tonight to Jeremiah chapter 6
and Proverbs chapter 22. We're looking at the ancient
and the old. Jeremiah chapter 6, I want to
read this text first and then Proverbs. Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 16,
thus saith the Lord, stand you in the ways and see, and ask
for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and
you shall find rest for your souls. The good way is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father, but by me, the
old paths, the good way that we are to walk in. And then in
Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 28, we read, remove not the ancient
landmark, which our fathers have said. Let me just remind us tonight
that the ancient landmarks or bounds, if you look in the margin
of your Bible, marked off the inheritance of the children of
Israel in the land of Canaan. Now, when they came into the
land and God brought them into the land, they didn't just look
and see what they would choose, but God chose for them by lot. And we know the scriptures reveal
unto us that the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. And so the Lord directed each
one of these Israelites, except the tribe of Levi, of course,
they received no inheritance in the land. But all of the other
tribes, their land was allotted to them by God. You remember
later when there was a wicked king by the name of Ahab, and
he tried to buy the vineyard of that man, and he would not
sell it to the king. By the law, he was doing what
God had commanded him. The land was the Lord's. It was the Lord's land. He gave it to these individuals
and the various tribes And it was for their maintenance. That
piece of land, that parcel of land was to sustain them, to
feed them, to comfort them, to supply all of their needs as
they were in the land of promise. And so the temptation was for
some people to move the landmarks, the boundary marks, and I'm sure
that when this happened, a person who was doing that, he never
made his territory less. He was always increasing his
problem, his property rather. But the point is, this inheritance
was theirs to supply all of their needs. And these ancient landmarks
which we are looking at, these truths of the word of God, These
are the heritage of the people of God to sustain us, to feed
us, to comfort us, to give us assurance as we go through this
pilgrim land. And so we've looked at several
of them so far. We've looked at five, in fact. First of all, we looked at the
solitariness of God, the infinity of God. There's one God. who
exist in a trinity of persons. Then we looked at the deity of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and then the plenary verbal inspiration
of the scriptures. Last time, the truth about man's
fallen nature, and the truth about God's effectual call. Tonight, there are two more truths
that I want to call to our attention that comfort us, sustain us,
feed us, keep us as God's children as we go through this land. The first truth, the truth about
God's unconditional election. The truth about God's unconditional
election. I want you to turn with me to
2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13, the
apostle writing to the believers in this congregation, but we are bound to give thanks
always to you, 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. This
truth of God's unconditional election, it is to be believed,
it is to be received, it is to be proclaimed. This is what helps,
this is what gives assurance and confidence to all of those
who run for refuge to the Lord Jesus Christ. That our salvation
was not by accident, that it was purposed of God from before
the foundation of the world. Now, I want to point out three
things about God's unconditional election from this one verse.
First of all, it tells us that God's election is God choosing
individuals. God choosing individuals. And the reason I bring this to
our attention, because you know there are many religious people
who hate, they hate the doctrine of God's unconditional election. They hate this glorious, wonderful
truth. And so they have invented all
kinds of excuses and ways to get around the truth that is
so obvious and so evident if you read the word of God. One
of the ways that they try to set aside this truth, they say,
well, election has to do with the nation of Israel. God chose
the nation of Israel. That is true. God chose Abraham
and made of him a great nation. They were an earthly people that
pictured God's heavenly people, that is, the Israel of God. But this verse is not talking
about God choosing the nation of Israel. It's talking about
God choosing individuals. Another thing that men have come
up with, they say, well, election has to do with offices in the
church. Some men are chosen to be pastors.
Some men are chosen to be deacons and so forth and so on like that. But surely no one is going to
say that everyone in this church at Thessalonica was a pastor
or was a deacon. No. The election here was not
to an office, but it was an individual chosen by God. God choosing individuals
to salvation. That's the first truth. The election
has to do with individuals. Number two, it tells us that
God's election of individuals to salvation was from the beginning. Notice that. But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning." Well, you say,
does that mean Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth? Oh, no. It goes back before
that, my friends. It goes back into eternity itself. Let's see that, let me read this
scripture, I'm sure you're familiar with it, but 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 and heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. I would just say
this, that when time began, In the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth, but God had already chosen those whom
he would save. Number three from this verse,
it tells us that election is not salvation. And I've always
liked to make this point because enemies of the truth, they say,
well, if God has chosen some to be saved, they're going to
be saved no matter what. God has purposed the salvation
of His people, He's ordained the end, that is the salvation
of those He's chosen, and He's also ordained the means to the
end. No one can say no matter what,
no matter if Christ had not died, no matter if a person had not
believed in Christ, oh no. Election is to salvation and
notice in this verse it says, through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Now what is sanctification of
the spirit? It is a new birth. It is God
giving life. The word sanctification means
to set apart and God has set apart these that he chose and
in time The Spirit of God comes and sanctifies or regenerates
or quickens. All of these words are used referring
to the same thing in the scripture. And you have be quickened, made
alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Sanctification of the
Spirit. Regeneration, that's a good word.
Regeneration, it means to give life, doesn't it? And then belief
of the truth, conversion. Conversion. Men, hear the gospel. And yes, God has chosen to use
the preaching of the gospel. He's chosen to use the Word of
God, the written Word of God. That's one reason we continue
to preach. Notice verse 14. Whereunto He
called you by our gospel. By our gospel, that is by The
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel that Paul preached,
he took the gospel there to Thessalonica. If you look back in 1 Thessalonians
1, this is one of the first places
where the apostle Paul preached the gospel. Not the first, but
one of the first places. that he went preaching the gospel,
and the Lord did a wonderful work. In verse two of chapter
one, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of
you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of
faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word, the word, the gospel,
the Lord Jesus Christ, in much affliction with joy of the Holy
Ghost. And you became examples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord. Not only they received the word
of God, they were saved by the grace of God. And then from them,
the word went out to other places. One of the objections that men
make to this glorious doctrine is they say, well, that makes
God a respecter of persons. What you have just said, preacher,
that God's election is unconditional, makes God a respecter of persons. That word unconditional, unconditional,
God's election was not conditioned upon anything that he foresaw,
and those that he chose. It's unconditional election. I want you to look in Romans
chapter nine. One preacher said this is the
most neglected chapter in the Bible. I've often wondered how some
of these free will preachers When they say they're going to
preach through the book of Romans, I wonder what they do when they
come to chapter 9. Well, I know somehow or another
they're able to get through it, misleading. They like to say
that, well, election was based on foreseen faith. according
to the foreknowledge of God. That's the way it reads in 1
Peter 1, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. And they
like to say, well, you know, he just foreknew who would believe
and who wouldn't believe. And so he based his election
upon foreseeing faith in people. But the scripture there is not
talking about what God foresaw. It's talking about people he
foreknew. And when you read Romans chapter
8, you find out that God foreknowing a person means that God set His
love upon that person from all eternity. Election is a product
of love, the love of God. And here in Romans chapter 9
and verse 11, to those people who say, well, election, that
makes God a respecter of persons. First of all, the scripture states emphatically that God
is not a respecter of persons. But notice verse 11. Well, this is verse 11. For the children
being not yet born, neither having done, now notice this, any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. Isn't it clear from this verse
that God's election was not based on good or evil? In fact, how
many people have said this about this situation that is Jacob
and Esau? You know, I just, I can understand
why God would love Jacob, but I have a problem with the scripture
saying he hated Esau. No, the problem isn't how God
could hate Esau. It's how he could love Jacob.
His love is free, sovereign. And the children having done
neither good nor evil, that the purpose of God, God's purpose,
God's purpose according to election might stand. It was God's sovereign
will that chose Jacob and passed over Esau. I heard a man the
other day using this term, double election, double election. The Bible doesn't speak about
double election. The Bible speaks about election. And when Paul wrote about election,
the truth about God's election, it was always in the context
of rejoicing. Rejoicing in this truth. The
reason they use that term double election is they try to cast
dispersion upon the truth because they know that most people will
find fault with that double election. God passed over. those like Esau. He chose, he elected Jacob and
the purpose of God. Wouldn't you say, this scripture
here says, having done neither any good or evil, wouldn't you
say that trusting Christ, that looking to Christ is good? Wouldn't you say that? I would. And wouldn't you say refusing
Christ is evil? I would. But this verse of scripture
tells us that His election was not based on either good or evil,
but upon God's purpose. Those who say that God's election
was based on foreseen faith, they deny the truth of this verse
and make, and really they say, well, you make God to be a respecter
of persons, but in reality, they are the ones who make God out
to be a respecter of persons because they teach that he based
his election upon something in the individual. But the scripture
is very clear, very clear. And let me say this, the truth
of election has never kept anyone from being saved. Never has. Never has. The truth about God's
sovereign, unconditional election has never kept anyone from being
saved. But what it does, it makes sure
the salvation of those whom God set his love upon. In July of
1884, C.H. Spurgeon, and I know we all have
great admiration for him. God blessed him and used him
in a great way. And it's funny, even the man
that I had reference to just a moment ago talking about double
election, he likes to quote Spurgeon too. You just wonder if he ever
reads it. But in July of 1884, Charles
Spurgeon preached a message that he entitled, How to Meet the
Doctrine of Election. How to Meet the Doctrine of Election. He was speaking especially to
lost men and women who maybe had heard this truth and thought,
well, If I'm elected, usually I must not be elected. I must
not be one of God's elect. How to meet the doctrine of election. And let's look at the passage
from which he preached this message. It's in Matthew chapter 15. Very
familiar passage to all of us here tonight. Matthew chapter 15, and here
we have a Syrophoenician woman, the scripture says, a Gentile,
a Gentile woman. Verse 21, then Jesus went thence
and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a
woman of Canaan came out of the same coast. Remember, the Canaanites
were under a special curse, were they not? When God brought Israel
into the land of Canaan, gave it to them, all of those nations,
Canaanite nations, were under a special curse. And she cried
unto him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us. I've always thought that was
somewhat funny. She wasn't crying after them.
It's not you, Peter. It's not you, James, she's trying
to talk with. It's the son of David. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Send her away. She crieth after
us. But he answered and said, Now
notice this, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. The lost sheep, that's who I've
come to minister to. He's a minister to the circumcision,
the scripture says, to the Jewish nation. I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, now she
meets that affront. how to meet the doctrine of election. Number one, then came she and
worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. She came to Jesus. She didn't come to Peter. She
didn't look to John. She didn't go to James. How to
meet the doctrine of election? If a person is sincere about
knowing Christ, how to meet this doctrine if it was to put you
off and make you afraid. Go to Christ. Don't go to the
church. Don't go to the preacher. No,
deal directly with Him, Lord Jesus. Speak to Him. And the second thing he pointed
out is she came immediately. The scripture says then. You
know, so many people, when they get concerned about their souls,
they think, well, tomorrow. Brother Ralph Bernard, he used
to jokingly say, manana, manana. This is a generation of manana. I never will forget him saying
that, tomorrow. When I was just a young boy,
my grandfather told me, he said, David, tomorrow never comes. Tomorrow never comes. Because
it'll be today. It won't be tomorrow. Tomorrow
never comes. She didn't let any grass grow
under her feet. She was sincere. And she came
then. Today, behold, today is the day
of salvation. There's not going to be another
dispensation after the Lord comes again. When the Lord comes, just
like when God shut Noah up in that ark, when He closed the
door, all of those people outside of the ark, there was no hope
for them. There was not a second chance.
No, this is the day of salvation. This is the dispensation in which
the gospel is preached and is preached to all the world. Whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Then,
immediately, and the third thing he pointed
out, she came and worshipped him. She worshipped him. He's worthy of worship because
of who he is. If he answers her request or
he doesn't, he's still worthy of her worship. She recognized
that because of who he is. I don't know how she knew. I know somehow God, the Holy
Spirit revealed this unto her, but look at what she cried, Jesus,
the son of David. How did she know that? Have mercy upon me, O Lord, thou
son of David. How did she know he was the son
of David? The promised son who would sit
upon David's throne and reign forever and ever, an everlasting
throne, never his kingdom, never coming to an end. That's the way she addressed
him, Lord. And fourth, she prayed, Lord, help me. I like that prayer,
don't you? Help me. Have you ever prayed
that prayer? I know you have if you know Christ.
I know you have. Lord, help me. And has he ever
failed to help you? Can you ever point to one particular
Situation in which you prayed, Lord, help me. And he didn't
help you? No. And you never will. She found help. The doctrine of God's unconditional
election. It's a comforting truth. Remove
not the ancient landmarks. The second truth that I want
to mention tonight and very briefly is The preservation of true believers. The preservation of true believers. A person doesn't get saved and
then lose his salvation. To me, that is such, that teaching
is so dishonorable to God. I just don't see how anyone that's
been halfway instructed in the Word of God can believe and teach
such a thing as that. That after God punished our sins
in His Son, then He's going to punish us for our sins. Does
that ring true to you? As you sang just a few moments
ago, Ivan, how He bore our sins on His back on that cross, and
He bore them away. And when a person is regenerated
by the Spirit of God and converted, believes in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's not going to be saved for a week or a year. He's saved
forever, forever and ever. It is everlasting life. It is
eternal salvation. Let's just look at a few scriptures
with it. Let's turn to Romans chapter
eight. Romans chapter eight, beginning
in verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Who
could ever find fault with the truth about predestination? That's
another one of those truths and words that a lot of religious
people, they just can't take it. Just can't handle that. Predestination. predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. Can you find fault
with that? Isn't that what we would desire? To one day be made like Him.
And this verse tells us that there's people in this world
who God has determined one day are going to be just like His
darling Son. Predestinated, the scripture
says. whom he did foreknow. He did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be, that is Christ, might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Another thing people like to
say, well you believe just a few are going to be saved. I don't
believe that. I see many here, don't you? I see John saw a multitude
that man could not even number. Many, he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? I'd like to see someone do that. I'd like to see someone do that
before God, wouldn't you? That's not gonna happen. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God. that
justified. God pronounces a man just to
be righteous, and who would dare deny that truth? 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. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? The love of Christ. Now, the
cause of God calling and saving those he does is his unchangeable
love. The fact that the cause is unchangeable
means that the effect is also unchangeable. His love is unchangeable
and the effect of that love is unchangeable. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine, God hasn't promised us that we would
not go through these things, know these things, experience
these things, but what he has told us is, it ain't going to
separate you from the love of God. It's not going to do that. They and all these things, we
are more than conquerors. through him that loved us. For
I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look
at John chapter 10 with me. I know these verses are familiar
to you, but we just Blessed in reading them and thinking of
them again, John chapter 10, beginning with verse 24. Then
came the Jews round about him and said unto him, how long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
plainly, 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 are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Let's look back into Jeremiah.
There's many places we could go, but I want to look here and
then one other place. Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse
37. Jeremiah 32 verse 37. Behold, I will gather them out
of all countries. The prophecy that Jacob gave
when he came to his son Judah, he said, under him shall the
gathering of the people be. That is under Christ. And God
gathers his people, brings them to Christ through the preaching
of the gospel. The God of, behold I will gather
them out of all countries There's some, some from New Guinea, some
from China, Mexico, United States of America, Canada, Thailand,
all countries. He's got his elected scattered
all through the world. And he gathers, he gathers, and
it shall I will gather them out of all
countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger, and in my
fury, and in great wrath. And I will bring them again unto
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely." And that
has reference especially to the Jews, the nation of Israel, the
physical descendants of Abraham. And yes, God has his elect among
them also. Remember Paul said, am I not
an Israelite? God hadn't cast away his people
who he foreknew. That's why the scripture says,
all Israel shall be saved. All Israel, not all of Abraham's
natural descendants, but all of God's chosen people. All of
his spiritual Israel shall be saved. He's going to gather them. He is gathering them. And notice,
and I will give them one heart in one way. that they may fear
me forever. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, isn't it? And Jesus Christ is the wisdom
of God. For the good of them and of their
children after them, and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. And notice that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. God's not going to turn
away from His chosen people, and they're not going to turn
away from Him because He puts His fear in our hearts. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with
my whole heart and with my whole soul. And the land that He has
promised us is not that physical land of Canaan. It's that heavenly
country. I want to take you back to Deuteronomy
chapter 32 just a moment and I'll finish. We're talking about
the preservation of true believers. Some refer to this as preservation
and Perseverance. They're both the
same, two sides of the same coin. God preserves and we persevere. Here in Deuteronomy chapter 32,
the Lord, verse nine said, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land.
That's where he found me. And that's where he finds all
of his people, in a desert land. A land without water, a land
without spiritual food, a land without hope. Found him, all
of his Jacobs he finds in a desert land. In a wasteland wilderness,
that's this world. He led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him. as the apple of his eye. No,
God's people, his chosen people whom he saves, they will persevere. They will be preserved. He keeps
us. We don't keep ourselves. I don't
think I could hold on. It's not about you holding on,
it's about him holding on to you. You know, when it says here he
keeps us as the apple of his eye, I don't care much for pro
basketball, but I have watched some games, and those men are
big. Those men are big. Some of them
are almost seven feet tall or maybe over that. Big men. I'm
200, 250 pound man. But I'll tell you what I've seen
happen. I've seen one of them get a finger in their eye. And
they go down. They go down. God, no one is
going to stick their finger in God's eye. And he keeps his children
as the apple of his eye. And because he keeps us, we're
well kept. Amen? Okay, let's sing that hymn. Meet me there. 506. Him number 506. Meet me there.