Claire says it's nice to see
Janet with me. I get better reception when I
bring her with me. I always try to do that. It's
such a delight for me to be with you this evening and see so many
old friends and so thankful for the Lord's many, many mercies
to this congregation. I pray he'll continue that tonight,
be merciful and grant us his presence. And if you would, open
your Bibles to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. My text will be taken from verse
16. At the beginning of this verse,
when our Lord says, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you. He's making it very plain to
us. God chose a people. And I'd like to bring a message
this evening entitled the glory of divine election. And I pray
that the Lord will enable me to preach this message in such
a way that we'll be enabled to see our utter need of Christ. I want to be enabled to preach
this message in such a way that we'll leave here rejoicing in
Christ our Savior and rejoicing in God's mercies to us. I don't
want to preach this message trying to convince anyone that election
is true. No one comes to Christ because
they know they're one of God's elect. They don't come to Christ
because they know election is true. Now, election is a glorious,
blessed truth that's taught in God's word, but election is not
the first thing God teaches one of his people. The first thing
God teaches a believer is that we're sinners. First, God teaches
us Everything we do is sinful. And we are sinners in need of
a Savior. That's the first thing God teaches
His people. And then God shows us Christ. He reveals Christ
to us. And by faith, we run to Christ. And we beg God for mercy. And we find mercy and grace in
Christ our substitute. Now that makes me worship. Does
that make you worship? I come to Christ because I'm
a sinner and I need a savior. Later on, God teaches me that
he chose me from all of eternity. And the reason I came to Christ
is he was drawing me all along. He is always his purpose to draw
me to Christ and reveal Christ to me. God made me his before
time began. That's why he sent the gospel
to me. That's why he brought me to Christ. And that makes
me worship him too. Does that make you worship? Now
every believer loves God's electing love. I don't have to convince
any of God's elect of the truth of God's election or I don't
have to convince you to love God's election. God chose me. I didn't choose God. He chose me. Now that makes me
love him. How can I not love him for choosing
someone like me? A young preacher, you probably
heard this story, wrote a message entitled, The Hated Doctrine
of Election. And he brought it to an old preacher,
wanted him to look at his outline. And the old man tore it up, threw
it in the trash. He said, now go write a new message.
And you titled it, The Beloved Doctrine of Election. God's elect
loved the doctrine, the teaching of election. God elected me unto
salvation before time began. Of course I love that. The early
church referred to one another as the elect. You know, we refer
to one another as believers. The early church referred to
one another as the elect. In 2 John, John wrote a letter
to the elect lady, and in it he referred to her elect sister. This is how they referred to
one another. This is the church. They're the elect. So like I
said, my goal in preaching is not to prove that election is
taught in Scripture. My goal is to shut us up to Christ
so that we'll look to him and that will give us a reason to
rejoice in God's electing love. But in case you're wondering,
and you ought to know this, Scripture does plainly teach God's election,
and you ought to know that because our message comes from God's
word. The word elect or election is
used 27 times in Scripture, 24 times in the New Testament. And
the word chose or chosen is used more than 25 times in the New
Testament referring to God's choice of his people. It's clearly,
plainly taught in the New Testament. And God's election is pictured
all throughout the Old Testament. Just turn to any page and you'll
see it. God's election of Israel. God's
choice of that nation, Israel, and he passed every other nation
by. Not one other nation had God's law. Not one other nation
had the temple or the tabernacle, none of them. Israel was God's
elect nation. Adam had two sons. God chose
one of them, passed the other one by. Before the flood, the
earth was full of people. God chose Noah and his family
and passed everyone else by and everyone else perished. That's
God's election. Elections taught all throughout
scripture so we believe it. If you look at Psalm 65, election
is a blessed truth that gives God's elect every blessing that
God has for sinners. Psalm 65 verse 4. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and cause us to approach unto thee that he may dwell in
thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Now who is it
that's blessed? Who is it that's satisfied with
the goodness of God's house? The man that God chooses. God's
election gives us every blessing God has for sinners. Now if you
look in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, I know the unregenerate man wants
to fuss and fight about election, but election is a great cause
for thanksgiving. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God 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. whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is a reason to give thanks
that God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. You
know, election is the very glory of God revealed to men. In Exodus
chapter 33, Moses asked God, show me your glory. What did
God tell him? God said, all right. Moses, I'm
going to make my goodness to pass before you. I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. Now that's election. God being
gracious to whom he will. God showing mercy to whom he
will. We can't preach the gospel if
we don't preach God's electing love. You can't preach the gospel
if you're going to deny God's very glory, his glory of election. Election is as necessary for
salvation as the death of Christ on the cross. Election is as
necessary for salvation as the new birth. So it's impossible
to preach the gospel without preaching election. Matter of
fact, the only reason we preach it all is God's election. You know, Armenians say, well,
if I believe what you believe, I wouldn't bother preaching.
I wouldn't evangelize. If I didn't believe in God's
election, I wouldn't waste your time preaching to you. The very
reason we preach is we know God's election shall not fail. His
elect are going to hear and they're going to believe the gospel.
They're going to believe Christ and they're going to come to
Him. God came to Ananias one day and told him, I want you
to go down here to a certain address and I want you to preach
to Osal Tarsus down there. Ananias said, Lord, I don't want
to do that. I've heard about that fellow. I'm kind of scared
of him. The Lord said, you go preach.
And you know why Ananias went and preached? God said, he's
a chosen vessel unto me. We preach because of God's election. And what I want us to see this
evening from our text, John 15, verse 16, is the glory of God's
election. And the first thing we learn
is this, the first glory of God's election His election is necessary. There can be no salvation without
God's election. And the reason for that is our
nature is a sin nature. We cannot choose God and will
not choose God with the nature of Adam that we're born with.
You see that in verse 16? You have not chosen me. What an indictment against human
nature. You have not chosen me. We will
not choose God, so God had to choose us. He had to. Now, election
never makes the elect think they're better than somebody else. It's
not like, well, we're one of the elect few and everybody else
is down here on a lower plane. No, not at all. Brethren, election
humbles God's elect. I did not choose God. And Claire,
I wouldn't. But God chose me. Because of
who I am, I would not choose God, but in spite of who I am,
God chose me. Now that humbles a person. And
that's why I said you can't preach the gospel unless you preach
election. Election sets forth God as he is, as God, as God. And it's everything that that
means, he's God. And election sets forth men as
we are, as sinners. unable to help ourselves, completely
dependent on God to do something for us. Look over Romans chapter
9. You know if God did not choose
some to save, no one would be saved because by nature man will
not choose God. By nature man won't choose holiness,
won't choose righteousness, we won't choose anything good. Look
at Romans 9 verse 29. Isaiah said before, except the
Lord of Sabaoth, except the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed,
we had been a Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. And
if God didn't choose a people, no one would be saved. So election
is for sinners. Election is even for the chief
of sinners. Matter of fact, it's only for
the chief of sinners. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, election
is is for the chief of sinners. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26, For you
see your calling, brethren, are that 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, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. Election is for sinners, people
who are despised, they're weak, they're nothing, they're not,
that's who God chooses, sinners. Now I want to drive this point
home to our hearts. There's no salvation without
God's election. And I want to drive this home
because no one will ever worship until we see we're helpless before
God. We won't worship until we see
there's nothing we can do to make God save us. Now, we can
beg for mercy, and we should. We can call on his name, and
we should. But there's nothing we can do that will obligate
God to save us. And until we see that, we'll
not worship. So election means that salvation is of the Lord. And men have no control in it
at all. And the only response a sinner
can have to that is to worship, to beg for mercy. And that's
a very good place to be. Because here's our second point.
Election is an act of God's love. Our Lord says, you've not chosen
me, you rejected me, but I've chosen you. Now, all throughout
John 15, our Lord makes it clear he loves his people. Look back
at verse 9. Our Lord says, as the Father
hath loved me, so have I loved you. Now continue ye in my love. Verse 12, this is my commandment
that you love one another as I have loved you. Verse 13, greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for my
friends." And you're my friends. I'm going to lay down my life
for you because I love you. Then in verse 16 he says, I have
chosen you. Now I have chosen you out of
an act of my great love. That's what our Lord is saying.
Election is an act of love for his people. Election is not choosing
some men to hell and some men to heaven. That would be hateful.
All men by nature are condemned to hell on their own. We don't
need God to help us do that. We're going to go to hell on
our own because of our own sin and our own rebellion. But God
elected some. God chose some out of the fallen
lump of Adam's humanity to save because of his great love for
his people. God chose sinners. Sinners. There can't be any explanation
for that other than love. Election is an act of God's love. And third, the third glory of
election we see is election is personal. Our Lord says, I have
chosen you. God chose his people one at a
time. He didn't choose nations. He
didn't choose groups. He chose people, sinners. You
who believe, can you ever get over God's love for you? For
you? Now, I'm not talking about a
nameless, faceless mass of people. I'm talking about God's love
for you, that God would choose you, that Christ would die for
you. I can never get over that. I'd never get tired of hearing,
Christ died for my sins, according to scripture. Never. You just,
you can't get over it. Election is personal. God chose
a bride and he made her his. That's about the most personal
relationship I know of, the relationship I have with my wife. God chose
a bride and He made her His, and He dwells in her hearts. Now that's personal, to have
union with Christ. Union that is so real that when
the Father sees me, He sees Christ. That's personal. The fourth glory
of divine election we see is election is eternal. Our Lord
says, I have chosen you. Not I will choose you if you
choose me. Not, I'll choose you if you're good enough and you
meet certain conditions and you agree to certain beliefs, then
I'll choose you. No, he says, I have, past tense,
I have chosen you. Well, when did he choose me?
How far past tense are we talking about? God told Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. I chose you before I formed
you in the belly. Well, is that right before he
was conceived? Look in Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1 tells us what the Lord meant when he was
talking to Jeremiah. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. I had already chosen you and
sanctified you. Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He has chosen us in Him, when? Before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. God chose a people, I have chosen
you, past tense, before the foundation of the world. Election is eternal.
Now election does not mean that God looked down through the telescope
of time and he saw who would choose him, so then he chose
them. No, election is according to
the good pleasure of his will. That's what Paul says in Ephesians.
If God just looked down through time and he saw, well, I see
who's going to choose me, so I'll choose them. That's just
God taking credit for what man's going to do anyway. That would
make election unnecessary. And we've already seen election
is necessary. The fact that election is eternal,
that it happened before the foundation of the world, means that election
is unconditional. Now I would imagine everybody
here would at least give mental agreement to the five points
of Calvinism, T-U-L-I-P. U, and that, tulip, means unconditional
election. Now you know what that means?
Unconditional election. It means that there are no conditions
you have to meet in order to have it. It's free. You don't
have to be good enough to get it. It's free. If you're still
there in Ephesians, look at Ephesians 2 verse 1. And you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein in time past you
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. Well, none of those people
can meet any conditions, can they? but God, who's rich in
mercy, for his great love, his unconditional love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace, you're saved. Election
is an act of pure mercy. Unconditional. And if it's mercy,
you can't earn it. You're gonna have to receive
it as a gift if it's mercy. Look in Romans chapter nine again.
Election is an act of pure, unconditional mercy. Romans 9, verse 10. And not only
this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our
father Isaac, 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. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. as it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now what should
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shall with mercy.
Election is unconditional. It's eternal. Now fifth, Election
is not salvation. Election is not salvation. Election
is unto salvation. God did choose the people. They're
his elect people. He set his special love and affection
on those people. But Christ had to come and save
those people by suffering and dying for them. In John 15, verse
13, this is why our Lord says this, greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, had to go lay down His life for
His friends, for His elect. Now, there can be no salvation
without election. But there can be no salvation,
there can be no forgiveness of sins without the blood of the
sacrifice either. And there can be no salvation
unless the Holy Spirit comes and applies the blood of that
sacrifice in the new birth. We've got to have all three.
We have to have election. We must have a sacrifice, and
we must be born again. That's why I say election's not
salvation, it's unto salvation. Then next, election causes the
elect to bring forth fruit. Verse 16, back in our text. You've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you. And I've ordained you that
you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain. Now what fruit is it that our
Lord's talking about? We're talking about the fruit
of faith, belief in Christ. It's impossible to have faith. It's impossible to believe Christ
without election. I'll show you that back in John
chapter 10. In verse 25, Jesus answered them
and he told you, he said, I told you and you believe not. Now,
Peter, James, and John heard everything the Lord told them.
They believed. Why didn't these religious Jews
believe? I told you, and you believe not. The works that I
do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe
not because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. You
don't believe because I did not elect you. You're not one of
my elect. Now, you who believe, you know
this. The only reason you believe is because you're one of God's
elect and God gives faith to all of his elect. That's what
he says. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. They follow me. I give unto them
eternal life. They should never perish, neither
should any man pluck them out of my hand. And every believer
knows this. Look at Acts chapter 13. It's been my privilege to travel
around the country once, even to Mexico, and wherever you meet
believers, whatever culture they're from, whatever language they
speak, whatever their background is, every believer knows this. I believe because God elected
me. Acts 13, verse 47. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed, as many as were elect of God, they
believed. Then that's the fruit of faith.
There's also all the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,
long-suffering. But you can't have any of that
fruit without election because it's all contrary. All of that
fruit is contrary to our flesh. We can only have it through divine
election. And you know the reason that a believer bears fruit.
You know, it's not so we can get some glory for bearing all
this fruit. You know, eventually we become
good enough and strong enough and we bear more fruit and we're
better than somebody else. That is not why a believer bears
fruit. Election, the fruit of election, just like all of salvation,
is for the glory of God. If you look back in our text
in John 15, verse 8, the fruit is brought forth in election,
salvation. gives God all the glory. Herein, our Lord says, is my
Father glorified that you bear much fruit. See, this is for
the glory of God. And then last, election unites
the believer to Christ. The end here of verse 16 in our
text, I've ordained you that you should bring forth fruit,
that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you." Now, when God
elected a people, he put those people in his Son, put them in
Christ, and their union is so real. They're united to Christ
so fully that the Father will always give me what I ask for
in the name of Christ. Now, I've used the example many
times of a million dollars. If I ask for a million dollars,
does that mean the Lord's going to give it to me? Well, I have something,
maybe a better illustration, something else we cherish pretty
highly around here, the University of Kentucky Basketball Championship.
Reckon anybody's prayed for one of those yet this season? Now, if I pray for that, is God
going to give it to me? Is he? No, he's not. Because I don't
need another championship, just like I don't need a million dollars. This first means something so
much more precious than that. I do need mercy. I do need the
forgiveness of sins. I do need the blood of Christ.
I desperately need Christ to be my righteousness. I need his
presence. I need him to be my comforter.
I need his presence to worship. And our Lord says, if you ask
for that, the Father will give it to you. Does anybody here
need Christ? Do you need him? Do you need,
does anybody need forgiveness of your sin? Does anybody need
mercy? then go to the Lord in prayer
and ask for it. The elect are so united to Christ, they'll
get it. Because when we ask, the Father
hears His Son asking, and He'll give mercy. He'll give the forgiveness
of sins. He'll wash us in the blood of
His Son. Now that's the glory of divine election we see in
our text. Now I want you to look in Matthew
chapter 15. Let's apply what we've learned. How should a sinner
deal with this truth of the glory of divine election. If we see
a very good example of it, we'd be wise to follow. In Matthew
15, verse 21, Then Jesus went thence, and departed
into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter's grievously
vexed with the devil. Now this woman starts out with
a real problem. She knows she's helpless. She
can't do anything to help her daughter. And she comes to the
right person with a good plea. She knows who the Lord Jesus
is. She calls him the son of David.
She's saying she knows you're the Messiah. You're the son of
God. And she begs him for mercy. Now,
when I read that, I want to tell you, John, that impresses me.
I'm impressed. You know why? You don't find
that very often. But look at our Lord's response,
verse 23. He answered her not a word. And his disciples came
and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after
us. Now, the Lord was silent. Have you ever prayed and the
Lord been silent? The heaven's been as brass? What was our reaction? Did we
pout? Did we wonder, why didn't the
Lord answer me? That's not this woman's reaction.
It certainly did not stop her. She kept crying to anybody she
thought even knew the Lord that might go to Him and talk to Him
for her. She was not going to quit begging for mercy just because
of His silence. And the disciples were irritated. They wanted the Lord to send
her away. Lord, she's bothering us. Send her away. Boy, that's some compassion,
isn't it? Before we're too hard on the
disciples, how often do we do that? Somebody comes in, they
don't look like us, they don't talk like us, they don't do things
the way we do, and we think, I wish they'd just go away. I pray that the Lord give me
a heart of compassion for the lost. I'm thankful somebody had
compassion for the lost when I need somebody to preach the
gospel to me. And I'm also thankful for this, the disciples' lack
of compassion. What they did wrong did not stop
the mercy of the Lord. And even though I know when I'm
not going to do the right thing, that's not going to stop the
mercy of the Lord, I still pray for a heart of compassion, that
the Lord give me a heart of compassion. And instead of sending her, this
woman away, look what happened in verse 24. Our Lord answered
and said, I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Now our Lord here set forth the truth of election in
terms that cannot be misunderstood. The Lord came only to save his
elect. He came to save only the lost
sheep of the house of Israel and he will pass by everybody
else. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ did
not come to save everyone. Christ didn't die for everyone.
He came to save His elect. Now, how do we respond to that
truth? Do we pout and go away and get mad and want to argue
with it? Well, I can tell you how a sinner responds to that
truth. Look at verse 25. and worshiped him, saying, Lord,
help me. Lord, help me. Election never
stops anyone from worship. Election never stops anyone from
coming to Christ and begging for mercy. Matter of fact, election
is what makes a sinner come to Christ and what makes a sinner
beg for mercy and worship. when faced with the truth of
election, that Christ came only to save his elect, this poor,
needy woman worshiped. She was truly worshiping. Because like I said earlier,
you only worship when you realize that you're helpless. We will
not worship until we realize we are nothing and Christ is
everything. Then we'll worship. Now this
is very, very important. I know you kids think I've been
preaching a long time, but I want you children to listen to me.
I got something for you, and I hope, I hope you'll listen
to me and not make the same mistake I did. I spent years, I'm not
kidding you, years, asking God to show me that I'm one of the
elect. Lord, show me I'm one of the
elect and I'll believe. Don't do that. That's the wrong
prayer. You know, when the Lord saved
me, when I begged for mercy, the Lord gave me mercy when I
asked for mercy. This woman did not say, well,
Lord, show me I'm one of the elect. She worshipped, she worshipped,
she begged for mercy. I don't come to Christ because
I know I'm one of the elect. I come to Christ because I need
mercy. I need grace. I need forgiveness
of my sin. I need to be washed in the blood
of Christ. That's when I come to Christ. But look at verse
26. She said, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, it's
not me. It's not right to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. This poor woman, she says, Lord,
help me. He said, you don't deserve mercy.
You don't deserve that I choose you. You're only a dog. It's not right for me to give
the children's bread to dogs. Now, in our day, we probably
think of dogs a little bit higher up on the food chain than they
did then. You know, we have two little Yorkie dogs, and Champ
feeds them table scraps. You know, we get done eating,
and she fixes a roast beef. I said, oh, my goodness. And
we get done eating and she takes these little pieces of roast
beef and gives them to the dogs. And I think, it's not right to
give Frank's meat to dogs. It's not right. Don't do that. It's not right to give the children's
bread. Am I going to take away from
the children to give it to a dog? Now this is a bold, plain statement
about our nature. that tells us what we really
are. We're dogs. Dogs. I'm not talking about a
cute little dog with a collar and a bow and it smells pretty.
I'm talking about a mangy, no good dog. Now how does a sinner
handle that truth? How does that make you feel?
You're a dog. I'm a dog. Are you going to get
offended and leave? Now, if you're a sinner, you're
not. This sinner agreed with the Lord. Look at verse 27. She
said, truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from their master's table. Lord, you're right. Let God be
true and every man a liar. You're right. I'm a dog. You're right. I don't deserve
the least of your mercies, but I'm begging for some table scraps.
I'm begging for some crumbs. My friend's crumbs from the master's
table is a whole lot better than a bowl full of dog food. Just
give me some crumbs. You're my master and I'm begging
for crumbs. Now look at verse 28. Then Jesus
answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. She got what she asked for, didn't
she? We ought not be surprised. The Lord said, whatever you ask
of my name, Father, give it to you. She asked for mercy and
she stayed at the feet of the master, begging for mercy. Now, this is the truth. God elected
a people. Every one of those people will
be saved. Every one of them. They're going
to hear the gospel. They're going to believe. They're
going to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're
going to be like this woman and come beg him for mercy. And this
is true. Everyone who asks for mercy,
everyone without exception who begs for mercy is going to get
it. So come to Christ. Would you
come to Christ and beg for mercy? Our Lord said he'd be merciful.
Didn't he say, I'll be merciful? Then why don't we beg him for
mercy? You come to him begging for mercy. Soon after that, he'll
teach you. I elected you. I've been the
one drawing you to Christ to find mercy and salvation all
along, and then we'll understand salvation is of the Lord. All
of it, from beginning to end, salvation is of the Lord, and
we'll see some of the glory of divine election, and we'll worship.
Let's bow in prayer.