Election and Evangelism (Part 2)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, "...but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you."

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is

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Mike Abendroth, and I taped the last show for about three minutes and thought it was pretty bad, so I'm going to start over.

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All right, so we're starting over, clean slate, wiped clean. I've been to Mass. I've got my wafer, and I can go on my merry way for the rest of the week.

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Here's the thing. Today we're going to talk about evangelism and election.

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Today is part two, election and evangelism, and we're not talking about evangelizing politicians.

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We're talking about giving the good news to unbelievers and talking about election while we preach the gospel.

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Now, we talked last time about the gospel, this historical theological event where Jesus Christ, the

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God -man, bears not his sins but our sins in his body on the tree, literally, physically, bodily raised from the dead.

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The third day is going to come back. Those turning from their sin and repenting and believing on Christ Jesus, that gospel, that good news that demands the response of repentance and belief, that triumphant indicative

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Jesus Christ died for sinners, was raised from the dead, demands the response of repent and believe.

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Not I'll go on my merry way, not I'll do other things later, spiritually, maybe when my kids are into it,

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I've got to get to the game, got to do my expense report, got to get something on the plates for dinner.

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But while we talk to them about their sins, while we talk to them about,

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I'm just dropping my glasses, other concepts, do we ever include evangelism?

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So let's never include election. See, I shouldn't have dropped these things, that's my problem. Good thing this isn't my day job, right?

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And everyone said amen. George Whitefield said this when it comes to unconditional election and why he likes to talk about it when he evangelizes.

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This is one reason, among many others, why I admire the doctrine of election. Remember Whitefield, maybe the greatest evangelist who ever set foot on American soil or maybe in the history of modern mankind.

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And I'm convinced that it, election, should have a place in gospel ministrations, preaching the gospel, and should be assisted on with faithfulness and care.

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It has a natural tendency, now he's going to tell us, election has a natural tendency to rouse the soul out of carnal security.

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So we learned last time that if you were to tell someone God loves you, the unbeliever, if not well taught or didn't grow up in Christian circles, is going to say, well that's, they're not going to think this way, but they will confuse.

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This is what's happening. I'm going to tell you what theologically is happening. Well God's love that this guy just proclaimed to me includes his redeeming love and that means

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I'm going to be going to heaven, so it's no big deal. And what we should say, if we ever say to an unbeliever

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God loves you, it's he loves you in the sense of common grace and common love, creator love, and he gives you rain and he gives you sleep, he gives you a body, he gives you taste buds, he gives you a spouse, he gives you kids.

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I mean there's a variety of things that he does for you and you can look at that in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5.

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But there's a redemptive love as well. Jesus didn't die for every person. He didn't die for Samson, I mean

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Samson, he did die for Samson. He didn't die for Goliath. He did not die for Judas. And so when we tell people

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God loves you, they just are lethargic in their sin because there's no motivation to get out.

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Hey, God already loves me, I'm in love with my girlfriend, he loves me, great. I'm happy, God's happy. So when we say, did

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God choose you? You might not be chosen. God selected some. Are you select? God chose in eternity past who he would pour his love out on redemptively.

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Are you one of those people? Then it gets the person thinking. So that's why George Whitefield liked this concept of sovereign electing grace.

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Has God chosen you? Then it makes people ask the question, am

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I chosen? Professor James Dane said, sermons on election are so rare that even a regular churchgoer may never hear one.

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No other doctrine has been so central in theology and so ignored in the pulpit. Now let's multiply that a little bit.

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Let me rephrase that in the Abendroth Standard Version, the ASV. Sermons on election.

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We're going to change that part. Evangelistic presentations that contain election are so rare that they're rarer than the way

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I like my bloody steaks cooked. Now that's rare. I like to tell the people when I go order a steak, two minutes per side and only two minutes per side.

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I can always take it back. We can always cook it more. But why overcook a good piece of meat?

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Now if it's a nasty, you know, round steak or something, then fire it up, cook it away.

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If you're going to char it, then slice it up and put it on a salad or something, whatever. But if it's some nice cut, a really nice cut of meat, some tenderloin, then you should want to taste the meat.

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Should taste the blood because just as fat contributes to the taste of the meat, so does blood contribute to the taste of the meat.

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Tartar, please. I want unbelievers to ask the question, am

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I elect? Did Jesus die for me? That's what I'd like to have happen.

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Now am I saying today that every time you preach the gospel, you must do this? Well I wouldn't say that for lots of reasons.

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Number one, because I don't do it myself. Number two, I don't believe it's essential every single time. And number three, when

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I look at the New Testament, there are all kinds of ways that the good news, the triumphant indicatives are proclaimed.

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And so when I think about preaching election, God's only hope, election is just tied to the death of Christ.

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When you think of what happened in eternity past with the pact between the Godhead, the As many would call it, the covenant of redemption.

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The father chooses some, not all. The son decides gladly and willingly to choose the same amount and then to go die for the some, not the all.

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And the spirit of God, gladly involved in the decision, and then willingly and gladly will go in time and redeem every person, will regenerate every person, probably starting with Adam redeem every person that the father has chosen and the son had died for.

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Not one extra person, not one less person. God could have chosen no one because we all have deserved hell because of our own sin and because of Adam's sin credited to our account, federally our representative,

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Adam. He could have chosen everyone. He could have chosen to die for each and every person.

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After all, Christ's death was of an infinite value.

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Billions, millions, trillions, as many as you can count, that's how great his death was because his righteousness was not just man's righteousness, but his righteousness was man's righteousness, but valued infinitesimally because he was

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God, has an infinite amount of righteousness because there's a divine aspect to the righteousness. But God has chosen to save some, not all, but some.

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He's chosen some, not all. The son dies for some, not all. The spirit regenerates the some, not the all.

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So when you ask people in evangelism, are you chosen or not? Did God choose you or not?

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You're trying to get them to think through God's sovereign act of choosing. And then you're also beginning to talk to people about the character and nature of God.

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See, that's one of the problems with evangelism today. We're in a post -Christian culture, and people don't understand who

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God is. So from whom do they—from what do they turn?

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Sin? What sin? Sickness? They don't understand the holiness of God and it's a sin against Him.

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They don't know the one to whom they should trust in. God is not just holy, but He's also gracious.

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They don't know anything about a sovereign control and how He picked Israel and nobody else and why

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He picked Jacob and not Esau, and they have no idea. They haven't even read the stories.

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They don't get it. So when we preach about election to unbelievers, even if you don't agree with me, it would be good for us to talk about God in election.

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I think you'd agree there. And God's favorite doctrine, according to R .C. Sproul, is God's sovereignty. Westminster Shorter Catechism says, defining

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God's sovereignty, His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory

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He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. Which includes election.

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So we're talking about God the King. Is it good to talk about God the King in election? Of course, and it doesn't take you very long to read in Esther about how

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Ahasuerus puts his scepter out to say, yes, I pick you. I don't pick you.

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By the way, if you go adopt a child overseas, no one says you're unloving and wrong and unjust to only adopt a baby, only adopt one child, as if you had to adopt every kid in the orphanage.

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We would applaud the one that's chosen. And to think that God has chosen many. There will be hordes in heaven worshiping the

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Lamb. There already are hordes in heaven worshiping the Lamb. An innumerable amount.

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But those have all been chosen by the Father. The Son died for them and then the Spirit of God regenerated them.

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He sealed them. Thomas Arnold said this, the distinction between Christianity and all other systems of religion consists largely in this.

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What's the distinction? That in these other men, that in these others, men are found seeking after God.

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So every other religion but Christianity, men have to seek God, while Christianity is

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God seeking after men. That's exactly right. That's Christianity.

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That's sovereign grace. That's distinguishing grace. And when did this seeking happen?

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When did it start? When was it planned? That's the better question. When was it planned? In eternity past, when

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God chose the elect. And when I talk to unbelievers,

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I could ask them the question, are you elect? Wouldn't you like to know if God chose you? Because if you're here elect, you get to go to heaven, and if you're not elect, you don't get to go.

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God chose some people in eternity past. Would you like to know if you're going? And they should hopefully say, if they have any sense of, you know, propriety to their spiritual minds, they should say, yes,

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I'd like to know. And if they say, yes, I'd like to know, we can tell them, you can know. You can know if you're elect or not.

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Do you realize that? If you are an unbeliever, you can know if God chose you or if he didn't.

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You say, well, I'd like to know. I think if I was, when I was an unbeliever, if God asked me, if God had somebody ask me that question,

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I'd want to know. I would like to know if I get to go to heaven or not, did

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God choose me? Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said, many people want to know their election before they look to Christ, but they cannot learn it thus.

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It is only to be discovered by looking unto Jesus. Look to Jesus, believe on him, and you shall make proof of your election directly.

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For as surely as you believe, you are elect. If you give up yourself, if you will give up yourself wholly to Christ and trust him, then you are one of God's chosen ones.

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Go to Jesus just as you are. Go straight to Christ, hide in his wounds, and you shall know your election.

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Christ was at the everlasting council. He can tell you whether you were chosen or not, but you cannot find out in any other way.

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Go and put your trust in him. There will be no doubt about his having chosen you when you have chosen him.

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So here's what happens. Our choosing Christ doesn't cause our salvation.

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The cause of our salvation was initiated in eternity past when God chose believers.

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It was secured and accomplished at Calvary when Jesus said, it is finished, confirmed by the resurrection.

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And then it is effectuated, if you will, when the Spirit of God gives us new life and regenerates us and makes us born again, when he causes us to be born again, 1

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Peter chapter 1. So if you do believe, then you can make sure that you were elect.

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Your belief doesn't make your election happen. Your election made your belief happen.

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As the Spirit of God applied God's choice to you. Hey, Israel, they were chosen.

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He did not set his love on you, Israel, nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of the peoples, but because the

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Lord loved you and kept an oath which he swore to your forefathers. If you're elect, it's not because you're better, you're probably worse, actually, but God wants to magnify his grace as he shows you as a trophy to other people.

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So if you're elect, you can't say, well, look at me, I'm elect. You didn't choose yourself. You didn't choose to be saved.

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You chose the opposite, but God interrupted. Levitical priest are elect, nobody else could be a priest, only the

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Levitical priests. Short of the king priest Melchizedek, no one else. Jeremiah the prophet was elect, and so God chooses.

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God chooses people to be Christians. Spurgeon said, whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the word of God as with an iron pen, and there is not getting rid of it.

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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.

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If they could but know that their Lord had chosen them, all right, here we go, it would make their hearts dance with joy.

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Seriously, that is the second blessing. God chose you. And if you're an unbeliever today, wouldn't you like to know that God chose you and wanted to have fellowship with you and wanted to glorify himself by saving you, granting you new life and granting you forgiveness and granting to you the

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Spirit of God, assurance? Wouldn't you like to have rest for your soul, your weary soul?

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Jesus said in Matthew 11, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

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He said a verse earlier, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I think that's what people need.

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So when it comes to evangelism, we can talk about election. I like that because I just like to talk about election, to think this great sovereign

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God is sovereign by action, not by name alone. The godness of God, some theologians have called this doctrine, it shows, it highlights, it exhibits the godness of God.

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Why do preachers do these triplets all the time? It highlights, it shows forth, it makes manifest the great grace of God.

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And even grace, grace is a gift, and grace isn't given to everyone. Here is this, from our point of view, we don't know why

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God chooses some and not others. He knows, he hasn't told us, he did it because he loves us.

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There are other reasons that we're not privy to. Maybe never, maybe certainly not in this world.

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And so what do we do? We say, but it is true. And without this election, if you don't talk about election when you evangelize, you should at least think about it.

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Why? Because the people you're talking to, who are not Christians, are dead in their trespasses and sins.

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Did you know that? Remember Ephesians chapter 2? You were dead in your trespasses and sins.

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Unless God did the work ahead of time, starting back in eternity past with the election and then Christ dying, being raised from the dead, and then in time the

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Spirit of God quickening, no one's going to believe. If you have a problem with unconditional election, if you have a problem with predestination, if you have a problem with the sovereignty of God, here's what you need to do.

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Study what sin does to man. Study the fall of Adam, the federal representative that Adam was and how his sin was imputed to all of our accounts except Christ, and then consequent sin nature that has embroiled us all.

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And we are by nature sinful and then we make sinful choices. We do sinful things.

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Election is a must. Election is needed because unbelievers left to themselves would never choose

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God. Only the resurrection power of a sovereignly gracious God could save the seemingly unsavable, people who are dead in trespasses and sins.

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Dead to the greatness of Christ, dead to His glory, deaf to the Spirit of God's voice, blind to God's Word.

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They're alive. When you preach to an unbeliever, are they alive? Yes. It's not going to do you any good to pray for the dead, talk to the dead, preach to the dead physically, but people who are physically alive can be spiritually dead.

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And they can't see the beauty of Christ. They're dead in their trespasses and sins. Not sick, not unconscious, not semi -conscious, not wounded, not doped up, not drugged up, but they're dead.

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And one man said, you know, take a dog to Niagara Falls and then try to get the dog to appreciate the beauty of the falls.

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Can't be done. The dog doesn't see any beauty in Niagara Falls. Similarly, the dead person, the unbelieving person, sees no beauty in Christ Jesus.

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And they have no ability to meet God's requirements. They can't love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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They can't love their neighbor. They're dead in their transgressions. They're spiritually unresponsive.

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You can poke, you can prod, you can yell, you can bribe, you can beg, you can plead, you could threaten. They can't save themselves.

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God must save. They are dead in their transgressions, plural, and sins, plural.

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In our society, people think they're good. They think they're good before God.

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Oh, they might admit some things like, dear Abby, I am 44 and would like to meet a man my age with no bad habits,

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Rose. Dear Rose, so would I. Everett said, no man can enter heaven until he is first convinced he deserves hell.

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And how can you be thinking to yourself, I deserve hell, when the culture is you're good.

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The culture is self -esteem. It has to be through the proclaimed word to talk about the law of God, the holiness of God, the standards of God, the grace of God through Christ Jesus and his atoning work.

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Nobody deserves heaven. How do you earn a perfect heaven when you're sinful? Westminster Confession, man by his fall into a state of sin hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation.

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So as a natural man, being altogether averse from good and dead in sin is not able by his own strength to convert himself.

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His fallen can't get up, as John Gershner said, there's always room for deprovement.

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Not as bad as you could be, but there's always room for deprovement. Listen to Jonathan Edwards.

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If a servant only spit in his master's face once a year, this would surely label him a bad servant no matter how impeccable his behavior the rest of the time.

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J .C. Ryle said there are very few errors in false doctrines of which the beginning may not be traced up to an unsound view of the corruption of the human nature.

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And for our case, if you can't understand unconditional election, it's clear in your Bible, read Ephesians 1.

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If you can't get it, you've got a high view of man. You need to have a lower view of man, fallen man.

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Wrong views of the disease will always bring with them wrong views of the remedy. Wrong views of human corruption of nature will always carry with them wrong views of the great antidote and cure of that corruption.

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So Ryle said we need a clear understanding of man's condition from God's perspective in order to understand his plan of redemption.

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So if you don't think you're too bad, then you kind of trick yourself that God grades on a curve, and then you don't think about how perfect you have to be to get to heaven, so you don't think about the perfect representative,

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Christ, and his perfect substitution, Christ confirmed by the resurrection. Man is spiritually dead.

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There is none who seeks after God. There's no one who understands, therefore we need a God who elects people and then draws them to the

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Father by the Spirit's working. That's what we need. Jonathan Edwards said, man is half animal, half devil.

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Ecclesiastes, furthermore, the hearts of the son of men are full of evil. And insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives.

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If you're listening today and you're a Christian, God has cleansed you and forgiven you for all your sin.

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Of course, as you sin today, it's good to have a parental forgiveness, God please forgive me, but judicially they're all taken care of, all gone.

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And we can be glad that it was God's choice of us, not our choice of God. You didn't let God choose you,

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God chose you, because you were never going to choose him. And so we have great joy. Our souls should dance because of unconditional election.

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But if you're an unbeliever, I have the question for you today. Did God choose you?

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And there's only one way you can find out if God chose you, if he selected you, if you're going to go to heaven. You're thinking now as an unbeliever, the only thing

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I have to do to go to heaven is die. That's all. Get baptized when I'm a baby, have some water on my head.

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Go to mass, have communion, be a member of Bethlehem Bible Church. That's all. I have to do that.

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No, no, no. You can tell you're satanically influenced by the world when that's the way you think.

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You have to be perfect to get to heaven. And so you need not your own perfection, because you're not perfect, the perfection of another.

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And so you need to have a low view of yourself and a high view of God and his son, Christ Jesus. And the way you find out if you're elect or not is by believing on the

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Lord Jesus Christ, responding with trust and repentance. When you hear

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God's word through the gospel about Jesus, the only Savior, you respond. The Substitutory Savior who was raised from the dead, died for sinners like me, and I repent and I believe.

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Then you know you're chosen. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.