Now if you'll open your Bibles
there before you to the 15th chapter of John. The master had eaten the Passover
with his disciples. He had instituted the Lord's
table. He'd given them the bread and
said, this is my body broken for you. He'd given them the
wine and said, this is my blood of the new covenant which is
shed for you." Judas had gone out to bargain with the priest
to betray his Lord, and he said there in the last verse of John
14, Arise, let us go hence. So evidently they got up and
left the room, and they were going toward Gethsemane. John 17 is when our Lord prayed
his priestly prayer. But they were leaving this time
of fellowship, communion here in the upper room where they
had the Lord's table. And the Lord is walking along
talking to these believers, these eleven disciples. And he's saying
to them, our relationship is a living union. I am the vine and you are the
branches. This is what salvation is. This is what a relationship
with the Lord Jesus is. It's a living union. It's not
a decision, although there is a decision involved. But it's
a living union. I am the vine, you are the branches.
Without me, you're dead. Without me, you're lifeless.
Without me, you can do nothing. Christ in me, and I in Christ. It's a living union. I draw all
of my nourishment and life and strength and light from him.
He's the vine, I'm the branch. I abide in Christ. That's salvation. That's what he's saying to these
men. Our relationship is a living union. And then secondly, he
said our relationship or the one between us is one of love.
I love you. I love you, he said, as my father
loves me, so I love you. Verse 9, see it, as the father
hath loved me, I love you. You continue in my love. I love
you and you love me. Our relationship is one of love.
Not just a religious agreement, sectarian contract. You cooperating with me and me
cooperating with you to accomplish an end or a purpose or a goal,
it's one of love. I love you, Christ said. You
love me. You'll continue in my love. And
you'll love one another. This is my commandment, that
you love one another. It's a relationship of love.
People talk about salvation in these terms, I join the Church. You won't accomplish a thing
for you unless you're united to Christ. Salvation is not union
with a denomination, it's union with a living Lord. Or someone
says, I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross and was buried
and rose again. Most everybody does. Do you love
him? Does he love you? Do you love
one another? By this shall all men know you,
my disciples, if you love one another. He that loveth not his
brother knoweth not God. He may have all the doctrines
and orthodox and fundamental beliefs of religion and not be
saved. That's what our Lord, walking
along with these disciples, and he said, our relationship is
a living union. I'm the vine, you're the branches,
I'm the head, you're the body. And our relationship is one of
love. I love you, and you love me, and you love one another.
And then he says our relationship, the relationship between us,
is a familiar family union. He says in verse 15, I call you
not servants. The servant doesn't know what
his master's doing. The servant is not informed concerning
his master's will or counsel. The servant in the house, the
master calls him and says, you do this. And he goes and does
it. He doesn't know why. He doesn't know what the purpose
is, he doesn't know what the goal is, he doesn't know what
the Master intends to accomplish. He receives some orders to do
a certain thing, and that's what he does. But Christ said, I didn't
call you servants. The servant's not informed. The
servant's not taken into the secrets of the family. The servant
is not taken into the counsel of the Master. The servant is
not taken into the will of the Lord. But you are, look at that
next line. I've called you friends for all
things that I've heard of my Father. His purpose to redeem
a people, His wisdom and righteousness and justice and holiness and
love manifested in His Son, the eternal glory that God shall
accomplish, the riches of His kindness, His grace and His kindness
toward us, I've revealed all this to you. I've made known
this unto you. You are admitted into the purpose
and counsel and will of the heavenly Father. You are special people.
You are a blessed people. You are the Lord's people. Wise
men and kings have desired to look into the things that you
understand. Hold that scripture there and
turn to Luke 10. I want to show you a scripture
here that's astounding. We take so lightly this Bible,
the preaching of the gospel, the study of the Word of God. We fundamentalists have a little
bit of pride and arrogance about us. We know all these things,
the mysteries of providence and all, you know. But oh, how awesome
it really is. Look at Luke 10, verse 23. And he turned to his disciples
and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things
that you see. I tell you that many prophets
and kings have desired to see those things which you see and
have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear and
have not heard them. That's nothing to be taken lightly,
is it? That's what our Lord's saying here in John 15, verse
15. He said, I don't call you servants.
Servant doesn't know what his master's doing. I call you friends. I've taken you into the council
rooms. I've taken you into the inner
circle. I've taken you into the Holy
of Holies. I've taken you into the eternal
covenant. I've taken you into the secret
counsels of God. And I've shown you, I've shown
you what my Father designed and purposed to do." And then in that next verse,
he's still talking to them. And they're walking along, and
he says, now, our relationship is a living union. Our relationship is one of eternal
love. And our relationship is a family
relationship, one of revelation. I've taken you into my counsel,
into my will. And then he says in verse 16,
the Master speaks blessed and humbling words, You didn't choose
me. I chose you. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. To this relationship, to this
circle of love, to this family union, you didn't come in on
your own will. I brought you in. I chose you. It's very humbling to think that
we love darkness rather than light, isn't it? It's very humbling
to think that we will not come to Christ, that we might have
life. It's very humbling to hear the Lord say, How oft would I
have gathered you, and you would not? That's very humbling. But how
blessed it is to know that He loved us when we didn't love
Him. He loved us when we were dead
in trespasses and sins. He commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet enemies, He came into this world
and died on a cross to redeem us from our sins. You didn't
choose me. I chose you. You didn't seek
me. I sought you. You didn't love
me. I love you. I can say this morning,
I rejoice in God's electing love. I like that old hymn where the
hymn writer said, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, For, Lord,
that could not be. This heart would still refuse
Thee, but Thou hast chosen me." He could have passed me by, but
he didn't. He could have left me in my darkness,
and I would have remained there content. That's what's tragic,
content. But he didn't. He could have
justly condemned me. I didn't deserve his mercy. He
could have condemned me. He could have reserved me as
he did the fallen angels in chains of darkness and left me to my
just dessert, but he didn't. He chose me. That's humbling,
but it's blessed. It's flesh-stripping, but it's
blessed. And our Lord is speaking to these
close loved ones, his inner circle, and that's where all believers
are. And he says, ours is a living union. Ours is a union of love,
an everlasting, immutable love. I love you like my father loved
me. And you love one another. And
I don't call you servants. You're my friends, because I've
taken you into my counsel and I've taught you. But I want you
to remember, you didn't choose me. I chose you. Now I want to look at this text
just as these truths occur, one by one. And I would to God that
he would stamp out our old religious tradition. We come to God with
our vessels already half full. We very seldom come empty-handed
like the songwriter, in my hands no price I bring. We very seldom
come as children to be taught. We come as authorities to be
congratulated. Like Nicodemus, Master, we know
your teacher come from God. No man could do the things you
do except God be with him. I've come to reason with you
a little bit, not to be taught. And Christ told him, said, you're
not going to learn anything until you're born again. I've told
you earthly things and you don't understand. How could you understand
if I told you heavenly things? So could we approach this text
with an open heart? Is there such a thing as a humble
heart? You have not chosen me. The first thing I see here is
men do not by nature choose Christ. That was true of the disciples.
The Lord turned to these eleven. You did not choose me. It's not only true of them, but
it's true of the whole world. It's true of the Jew and the
Gentile. He came into his own and his own received him not.
He was in the world and the world knew him not. He despised of
men, rejected of men. A man of sorrow was acquainted
with grief. It's true of all men. It's true
of you. You didn't choose God. And it's true of me. And you
know why it's true? You know why men do not choose
Christ? They do not choose Christ first of all because they do
not feel their need of Christ. That's why they don't. You say,
why aren't men hungering and thirsting for a knowledge of
Christ? They don't feel that they need
Christ. The innocent have no need of mercy. The good have
no need of grace. The strong have no need of help.
Those who are fully clothed have no need of a robe. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
9, and this is what our Lord said to the religious people
of His day. They rejected Him. They didn't want Him. They turned
their thumbs down on Him because they didn't need Him. In Matthew
chapter 9, verse 10, it came to pass, Jesus sat at meat in
the house. Behold, many publicans were sinners. These were people who were not
highly respected. They were sinners and publicans,
and they came and sat down with him and his disciples, and when
the religious Pharisees saw it, they said, why does your master
eat with publicans and sinners? And when Jesus heard that, he
said to them, they that behold need not a physician. Suppose tomorrow a doctor knocks
on your door, and you go to the door, and he says, I'm Dr. So-and-so,
I've come to cure you. You got the wrong house, I believe,
doctor. It must be my neighbor that's
sick. I'm not sick. I don't need you. I don't need
a doctor if I'm not sick. And that's what our Lord is saying
here. But they that are sick, now look at the next verse. You
go learn what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come. I'm not come to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, listen, if
I say that I've sinned, like David, O God, my sins are ever
before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned, and none this evil in thy sight. O Lord, blot out my iniquities,
wash me from my transgression, cleanse me from my sin. Now,
there's a man who has a need. And the reason men do not choose
Christ is they do not feel their need of Christ. They don't need
blood to wash their sins away. They don't need the Holy Spirit
to sanctify and purify and purge them and make them whole. They're
not broken. And that's why men don't choose
Christ. The second reason is this. They do not choose Christ
not only because they don't need Him. We be not sinners. Oh, we're not perfect, you know.
I'm not what you call an angel or a saint, they'll say, but
I'm not as bad as some folks. And so they don't need Christ.
The only person that really needs Christ is a fellow hopeless,
helpless, without God, with no city in which to dwell, who's
in misery, who's crying out of the dungeon, who's thirsty and
hungry and weary and heavy laden and nowhere to go. He's shut
up. He needs Christ. Secondly, men
do not choose Christ because they see no wisdom in a crucified
Savior. They see no wisdom in that. In
1 Corinthians 1 it says the preaching of the cross is to them who are
perishing foolishness. Now just stop and think a minute.
God Almighty sends His Son down here into the world. And He comes
down here as a man. And He lives on this earth and
He preaches to people. tells him the truth and tells
him about the Father, tells him about heaven, tells him about
hell, tells him about goodness and glory and sin and all these
things. And they take him and nail him to a cross and he's
hanging up there between two thieves and blood's coming out
of his hands and side and head and he dies. And that rejected,
crucified mass of suffering flesh hanging
on that cross, that rejected Jew, that's the Savior of the
world? A preacher ain't nobody but a
fool will believe a story like that. You're either a fool or
a believer, either a fool or a Christian. Now, you see, the
Christian, the believer, understands why he was hanging on that cross.
The world doesn't understand. The world doesn't understand.
They see no law to be honored. They see no reason for Christ
to come down here as a human being and as a man to do what
God demands of men. When God created Adam and put
him in the garden, he said, Be holy, be pure, be perfect, obey
my word. And Adam didn't. When he gave
the law to the children of Israel at Sinai, he said, these are
my commandments, do them. They didn't. They didn't have
the ability, nor the strength, nor the desire. Well, now, what's
God going to do? Is He going to say, well, I'll
take back my law. I'll ease up on it a little bit,
you know. I won't make it quite so rigid. I won't make it quite
so strict. I won't make it quite so holy.
Now, wait a minute. God is immaculately holy, perfectly
holy. God can demand nothing but perfection. He can be satisfied with nothing
but perfection. He can't water it down. He can't
repeal it. So it's got to stand. And that
man, on the earth, you, you and you, and I, we have to obey that
law. It can't be cut, it can't be
watered down, it can't be diluted. It has to be who God is. In order
for God to receive us to Himself, that law has got to be honored.
So Christ came down here as a man in human flesh, born under the
most trying circumstances. He couldn't be born in a palace.
because kings don't have the same trials that poor men do.
Oh, you'd say, what's Jesus Christ know about being hungry? He was
born a king. No, he wasn't. He was born a
peasant. He knew what it was to be hungry. You see, he couldn't
be born with a title. Men with titles don't know the
suffering of men who have no titles, who are servants. So
Christ was born in a manger without a title a root out of dry ground,
having no form, no comeliness, no beauty that we should desire,
and surrounded by cattle in a manger, born in a nation that was already
gone in the lowest of circumstances to be identified with the lowest
man. I see the wisdom in that. He
was tried and tested in all points as we are yet without sin. He
knows the rich man's trials. He is rich. He knows the poor
man's trials, he was poor. He knows what pain is. He knows
what it means to have somebody turn his back on you that's very
near to you. Judas deserted him, sold him,
betrayed him, denied him. Peter, all the apostles. He knows
what sorrow is. He knows what suffering is. He
knows what pain is. He knows what the temptations
of Satan are. He was tried by Satan. But the natural man doesn't see
the need of that obedience on the part of a man. Christ was
a man. And then the natural man doesn't
see the need of that crucifixion. But the Scripture says the soul
that sinneth must die. The wages of sin is death. God
said, Adam, eat of the tree, and when you eat, you die. Well,
it's got to be fulfilled. My sin's got to bring forth death. So Jesus Christ the man, THE
man, behold Pilate said THE man, not a man, not some man, THE
man, the man from heaven. Behold Him. And His infinite
capacity to bear the sins of so many enabled Him to be the
Savior of all who looked to Him. And God's wrath and judgment
was poured out on Him on that tree. To them who are perishing,
that is sheer nonsense, foolishness. But to us who are saved, it's
the wisdom of God and the power of God. That's right. Well, they don't
come to Christ. They don't choose Christ because they see no wisdom
in Christ. And then thirdly, men do not choose Christ because
they don't want to be made holy by Christ. We want our way, not
His way. We're going to have our way,
too. We want our will, not His will. That's the reason folks
are so hard to teach the Scriptures. They've already got their mind
made up about the Scriptures. They're going to have their way.
This is the way I see it. Well, really, I don't think the
world's concerned about how you see it. I'd like to see it like
God sees it, wouldn't you? But we want our way, not God's
way. We want our will, not God's will. We're going to do our thing,
not God's thing. And men do not choose Christ
because Jesus Christ demands to be Lord. He shuts your mouth
before He saves you. Let every mouth be stopped. That's
what Scripture says. That's right. Before the Lord
saves anybody, He'll do the same thing He did to Saul of Tarsus.
He'll unhorse him. He'll bring him down. You've
never been brought down. You've never been lifted. You've
never been slain. You've never been made alive.
You've never been stripped. You've never been clothed. Adam,
God had to take his fig leaf apron away from him before he
clothed him with the animal skin. He couldn't have a combination.
He didn't need a combination. And God's got to do the same
thing for us. So that's the first Christ said to his disciples.
You didn't choose me. You didn't choose me. Now the believer does choose
Christ. Romans 10, 9, and 10 said, If thou shalt confess with
thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's something a
believer does. He receives Christ. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power, right, privilege to become sons of God. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But my friend, we feel
our guilt and our need of Christ, but we feel it because he convicted
us and revealed it to us. And we see our need, but he revealed
that need. And we see the beauty of Christ,
but God gave us eyes to behold him. And we reach out and embrace
Christ, but God made us willing. Peter, whom do men say that I
am? Out there, what are they saying?
And Peter said, well, some say you're John the Baptist, some
say you're Elijah, some say you're one of the prophets. Who am I, Peter? Whom do you
say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Redeemer,
the Son of the living God. He said, Peter, flesh and blood
didn't reveal after you, but my Father which is in heaven.
It has to be revealed. You won't choose Christ. You
won't come to him. I wish you would. I wish all
men would, but they won't. But thank God, look at the next
line in that 16th verse, he said, but I have chosen you. Christ
looked on his disciples whom he loved and who loved him. They
didn't understand everything he was doing. Peter said, Lord, you know I
love you. You know I love you. Peter made
more mistakes than the dogs got pleased. But the Lord, he loved
Christ. Man after God's own heart. He
loved Christ. And our Lord said, I chose you.
I chose you. I chose you. I chose you. You know, in that movie, The
Ten Commandments, last week, I hope some of you watched it,
but I think it's exceptionally good. Best Hollywood's ever done. But there was a scene in there
that really I just thrilled my soul. One of them was when Moses
was crawling across the desert. He was without water and food,
without strength and hope, and just fell down flat on his face
in the sand, just clutching the sand. And that announcer, I don't
know whether he knew what he was saying or not, but he said,
The vessel is now ready for the Lord to use. It's come to the
end of itself. The end of itself. No hope. And God will bring every vessel
he uses to that place, because he's not going to share his glory
with you and me. But it was another time Moses was sitting there
looking at that mountain. Now, a lot of fiction to this,
I know, but he had some truth in it. And he was sitting there
looking at the mountain, and he was wanting to know the God
of Israel. He said, I don't know your God.
And his wife said, he knows you, Moses. I like that. He knows you. I don't know him, but he knows
you. He knows you. Jeremiah, God said in Jeremiah
1, 5, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. You didn't
know me, but I knew you. And I sanctified you and ordained
you a prophet. John 10, our Lord said, I know
my sheep, and I love them. O Saul of Tarsus, Standing there
holding the coats of men who were stoning that blessed child
of the king, Stephen, Saul of Tarsus, somebody would have walked
up and said, you know Jesus Christ? He'd spit and say, I don't know
him. He knows you, Saul. Boy, he knows
you. He knows you. Peter sitting there
by the fire warming his hands, scared, shaking, trembling, The
old girl comes up and says, Well, you're one of the disciples.
You're a follower of Jesus Christ. He turns and says, I know not
the man. Yeah, but he knows you. He knows you, Peter. Thank God
he knows me. I chose you, he said. I chose
you. When did you choose me, Lord?
Well, turn to 2 Thessalonians 2.13. That's a good question. When did He choose you? 2 Thessalonians
2.13. Let's see what it says here. 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. How about Ephesians 1? Let's turn over there and see
if it tells us when he chose us. Ephesians 1, verse 4. According as he hath chosen us
in Christ, in him before the foundation of the world. Well,
there's no argument there, is there? He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. In the beginning he chose
us. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth. In the beginning the word was with
God and the word was God. He chose us. Let me ask you another
question. Why did he choose you? That's a good question. It's
a very natural question. It's a good question. Why you? Here are eleven men. Here is
the Lord of Glory, the Creator of all things, the Christ, the
Messiah is coming. Here are eleven men around Him.
And He tells them about this blessed relationship and fellowship. And He says, now, you didn't
choose Me. I chose you. And I chose you
before you were born. I chose you before you believed.
I chose you before the world was made. I chose you in the
beginning. And I know one of them had to
ask this, why? Why me? Why should my Savior,
the Calvary, go? Why should he love me so? Study
as long as you will. Now I'll shorten it for you if
you want me to. But you study until you die and you'll only
come up with one answer. Only one. And it's all the way
through the Bible. Turn to Mark chapter 3, verse
13. Mark 3, verse 13, and just underscore
this. Mark 3, 13. And he goeth up into a mountain, and he calleth unto him three
words, whom he would. Whom he would. And they came to him. In Matthew 11, verse 26, our
Lord was walking along and He said, Father, I thank You, Lord
of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father,
it seem good in Thy sight. Even so, Father, it seem good
in Thy sight. Turn to Romans 9, verse 15. This answer is all the way through
the Scripture and there is no other answer given. Why me? Because He would. Because he
willed it. Because he was pleased to do
it. Because it was the good pleasure of his will. Not because of anything
I'd done or anything he saw in me or any contribution I could
make to him. God is independent and complete.
What contribution can I make to God? Can I add anything to
God? In Romans 9, If you look at verse
15 and 16, he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will. He went up to
a mountain and he called to himself whom he would. And they came. And he said, I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. And you'll never find any other
answer in the scripture to that question, why did the Lord save
you? Why'd he save me? He did it, Charlie, because he
would. Ain't no other answer. And you start singling out, Abraham
was this, and Isaac was that, and David was something. We are
what God made us. Who maketh thee to differ? What
hast thou that thou didst not receive? If you love Christ this
morning, it's because he put that love in your heart. If you
believe, it's because he revealed it to you. If you see, it's because
he gave you eyes. If you hear, it's because he
gave you ears. We have two great apostasies, two great apostasies,
one in heaven and one on earth. Angels and men. They both deserve
punishment. They both committed the same
sin. They both rebelled against the Holy God. And yet God, in
the purpose of love and mercy, determined to save one and not
the other. We have two great apostasies.
You go back yonder in the original creation before the earth as
we know it now was made, before Adam and Eve. There was a rebellion
in heaven among the angels led by Lucifer. There was a rebellion on this
earth led by Adam. Lucifer would have his will,
Adam would have his will. Two great apostasies, that's
all. Now, God saw fit to show mercy to man and not to the angels.
He said He reserved the angels. Isn't this what Scripture says?
In everlasting chains, in darkness unto the day of judgment. Listen
to Hebrews 2.16. He took not on Him the nature
of angels. He did not do it. He didn't take
the nature of angels. He didn't become a savior of
angels. He didn't become a surety for
the angels. He didn't become a representative
for the angels. That's not fair. I hear that
all the time. It's not fair for God to choose
Abraham and pass by somebody else. It's not fair for God to
choose Jacob and pass by Isaac. He chose men and passed by angels.
I don't hear anybody contesting that. Do you hear anybody contesting? It's a well-known fact. He took
not on him the nature of angels, but he took on himself the seed
of Abraham. and the seed of Abraham, not
the Amalekites, not the Hittites, not the Philistines, not the
Amorites, Abraham. Salvations of the Jew, that's
what Scripture says. God had a chosen people. He sent
his servants down to annihilate all the rebels. God's presence
was with Israel. God's prophets were with Israel. God's law was with Israel. God's
sacrifices and tithes were with Israel. Now if you reject that,
you'll just have to reject God. He did it because He would. That's
the only, I can't give any other answer. God doesn't do something because
it's right, it's right because God does it. Now you think about
that. You see, God is right. God establishes the right. What
you call right is not always right. It may be sentimental,
it may be emotional, but it may not be right. How can you govern
right and wrong? How in the world do you think
you and I decide what is right and what is fair? We don't have
any conception of what's right and fair. We're so warped and
twisted and sinful and evil and self-centered and egotistical. How can we determine what's right?
We're not the criteria of right or fairness. God is! God is! And the only way I can
find out what's right is to go to his right word. This is where
preachers and all these sentimental emotional religionists are missing
it in this day. They're getting in their studies
and in their pulpits deciding what's right and wrong based
upon what they think. Our thoughts are not God's thoughts.
We're not sufficient to think anything of ourselves. You can
be sure whatever I think apart from God's Holy Spirit is wrong.
Whatever I think is right or fair according to God is wrong,
because in the flesh there dwelleth no good thing. God is right. God is truth. All men are liars,
the scripture says. God is truth. All men, you and
me and everybody else, are liars. We're in a mess if we don't lay
down our arms of rebellion and come to the Word and come to
the truth. This is the truth. Christ said,
I am the truth. A man outside of Christ has no
conception of what the truth is. None whatsoever. Outside of Christ, it's impossible
for any person to truly love. You don't love if you don't know
Christ. God is love, and if you don't have God, you don't have
love. Oh, now, wait a minute, preacher. Even natural men love
their families. No, they don't. They love themselves. And that affection, or whatever
it is, emotion, or whatever it is, transferred to that person
because he's associated with this person. We love those that love us, or
are related to us, or something like it. True believers love
their enemies. They love those in whom there's
no There's nothing to attract love. We don't know anything. You'd
think the Lord would choose the wise, but he didn't. You'd think
he'd choose the mighty, but he didn't. You'd think he'd choose
the noble, but he didn't. Not many mighty men, not many
noble men, not many wise men have God chosen, but God had
chosen the foolish. You'd think he'd choose the virtuous,
but he chose the harlot. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. And I did it because I would. I did
it for reasons known only to myself. I did it for my glory. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. And it says
right here, verse 26, You see your calling, brethren, not how
many wise men after the flesh. Not many mighty, not many noble
are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
And verse 28, And the 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. But of him, of his will, of his
purpose, of his grace, of his mercy, of his decree, of his
good pleasure, of him are you in Christ Jesus. And Christ Jesus
is of God made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. And God can embrace me now, and
God can receive my person as righteous unto himself because
Christ hath cleansed me and purified me and sanctified me and redeemed
me and made me whole, taken away all my filth and my guilt. But
let's look back at the text and quit. Verse 16, he said, I've
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit. He's ordained a new life. Now
this answers the question, if I'm elected, I'll be saved whether
I believe or not. No. If I'm elected, I'll be saved
whether I love God or not. No. If I'm elected, I'll be saved
whether I live and walk in holiness or not. No. No, you won't. This scripture plainly teaches
that Christ chose us, not only to salvation, but he chose us
to holiness and to bear the fruit of the Spirit. If any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. elections, not salvation,
Christ is. I'm brought into union not with
a doctrine, but with a person. And that person's a holy person,
a righteous person, a godly person. And my life will be molded according
to his principles and his commandments. And I'll seek to please him.
And I'll be conformed to his image And the fruit of his life
will be born in mine. You see, Peter said this. He
said, make your calling and election sure. Which came first? Well, eternally, election came
before my calling. But as far as I'm concerned,
which came first, Paul? Election or calling did, didn't
it? You see that? The election came
first in eternity. But the calling came first to
me. So my election is determined by my calling. I can say I know
Christ because I have the evidences of being called. You see, I can't
find out my election, but I can find out my calling, and if I'm
called, then I'm elected. That's what Peter says, give
diligence, brethren, to make your calling and election sure. He put election second. But election
is first in eternity. It's first with God. It comes
before my calling, but not with me. I found out I was one of
the elect when the Lord Jesus called me. Before that, I didn't
know it. And you don't have any knowledge.
And you can go around saying, well, I'm one of the elect. No,
you're not either, unless you're called. And what is it? It's a holy calling. It's the
calling of Christ Jesus. It's a calling to fellowship.
It's a call to righteousness. It's a call to truth. So that's
where somebody comes to me and says, well, if the fellow's elect,
he'll be saved whether he believes or not. No, he won't. Ain't no
way. Well, he'll be saved whether
he hears the gospel or not. No way. He'll be saved whether
he lives in righteousness and follows the Lord or not. That's
what you think. You know your election by your
calling, and if you hadn't been called, you hadn't been elected.
For whom he foreknew, he also called. You see what I'm saying? So you can find out your election
not by getting a glimpse into the book of God, but by looking
right here. Are there evidences of love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, meekness, gentleness, goodness, faith,
all of these things that the Holy Spirit produces. Our Father
in heaven, we thank you for electing love. We thank you for eternal
grace. We thank you for particular mercy.
We thank you that you did not leave us to ourselves. There's
a way that seemed right to us, and a way that we go by nature,
but you didn't leave us that.