The Sovereignty and Kindness of Jesus

Strange but true, banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

Strange but true, if you yelled for 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Strange but true, the strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. Strange but true, the catfish has 27 ,000 taste buds.

Strange but true, Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

Why is that one the most funny? This one's not as funny.

Strange but true, a cockroach will live 9 days without its head before it starves to death. Strange but true,

Jesus, the Incarnate Son, chooses 12 men that will change the world.

Strange but true, the men that Jesus chooses, not Pharisees, not scribes, not

Herodians, not big shots, but fishermen, tax collectors, and others.

Strange but true, while we choose people based on who they are and what they've accomplished,

Jesus chooses people, including His apostles, because He wants to.

Because it's His own good pleasure. The reason's found in Him, not in the ones He chooses.

And lastly, strange but true, Jesus still chooses people because He wants to, and not what they are.

Consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise, according to worldly standards. Not many powerful.

Not many of noble birth. But God chose, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

Because, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Today, if you'll take your Bible and turn to the

Gospel of Jesus, according to Luke. We're in Luke chapter 6. Working our way through this gospel, which means good news about Jesus.

And of course, lots of things have happened in the Gospel of Luke so far. And remember,

Luke is wanting you to have certainty that the things about Jesus are true. And of course, we understand that in eternity past, technically in eternity, because there's no time in eternity.

There's not a past and a future. Our present eternity just is eternity. God, the one

God, the triune God, subsisting in three persons, the Father and the Son and the

Spirit. Decided, as it were, in this eternal council, to go rescue sinners.

To have the Father send the Son and the Son go purchase the bride.

To die for her sins. And of course, the Spirit of God, not only assisting

Jesus on earth, but also applying the work of Jesus. This was decided. And so, for that to happen,

God had to become man. For us to have a representative to represent us, to have a mediator, to have an advocate.

It couldn't just be God. It had to be a man. So for men to be saved, there had to be a man who would save them.

And of course, Jesus is more than man. He's the God -man. But what Luke does, in a wonderful way, he'll show you sometimes about the full humanity.

The true humanity. The very humanity of Jesus. As you'll see, He's born of a virgin.

As you'll see, He has a genealogy. And you'll see, He has a mother. And you realize that Jesus is truly man.

And He eats, and He drinks, and He sleeps. And then you'll also see in the

Gospel of Luke, and we've already seen it too, when Jesus heals lepers. When He casts out demons.

When He forgives sins. You'll see the true and very deity of Christ.

And so what Luke is doing is he's trying to show you that to have a Savior, you've got to have

God with infinite resources. Who can also raise the dead. You've got to have

God, and you have to have man. And we know, of course, in John chapter 1, the

Word of God, the second person of the Trinity became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory.

And so everything about Luke is preparing us so that we see, in fact, we have a human who's our representative, and we have a

God who can apply as much righteousness as we need, that is, perfect righteousness.

And that can raise us from the dead. And so everything about this book is proclaiming the God -man.

Jesus, God, become flesh. Part of that is you say that's a mystery, the

Trinity, and how can the second person take on human nature with divine nature?

Yes, I know that's part of the mystery of godliness, as 1 Timothy teaches, but, in fact, it is true.

And it's necessary because we need a human to represent us, and we need a God to be the substitute.

So we come to Luke chapter 6 today, and we're going to work through verses 12 and following.

And we're going to look at the Lord Jesus. Should you say something more? Should I pray? Should I be thankful that He prays?

There are some implications to the truth because theology, truth about God, changes the way we do things, methodology.

And, of course, ultimately, we want to praise God. That's doxology. Theology, a word about God.

Methodology, how do we do things. Doxology, how do we praise. So we're going to look at the theology of Jesus, the prayer warrior.

And then we're going to look at the theology of Jesus, the sovereign king, as He chooses His disciples.

And then we'll wrap things up together and then talk about what are the implications for us, or as they teach you in seminary, what's the so what.

So the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus second, but first let's look now at the prayer life of Jesus.

Luke 6, verses 12, or verse 12, excuse me.

In these days, which days? Well, simply, we just come out of the Sabbath confrontation where Jesus, in chapter 6, verses 1 and following, says,

I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. In chapter 6, verse 6 through 11, remember the whole imbroglio, the whole big fight when it comes to Jesus healing the man with the withered hand.

God works on the Sabbath, not creating, because He did that and rested in Genesis, but preserving and upholding and guiding.

If I were to say to you, God providentially works, you should say things like, yes, that means

He preserves things and He guides things. And so now that's exactly happening where Jesus is working on the

Sabbath. So in these days, these days of confrontation, these days of issues with leaders, with the legalists and others,

He, Jesus, in Luke 6, verse 12, went out to the mountain to pray. A particular mountain there.

It's got the, but we don't know which one. And all night, He continued in prayer to God.

Now, of course, you know, in theology, we have four gospels, four good news about Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And the first three are pretty similar. And if you read Mark and if you read

Matthew, you can get some insight about Luke. In light of that, did you know that only

Luke talks about Jesus praying all night before He chose His apostles?

He prays all night. Very, very interesting.

I did learn this week, I'd never learned this in the past, but the Jews had little places where they would go and retreat and pray, and they were called oratories.

And they were just kind of little nooks and crannies by a hill or by a river or by a grove or a field.

And they're kind of semi -circle -ish, and you could just go in there with a couple people or by yourself and pray.

I don't know if Jesus went there or not, but I know He went to pray because there was a big decision that was going to be made, something of great importance.

And, of course, Jesus, the true man, prays. Jesus, the perfect man, prays.

And we see His humanity here in all its glory, where Jesus is dependent upon the Father and wants to do the

Father's will because that's why He was sent. Jesus prays. I think of John 5.

Jesus said the Son can do nothing of Himself unless it is something He sees His Father doing.

John 5 says that Jesus said, I can do nothing of my own initiative. I do not seek my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.

And in John 8, I do nothing of my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me.

And so Jesus, the true man, and men pray to God, He's the true prayer, and He prays all night.

Now, here's the question. Since Jesus prayed all night, what's your response?

Since Jesus prayed all night, what's the takeaway?

Now, most of the time, the takeaway is this. We ought to be better prayers. If the

Son of God, true man, had to pray, sinless, spotless, shouldn't we have to pray?

Now, that's true, and we're going to talk about that in just a moment. But before that, the focus is on Jesus and His prayer life.

And I want you to know that when you think about Jesus praying, before you get convicted about your own prayer life,

I want you to praise Jesus for His prayer life. Let me say that again. When you hear about Jesus and His prayer life, before you get convicted about how you don't pray enough, or how

I don't pray enough, I want you to thank God that Jesus prayed enough. We're going to get there, but first,

I'd like you to turn to Hebrews chapter 7. I want you to know that on the third day, according to the

Apostles' Creed and Scripture, Jesus rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the

Father Almighty. And I want you to know that He's active, He's doing something.

What is Jesus doing right now might be a good question. He's in heaven, what is He doing? And of course,

He's in us by His Spirit, Christ in us, the hope of glory, the Spirit of God is in us, Christ with the

Father sends the Spirit. But what is Jesus doing in heaven? I mean, He's seated, doesn't that mean

He's not working? I thought you used to teach us, Mike, that in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3, after He purged our sins,

He sat down. No seats in the temple, no seats in the tabernacle. Why? Because the priests' work were never done.

But when Jesus, the great high priest, pays for sins, done, it's finished, He sits down. If Jesus is sitting, what is going on?

Is He doing anything? And Hebrews 7 gives the answer, verses 23, 24, and 25,

I think one sentence in the original language, but broken up here, and these are great verses, these are wonderful verses, and here's what we're doing again.

Jesus prays a lot, what's our response? Yes, we want to pray more, that's in a moment, but we want to thank

Him for praying. The former priests, Hebrews 7, 23, were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

But He, Jesus, holds a priesthood, His priesthood, permanently, because He continues forever.

Consequently, what are the consequences? He, Jesus, is able, always able, forever able, to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He, unlike the priest that kept dying, always lives to make intercession for them.

So what the writer of Hebrews is saying is, you know what? Some priests, they served for five years and died, ten years and died, thirty years and died.

Aaron dies, these people die, and it's one after another after another. Some churches I've been to, they have the pastor's pictures on the wall in the hallway or someplace else.

This was the guy that started it, this was the guy after, this was the guy after, and I thought, one day, if you do ever put pictures up,

I'll just be one in the long line of pastors who came and served and died over and over and over.

And so these priests, they just kept dying. But Jesus is alive and so He keeps

His priesthood forever. Do you see in verse 24? He continues forever, because He's alive.

The contrast between the priests that died, they couldn't serve anymore, Jesus, He's trying to encourage those who are receiving this letter,

Jesus never died. So what does Jesus do? I want you to see back in verse 25 that He prays for you.

Just like He was praying to the Father for wisdom to choose the 12 apostles, Jesus, can you imagine, is praying for you.

There are two people in my life that I think, more than any others, when they pray for me, God answers. And one was

Grandma Evie, my grandmother -in -law, and the other is her granddaughter. But how great would

Jesus be, or how great would it be for you if Jesus prayed for you? Remember, priests do two things mainly.

Sacrifice and what? They sacrifice, Jesus is the great sacrifice, and what else do priests do?

You sound very sure of yourselves. Strange, but true. They pray. Priest sacrifice, priest pray.

Jesus the great sacrifice, and now Jesus prays. I don't know if you remember this or not from Exodus 12.

Listen. You shall take two onyx stones and engrave them on them the names of the sons of Israel.

This is what the priest was to do. Six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the other six on the other stone.

As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel.

You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, like the vest, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel.

Now here's the point. Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.

Aaron the great high priest had this garment on with these twelve names so he would remember to pray for them.

That was his job. That was what he would do. How much more? The Lord Jesus. And of course the father isn't some passive, reluctant person of the

Trinity. I don't want to answer. Of course we see the Trinity all working together, but Jesus is praying and he's interceding for people.

Now what does the passage say he's interceding for? Well, it doesn't tell us.

But Hebrews tells us much. Hebrews 2, Jesus helps those who are tempted.

Jesus is praying for you when you're tempted. Hebrews chapter 4,

Jesus provides mercy and grace to help people when they're in time of need. Guess what the priest, high priest,

Jesus is praying for. When you need help, when you have a trial, he's praying for you. He's praying for blessings for you, for protecting you, for guiding you.

And I like to think about it this way. If Jesus prayed for his disciples on earth, does he just stop when he goes to heaven?

Well, he doesn't have to pray for those disciples because they're already in heaven, but what about his people on earth living now? Of course, Jesus keeps praying.

If on earth Jesus said to Peter, I've prayed for you that your faith might not fail, don't you think the

Lord, the great priest, will not only die for his people and live for his people, but pray for his people?

As I said before, priests sit down in the Old Testament. True or false?

See, I rescued myself by just saying true or false. Because I misspoke, but then I used that device.

Priests didn't sit down. Jesus sits down, his work's done. But what happened in Acts when

Stephen needed help? What happened in Acts when Stephen was going to die for the

Lord Jesus? Was Jesus just up in heaven, sitting down, not going to help?

You got yourself into this, you're going to have to get yourself out of that. Count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.

What does Acts chapter 7 say wonderfully? That Jesus was seen by Stephen standing.

Of course, the work of Jesus is done in terms of paying for our sins, but the work of Jesus for his people doesn't end now because he's in heaven interceding.

So just stop and think about it for a second. You think about, I'm in such and such a trial. Can we all have him? Or we'll be in them?

Or we just came out of them? Jesus praying for me. Jesus is praying for you.

So when I see Jesus is praying all night, I don't jump to, I better pray more. I do jump to that, secondly. But firstly,

I say to myself, I'm so thankful that I'll watch Jesus in John 17, and he prays for the disciples and your preservation and for your unity and for your complete salvation.

You'll make it to the end. Sometimes people think, well, will I make it to the end? I see some Christians flame out and some

Christians just go wild. Will I make it to the end? Can I persevere to the end? I have an answer for you.

Do you know Jesus is praying for you, dear Christian? Listen to what

Paul says in Romans 8, exactly the same kind of thing. To make you think, I'm safe and secure.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

You get Jesus, don't you get everything less? You get the greatest. Who will bring any charge against those whom

God has chosen? It's God who justifies. Who condemns? Christ Jesus who died. More than that was raised from life.

Here's my point. Jesus is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

When you see the prayer life of Jesus, you ought to say, I'm so thankful. Isaiah knew this was going to happen in Isaiah 53.

He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sins of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

I am sure the son is praying for the elect to come to faith. I am sure that he's praying for you to make it all the way to the end.

I am sure he's praying for you when Satan accuses 1 John 2. I am sure he's praying for you when there's temptations and trials and you can't bear things.

Isn't that good news? I read Jesus praying and I think, I am thankful he prays for me.

P .S., everything that Jesus prays will come about.

Sometimes we don't get answered prayer because we have wrong motives, James 4. Sometimes we don't get our prayers answered because we're not praying for the will of God.

Sometimes we don't get our prayers answered because we're not praying according to Scripture. But Jesus always prayed for the exact will of God.

He knows the Scriptures. Every answer will come about. Jesus prays all night and I say thank you.

Just like on earth he prays, in heaven he prays. But I don't want to forget our responsibility to pray.

Our lives are busy, mazes to shift through that takes all kinds of time, hundreds of priorities.

If Jesus made prayer a priority, should you make prayer a priority?

The true man, perfect man. So when I watch

Jesus, I say I'm thankful he prays but then I think, I should probably pray more.

I wonder if anybody in the congregation, don't raise your hand, but I pray enough. We all say we should be praying more.

To demonstrate to you Christ's importance of praying so that we'll be motivated to pray, we're not going to look up the verses, you can just listen.

Jesus prayed when he was baptized. When Jesus also was baptized in Luke 3, he was praying and heaven opened.

We've just seen before he makes major decisions, he prayed. In connection with the feeding of the 5 ,000, he divided up the two fish among them all, the bread after bidding them farewell, he departed to the mountain to pray.

Did you know Jesus prayed before he asked the disciples this question? It came about that while he was praying alone,

Luke 9, the disciples were with him and he questioned them saying, who do the multitude say that I am? Did you know

Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration prayed? It came about that he took along Peter, James, and John and went up to the mountain to pray.

Before Jesus is evangelizing saying, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest, he was praying in Matthew 11.

Before he taught the disciples the Lord's prayer, he prayed. And it came about that while he was praying a certain place, after he finished, one of his disciples said,

Lord, teach us to pray. Did you know he prayed at Lazarus' tomb? Did you know he prayed during the night that he instituted the

Lord's Supper? You know he prayed at Gethsemane. Father, your will be done.

You know he prayed on the cross. I commit my spirit to you. Into your hands I commit my spirit.

Jesus prayed. Men and women are to pray.

And I learned a long time ago kind of four reasons that we should pray.

To motivate us when we read 1 Thessalonians 5, pray without ceasing. To motivate us when we read

Colossians 4, devote yourself to prayer. I mean, I could ask you the question. I've asked myself this question this week already, so I ask you, what are you devoted to?

If I could say, Mark Kranz, if I looked at your life, who are you truly devoted to?

Well, I know your wife and your children and your job and all that, but then we say to ourselves, am I really devoted to prayer?

And I say, I want to be. I learned these four lessons that I think will help you.

Not original with me? To repeat, why pray, number one, to be like Christ?

J .C. Ryle said we ought to see in all this the immense importance of private devotion. If he who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, thus prayed continually, how much more ought we who are surrounded with infirmity?

Secondly, why you should pray, is because it'll keep you dependent on the Lord. The times in my life where I'm not praying, it's because I'm self -dependent.

I'm independent. A .C. Dixon said when we rely on organization, we get what organization can do.

When we rely on education, we get what education can do. We rely on eloquence, etc. But when we rely on prayer, we get what

God can do. Thirdly, time is never wasted when you're praying.

Isn't that good? How many times do we waste time? Just wasting, wasting, wasting time.

But when you pray, never wasted. ...of the Lord. But the convicting side on this with prayer, fourth little lesson on why you should pray, no learning can make up for the failure to pray.

You say, we study, we learn. Systematic theology, dogmatic theology, biblical theology, hermeneutics, exegesis.

I mean, I can't believe you guys know all that. You do. I would say that, and maybe

I'm exaggerating it, I don't think I am. I don't think I've ever on a Sunday morning came to the pulpit without me studying

God's Word. It's not because I'm great or anything, I just there's a fear of the

Lord. I'm not going to get up and just say, God said, and I don't know. But could I say there's never been a

Sunday where I haven't just bathed the sermon, bathed the servant prep, bathed the proclamation in prayer?

And the answer has to be that's what's lacking. So, here's what

I did this week. I'm studying prayer, I'm getting encouraged by Jesus' prayer,

I'm getting convicted by my own desire to pray more, and I thought, what can

I do? What can I kind of start working on right away? Because part of repentance is, well, let's just get going, right?

Sorrow that leads to repentance, I'm just not going to be sorrow about it. Sorry about it, I'm going to try to do something. So, here's some suggestions for you.

Here's what I did. First thing I did is I confessed my lack of prayer.

Because if you confess your sins, God's faithful and just to forgive your sins, right? I mean, who am I going to try to hide from?

The Lord knows. Not that you never pray, but I just think I should be praying more.

I should be more dependent on God. I should be studying and praying at the same time. So the first thing I did is

I confessed it, and then the second thing I did is said, I'm not going to do that anymore. This week's going to be a week of prayer.

So you confess, you repent, slash forsake, Proverbs 28. And I just did a few things like this.

You can pick your own, but you can do whatever you want. This is what I did. When I got in the car,

I didn't turn on sports talk. I didn't turn on WEI.

I didn't turn on 95, 98 .5. Listen to the Boston sports hacks just criticizing everybody.

Feeling at home with my Boston roots. I didn't do that. I just got in the car, and I began to pray.

A couple times, I got in the car and turned on the radio, and I'm like, oh, I don't want to do that. Of course

I'm not saying you can't listen to the radio in the car. No compromise radio is an invaluable thing.

My point is, we're just trying to carve out time to pray. Say I'm busy.

I can't just say I'm going to pray an hour. By the way, when Jesus says He prayed all night, it doesn't mean you have to pray all night.

Luther prayed three hours a day before he got anything done. It doesn't mean that. I'm just thinking about an attitude of prayer. So if you ever do dishes, why don't you just pray?

When you're doing chores, I have certain things I do in terms of the trash and this and getting ready for the day. Lots of times,

I would have my phone on, and I would listen to a Christian podcast while I was getting ready or doing menial chores. Sometimes I would listen to ESV Bible on the audio, but I just thought, you know what?

I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to think, just to meditate. In the morning,

I get up and read the Bible, so I'm going to think about what I've been reading. How about this? Here's one of the biggest problems when it comes to our prayer life.

Are you ready? I hardly ever use a prop because I think it's dumb, but I'm going to use it today. I just thought to myself, you know what?

I'm just not going to. I wonder how many times I do this a day. Quick draw McGraw for you older people.

And then my last suggestion, I'd like you to turn to Psalm 86. I just want you to, when you read

Scripture, it's easy with the Psalms, just to start praying through Scripture. Say, well,

I don't really understand the acronym Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.

When I pray, I just tend to say, God, help me with my job. Help me with my relationship with my wife.

Help me with the kids. Help me with this. Help me with that. Asking from God. And it's good to ask because if you don't ask, you don't get.

But it's also good to praise Him and to have the Psalms help you do that. So one of the easiest things you could do is just open up a

Psalm and begin to pray it. You don't have to be a Greek expert with the

Greek version of the Old Testament. You don't have to be a Hebrew expert. And so part of my reading, I'm doing the

McShane read through the Bible in a year, I was getting a little ahead and I read Psalm 86 and I thought, I want to memorize that Psalm.

And it is so good for my soul. And I'm just going to kind of repeat in my own words,

I'll repeat these words. Most of the time I just did it in my mind, but I sometimes mumbled a little bit.

For example, I won't do every verse, but Psalm 86. You think I just need help in my prayer life? You just pray the

Psalms. Incline your ear O Lord and answer me for I'm poor and needy.

Lord, I'm in this situation. I need help. You're the great king. You're the provider. I don't have resources either physically or spiritually and I just need help.

Lord, would you help me? I know you answer prayer. Thank you that you answer prayer because of the Lord Jesus.

I need help. Preserve my life for I am godly. Save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God. David needs that. I need that. Help me. Preserve me.

I want to trust in you more. Verse 3. Be gracious to me O Lord for to you do

I cry all the day. Lord, if there's one thing I need, I need your grace. I don't deserve it.

I don't merit it. I can't earn it. But you're a God who just gives grace upon grace upon grace as the waves hit the shoreline and I would like you to be gracious to me.

God, please be gracious to me. I'm not feeling that good.

I'm sad. I'm depressed. I'm down or whatever. Verse 4. Gladden the soul of your spirit for to you

O Lord do I lift up my soul. Lord, thank you that you can do that. I want that to be true in my life.

I don't want to be the grumbler and complainer and not happy and the glass is half full, half which one's it?

Half full. Thanks. Verse 5. For you O Lord are good and forgiving.

You forgive me all my sins. You're so good and you work your way through and before you know it this great relationship and communion with God the

Father because of the Son's work by the Spirit and you just think okay, I can do that. I can pray through that.

Well, let's turn back to Luke chapter 6. When I see Jesus praying,

I say to myself thank you for praying. Thank you for praying for me.

And I also say do you know what? There's some things in my life that I need to work on and to pray through and to even pray that I could spend more time praying.

I think God will honor that. We move from the prayer life of Jesus to the sovereignty and lordship of Jesus in verses 13 through 16.

The prayer life of Jesus and the sovereignty of Jesus and if we have time I might talk about how prayer and sovereignty works together but for now verses 13 through 16

Jesus is praying. He needs wisdom for the choice and now we see his lordship or sovereignty verses 13 through 16.

Luke chapter 6. And when the day came he called his disciples and chose from them twelve whom he named apostles.

So disciples means learners and apostle means those that are sent. Simon whom he named

Peter and Andrew his brother and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Simon who was called the

Zealot. Verse 16. Two Judas's and Judas the son of James and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.

So Jesus is praying and now he chooses his disciples or technically here his apostles from the disciples.

A smaller group from a larger group. And of course we know because we've read the Bible that one day

Jesus is going to die and he's going to be raised from the dead his body will be in heaven and so he has people that go out.

Like his missionaries, his apostles to go spread the good news. That he is going to have the great commission go far and wide.

Of course what's going on in Luke is the false teachers are ratcheting up persecution and Jesus is one day going to die and then what?

Mission is now aborted? No. Jesus is going to pick men to carry on his mission.

And if you take a look at the passage closely enough you're going to see that he calls all of these disciples to himself and then chooses some of those.

Now sometimes people preach sermons on each one of these guys and I'm not going to do that.

I do want you to know that I don't see any of these as a scribe or a

Pharisee or some kind of leader or ruler. I don't see that. I see things like Galileans.

I see things like fishermen. I don't see anybody that's been to Oxford or has a theological degree in this ordination of Jesus.

He just names these regular people and we have a little bit of detail and I don't want to give much detail except I want to talk about Judas some.

He, Jesus, shows his sovereignty even with Simon he's termed Peter. It's true that if you name something you're in charge.

Parents name their children they're in charge and same here Jesus can name anybody he wants. He can give them nicknames like sons of thunder

James and John. Isn't it fascinating? I will say this Matthew is a

Jewish man who's a tax collector who works for Rome to take money out of the Jews hands. Exactly what a zealot would hate because the zealot is going to say we hate

Rome and we're going to try to get rid of Rome even if we have to use a knife to do it and now we have a zealot and a tax collector both as apostles.

Judas Iscariot I want to make some comments who became a traitor. Mark says he betrayed him.

He handed him over. Why Judas?

Well J .C. Ryle said because it should keep pastors humble. J .C. Ryle said because it could teach congregations not to idolize their pastors.

And J .C. Ryle said you know what we should think of the church as wheat and tares. There's always going to be unbelievers.

Did Jesus know that Judas would betray him? The answer is of course John 6.

Jesus answered them did I not myself choose you in the twelve and yet one of you is a devil? Now he meant

Judas the son of Simon Iscariot for he one of the twelve was going to betray him. So Jesus prays all night for wisdom yet he still chooses

Judas? Yes because it's all part of the sovereign plan of God because Jesus came yes to live but also to die and be raised.

And Jesus is going to advance the gospel through these men. He didn't say who wants to volunteer?

He didn't have a sign up sheet right? At Bethlehem Bible Church here's how it works. We put out an announcement nobody signs up.

You have a clipboard and you go around to people and say would you please sign up for this? Then people sign up. Jesus didn't do either of those.

Pretty pleased with sugar could you please sign up for this? This is like a warrant.

This is like a summons. John 15 says you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.

Jesus is sovereign and he's choosing sovereignly. Now here's what

I'd like to do. Many many people struggle with God's sovereignty.

Not who our parents are where we were born the weather other things like that.

But they struggle with God's choosing people. Now Jesus sovereignly chooses these 12.

Was Israel greater than all the other nations? No. Deuteronomy 7

Jesus just I mean God himself just chose Israel. Some angels chosen.

Some angels not chosen. They fell. Not everybody could be a priest. Not everybody could be a high priest.

It's in the nature of God to choose. That's exactly what Exodus 33 talks about. I will have mercy upon whom

I have mercy and I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So here's what

I'd like to do to try to help you with the doctrine of election and choosing and sovereignty.

Because the word here he takes some calls them and chooses. This is the same word for chosen unto eternal life.

Unconditional election. It's the same kind of idea. Can God choose? Can God freely choose?

And so I'm going to use the disciples choice, the apostles choice to help you.

Kind of assisting you. So let me ask you a couple questions. It will help you in sovereignty all over.

Did the apostles earn or merit being chosen by Christ? Matthew you got the most taxes.

You're in. James and John you caught most of fish. You're in. You guys are a lot smarter than everybody else.

You're in. I Jesus am going to vote for you twelve.

Satan's going to vote against you twelve and you guys cast the deciding vote. All of God's choosing from the disciples to who goes to his holy heaven is based on the sheer pleasure of God.

The sheer goodness of God. The sheer kindness of God. These men didn't deserve to be chosen because choosing in God has nothing to do with those who have been chosen.

It has to do with God. What was in those men? He's doing it on purpose to have them just not many mighty, not many noble.

When you get to heaven and if you were asked the question, how did you get here? Why are you here?

You are not going to say because I'm spiritually handsome. I'm spiritually pretty. You'll say it's

God. Just like we read in first Peter chapter one. Blessed be God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's caused us to be born again.

I think it's easy when you're struggling yourself or with a friend who says, I can't get election. You know what they can always get?

Jesus saying, you're my twelve. But the same principles apply. Whether it's you're my twelve or who goes to heaven.

Ephesians one, he predestined us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will.

It's all about God. Here's another question you could ask to try to help you. It's a helper for election.

It's easy to see Jesus choosing the twelve, choosing Israel. But what about who goes to heaven?

That's harder. So let me ask you this question. Similar to number one. Did Christ foresee the disciples obedience and them acting like apostles and then pick them?

Jesus looks down the corridors of time and sees those men acting like apostles. Especially with the

Galilean girl and Peter by the fire. And when Jesus had to say to Peter, get thee behind me

Satan. If Jesus looked down the corridor of time, he would see

Peter being Peter. So when you say, how does God choose? It's not based on a foreseen thing.

He's choosing people now. And spiritually dead men and dead women don't respond.

So there's nothing in them for them to respond to. The proper order is Acts 13.

As many has been appointed to eternal life, believe. Let me ask you another question.

I think it will help you when you are talking to people who are struggling. Rightfully so struggling because it is a hard doctrine.

It is a doctrine that is very humbling. It's a doctrine that is very difficult. Did Jesus have the right to choose the twelve?

I mean, based on everything he's done in Luke and everything else we know, of course he had the right. He can cleanse lepers.

He can forgive sins. He's the Lord of the Sabbath. He works on the Sabbath. Jesus is

Lord. He can do whatever he wants. He has the right to choose the twelve.

Yeah, but what about those that he didn't choose? Are they somehow hurt? Are they somehow lacking? Are they somehow...

He purposely didn't choose the others. I know what Affirmative Action would say today, and I know what

DEI would say today, but at the heart of all this is God's freedom. At the heart of all this is when

Moses said, you show me your glory in Exodus chapter 33, and God says, here's my goodness. I choose who

I want to choose. That's in the Bible. Shall not the judge of the earth deal justly?

Is there any injustice or faithlessness with God? Deuteronomy 34 32 says no. Jesus said, is not lawful for me to do what

I wish with my own? Romans 9, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.

What should we say then? I know what we want to say. Injust, but there's no injustice with God.

Is there? May it never be. And my last little helper is was the choice of the twelve by Jesus an act of love?

And we know what the answer is. He loved those men. He loved them who were in the world, and he loved them to the end.

And also, did you know that predestination is a loving thing? Typically we get mad at predestination, but that's not supposed to be our response.

It's supposed to be God loves us. Here's Ephesians chapter 4 and 5. In him, excuse me, in love he predestined us to adoption as sons.

Now let's think about this. I wonder what Peter and those other eleven thought after God says out of this whole big group of disciples

I've gathered these, called these disciples and now I choose these twelve. I wonder what they thought.

I think they probably were thankful. I think they were probably in awe. I think they probably said this is worshipful.

I know they didn't say I'm mad at your sovereign choice. I have autonomy and I can't be directed by you.

I'm the king of my own ship and manifest destiny and all these other kind of things. They didn't say that. The wrong response to choice is

I'm mad. I don't like that. My God would never do that. Well, I'm presenting to you your God right now.

If your God is the God of the Bible. He chooses. And so you sit down in your quiet space this week looking at Psalm 86 with the radio off, phone over there.

And if you're a Christian I want you to say I can't believe God chose me. Thank you.

Thank you Lord. I'm in awe. I can't believe He did that. Why would you do that?

And the answer is not found in me. I had a friend I grew up with. His name's Scott. He's still alive.

Scott and I went to the same school. Our parents were best friends. We worked together. We did all kinds of other things together.

Two kids from Nebraska. I think now he's got a big beard about this big.

Kind of looks like he's an Easy Top guy or something. Not a believer. I think he attempted to killing someone and it didn't work.

My friend Scott, maybe he's been safe since, and me. What is the difference? Why am

I going to heaven? Because the answer's not found in me.

Especially those of you that know me well. Because God wants for His heaven, if you're going to earn it, perfect obedience.

Entire obedience. Exact obedience. Perpetual obedience. You have to be perfect,

Matthew 5 48. And if we're not perfect, then we're going to need somebody who is perfect. And so when

I read the choice of the disciples, I say to myself, Jesus, the true man, needed wisdom from God and He wanted to do

His will. So He spent all night in choosing those twelve. And when He chose those twelve, He could name them.

He could rename them. He didn't have to choose anyone. They didn't deserve it. And Jesus is the Lord and He chooses.

That's the nature of God. To choose, Exodus 33. And it's the nature of God to choose nations.

It's the nature of God to choose priests. It's the nature of God to choose high priests.

And it's the nature of God to choose people that don't deserve to go to heaven but are because of His sovereign choice.

I'm glad for that. The response is not, how could you? The response is not, what about that?

The response is a submission that says, God, thank you for who you are.

Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. I rejoice this morning. My guess is there are some people today that still struggle with your choice.

Father, I know there are some that think maybe their own freedom is equal to or outweighs your freedom.

But Father, I pray that you'd work. I pray that you would work and we would realize that you're a great God and you can do whatever you please.

And that it shows glory to you to choose.

And that you would choose us. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

And for Jesus to pray for us, we worship you. Oh, the depths of the riches boast of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are your judgments and unfathomable your ways. For Jesus' sake, amen.