The Glorious Privileges of Election: Part 1

It's the Lord's Day, June 21st, 2020. First of all, it's the

Lord's Day where we come to praise our wonderful King and our

Lord and our Master. It's also a Father's Day, as Brother Keith spoke a very good word about honoring our

Father and our Mother, our parents. But also something else, I don't know if you remember, we as a church body, second year on this very day,

Brother Keith knew, we're celebrating our second anniversary as a fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ, how the

Lord has brought us together, and this is all to the glory of God. This is not my work, this is not necessarily your work, it's

God's work. Jesus is the head, He is to have preeminence in all things.

So to begin with, it's no mistake of happenstance that we as a church are beginning our study through the book of 1

Peter, and we begin with joy in God to hear what

He has to say. So the Word of God has to say a lot about the eternal doctrine, or should

I say the doctrine of eternal election, the sovereignty of God. So our desire as believers in Jesus Christ is to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the

Lord, and there's no doubt when we study the doctrine of eternal election, we go from milk to meat.

So you've got to have teeth to chew everything that we're going to begin to start looking at today.

We're going to cover a lot of ground, so again, when we speak of divine sovereignty and predestination, we're going to the meat of God's Word.

Let me begin by giving you a story in this intro.

Years back when I was pastoring the Christian Missionary Alliance, actually

I began in 2001 as a young green pastor, and I've been preaching since age 17 in nursing homes and on the streets and wherever God opened up doors, but this was officially my first pastorate.

And as a young green pastor just coming in and growing in the doctrines of grace, it was really opening up to me, which was life -changing to see

God's sovereignty on every page of the scriptures. I never forgot when the

Lord placed within my heart in prayer when I was at a pastor's retreat, being a young pastor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and it was...

God impressed on my heart to do a verse -by -verse study through the book of Ephesians. I felt that what would be a great book for a congregation that we could go through that would be encouraging, deals with the family, submission, pretty much similar to what

Peter and James deals with as well. But as you know,

Ephesians begins very strong with the doctrine of election, chapter one.

Well, so when I returned back to Rome, Georgia, and as this new church plant was growing numerically, and it was amazing because family after families were coming in, and it got to where it was numerically, 60 people, which

I thought was very good when we first opened up the doors there. It was just a handful of people, and it kept growing.

One family after another was contacting each other, and they came in, and I thought, oh wow, they're hungry for God's Word.

To my surprise, when we were...

and I was counting children as well on that 60, and yeah, you could tell as a young pastor,

I was counting numbers, which was very immature of me.

Many homeschoolers, and we'll make a long story short, we began to study through this wonderful epistle,

Ephesians, and unfortunately, we never finished chapter one. Yes, you guessed it.

Just about every family left. I thought, wow, did I do something wrong?

The district superintendent thought I did something wrong, because I remember him coming to speak, and he was actually presenting before the people.

He said, your pastor is about to go full -time ministry. I thought, wow, this is such a blessing, until we went to chapter one of Ephesians.

This is the power of God's Word, folks, all because of the doctrine of election, all because of the doctrine of election.

I did not even mention John Calvin once. That's the truth. God's Word went forth, and I basically went verse by verse, and as far as I can remember, our numbers dropped quickly.

It went from 60 to 50 to 40 to 30, and it was down to like six.

At one time before all these families dropped off, and they were contacting each other behind the scene,

I knew what was going on. I was called to a home of this one particular family.

I never will forget. It was a long, drawn -out process. The wife, the wife tells you a little bit here's the situation.

She basically was the spokesman, not the husband, sad to say, and she had a pad and pencil out, and she was taking notes, and she was just drilling me with questions about this doctrine, and she said,

I just can't understand that. Why do you present this?

Why are you giving this to us? And I said, what do you mean? I said, it's the Word of God.

Yeah, but you're trying to tell us that we have no control of our salvation whatsoever, and we don't have a choice in this.

I said, absolutely, you don't. And what do you mean?

The Bible says whosoever will, and she just kept drilling me with all these questions. I said, well, it means to whosoever will.

I said, and? And you know, don't get me wrong, she fed me, and we sat down afterwards, and we had a long discussion, and without going into any other long details, it was hours and hours of examining me, that to write me off as a hyper -Calvinist, that's what she said, a hyper -Calvinist, and classify me as a heretic by the time

I went out the door, all because of the teaching of the doctrine of eternal election.

They did not want to accept it, because it quickly pricks right into the heart of man's pride, and exalts

God, and that's what they didn't want. Now, these people claim to be believers in Jesus Christ, okay?

And I was the one at the moment, when I was trying, they were putting me on the spot,

I said, well, you are basically teaching something heretical. I said, what?

Heretical? I learned very quickly that this great doctrine of the church is not gladly welcomed, or received.

A .W. Pink said, preach election, and you will find out who the sheep and the goats are.

Very quickly. He's absolutely right. He's absolutely right.

Beloved, I've personally seen this in the ministry.

Now, I'm not saying that everybody here is going to drop off. I believe you're with me. But a lot of people out there right now, as I'm speaking, do not agree with this.

It's a heavy doctrine. It's the first and foremost. So many people despise this great doctrine.

They despise it. Why would they despise this? Can I give you a couple quotes from two godly men that are my heroes of the past?

One is evangelist George Whitefield. George Whitefield lived during the time of John Wesley.

They had some disagreements about this. But Whitefield said this, oh, the excellency of the doctrine of the election, and the saint's final perseverance.

I am persuaded, till a man comes to believe and feel these important truths, he cannot come to himself.

But when convinced of these and assured of their application to their own heart, to his own heart, he then walks by faith and deed.

Love, listen to what he says, love, not fear, contains him,

I'm sorry, constrains him to obedience. End quote.

That's George Whitefield. And as you well know, C .H. Spurgeon was a firm believer of this.

Spurgeon, the great preacher of the past in England, said this, quote, whatever may be said about this doctrine of election, it is written in the word of God as with an iron pen.

And there is no getting rid of it. To me, it is one of the sweetest and most blessed truths in the whole of Revelation.

And those who are afraid of it are so because they do not understand it.

And if they could but know that the Lord has chosen them, it would make their hearts dance with joy.

End quote. Oh, this, beloved, I'm telling you, this is a wonderful doctrine.

And we're going to only break ground today. So I'm not going to try to push through all the points

I had. I originally had four points, but we're only getting one point. So we begin our study at looking at this glorious, the glorious privileges of election.

That's what Peter is talking about. There's privileges here. There's privileges given to his own.

There's privileges given to those whom he has elected. So in saying that, let's open up to the word of God, to 1

Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, we're only going to look at two verses.

And I, Lord willing, we're going to probably look at only two verses within. We're going to probably look in the next two

Lords day, Lord willing, I'm going to try to get through this in three parts because there's a lot here contained in Scripture.

Because once you start digging and once you start looking at the references and what God has to say about election, it's all over the

Scripture. So we cannot, we don't want to miss it, do we? We want to know what God has to say, what the

Lord has to say about eternal election. And he spoke through the prophets. He spoke through the apostles.

And most of all, he spoke through the Lord Jesus Christ in whom is the word and flesh.

So hear the word of the living God, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 1 and 2.

I'm going to read from the ESV because I like the ESV translation here. And the ESV is very similar to the original

American Standard Version, not the new American Standard Version, but the American Standard Version and the

ESV together. So I'm going to read today from the

ESV, these two verses. Peter, hear the word of the living God. Hear the word of the living

God. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Amen. Let's pray. Father, you have already blessed your word and we pray this morning through your

Holy Spirit that you would bless it to our hearts. Lord, I only can take your word from my mouth to the ears of each one here today and to those that are listening through this recording.

But Father, only you could take your word from the ears to the heart by your

Holy Spirit. So Father, as we study this wonderful, glorious doctrine,

Father, we praise you and we thank you and we say with your son who was here on this earth during his time of ministry, as before he welcomed everybody to say and he said, come unto me all you labor and heavy laden,

I will give you rest. He prayed to you and said, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them, revealed them to the infants.

Yes, Father, for this is the way that was well pleasing in your sight.

Lord, we are right there. We say and breathe the same prayer.

Lord, give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear, give us a heart to understand these great truths this morning that has been revealed to your babes, to your children, to the ones who you have appointed to believe.

So Father, may we let us keep in mind it is the poor in spirit, the poor in spirit that inherit the kingdom of God, not the haughty, not the arrogant, not the prideful.

Father, you resist them, but you give grace to the humble. So Father, we pray, let us be low, keep us low to the dirt, so that we will know that all this is by your grace and we ask this in Jesus' name for your glory.

Amen and amen. I got a lot to say this morning, but as I've already mentioned,

I mentioned A .W. Pink and I got a lot of quotes by Pink because I, and thinking about this wonderful, this wonderful, wonderful doctrine of election,

I couldn't help but pick this book up here alongside with it. If you ever read this, you need to read it.

This is a classic on the sovereignty of God, probably one of the best, I think, written on this subject because he just goes through the scriptures so much.

He goes right to the word of God. And not to say that Sproul does it and MacArthur does it, they're more modern day theologians of our day and they do, they do a very good job.

But I kind of picked Pink's book here because I kind of like the way he phrases it.

So I'm going to give you kind of a foretaste of what he has to say here and then

I'm going to close with something that Pink says as well in the conclusion. A .W. Pink, in this book, in the classic on the sovereignty of God, what says basically of the question, what do we mean by this expression?

What do we mean by this expression that God is sovereign? Pink gives a very good meaning and this

I quote from his book and I wrote this one down. We mean the supremacy of God, the supremacy of God to the kingship of God, the

Godhood of God. And to say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is

God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the most high, doing according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth so that none can stay his hand or saying to him, what doest thou?

It's a quote from Daniel 435. Pink goes on to say, to say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the almighty, the possessor of all power in heaven and earth so that none can defeat his counsels, thwart his purpose, or resist his will.

Psalm 115 .3. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the governor among the nations.

Psalm 22 .28. Setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleases him is best.

To say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the only potentate, the king of kings and lord of lords.

First Timothy 6 .15. Such is the God of the

Bible. End quote. I don't know about you, I love the way Pink went right to the word of God and given the definition.

And what does it mean that God is sovereign? So that speaks about the sovereignty of God, the meaning of it.

So in this passage in the Bible, in the word of God, in the book of 1

Peter, Peter the apostle is seeking to encourage the Christians who are basically being mistreated and persecuted for their faith.

If you haven't heard the message from last week, I'd encourage you to listen to the overview because he's speaking to persecuted and afflicted

Christians. Heavenly persecuted. They're scattered among the five provinces of the modern day

Turkey and probably seeking to hide for safety from the hand of Nero who was burning

Christians at the stake even for his own pleasure. He eventually burned down Rome.

This man had a lust to build, so he would burn things down and rebuild. Burn it down, rebuild.

I mean, acres and acres and towns and towns and this man had such a lust and he hated

Christians and of course he captured Christians at that time that was heavenly persecuted and he would even wrap them up and hang them up on a stake and burn them alive to light up his garden.

That's how evil this man was. And having their lands also confiscated at this period of time.

So the apostle Paul and Peter lived during the time of Nero. So again, if you think we got it bad, we don't have it bad folks.

This man was bad. This man was evil. This man hated Christians. So the apostle seeks to encourage them by sharing with them the most glorious teaching that exists in the entirety of the word of God.

And mainly that they are elect. And by saying that, he's saying you are marked out.

You are special to God. You are God's very own hand -picked people.

That's what he's saying. That's what elect means. Elect basically means that God has hand -picked you and chosen you to live and die for him even so.

So Peter had a burden, I believe, to encourage the believers in that time.

And as God has chosen them out of the world, from the world, but yet in the world and not of the world, they are chosen, they are marked out, they are selected, and they're special.

Now, this may not mean a whole lot to people here in the western civilization and to Christians that us in our comfort zone, but you bring something like this from the word of God.

It is precious, especially to those that not knowing that your life could be the next one to be thrown to the animals and eaten alive and also be burned to the stake.

What would comfort you and myself more than anything during a great persecution?

That's hard for us to imagine this. But to know who you belong to and your eternal reward is on the other side and this life is only temporary and even the persecution and the affliction and death has an end.

And even as horrible as it may seem is nothing compared to the horrible, horrific,

I should say, terror of hellfire on the other end for eternity. And this is only temporary for God's people.

So he starts off the passage, isn't it amazing how he goes directly and he says they are elect.

The election is often a very controversial doctrine in which I've already spoken my own personal life, but it's just not me.

It's been many other ministers that has brought the word of God to the truth and bring the truth out and let the lion out of its cage where people are offended by this doctrine.

And it is controversial, but there's reasons for the controversy. And we're going to look at that later and there's many reasons for that.

But here in our text, it is given to the persecuted church as a great encouragement.

Now it's a great encouragement to them. And he then talks about what happens to those who are elect.

He talks about how each person of the triune God is personally involved in their salvation.

Now this is beautiful. And we see this in creation as well, that the whole triune

God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit was all together in creation.

So was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit involved in our redemption just as well.

God the Father elects them, the Son dies for them, and sprinkles his precious blood upon them, and the

Holy Spirit seals us and sanctifies them and makes them holy. That is the triune

God working together in unison, in unity, in the salvation of the elect.

Believers in Jesus Christ are special among the people of the world, though even though the world scorns them and mocks them and mocks

God. But here in this letter of 1 Peter, we learn about how to deal with persecution firsthand because Peter knew this.

Peter knew this. Peter, an apostle who initially denied Jesus Christ at the prospect of death, as you know earlier, writes a book to encourage people who are suffering and to teach them how to suffer.

Isn't this beautiful? This man knew about suffering. And as we looked at last week, we know how

Peter's life by tradition ended. He said he was not worthy to be crucified like his

Lord. But so they crucified his wife and they crucified him upside down. So after his initial lapse in faith, as we look in Scripture and the record of what happened to Peter in the book of Acts, we see a completely different man.

Peter comes around, he's empowered, he's already restored. Jesus restores him in John chapter 21, restores him back to the fold, right in front of all the rest.

He does it publicly. Jesus does this publicly to restore him and ask him three times,

Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me?

So after this initial lapse of faith in the book of Acts, we see Peter coming. He's filled with the

Spirit of God. He's empowered by God and encouraged by the resurrection of the dead.

No more does he cower in fear, but he speaks boldly and he suffers valiantly for Jesus Christ in the very face of persecution.

Now he writes to strengthen the brethren. Now he obeys the Lord, Lord's word to him.

And when Jesus encouraged him, strengthen my brethren, the weak, the afflicted.

I believe this is in his mind when he's writing this letter, the persecuted who are receiving the same attacks that he previously encountered.

And in the first two sentences, the apostle Peter begins to encourage the suffering saints in the faith.

And how does he do it? By their election of God, by their election and the benefits of this glorious election.

And even though the world mocks them and the world persecutes them, they are loved with an everlasting love of a love that is undying by the almighty

God. Or should I say the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Now this would encourage them as well as in their suffering and lift them up to behold the greatness and the love of God towards them.

So the apostle Peter encourages them that they are different. They're a different type of people. You're different from this world and you're meant to be different.

So don't worry. He's basically saying, don't worry about that. So because they are special to God, they are elect, you're marked out.

How encouraging would that be to hear a father of the faith, the apostle to say, you are elect.

You are marked out to something special because God has appointed you.

And here's the question we're going to be looking at for the next three parts and this part as well.

We will look at, number one, within this great text, the doctrine of eternal election, that what are the privileges, these glorious privileges

I like to say, of God's election that should encourage the believer in suffering as seen in our text.

What are the privileges? We're going to break this down and we're only going to just break ground today.

So we see this in verse one and two. And how should these glorious privileges practically affect our personal lives?

It should affect our living. It should. And by God's power and God's Holy Spirit, it should encourage us to do so.

This is the overall big question we're going to look at. So let's begin our journey by looking at the basic interpretation of this question.

What does it mean to be chosen and elect of God? What does it mean to be chosen, elect of God?

Now that's a loaded down question. Honestly, I could not do justice to this.

I don't think any minister really can because of the greatness of the truth behind this.

So that leads me to, we're going to look at four points, but we're going to only get one point in today.

And you can write this down if you like. The first point we're going to look at today is the elect.

The elect are chosen by God. Simple. The elect are chosen by God.

Lord willing, next week we're going to look at the elect are strangers in the world. And then three, we're going to look at the elect are scattered like seed to produce a harvest.

And then fourth, we're going to look at the elect are intimate with God, intimate with God. And then in Lord willing, we're going to get that in next week.

And then part three, we're going to finish it out. So as we look at this all -important application, this important doctrine, we're going to look at application as well as our lives.

So let's go. Number one, the elect are chosen by God. That's simple enough, isn't it?

That's a great truth. The elect are chosen by God. That's what the text says.

The text says Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to God's elect, to God's elect who have been chosen, who have been chosen.

So what does that mean? What does that mean to be chosen the elect of God? Now, like I said, we're going to break ground.

We're going to see what the scripture has to say. One of the things that should confront, comfort us,

I should say, or yes, even confront the believer, but comfort the believer more than anything is the comfort beyond anything that this world can even offer, is that you who are believers in Jesus Christ and myself as well and to those who are the church of Jesus Christ are chosen by God.

And especially in the midst of suffering, even chosen to suffer.

Peter talks about this later on and is recognizing that the elect and they are the elect of God.

Now, the word elect really means to be chosen by God, as mentioned in verse two.

And the world rejects believers, as if you have not already found that out.

The world does not accept our message. And there's reasons for that.

And they hate you because of the truth that's in you and me, not because of necessarily you and me.

It's because of Jesus in us. It's the truth. And the gospel always offends because it confronts people's sin.

And that gets people to hate us. But really what they're hating is the truth in us.

So the world rejects believers because of their belief, what we believe in Jesus Christ, our lifestyle, the way we live.

Brother Keith pointed that out in Psalm chapter one, that whole psalm, those six verses deal with that.

And because that the believers choose not to condone or participate in their sin.

So that really gets them to lash out at the believers. And also we do not love the world like they love the world.

And because scripture says love, not the world, and neither of the things are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the father is not in him, period.

So if there's love of the world within our hearts, there's that's brazen, serious questions.

Do we really love God? Because Jesus says you cannot love both the same at the same time.

You cannot love the world and love God at the same time. Jesus said, no man can serve two masters. He will hate the one or love the other.

That's Christ. So then he says, where your treasure is, there is where your heart be. Also, Jesus Christ said to his own disciples in John 15, 16, listen to this.

You did not choose me, but I have chosen you.

Who did the choosing? God did the choosing. And he says this, and appointed you to go and bear fruit.

Fruit that will last. And then he says this, then the father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Now that means that whatever means according to the will of God, of course, within that context. But the stress of the truth that is pointed out there is that, or I should say not only the stress, but the emphasis is that God is the one that does the choosing.

Jesus chose. He prayed all night. Then he chose the disciples, the apostles.

And even one was chosen to fall in the way, fall away. Now that's controversial as well.

That's why a lot of people have a hard time with this. But Jesus knew his destination. You cannot deny that.

Jesus said it would have been better for that man not to be born. And he knew, even in Jesus was praying in John 17, that he was the man of perdition.

He was chosen that because Jesus, that shows the deity of Jesus Christ, he knew exactly what was going to happen.

And we see this time and time again. So how can a believer in Jesus Christ deny the sovereign election of God just by reading just that one verse alone?

I don't know. How can somebody deny that God chooses you as a disciple just by John 15, 16, confront people with that verse and say, what does

Jesus say here? He is the one that does the choosing. It's not us.

And it's not us that's cooperating with God. God calls us in regeneration to come to him.

There's the resisting. People can resist, but we know that the grace that God gives to his choosing, his chosen ones,

I get my words right, is irresistible grace. It's irresistible. You cannot resist it.

For those who are appointed to eternal life will believe. We'll look at that later. So election often is a doctrine that gets many people very upset.

They're very, very upset. But we see here in this great teaching that was a treasure for the saints, especially the persecuted saints.

It was such a treasure that it had become a common title during this time period in the early church, the primitive church, that they were named out as elect ones.

You look at 3 John, I believe. He writes to the lady elect. They are elect.

They were known for this during that time period, elect ones. So he says this right here in the opening to the elect ones, elect, to the elect.

So why did God choose these saints? Well, it had nothing to do with their own good works or righteousness, was it?

No, sir. It was not our good works. It is not. See, that's how people even still think somehow that they have some good in them to bring them to salvation.

No, none are righteous. No, not one.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what

Scripture says. But it was the work of sovereign grace, wasn't it? It was the work of God that laid he laid his hand upon you and me and his hand still keeps us.

And by the way, those whom he elects is not going to fall away and not make it.

Now, they may fall away at time and time at sundry times, as the as the scholar says, but they're going to come back and they're going to come back and they're going to persevere until the end.

It doesn't mean that we're not going to at times fail our God. We do fail our God at times. There are times we will fall by the wayside, but eventually

God's elect will come home and they will persevere to the very end.

Now, what does the Apostle Paul have to say about this? A great election.

There's much. Um, Ephesians chapter one, let's just go to Ephesians chapter one very quickly.

This was the chapter that stirred so much up years ago when I was preaching this.

And I thought, what in the world are these people doing? They should be and they should be glorifying

God. And then they come at me and I'm thinking, what have I done? And I really went to my face to the

Lord and God assured me I'd done nothing wrong. You just delivered the word.

And it was I knew my honeymoon as a pastor was over with. So anyway, that was a good thing.

God showed me the reality of it. But notice that the redemption in Jesus Christ, Ephesians chapter one, look at verse three, blessed be the

God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing into heavenly places in Christ, in Christ.

No blessings there are outside of Jesus. All the blessings is in Jesus. And then he starts talking about the blessing.

What is the blessing? Look at verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, we had no control over this, folks.

God made this selection so that we would be holy. That's the purpose.

That's the way chosen ones live. They live holy and blameless before him in and before him.

Some go on to say in love, but there's a period in love he predestined.

That means he marked us out to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved.

And then he goes on to say in him talking about Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

And then he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him with a view to the administration suitable to the fullness of times.

That is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heavens and things on earth.

And I'll stop right there. And then you can just read it. It goes on in him, in him, in Jesus, in Jesus.

It's all in Jesus and nothing of us. Now, that is pretty much

Paul speaking to the saints at Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus grace.

And he says, grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, with that in mind, go with me to Romans nine.

Now, here is a wonderful chapter here that speaks so much about eternal predestination, eternal election.

Got to study this chapter, folks. I'm telling you. And can I say this? This is one of the most neglected and skipped over chapters in the word of God.

I even remember when I was going to work every day and early in the morning and they had the word of God, Alexander Scorby would be reading the word of God and the people that was behind this.

And I'll pass over saying their name right now. But this particular radio station out of a part of Florida was basically putting a chapter a day.

And finally, we went to the book of Romans. And while I just was getting so fed by hearing this before going to work,

Romans one, Romans two, Romans three, Romans four, Romans five, Romans six,

Romans seven, Romans eight. I said, wow, I'm on the mountain peak. Praise God.

I was just rejoicing so much. And then all of a sudden, the next day it went to Romans 10. That's no joke.

They skipped the person behind that radio station intentionally skipped

Romans nine. I told Brother Allen, Brian Allen, Ben's dad about this and he said, yeah, they played hopscotch, didn't they?

I said, they sure did. I said, but what does that tell you about Romans nine? It tells you a lot about Romans nine.

Romans nine is a great chapter about election. Study this this chapter, beloved, if you want to know much more.

Well, I'm going to just read a few verses, but actually this chapter speaks about Israel's rejection in God's purpose.

It speaks about Israel's rejection and God's justice. And he begins by saying,

I'm telling you the truth in Jesus Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the

Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. He had Paul was an apostle to the

Gentiles, but he still had a burden to Israel. And here in this chapter, he speaks a lot about this purpose of God that he has.

And it also the one thing that I believe people don't hear enough of is God's justice,

God's justice. And he speaks this. Now, why am I saying this? In Jewish society, the oldest was always chosen to receive the blessing and inherit the blessing.

But in God's economy, it was always a work of sovereign grace, of unmerited favor.

And that was undeserving always. Now, let's read this. Now we see this at beginning in verse six.

Look at verse six. Notice what he says. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. God's word never fails.

Right. And then he says this for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, nor are they all children because they are

Abraham's descendants. But and then he gives the scripture and from the

Old Testament through Isaac, your descendants will be named. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants for this is the word of promise.

At this time, I will come and Sarah shall have a son. Now, Paul's driving at something.

I know what he's talking about here. Not only this, but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived twins by one man, our father,

Isaac, for though the twins were not yet born. I want you to keep that in mind. They were not yet born.

They had nothing to do with this. Nothing. Nothing. Zero. Listen to this.

And had not done anything good or bad. Paul emphasizes this so that God's purpose.

Don't you love that? God's purpose according to whose choice?

His choice. God's choice who would stand not because of works, but because of him who calls.

Verse 12, it was said to her, the older will serve the younger.

And just as it is written, Jacob, I have loved, but Esau, I've hated.

Now this is God's right. Now listen to this. What shall we say then? Then he gives the question.

Now he's going to something else. Now he's going to talk about God's justice. In other words, what he's going to say is

God being unfair here? Is God being unjust here? Okay, listen to what he says.

What shall we say then? Don't you love the questions he gives after he gives a truth like that?

He's really probing. And then he says, there is no injustice with God, is there? No.

May it never be. May it never be. The old King James says,

God forbid. It's like a thunder from heaven. No, never.

Never any injustice with God. And then verse 15, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom

I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

For the scripture says to Pharaoh, but this very purpose, I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.

So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires.

And then he says, here's more questions. Will you say to me then, why does he still find fault?

For who resists his will? Who resists his will? Paul says this, on the contrary, who are you?

Who are you? Old man who answers back to God.

The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this?

Will it? Don't you love those questions? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make the same lump, one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction.

And he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory.

Even us, whom he also called not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

Isn't that encouraging? Because we're basically Gentile race here. I don't believe anybody is here of the

Jews descended, but the Jews were specially chosen for this. And yet God's intention is to use

Israel to reach out to the Gentiles, for the gospel to go to the Gentiles. Now even us, he says, whom he also called from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

As he says also in Hosea, I will call those who were not my people, by people.

And who was not my beloved? Beloved. And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they shall be called the sons of the living

God. And then he quotes another, he quotes Hosea, then he quotes in verse 27,

Isaiah the prophet cries out concerning Israel. Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved.

For the Lord will execute his word on the earth thoroughly and quickly.

And just as Isaiah foretold, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us to a posterity, we would have become like Sodom and would have resembled

Gomorrah. And I'll stop right there. You see what he's driving at. God chose

Jacob, not based on anything he ever done. And the twins earlier, talking about Jacob and Esau, were not even born yet in verse 11.

God selected the younger brother to receive the blessing. God selected him.

And in the same way, election is a mystery to us. It's hard for us to understand it, but this is what

God has chosen, beloved. And God has every right based on God's sovereign right as king to select whom he wills and not based on the basis of anything that we have done by no means.

This is sovereign grace. This is sovereign election that the king of the universe can select whomever he wills to his kingdom.

Now, for us to understand this, it's hard for us in the Western civilization to understand this because I'm going to tell you why.

People in the Western countries and especially America, whom have never had been under an absolute monarch, kind of avoid this thought.

It's not fair. That's the first thing that people think of. This is not fair.

In other words, I don't have a choice in this. No, you don't. Now, this is not democracy, they say, they say.

But under a monarchy, what happens? The king has absolute power.

Under a monarchy, a king has the power to do, he does whatever he pleases.

And God chooses on the base of his sovereign right.

Only God has this right because he's the perfect holy God. And a little man says, well, with a shake fist at God, that ain't fair.

Isn't that the truth? How many people you've heard say that? You know what they don't understand?

Number one, they don't understand who God is. That's the first thing. R .C. Sproul said this.

And then secondly, they don't understand who they are. And they don't understand their sin. And they don't understand that you're made from the dirt.

See, in other words, God is the creator. God is the king. He is the person, the triune

God that can do whatever he pleases because he's God. A little man shakes his fist and says, that's not fair.

And Paul basically deals with that. So scripture everywhere declares that God is king. How many times through the

Psalms, how many times through the scriptures, you see the kingship of God, the kingship of God.

And he does what he pleases and he does as he chooses. And some are elect, just a few.

He elects a few to eternal salvation, which is God's sovereign choice, not ours. Jesus Christ is

Lord. And actually in John 15, 19, Jesus said this, if you belong to the world, the world would love its own as it is.

You do not belong to the world. He's speaking to his disciples. You do not belong to this world. In other words, he says,

I've chosen you out of the world. Jesus told him that to encourage them about the persecution to come.

I have chosen you out of the world. And that is why the world hates you. That is why the world hates you because Jesus chose us out of the world.

You supposed to be hated. Matter of fact, it might be a good thing to check. If the world's not hating you, something could be wrong.

The world loves its own, but if the world's not hated you, something's wrong.

Christ chose us out of the world. And because of this, the world hates us. And we are no longer part of the world because God chose us out of the world.

He puts us back into the world to reach the world and to tell the gospel, to preach the gospel.

But God chose us out of the world to be different, to be holy, to be set apart. That's what it means.

Holy, it means to be set apart, to be cut off away from the world. So often the doctrine of election is met with much anger.

But how should the doctrine of election encourage the believer? Well, how does it encourage us?

And I'd like to give you some encouraging things here on how the doctrine of election does encourage us. First of all, number one, the election should make the believer worship

God. Doesn't this great doctrine of what

I just read, doesn't that humble you? Doesn't it bring a warmth in your heart to worship

God for who he is, that God is God and that God is to be loved for himself?

And this doctrine is so glorious, it exalts God and it humbles man. That's why people hate it because it's something they can't control.

I come to find out a lot of these people that was asking me years back when I was first pastor in a church, a lot of them were control freaks.

And I said, ah, now I'm starting to put some links together here. So usually when there's control freaks, there's people that's not in submission to God.

They're not in submission to God's lordship, to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

And therefore, they're going to resist. And when a little messenger comes along like me and preaches the doctrine of eternal salvation, something they can't control, they say, hold on.

You're a heretic. And they're going to start twisting things and say, oh, no, no, no, no. You can't tell me that I don't have any choice in this.

No, you don't. You choose to believe, choose you this day whom you shall serve and serve the lord.

But in that choosing, we will see this later on, lord willing, next week, even in our choosing and faith, that's a gift from God to take a hold of God is a gift from God.

Even turning from our sin is a gift that God gives. He is the giver. And he gives that gift freely on who he so desires.

So so, you know, we've all been in the I think Spurgeon put it this way. We've all been in the classroom of being an

Armenian. When we first come to faith, we think, oh, my faith brought me into Jesus. I'm the one that's seeking

God. And then we start to read the word of God. And before you were seeking God, God was seeking us.

He's the real seeker. Then we come seeking him. God, we seek him. We love him because he first sought us.

He first loved us. See, we can't take a hold of God by faith because that faith is not really our faith.

It's a gift that God gives to take a hold of him. How dare anybody say I did something to earn my way into salvation and to heaven?

If anybody earned his way to heaven was Jesus, he earned it, he paid it, his life, his righteousness, his perfect righteousness.

And this is the core of the gospel as he lived for us and his righteous, his perfect righteousness and his perfect death.

All that was placed upon him and the father in faith. And when we come to Christ and he chooses us, all that is imputed to us in that great.

That's the gospel. I'm thinking I had nothing to do with it, but what does it make you want to do?

Doesn't that want to make you worship? I'm telling you that this is glorious.

How could somebody deny this? It's the most comforting of all doctrines.

Knowing that God is keeping me, God is saving me. I can't save myself. And Spurgeon said, if we tried to save ourself, you'd never be saved.

You couldn't do it because no one's perfect. Only Christ.

He paved the way. This doctrine's glorious and exalts God. It humbles man to the dirt and exalts

God to the heavens. Why? Because God is God. God is in control of everything.

I love the way Spurgeon talks about it. He said, there's not one maverick molecule going amuck in this whole universe.

Think of that. Every little detail, every little thing that happens. And now people, it starts asking, what about the evil?

What about the bad? Look, there's a lot I don't understand, beloved, but I know this,

God understands. Because He's an all -wise God and He has everything under control because He orchestrates it, see.

Even our salvation, salvation's the work of God that should make us worship

Him and Him alone. We may not fully understand election, but we do understand that it demonstrates the glory and the power of God.

It also demonstrates that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts, as high as the heavens are above the earth.

Praise God. You know, if you're still in Romans, turn with me to... You talking about worship?

Paul worshipped. He was in this theology which was obvious.

One of the greatest theologians that ever lived. And here's this man. What does he do?

At the end of chapter 11, what does he do? He starts worshiping.

His theology turns into doxology. And you can see him as he's writing this down in Greek.

And then all of a sudden he changes and he gets all caught up in the majesty and the kingship of God and that God's in control.

And through Israel's rejection, the gospel goes to the Gentiles. And how can anybody orchestrate that but God?

And then he says in verse 33, Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are

His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the

Lord or become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again?

That it might be paid back to Him again. And then he says this wonderful statement. Now, notice what he said.

This is worship, beloved. If you understand this verse, this is worship. And for from Him and through Him and to Him.

That's worship. He's the source. It comes from Him. Then it's through Him and it's back to Him again are what?

Some things? No. All things. Now, if you believe in God's sovereignty and really believe in God's sovereignty, you believe that all things

God is in control of. And then he says to him, be the glory forever, not just passing time at this time, no forever.

Amen. He worships. He worships. Well, my time's about gone. Let me give you two more.

Next, second, eternal election should be an encouragement to evangelize.

Now, a lot of people may disagree with that, but I don't know about you. This encourages me to evangelize. It puts fire in my bones.

Some say the doctrine of election, eternal election is a hindrance to evangelism. Not so. It's an encouragement to evangelize.

We're not the frozen chosen, beloved. God sets us on fire on this doctrine. He gets us out.

And there's and some people may ask why I share the gospel of some were not were not chosen.

That's how people think of us. Really? But Jesus gives us a command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

You know, the answer to that's really easy. We don't know who God has chosen. That's God's business.

Amen, Brother Keith. God has chosen the the weak things of the world to confound the wise, right?

That they a lot of times it's those poor and the rejected. God looks down and says, that's that's now we don't know that you said

I'm saying, but God, I'm trying to give you kind of a glance. This God sees things different than we do.

Completely different. On the contrary, see, this should give us the boldness to share the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, because we know not all, but we know that some will believe the remnant.

Paul talks about a remnant and the remnant will and they will respond to the gospel.

And that's exactly what happened in Acts 13, 48. Let me read that to you where the Gentiles heard heard this.

What did they hear? Verse 47. This is what they heard. For so the

Lord commanded us, I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.

That's what they heard. And that was a quote from Isaiah, the prophet in chapter 42, verse 6.

In verse 48, when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. Notice that they rejoiced, they glorified the word of the

Lord and glorified preacher. They glorified God's word. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life, what did they do?

They believed. John Calvin said that. Somebody asked him the question, how do you know you're appointed to eternal life?

He said, you believe. Isn't that simple? But people make it so complicated.

You know why? Because sin's involved somewhere. Sin confuses, sin complicates things.

But God is a God of order and He brings clarity to it. They believed.

Beloved, this is one of the holy scriptures clear statements on the sovereignty of God and salvation.

God chooses man's salvation, not the opposite. Well, third, eternal election should make the believer humble.

It should humble us. It should humble us. God is God and there is no another.

And He does what He pleases. Look at how Paul the Apostle responded to those who seemed to struggle with the concept of sovereign election in Romans chapter 9.

Paul changed these believers about their response to God's election. He says, who are you, old man, to talk back to the

Creator? Basically, that's what he said. Who are you? Who are you, old man? It's a rebuke.

And I don't have time to go there, but Jeremiah 18, I tell you what,

I say I don't have time, I won't go there. Go to Jeremiah 18. I cannot leave this out.

And he speaks about the potter and the clay. Jeremiah 18, he says this, then the word, verse 1, then the word which came to Jeremiah from the

Lord saying, arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will announce my words to you. Then I went down to the potter's house and there he was, he was making something on the wheel.

But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter.

So he remade it into another vessel as it pleased the potter to make. Notice the words he used, as it pleased the potter to make it.

Only God can make a new creation. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, can

I not, oh house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does, declares the

Lord? Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, oh house of Israel.

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom and uproot or pull down or to destroy it.

If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity and I plan to bring on it.

Or at another moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning kingdom to build or build up or to plant it.

If it does not evil, if it, I'm sorry, if it does evil in my sight by not obeying my voice, then

I will think better of the good with which I promise to bless it. And I'll stop right there.

But you know, God is basically in charge and he's basically, again, pleading with Israel to repent.

God is the potter, we are the clay, he's the creator, we are the creatures from the dirt.

He has every right to do so whatever he so desires with the clay.

This doctrine should create humility in us before God and others.

Well, in closing, let me give you one quote from, another quote I should say, from A .W.

Pink. This is what I really appreciate and liked him, why I used his words here.

He says this, writing to the saints at Thessalonica, the apostle declared, for God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our

Lord Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 5, 9, now surely it is patent to an impartial mind that this statement is quite pointless if God has not appointed any to wrath.

And to say that God has not appointed us to wrath clearly implies that there are some who has appointed to wrath.

And were it not that, the minds of so many professing Christians are so blinded by prejudice, they could not fail to clearly see this.

He goes on to say, a stone of stumbling, a rock or a fence, even to them who stumble at the word, being disobedient whereunto they were appointed.

First Peter 2, 8. Then he says this, the whereunto manifestly points back to the stumbling at the word and their disobedience.

Here then God expressively affirms that there are some who have been appointed, that's the key word, appointed.

It is the same Greek word in First Thessalonians 5, 9, unto disobedience.

And then he closes with this, and though so many people have a hard time grappling with this, our business is not to reason about it, but to bow to Holy Scripture.

Our first duty is not to understand, but to believe what

God has said, end quote. Now, I want to say one more thing. We do not go to the extent that God has appointed people into hell and some to eternal salvation.

Spurgeon didn't believe this, it's called double predestination. A lot of the primitive

Baptists believe this. We don't believe that. We believe God in His mercy selects some to salvation, which is the remnant, which is the few

Jesus speaks of that will find the way because of God's grace, not because of something they've done.

We believe that God has some, chosen some to eternal salvation. But as Scripture I believe, and you can check me on this and be a good

Berean, the rest He passes over and then He gives justice.

See, there are some, you have to be careful, that feel that God has appointed some to salvation and appointed some to damnation.

We don't believe that. Again, that would be double predestination. We believe in predestination.

God marks out some that He has pity on. He shows His mercy.

The rest He gives justice. He passes over. That should make us think, you know, yes, we have no control over this.

It is the sovereign grace of God. But aren't you glad that God is

God and God keeps whom He appoints to the end.

They persevere to the end. They will persevere. Also, as I was thinking about this, it also should give us cause to examine our own hearts.

Are we true believers in Jesus Christ? And this great doctrine of election should also humble us to the point of saying, am

I truly repentant here? If I'm not repentant, I may not be part of that few.

But true repentants, the ones that God has called will truly repent because they're truly regenerated.

And when they're truly regenerated, they will really truly be converted to Jesus Christ. So that should give us cause to examine ourselves, right, to see whether we're in the faith.

It should not cause fear, only in the sense of fear trembling before His Word. But what

I mean by fear of rejection and condemnation, it should cause joy and encouragement to know that God holds us fast and He will lose none of His own.

None. Not one will be lost whom Jesus died for. Not one.

That gives us cause to rejoice. Amen. Let's bless His name and let's praise

Him for this great, great doctrine of eternal selection, eternal salvation.

Praise God. Praise God. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time this morning.

There's so much more that could be said. Lord, I have a stammering tongue, but I pray that Your Word has gone forth and it does not return void.

Lord, You use Your words to Your glory. Lord, we rejoice in this. We rejoice in eternal salvation that has been purchased by the blood of Jesus.

And Father, we know that whom You have chosen before the foundation of the world, those that will be holy, those that will come to You, those that will believe.

Lord, the thing is, and the most important thing for each and every one of us is to make sure to examine our hearts to see whether we are in the faith and truly serving

You and truly repenting from our good deeds and our bad deeds.

Because Lord, it's nothing of us. It's all of You. It's all of Christ. For You placed all the sin of the world upon the sin offering, and that was

Your Son. And that's the only sacrifice that You're well pleased in. So Father, if anyone here has any doubt of their salvation today, may they place their faith alone, their trust alone in what

Jesus Christ has done for them. And then out from that will come obedience, sanctification.

We praise You for this. We give You glory to the glory and praise of Your grace.