But before we come to that passage
of scripture, I want to read a few verses you may want to
follow, you may want to just listen. The first is in John
chapter 15 and verse 16. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. The next we find in John chapter
17, actually six verses here. And each one of these verses
remind us that the Lord Jesus Christ was given a people from
before the foundation of the world. Verse two, as thou has
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Verse six, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Verse nine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Verse 11, and now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee,
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me. And then in verse 12, while I
was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. those that
thou gavest me I have kept. And verse 24, father, I will
that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am. And then in Acts chapter 13 and
verse 48, and when the Gentiles heard this,
That is the gospel. They were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed. And then Ephesians chapter one,
we looked at this passage this morning, but only two verses
tonight. Ephesians chapter one, verses
three and four, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. And then 1 Peter chapter 1 and
verse 2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Now let's
go to our text, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. and verses 13 and
14. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning The beginning is the beginning of
time, the beginning of creation. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. 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. Approximately 50 years ago, I
was in a car in Corpus Christi, Texas with two pastors, and both
of these men were 10 to 15 years older than myself. One of them asked me this question.
I can't quote it, of course, verbatim, but it was basically
this. If you had not attended the Bible
college that you did, do you think that you would believe
in God's sovereign election? Both of these two men didn't.
Both of these two men, preachers, were what the world would call
Arminian preachers. That is, they believed that salvation
is of man. where the scriptures very clearly
teach us that salvation is of the Lord. But I've never forgotten
that question. David, do you believe if you
had not attended the Bible college that you did, would you believe,
do you think you would believe in God's sovereign election?
They knew that I did. I had preached it in one of their
churches And I remember answering the question something like this,
yes, I believe that I would. I believe that I would, and I
told them I believe having been in Mexico now for several years,
I can't remember how many years, but as a missionary had much
time to study, study the word of God, I said I believe that
in studying and reading the word of God, I would surely have seen
the truth that God elected a people from before the foundation of
the world to salvation. That's what I answered. Today,
as I think about that, and I haven't forgotten that, I realize more
now than I did at that time, that this is a truth revealed
in the word of God just as plainly and clearly as it possibly could
be. But not everyone who reads the
Bible sees it. They read the same Bible that
I read, but they don't see God's sovereign election. They go through
the scriptures we've just read here tonight, and they do not
see For whatever reason, in my mind, it tells me that this truth
must be revealed. It must be revealed by God the
Holy Spirit. It's not because I have some
greater intelligence than those two men. No way. No way. Not because I was somehow special
in a way that they weren't. that I believe and teach and
preach, and I believe, by the grace of God, stake my life tonight,
that this is the truth. This is what the Bible teaches,
that God chose a people before the foundation of the world to
salvation, and he sent his son into this world as a man, God-man. to accomplish their redemption. And he accomplished it. And now
God, the Holy Spirit, is not trying, as some people would
say, and probably those two men, he's not trying to save everybody
in this world. The Holy Spirit is applying salvation
or applying the redemption of Jesus Christ to those that God
gave him. and those for whom he bled and
died. The same people that read the
Bible, they don't see this. And there have been many and
are many who read the scriptures and who do not see and believe
this truth, but they must admit all of them would have a concordance
And if you don't have one, you probably do in your Bible, but
if you have a Bible program, a concordance, it's such a help
when you think of that big concordance by H. Strong, how that he put
all of that together, every V, T-H-E, every A, every and in
the Bible, he has it listed. What a tremendous work that was. I mean, and some of these men,
I'm not sure about him when he lived, but some of these men
did their work by candlelight. And I don't know about you, but
this past week, we had a couple of nights of reading by candlelight. Of course, I'm thankful for my
tablet that has a light, and I can read it when there's no
light in the room. But we've been blessed. We have
all of these. things that other generations
didn't have. But these men who read the same
scripture, they know that the word elect, elected, election,
chosen, is in the Bible. They know it's there. And so,
as Solomon said, this only have I known, that God made man upright,
but he hath sought out many inventions, Men have many inventions to deny
the plain truth of God's sovereign election. You've read them, I'm
sure. Some say, well, election, that
has to do with the nation of Israel. That just concerns the
nation of Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham. Well, Paul is writing to a Gentile
church here. in Second Thessalonians. He's
not writing to the Jews. And some will say, well, election
has to do with office. God has chosen some people. He
chose the 12 apostles, and he's chosen some man to this office,
a pastor, deacon, or whatever. That's what election means. No,
that's not what election is. And of course, one of the favorites
that men use is, God looked down through the ages, And he saw
who was predisposed to believe or who would choose him or who
believed and based upon their actions, he elected them. That's one that they love to
use because of that scripture in 1 Peter which speaks about
elect according to the foreknowledge of God. But that word foreknowledge
has to do with God's love. whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate. It's not what he foreknew, it's
who he foreknew. But no matter what invention
men come up with, They cannot deny certain truths, not if they're
honest. I heard Brother Ralph Bernard
one time make this statement, preached his whole message on
this statement. Honest men don't go to hell. Honest men don't go to hell.
Of course, his thought was that honest men received the truth.
They receive the truth about God, about themselves, about
their need, if they're truly honest. I was thinking as I prepared
these notes, here are just a few things that those who deny God's
sovereign election must also believe. Number one, they must
also believe that man is not spiritually dead. that when Paul
wrote in Ephesians chapter two and verse one, and you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, then if election is
based upon what man does, then a dead man can do some things. There's a man in our church family
that told me this years ago, he and His wife was raised in
a Baptist church over in the south part of Houston, had the
same pastor for many years. They moved out here into this
part of Houston and started attending a, I think it was a Sunday school
class and began to hear the truth about God's sovereign grace,
about total depravity. an unconditional election and
limited atonement and irresistible grace and the perseverance or
preservation of the saints. And so one Sunday evening, after
they came in from church, he said they call their pastor,
he was an older man, of course, by this time, if still, I think
a pastor. And they said, Pastor, you know,
we've sat under your ministry for many years. We respected
you, but is it really true? What we are hearing, is it really
true that man is dead? And the old preacher said, yes,
it's true. But he has a little life. Now, a person is either dead
or alive. You're not partially dead. And as Charles Spurgeon said
in a message that I read many years ago in the Garden of Eden,
when man disobeyed God, he didn't break his little finger. He broke
his neck. He died spiritually. And a person
who denies God's sovereign election has to believe that man has just
that little spark. There's one of the hymns that
we sing sometimes and the verses are good except for one verse
which says, down in the human heart, there is a spark. That's just not so. That's just
not so. A second thing that those who
deny election must believe is that men make themselves to differ. Even though the Apostle Paul,
for instance, in 1 Corinthians, makes this ever so clear that
we do not make ourselves to differ. It's God. He asked that question. He said, for who maketh thee
to differ from another? If you're a child of God tonight,
You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have no confidence
in the flesh. Who maketh thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why
dost thou glory as though as if thou hast not received it.
Why are you bragging on yourself? Talking about your decision and
what you've done. Why are you bragging on yourself?
Why are you not bragging on God? God's grace, giving all the glory
of your salvation to him. Did you make yourself to differ? A third thing, and there's many
other things I could mention. But a third thing that man who
deny God sovereign election must believe is now listen, it was
possible. It was possible that Christ's
death could have been in vain. That's right. It could have been
in vain. In other words, he could have
come into this world and suffered and died, rose from the grave
and ascended back to the Father, and no one would have believed. No one would have accepted him,
received him as Lord and Savior. It was possible. is man that makes himself to
differ. Well, as I said, there's other
things that we could mention, but let's go on tonight for just
a few minutes to notice three very clear things in this passage
of scripture. And these things deal with what
I've just been speaking about. First, God's election is to salvation. Notice that in the text, verse
13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to what? Chosen you to be
an apostle? Chosen you to hear the gospel? No, it says chosen you to salvation. Election is not salvation. Men
are elected to salvation, and that's very important to keep
in mind. This verse of scripture, the
Apostle Paul clearly states that God's choosing of people is to
salvation, not to a privilege, a certain kind of privilege,
not to an office, but to salvation. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world to do everything that God the Father requires
in order to the salvation of those the Father chose and gave
unto him. This meant that his holy life
as a man under the law, he had to live. If he was going to save
anyone, then he had to live that life of holiness, which he did. He did his perfect obedience. It also meant that he had to
have, offer a propitiation for the sins that he saves. Now, the word propitiation, it
simply means it averts the wrath of God. Our sins, We read it just a few minutes
ago there in Nahum, didn't we? The truth about God. God's angry
with the wicked every day. We were wicked, weren't we? Wicked. Well, what's going to turn his
anger away? Why is he not going to pour out
his wrath upon his people? because of the propitiation, the blood, the sacrifice of his
son in their stead, in their place. Propitiation has to do with God. Atonement has to do with man,
has to do with substitution. Two things, right? Two things. When you hear the gospel, you're
going to hear these two things, satisfaction and substitution. He satisfied God on behalf of
his people. He substituted himself in the
place of his people. Paul, in Romans chapter 8, he
makes this bold challenge, I believe. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather. that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Election is to salvation. The second thing that is clearly
revealed is God's election to salvation includes the ordained,
or his, I should say, his ordained means. What are they? Well, look at the verse. But
we are 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, and not apart from, through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Sanctification of the spirit,
the word sanctify or sanctification always means set apart. And in
this particular verse of scripture, it means that God the Holy Spirit
sets apart those that are chosen to salvation by the new birth
or by effectual calling. Some people say one thing, some
the other, but they both mean the same thing really, effectual
calling. Go into all the world, preach
the gospel to every creature. Man stands up to preach, he's
preaching to a hundred people. Preaches the same gospel, the
same Christ, the same message to a hundred people. And 99 walk
out saying, I don't care to hear that stuff anymore. And one person
says, I love it. I love it. I want to hear that
again. Who makes the difference? Who
makes the difference? God's effectual call. A quickening,
giving of life, resurrection, spiritual resurrection of someone
who's dead in trespasses and sins. Sanctification of the spirit. A story I read many years ago,
I've probably told it many times, but I always loved it. I love
to hear it, so I love to tell it. About those three men, I
think they were probably playing soccer or something out in front
of a church building in England years ago, and they got to thinking,
I wonder what time it is. Well, there's a clock inside
that church building there. Go in there and see what time
it is. Look up at the back of our building. Look up at the
back of the building, and you'll see what time it is. Well, no
one wanted to go in because the preacher was preaching. The last
place they wanted to go was into a church service. Finally, they
coerced one of their buddies to go in, but he didn't come
back out. He went in, and sure enough,
he looked up at the church, but in just that instant, the power
of God, God the Holy Spirit, with the word of God, stabbed
him in the heart. God called him, just like he
did Lydia. There she was outside the city
of Philippi, right? Where prayers were wont to be
made by the riverside, and Paul, Silas come out there and these
are two big shot preachers, aren't they? And apostle. But I tell you what, they were
not so big shots that they were not willing to go where the women
were praying and meeting with them and opening up the scriptures. And you know, the Bible says
God opened Lydia's heart. She was from Thyatira, she was
a business lady. See, the providence of God brought
her to where Paul was, or Paul to where she was. God is going to cross the path
of every one of those that is chosen to salvation with the
gospel. How many men, there may be some
here tonight, You heard the gospel because of some young lady that
you had your eye upon, and she attended a church where the gospel
was preached, and to be with her, you went to that church.
You weren't interested in the gospel. But God used that, and you heard
the gospel. Or you could have been like Daniel
told me one time years ago, He was flipping through the TV stations,
and my picture showed up there, and he said, he passed on by,
and then he thought, I wonder what that guy's saying. Turned
back and listened to what I was saying. He was attending, I guess
it's all right I say this, Daniel, they were attending Joel Osteen
services. God, the Spirit of God, the effectual
call, sanctification of the Spirit. But that's not all. Belief of
the truth. See that? Belief of the truth.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Yes,
they both go together, don't they? Of his own will begat he
us with the word of truth, James chapter one and verse 18. Those who deny God's sovereign
election, I've had them tell me this. Well, if I believed
that, I wouldn't preach. I don't see why you preach. If God's chosen people, they're
going to be saved no matter what. No, you've never heard me say
that. They're gonna be saved, but not no matter what. They're
gonna hear the gospel, and they're gonna believe. There is no salvation apart from
Christ, and the only way man or woman comes to Christ is by
faith, and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Well, the third thing, God's
election to salvation is the truth to promote praise. Verse 13, but we are 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. Paul said, we're bound to give
thanks unto God. Aren't we? Aren't we? Aren't we bound to give thanks
unto God if we're saved tonight? Aren't we bound to give thanks
unto God tonight for our brothers and sisters who are saved? We're
bound to it. We must do it. We must thank
him. We must praise him. For without his sovereign election,
we'd all be on our way to hell tonight if we were not already
there. Most of you know that Brother
Henry Mahan was a dear friend of mine for many years. And I've
heard him say this more than once. He said, if I was assigned
to preach on the subject of election at a Bible conference or something
like that, he said, I've already got my text. You've already got
your text? He said, yes, sirree. 2 Corinthians 2, 13 and 14. But we are 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. He told me one time they
had a Bible conference, one of the first Bible conferences they
ever had, and a number of preachers there, and one preacher got up
and preached that men could be saved without hearing the gospel. And Henry said, you know, he
said, I just had to get up after he finished and say, we're not
going in that direction. We're not going down that road.
Man must hear the gospel and believe. Yes, God chose the people,
but he's also ordained the means to bring those people to Christ
and the means the preaching of the gospel. That's why we send
missionaries. That's why Brother Lance and
Robin are in New Guinea preaching the gospel. Why Cliff and Marty lived their
life there preaching the gospel. Brother Grover in Mexico and
many more that we know and could name, but you know, because they were convinced that
God saves his people through the preaching of the gospel. That's why we keep preaching
it here, the Lord willing. Let's sing a hymn.