I have a subject this afternoon,
and I have several texts that I'm going to quote as I look
at this message. But the message this evening
is about one of the most serious subjects any of us can ever undertake
to study on, to proclaim, or to listen to. And that is the
subject of God's election. God's election. I'm not talking
about some political election. I'm not talking about choosing
a politician to represent us in our statehouse or in Washington. I'm talking about God's choice. Those that God chose to salvation. And that there isn't an election
It can't be denied that God has chosen a great multitude out
of Adam's race to salvation. It is everywhere taught to us
in the Holy Scriptures. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and
verse 13. And you find these under different
names in the Scriptures. Those that God has chosen, sometimes
you find them under that name, the Chosen. Sometimes you find
them under the name of His Elect. Sometimes you find them under
the name of Sheep. Sometimes you find them under
the term Vessels of Mercy. And the Lord liked a term that
He often used those that were given him of the Father. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing."
I like the term that they go under sometimes, as many. In
Acts 13.48, as many as were ordained to eternal life. as many as were set aside, chosen
to eternal life. They believed. That's election. That's election. The Scripture
teaches that. And there's two things about
this election. One is when it took place. When did God make His choice?
Now, John chapter 6 and verse 37 has it in the present tense.
all that the Father giveth to me." You won't find that very
often in the Scriptures. In Psalms chapter 2, the Father
speaking to the Son, and he says, Ask of me, and I'll give you
the heathen. That's written in present tense. But it no doubt is written there
to show that God's election is unchangeable. That it's always
fresh. that it's always continuance. But it's clear from the Scriptures,
as you and I read closely, when election took place initially. When did God make His choice?
Listen to these Scriptures, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, God hath
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And
then in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Whenever that beginning was.
If it was from the beginning of time before the world was,
if you can find the beginning, there you can find where God
made His choice. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse
9, God hath saved us and 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. Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. So election took place before
time. God chose those whom he was going
to save before he ever made the world. The election of God then,
this choosing them to salvation, this setting them aside, took
place before they believed and before they had a being and before
the world was ever made. The election of God is unconditional. That is, He never looked them
through time and saw one person was different than another person,
and He chose that person because of the difference He saw in them. He never saw one person would
do something that another person would not do, and He chose them
because He foresaw what they would do. God's election stands
upon this ground. It's according to His own sovereign
will and good pleasure, to the praise of the glory of His grace. It's a free election. It's according
to the will and good pleasure of God. Now, here's my question. And the reason I want to ask
this question, as I said this morning, It's because you and
I are living in a day of pride and arrogance. When men boast
themselves, not only that they have free will, but the power
of that will. That until they exercise their
free will and the power of it, God's hands are tied and can
do nothing. That's free will. And it's deceptive. It comes from the heart of a
lost and regenerate man, and it's promoted by hell itself. And you and I are living in a
day when this doctrine is rampant. And therefore, I'm anxious to
ask this question and then to prove it from Scripture. And
here's my question concerning God's election. Can the non-elect
be saved? Can those whom God has passed
by in election be saved? Is it possible for them to be
saved? And I'll hurriedly answer this
question by this. No, they cannot be saved. No person left out of God's election
will be, neither can they be saved. Now you ask, why is that? And I want to give you scriptural
reasons why that is. I don't want to give you my opinion.
Your opinion is as good as mine. You're not here for my opinion.
You're here for scriptural reason. And may these scriptural reasons
drive self-righteousness from us once and for all. May it humble
us before the feet of the Son of God and seek to be saved by
free and sovereign grace, and may we hate that which our generations
call their free will. May this message do that. And
first of all, why is it that I say the non-elect cannot be
saved? First of all is this, the number
of the elect have been settled in the decree of God before time. That number cannot be increased
any more than it can be diminished. That number is fixed. Listen to these passages. As
many as were ordained to eternal life, they believed. As many, but no more. Thank God, no less, but no more. As many. In Romans chapter 8,
verse 29 and 30, Those whom God foreknew, them He predestinated. Those He predestinated, them
He called. Them He called, those He also
justified. Them He justified, He also glorified. Did you get that? Those and them. Those that He foreknew, them
He glorified. Those whom God left out of His
purpose and predestination cannot be saved because the number cannot
be changed. The number is fixed. In John
chapter 6 and verse 37, the Lord says it this way, All that the
Father gives to me shall come to me. All men don't come to
Christ. But all of those whom the Father
gives to Him do. But nobody else. All of those
whom He gives, but only them. God settled upon the number before
time, and the number will not be increased. It cannot be increased
any more than it can be diminished. If one non-elect soul were saved,
then God's decree in election would be fallible. It would be
changeable. I tell you what, I'd rather go
to hell myself than God's decree be changed. Wouldn't you? I'd rather face the flames of
hell than to have to trust a God who is fallible in His decree. Therefore we read in Romans chapter
11 and verse 7, the elect have obtained it. The election has
obtained life. They did then and they are today. The elect are obtaining justification,
righteousness, and all the precious blessings that God has laid out
for them. But listen to this, the rest,
the rest, Who are the rest? That's the non-elect. That's
those who are left out. You have the election. They obtain
faith and repentance and life. But the rest, what happens to
the rest? They don't obtain those blessings.
Why? They're blinded. They're blinded
by God. They're blinded by sin. They're
blinded by Satan. They're blinded. The Lamb's Book
of Life that contains the name of every elect soul will never
see the smudge of an eraser, neither will it feel the wetness
of fresh ink. All those names that were in
the Book of Life were put in there before the foundation of
the world. No names are taken out, and no
names are added. Therefore, the non-elect cannot
be saved because they are not in that number. Someone will say this, Bruce,
this discourages me from seeking the Lord because I fear that
I'm not one of the elect. Well, let me clear up that fear.
Let me do it this way. You cannot know your election. You cannot know whether God has
chosen you as long as you live without faith in the Son of God. Only those who have came to the
Lord Jesus Christ to believe upon Him savingly, only those
are saved, and it is only the saved who can be assured of their
election. No unsaved person, no unbeliever,
can know whether or not God has elected them. It's only those
who have come to Christ. All that the Father gives to
me, they shall come to me. It's not so much our election
that we should be concerned about first and foremost. It's this. Have I come to Christ? Am I coming
to Christ? If we can answer that and have
God to bear witness to it, we should never fear election. The elect hear the gospel. The
elect believe the gospel. The elect turn to God, and they
wait for his Son from heaven who delivered them from the wrath
to come. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me. If you are here today and you
are not in Christ, you have nothing to do with election. That is
God's business. That is God's business. But you
have a great deal to do with coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have a great deal to do with
your soul's salvation. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon you. That's your business if you're
here this afternoon with Dr. Christ. Come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's
your business. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. That's your business. to be concerned
about your sin and concerned about your sins being washed
in the Savior's blood. Take with you words and turn
to the Lord and say unto Him, Lord, take away all iniquity
and receive us graciously. And when you find yourself in
Christ, accepted and complete in Him, Then and only then can
you have the assurance that God has elected you to come to Christ. And then you don't have to fear
election. Did that clear that up? But I'll give you this warning.
Make sure it's this ungrounded fear that you're grappling with
A fear of God's election and not contempt for His election. Some would say, I fear that I'm
not one of His elect, but it's not fear at all. It's contempt. This world has contempt for God's
distinguishing grace. It's not fear at all. And be
careful for this. Don't use the excuse of God's
election. For you are not turning from
sin to Christ. God sees through these things. He sees through the excuses that
men use for not coming. And He knows it. And He will
judge a man accordingly. First step is this. The non-elect
cannot be saved because that number is fixed. It is fixed,
as fixed as the sovereign, everlasting God himself. Secondly, the non-elect
cannot be saved for this reason. They do not have the saving grace
given to them that God gives to the elect soul. They are left out of the number.
They don't have that grace given to them that God has reserved
for the elect soul. The Lord Jesus was teaching in
parables one day, and his disciples came to him and they said, Lord,
why are you teaching to the people in parables? They don't understand
what you're saying. And he said, I'm doing this on
purpose. And then he makes this wonderful
searching statement. He says, unto you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them,
to them who are without, to them who are unbelieving, it is not
given. God gives light to the understanding
of the elect soul, and he withholds this light from the rest. He
opens the heart of those chosen vessels to hear and believe and
understand while he may merely knock at the other heart's door
and pass on by. God works secretly but powerfully
in the heart of every elect soul, causing them to be heavy, causing
them to stoop, and finally bow and surrender to be saved in
Jesus Christ. Don't the Scripture teach that?
Thy people shall be willing when? In the day of thy power. You see this all through the
Scripture. Look at Saul of Tarsus, the chief rebel in the New Testament. But look how he bows. Oh, look
how he stoops. What does he say when the Master
comes with power to his heart? What does he do? He throws up
the flag. Does he not? White flag. I surrender. Lord, what will
you have me to do? That's the power it takes to
save a man. Manasseh, that wicked king who
rebelled against the Lord, he brings him into prison, throws
him down in a pit, and there in his affliction, He seeks the
Lord. He gives himself up to the Lord.
There's the thief on the cross. What's he doing? He's mocking
the Son of God. He grinds him with his teeth.
If you're the Son of God, save us and save yourself. But what
happens? Oh, there's a secret, but mighty
power comes into that man's heart. And it breaks him and bows him.
And what does he say? Lord, remember me. Lord, remember
me. This is the saving power and
grace of God that it takes to convert a man. This is the grace
that he withholds from the nonelect. God doesn't work with the same
power in the hearts of the nonelect as he does the elect. In John
chapter 6 and verse 29, this is a very familiar scripture.
The Jews had asked the Lord Jesus, what must we do to work the works
of God? And the Lord said this, this
is the work of God that you believe. Did you notice how he said that?
You're believing is the work of God. You can't believe apart from
the work of God in you. These poor free willers tell
us today that their regeneration and their conversion is the effect
of the power of their will. That is up to them to exercise
that will, and until they do, they have literally tied the
hands of God. But the Bible says this, we can
only believe as God works in us by His mighty power and grace. The same power that it took to
raise the Son of God from the dead. That's the power that it
takes to bring us to faith. in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the work of God that you believe. And then he turns right around
and says to these same people, he says, you have seen me and
believed not. This is the work of God that
you believe. And he says, yet you don't believe
me. Why didn't they believe? God
never worked in their hearts to believe. God denied them that
which would have saved their soul. And what is that? The power
of His grace working in their hearts. Therefore, what was the
final consequences? They said, this is a hard saying.
And they went away. They went away. Apollos, that
great, eloquent man, was a preacher. The Lord enlightened him. on
a clear view of the gospel, and they sent him down to Achaia
to preach to those disciples there, and the scripture says,
he helped them much who had believed through grace. That is the way
we believe, through grace. With a heart, men believe unto
righteousness. unto salvation. There is no salvation
apart from believing, and there is no believing apart from grace. And it is this grace, I am telling
you, that God withholds from the nonelect. And if He withholds
this grace, you cannot, neither will you, believe you will not
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can come to Me. He don't
have the ability to do it, except my Father which sent me draw
him. It's this drawing grace, it's
this fetching grace, it's this coming grace that God withholds
from the nonelect. And therefore they do not come,
neither can they come. Who maketh you to differ from
another? And what do you have but what you have received? A
man can receive nothing except it be given to him from heaven. And if a man has come to the
Lord Jesus Christ, it's because it's been given to him by the
free grace of God. If a man is brokenhearted and
he's contracting his spirit, these are the sacrifices of God. And if he's unable to leave his
sin and come to Christ and fall upon him to be saved, it's a
gift of God. But God does what he will with
his own. It's not a gift we merit. It's
not a gift that we can earn. It's not a gift we can purchase.
It's one that God must give us. Oh, dear soul, don't play with
the things of God. Don't dabble in your willful
sin and tempt Him to destroy you. Don't procrastinate with
the excuses that you're waiting for Him to draw you. He may never
do so. He's under no obligation to do
so. And since He's not, then go to
Him like those of old and say this, Draw me, and then I'll come. Turn me, and I shall be turned. Save me, save me, and then I
shall be saved. I can but perish if I go. I am resolved to try. If I stay away, I know I shall
forever die. Reject this silly, hellish notion
that God owes every man a chance. That God is obligated to call
a man one time, but everything else beyond that is mercy. That's why I'm preaching this
message, to drive us from this free will. How many people has
it damned in their heart, in their head, in their high minded?
Oh, go to the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to God by Him and humble yourself. And say, Oh God, be merciful
to me. Draw me. I have nothing. I am
nothing. If you spit in my direction,
I'll count it a favor. That number cannot be increased.
God withholds from the non-elect what He gives to His chosen people.
And that is saving grace in every aspect of it. And thirdly is
this. The non-elect cannot be saved
because everything in them stands against their salvation. Their whole heart is opposed
to them being saved. Their heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Their conscience is hardened
by the deceitfulness of sin. In their affection they love
darkness rather than light. And their own will is opposed
to coming to Christ. You will not come to me that
you may have light. And this opposition is manifested
in many ways. As you talk to your co-workers
and your friends and your neighbors, you'll notice this opposition
to their own salvation. And the first one is this. Ignorance. Ignorance. Now, ignorant refusal
and denial are the one's own self-righteous rags. and giving
oneself up to be saved by the righteousness of another, Jesus
Christ. Wasn't this the problem with
the Jews? Paul said, I pray for them, that
they might be saved. Oh, they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. Paul, what is their problem?
They being ignorant of God's righteousness. They go about
to establish their own righteousness. And therefore they have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hopeful and Christian in Pilgrim's
Progress, they often ran into old ignorance. If you read Pilgrim's
Progress, you remember old ignorance. That was his name. And he thought that he could
work out a righteousness that God would accept him in. And
they were telling him that he needed the perfect righteousness
of another, namely, Jesus Christ. And he said, you mean to tell
me that you'd have me to think that Jesus Christ has did all
in my justification and there's nothing I can do but simply believe
on Him for it? And they said, oh, poor England,
Jesus Christ was pleased to do all for you. But you know what? as often as they met him, and
as lovingly and firmly as they pleaded with him, they never
got him to give up his righteousness. When he crossed the river of
death and went up to the celestial city and knocked on the door,
they refused him entrance, because he was in his own righteous,
in his own rags. And the angels, the shining ones,
come and they bound him up and took him and cast him in the
hole in the side of the hill. But he wouldn't give it up. You
know something? The last thing men will give
up is their own goodness, is their own righteousness. They're
ignorant of their need. His has to be revealed to them. They'll hang on to this. The
Lord Jesus told about those Pharisees that went up to the temple to
pray, and they trusted in themselves. That's it. That's why they can't
be saved. Their own heart's trust is against
salvation that's in Christ. They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, and Christ Himself and those apostles never
could beat those Jews out of that self-trust. That's why men
can't be saved. You talk to some of your religious
neighbors, and you'll see they're trusting in themselves. And a
man who trusts in his own heart, he's a fool. He'll perish. He'll perish. Christ and His
obedience is never enough for these self-righteous Pharisees
to be justified, and they'll perish in their ignorance. Oh,
the Lord told the prophet of old, this is a people of no understanding. Therefore, he that made them
will have no mercy upon them, and he that farmed them will
show them no favor. You see a man that is wise in
his own conceit, Solomon said, there is more hope of a fool.
You see a man who says, oh, I can please God in myself. I would
be afraid to face God without something of my own. That man
is a wise man in his own conceit, and there is no hope for him. Something else stands against
his own salvation, his tongue. How many men perish because of
their tongue? See a man hasty in his words?
There is more hope of a fool than that man, the wise man said.
I had a young man come to my house one night. I thought he
was interested in seeking the Lord. I thought he was under
conviction of sin. I thought he wanted for me to
send and tell him about somebody who could meet the needs of his
poor lost soul. But when he got there, all he
did was talk. He carried on for an hour. Talked
and talked. He never would shut up. And he
left, and my wife said, he reminds me of Mr. Talkative in Pilgrim's
Progress. He wasn't seeking the Lord. You
know what happens when a man begins to seek the Lord? He'll
shut up. As long as he's talking, he'll
never believe. Faith doesn't come by talking. Faith comes by hearing. Of his
own will, begot he us with a word of truth. Therefore, let every
man be swift to hear and slow to speak. There are men who talk
themselves right into hell. Did you know that? I remember Jean, dear Jean Whitehead. She called me one morning early. And she said the Lord had just
saved her. And I was asking her all about
it. And she took me over to Lamentations chapter 3. And she said, the
Lord used this chapter to strip me. He stripped me and brought
me to Himself. Let me read you just a few verses
in that chapter. It's good that a man bear the
yoke in his youth. He sets alone and keeps silent,
because he hath borne it upon him. He puts his mouth in the
dust, if so be There may be hope. As long as a man's talking, his
tongue is just clearing the way to hell. You want to know why
men can't be saved? The tongue is one of the problems. It's one of the problems. Thirdly is this. The non-elect
cannot be saved because there's always some sin. that they will
not let go of to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is always
one sin. There is always another sin that
reigns in the heart. Remember the rich man that came
to the Lord Jesus? And he said, Lord, what must
I do to have eternal life? He seemed like he had such a
desire for life, and I imagine he did. But the Lord finally
told him, sell all your riches. Give them to the poor and come
and take up your cross and follow me." What was his reaction? He was sorrowful. He was sad. Why? He had great riches. At
least they were great in his own eyes. He put so much estimation
upon them, he said, I'll have them before I'll have the Savior. That's the way of every unregenerate
man until God conquers him, until God shows us the treasure and
the worth that's in the Son of God. When you see Him, what do
you do? Then you let it go. Then you
let it go. But not this rich man. Not this
rich man. Boy, he found something. He put
such estimation upon his temporal, worldly riches. That he said,
I'll let go of everything else. I'll give up my wife. I'll give
up my children. I'll give this up and I'll give
that up. But this one sin, this one sin, Christ is not worthy. Can a man be saved with that
attitude? No, he will not be saved with that attitude. We
have this doctrine now that's been preached to us for quite
some time that you can have Jesus as your Savior. You can just
accept Him or decide for Him as your Savior. Somewhere down
the road, perhaps, you may surrender yourself up to Him as your Lord. But they come as one. He's our Lord and our Savior. And it's not just one sin. It's
the principle. It's the love of the principle
of sin. There was a man that came to
Charles Spurgeon one time and said, Mr. Spurgeon, how many
sins can I hold on to and yet be saved? He said, sir, not a
one. Not a one. Sin is a principle. And when
the Lord Jesus reveals Himself to us, when He gives us a new
heart, it's sin in its principle that we hate. Oh, he went away sad. And I'll
assure anybody of this, if they're not one of God's elect, they'll
find something to hang on to. They will not let go of it for
Christ. They have never been able to
say, neither do they desire to say, all to Jesus I surrender,
all to Him I freely give. Oh, whatever desires they have
for life, they always desire some sin above all else, even
above Christ Himself. Oh, don't get me wrong. Don't
get me wrong. We haven't got over this thing
of sin. We'll struggle with it all of our life. Not a day goes
by that we don't have to bring ourselves to surrender to Christ
again. I wish we had totally and forever
give ourselves up to Him, but every day it's a battle, is it
not? But in spite of that, That's
the desire of every regenerate soul, to love nothing and to
choose nothing above the Lord Jesus Christ. And this the non-elect
cannot do. They cannot do. And lastly is this, fourthly
is this, two more points and I'll quickly quit. They cannot
be saved because they resist the Holy Ghost. In Acts 7, verse
51, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always
resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you. Now, somebody told me one time,
he said, don't ever say that the Holy Spirit can be resisted.
And you know what I told him? I've never said that. But I've
repeated it often. The Bible says that. The Bible
says that. And that's what the non-elect
do. They resist His timely influences. His wooing upon their conscience. His warnings. He warns them through
the preaching of the Word. He warns them through providence.
He lays a man or woman upon their backs and afflicts them sore
to turn them from their purpose. And what's their final conclusion?
The Lord said, I called and you refused. You hardened your heart. And those who harden their hearts
shall suddenly be destroyed without remedy. But that's what they
do. That's what they do. They resist the Holy Ghost. Finally, they receive not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. They receive not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. It's the truth that
saves us. We can't be saved without hearing
the truth. I'm not talking about this particular
truth or that particular truth, but we cannot be saved without
hearing the truth of who God is. We can't be saved without
hearing the truth of what we are and the truth of who Christ,
the only way to the Father, who He is and what He's done. But
it's not just the truth that saves us. as essential as that
is. But it's also this, the love
of the truth. J.C. Philpott and those dear
men of old, John Warburton and William Huntington and men like
them, they often warn people of the danger of receiving the
truth into the head and not the love of it in the heart. How
many people believe Calvinism? How many people have stuffed
their brains full of those doctrines? And though they're good in themselves
and wonderful and we rejoice in them, those truths stuck in
the head saves nobody. What is it that secures a man's
repentance? It's the love of the truth. Get
the love of the truth in your heart. Then you'll turn. And
get the love of the truth in your heart and you'll never go
away. You'll never go away from Christ.
Why did Peter say? Why did Peter say when everybody
else was leaving, why did he say, Lord, to whom shall we go? The Lord said, Peter, you're
welcome to leave. I'm not leaving. I ain't got
nobody to go to. I believe and I'm sure that you're
the Christ. And it was not just that truth. It was the love of it. He heard
those words of life and they went to his soul and they thrilled
him. He fell in love with them. And
he says, I can't leave them. But I tell you what we see so
often with people. We see them receiving this truth
into their heads. And they'll stay around for a
while. But it's not long until they're gone. And what's the
problem? Love. Love. Could you leave where the gospel
of Christ is preached and go sit under a false gospel? Why
not? Why couldn't you? A lot of people
do. Here it is. Love. Love. That's it. They receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Sometimes
I see people come here. We've had people come here. This
place, we'd have to add it on all four walls. Went out in every
direction. Got a bigger lot and built a
bigger building to hold everybody that's just come here for a while
and left. And I know why a lot of them
come. They're curious. They're curious. They want to
know about some system that we believe. And while I sit here
and look at them, I see their faces. And I know this, that in their
hearts, they have no love for the truth that they are hearing. Oh, get the truth, dear soul.
Get the truth. Buy the truth and sell it not.
But in all your getting, get love. Get love. Let this be our prayer this evening,
the prayer of King David. I am Thine, Lord save me. I prayed this prayer for 33 years. I am Thine, Lord save me. I'm
still praying it today as much as I ever prayed it. Lord Jesus,
I'm Thine. Save me. If I can't discern I'm
Yours by election, I'm Yours by creation, You made me. Save me. Lord, I'm Yours. Save me. I have no hope of being
saved, but only if You save me. Lord, I'm Thine. Save me. Save me. Ain't nobody but the
elect will pray that in their hearts.