistle, he tells the
people that he's writing to, the strangers scattered throughout
those three or four different nations, elect according to the
foreknowledge of God. And when he closes that epistle,
he says the church that's at Babylon elected together with
you, salutes you. John writes to the elect lady
and her elect children. It was used conversationally.
I mean, the Lord said, if it would be possible, they'd deceive
the very elect, and he'll gather his elect from... If you had asked a member of
the early church, or if you had said to them, I don't believe
in election, they would have been taken back, and they would
know that you're not a Christian. God's people rejoice in the character
of God and his way of saving sinners. Now, can you preach
the gospel and not preach the true character of God? I'm asking
you to answer these questions. You answer them for yourself.
Can you preach the gospel and not preach the true character
of God? Can you preach the gospel and not preach the true character
of man in his sinfulness? Can you preach the gospel and
not preach the saving successful work of Christ on the cross? Can you preach the gospel and
not preach the invincible work of God the Holy Spirit giving
life to those the Father elected and the Son died for? Can you
preach the gospel and not preach salvation by grace? You know the answer to those
questions. No, you can't. It is impossible. Must election be preached? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And we have while we pray for
people who disagree with this and hope the Lord does something
for them. We don't have any sympathy with that notion that says you
can preach the gospel and not preach divine election, which
glorifies the glorious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
teaches us that salvation really is all of grace, teaches us that
we're so dead in sins that we can't be saved unless God does
something for us, teaches us that Christ's death was so complete
that he saved everybody he died for. Thank God for election. And let me say this about election.
Election. Here's the last thing I want
to say. I'm going to quote a scripture. First Thessalonians 2.13. But
we are bound. We are solemnly obligated to
thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Notice he
didn't say. We thank you. Now, I want to. A lot of times, preachers We'll
come in and get up and say, we thank you for being here. We
thank you for being here. Now, I wanna be careful. I don't
wanna be, I'm thankful when people come to hear the gospel, aren't
you? And listen to this, I need to say this. When people visit
this church, come up and greet them. Tell them you're glad they're
here. I've seen people come in and leave without anybody speaking
a word to them. Don't be that person. Be careful
to, we're glad they're here, aren't we, to hear the gospel.
We are glad, but I'm not gonna sit there and, oh, it's so wonderful
to have you here. You don't know, we don't thank
men, we thank God, don't we? We're 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. Two things that can't be separated.
But election is the doctrine of thanksgiving, isn't it? Why
me? Why me? Why would God choose
me? Why would he look in mercy upon
me? Why me? The world says it's not fair.
It's not right. The believer says. Why me? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
electing mercy in Christ Jesus. How we thank you for your character
that's revealed in your holy truth. How we thank you for the
revelation of our character that we can't be saved apart from
your sovereign grace. How we thank you for revealing
to us the character of thy son's salvation, how he finished our
salvation, and that he is all in our salvation. How we thank
you for salvation by grace. Lord, how we thank you that you've
chosen us to be holy. And Lord, we ask that you would
give us a zeal for the preaching of your gospel. And Lord, we
know that it begins with who you are. Enable us to faithfully
preach thy word. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.