Who Are The Elect?

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right. I mentioned in the

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Facebook page for the church that you needed to bring your sword drill

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Bible. The one with the thumb indexing would be legal for this sword drill. Either that or to warm up your fingers, because we have a number of texts to get to and look at today, more than we normally do.

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Pastor Jeff asked me to look at the subject of the elect because it appears in Matthew chapter 24 and was touched upon when you all were last together.

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I was in Melbourne, Australia the last time you all got together. I've been gone for a little while.

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It's good to be back. And I appreciate the fact that we're cooling it off just the right time. You know, this could be in the 40s on Tuesday night.

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Y 'all know that? You know what that means? Next time preaching in a coogee.

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That's what's going to happen. But that's my wife going, oh, no, you're not. But last time you were together, you touched upon the fact that the term, the elect, the chosen ones appears there in Matthew chapter 24.

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And obviously, if Jeff were a true Puritan, what he would want to do is to spend about seven or eight months on the subject of election before going to the next verse.

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But I think he's already pretty much proven his Puritanship by the fact that he's spent as many years as he has now in Matthew chapter 24.

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So it's not really any problem with that at all. Don't worry. I have looked at Jeff's Bible, Matthew 25, 26, 27.

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It is there. So if you're starting to panic about that, you know, it's there. It hasn't fallen out, hasn't been taken out.

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So we will get to it eventually. His beard will look like mine by then.

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But other than that, we will get to it eventually. So what I want to do is there are two terms, two words that I want to basically look at almost every

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New Testament reference of. So we're going to be moving quick. But you may recall back in Matthew 22, these two terms appeared together.

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Remember Jesus' words in Matthew 22, 14. For many are called, but few are chosen.

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Now, what's the difference between called and chosen? This is, as we mentioned, a reformed fellowship.

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We believe in the sovereignty of God. We believe in the fact that God has the right and freedom to act as He chooses to act in accordance with His nature, with His own creation.

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And that God, by His sovereignty, elects a people into salvation in and through Jesus Christ and in Him alone.

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That the number of the elect is fixed in God's knowledge. That means that it is personal.

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That when you sing songs about my name was graven on His hands, it actually means something.

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It doesn't mean that you engraved your name on His hands when by your free will you chose

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Him. What it means is that when Christ died, He died specifically for a special people, a specific people, who are chosen not because of anything in and of themselves at all, but solely and completely on God's free grace.

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That there is no condition that we fulfill to cause us to be chosen. That it is totally of God's free grace.

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Grace has to be free or it will not be grace. Well, why do we believe something like that?

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It's certainly not to make ourselves popular with the world. And certainly not to make ourselves popular with evangelicalism as a whole or many other traditions within what is broadly called

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Christianity. We believe this because this is the only, I believe, the only consistent way to read scripture.

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When you apply the same method of interpretation, sometimes we call that hermeneutics.

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When you apply the same hermeneutics that you use to prove that there's only one true

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God, that Jesus Christ is God, come in the flesh, the resurrection, justification by faith, whatever it might be, the coming judgment.

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When you use the same set of rules and ask what do the scriptures teach on this subject, the message is plain and consistent.

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But obviously it is highly controversial. And therefore you may have heard many, many different excuses and explanations.

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For example, it's very popular for people to say, well, yes, I believe in election. Jesus Christ is the elect one.

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And if I am in him, by my free will choice, then I become part of the elect.

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That's one of the viewpoints that is out there. Others will say, oh, election, it's only about Israel.

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It doesn't have anything to do with the church. You wonder which group is saying that. And there are other ways to try to get around this particular issue.

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That, well, Christ is the elect, and if you're in him, then you're sort of chosen.

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And there's many different explanations. But hopefully by looking at these texts, we'll get an idea of the ranges of meanings.

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And you will have illustrated for you today a very important reality of biblical study.

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And that is you do not assign a single meaning to a word and then force that meaning into every single passage of the

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Bible. There are a lot of people who do that. It is impossible. That's not how human beings communicate.

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And doing so ends up turning the scriptures on their head. So let's look at the first.

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Let's look at called. Matthew 22 14 says, many are called.

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All right. But few are chosen. So there's some sort of a difference between calling and election at that point.

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So make a note that these two terms can be differentiated from one another.

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One can be a subset of the other. All right, next one. I told you you have to turn fast.

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Romans 1 1. Romans 1 1. I'm not going to ask you who got there first. Anybody, don't go ripping the pages in your

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Bible or anything like that. Romans 1 1. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called an apostle.

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And it's interesting. It's the word we're looking at right now, for those of you who want to know, is kletos.

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Kletos in the original language. And it's kletos apostolos, a called apostle.

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So there is a there is a use of the term here that has a specific application.

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The apostles were called. And Paul was called as an apostle.

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He didn't call himself. He was called as an apostle and set aside for the gospel of God.

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So that's a different use than what we saw in Matthew 22. So make note, what you need to understand, is that this is true in English.

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It's true in Greek as well. That every word has what's called, ready to learn a new phrase today?

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Most of you probably already heard this one, but every word has something called a semantic domain.

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Semantic domain. Now some words have a very narrow semantic domain.

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They have a very technical term, technical meaning. And so it can only mean one little thing.

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A USB port. There's only a certain number of things that can be a USB port. But there are other words in the

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English language that can have broad meanings. And the same thing is true in the

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Greek language. And so if you think about it, it's a it's like a large circle. And what you need to do whenever you look at any usage of a term is find out where in that circle the author is focusing your attention.

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He'll normally do that by means of what? It's called context. It's called context.

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And so by the use of other words, their meanings, verbal forms, adjectives, adverbs, infinitival phrases, all that stuff you learned in eighth grade and wished you hadn't had to learn, but it was actually important.

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All that kind of stuff is used in language to help us find the portion of the semantic domain of the meaning of a word that the author is focusing upon.

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So what you're seeing here is this term, kleitos in the singular, kleitoi, plural, has a semantic domain that is not super, super focused.

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It's a little bit wider and hence there are different aspects of meaning that you can determine by looking at a particular verse.

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So Romans 1, 6 then says, Including you who are kleitoi called in Jesus Christ.

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So here within six verses, Paul uses the term singularly of himself in regards to his office as an apostle and then he uses it of all the

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Roman believers who are called in Jesus Christ. So that's obviously a different kind of calling.

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He's not saying they're all apostles. So there is a different kind of calling that is found in verse six and then notice it continues in verse seven to all those in Rome who are loved by God and kleitois hagiois called saints, holy ones.

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Called saints or holy ones. So there is a calling here.

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This would be parallel to Romans 1, 1 because he's called as an apostle here called as saints.

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It is a calling. It is an intention that God has that someone is to fulfill.

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Paul's to fulfill the position of being an apostle. We are to fill the position of being holy ones.

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We are called saints in Romans 1, 7. Then interestingly enough in Romans, the next use is

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Romans 8, 28. Romans 8, 28. And we know that for those who love

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God all things work together for good. For whom? For those who are called according to his purpose.

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For those who are called according to his purpose. This is a different use.

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This is a different area of of meaning. It's still something God has done. God's determining the the the area of this calling.

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But there's a specific people who are called according to his purpose. And if you continue on that's the beginning of one of the strongest sections teaching the specificity of salvation of an elect people that you'll find anywhere in scripture.

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And so this term called can have a soteriological or salvation related meaning in regards to what

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God has done and to whom he is extending that grace.

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1 Corinthians 1, 1. Paul called an apostle. We won't go back over that. But likewise in 1

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Corinthians 1, 2. Called as saints. Like same parallel that you had in Romans 1.

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Here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 this idea that that God determines how we are to function in his economy by the use of this term called.

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Now very interesting. Similar to Romans. 1 Corinthians 1, 24. In 1

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Corinthians chapter 1 you have the contrast between those who are perishing and those who are being saved.

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The message of the cross is to those that are perishing foolishness to those who are being saved. It is the power of God.

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And so in one of the verses in that chapter where Paul is delineating this distinction.

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He says now we know that you know to Jews they are they're seeking signs and the

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Greeks they're they're seeking after wisdom. But verse 24 to the called whether Jews or Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

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That's that's that's absolutely the one. I think it's the pivotal verse in 1

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Corinthians chapter 1 in its discussion of the message of the cross. What makes the difference when you hear the message of the gospel, what makes the difference?

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If you are called whether Jews or Greeks you will hear Christ. The very power of God and the wisdom of God.

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If you're not foolishness a stumbling block. What makes the difference?

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The calling of God. Now is that the exact same meaning as calling an apostle?

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Well, they both depend upon the sovereignty of God, but no it's not they're not exact parallels. You see here how you have to allow words to be colored by the context in which the author places them.

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Now interestingly enough you would think there'd be lots more references. Not in this particular form. There's only two more.

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In Jude 1 Jude 1. Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called beloved in God and kept for Jesus Christ.

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So those who are called. It's interesting. Jude likes to do this.

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We don't have a lot of Jews writing so it's sort of hard to get in get a focus on his style. But it is both in later he's going to talk about the once for all delivered to the saints faith.

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He uses a particular construction where you take an article you put the what it's referring to at the end and you sandwich all the description in between.

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So it's the once for all delivered to the saints faith. Well here it's the beloved in God the father and kept in Jesus Christ called ones.

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Okay. So it's a it's sort of a sandwiching type idea where you you get to describe something really fully before you actually end up expressing the word.

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The word Platois here is at the end of the at the end of the sentence. And that's a nice way to wrap things up.

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But to those who are the called and they are called beloved in God the father and kept in Jesus Christ man we could stop and preach on that one for the rest of the time without much difficulty but we will not just make a reference to that one.

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That's a good memory verse right there. Finally Revelation 17 14

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And they will make war on the lamb and the lamb will conquer conquer them for he is the lord of lords and king of kings

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We're hearing that a lot over the past few days. Jesus is king. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's it's trending all over It's trending all over Twitter.

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I'm not sure what it is, but i'm sort of glad I like hearing that it's that's a good thing and those with him

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Are called and chosen and faithful It's not they are called as in a verb chosen and faithful But here interestingly enough just as you had back in Matthew 22

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You have called and chosen Used together remember math back in Matthew 22

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It was many are called fewer chosen here those who are with the king Who is king of kings and lord of lords the ones with him called?

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chosen Act like toy. This is that's we're about to look at that and pistoy faithful So these are descriptions

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Of those who are with him. They're called chosen and faithful so they're

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Called and chosen are being used together Not necessarily completely synonymously with faithful But they are descriptive

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Of those who have overcome And who conquer with the king? All right so there's all the uses of that particular phrase and so we can go back to Matthew chapter 22 if you want to or You don't have to go there if you don't want to I'll tell you where we're going to start and now let's look at the term chosen chosen

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Remember matthew 22 14 then it appears in both matthew 24 22 and matthew 24 24

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Which is why we're doing this And of course that is discussion in those days had not been cut short no human being will be saved but for the sake of the elect

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Now here's the problem in english Because of the concept of this word

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Our translations are not consistent in rendering it this is one place where to be honest with you

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Um, this is this is where it's it's good to be able to access the original language utilize your phone

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If you've got programs like olive tree and stuff like that that can give you the underlying Words and then you can search on those words.

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It helps so much Because the problem is in english. It's not in greek. The problem in english is when we talk about a term such as choosing or the chosen

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We don't know whether to render it as a verb or as a noun in our language

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And the problem is modern translations want to try to be smooth They want to be smooth.

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They don't want to they don't want to be like the new american standard Which is just so hard to read. It's like chewing on wood. I've heard people say that it's like really um

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So they so they smooth things out. The problem is when you smooth things out. Sometimes something gets lost

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And the specificity gets lost you'll see that in a couple of the text here Now i'm not jumping into matthew chapter 24 because that's somebody else's area.

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He's got it The man has it copyrighted. Uh, if I even try to open my mouth i'm going to get shocked by the pulpit or something

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I'm, not sure what's going to happen, but I don't even want to go there But you'll notice that it does appear elsewhere in matthew 24 matthew 24 31

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And he will send out his angels a loud trumpet call and he will gather his elect from the four winds

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So here you have the in the exact same form as found in verse 24 um the elect

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Except here it's called the elect of him that is it's put in the possessive So he has a specific elect

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That are gathered from the four winds so elect chosen ones

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Are both two perfectly fine english translations The meaning of the term contains within it as we will see

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And a a necessary element of choice and selection

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Choice and selection, but it's a choice and selection that takes place outside of its object

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We don't choose ourselves We are chosen Those who are who are gathered from the four winds are chosen

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And so you get you get the same utilization of the term in mark 13 verse 20

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And that again is the parallel to the olivet discourse there in the synoptic gospels there

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The specific phrase is but for the sake of the elect

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Whom he chose He shortened the days

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So there is I think they're really an emphasis upon The idea that the elect aren't the elect just because of their genetics or something else

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The elect of the elect because they have been chosen and here specifically chosen by him

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So don't don't miss that element Of of what is to be found there then of course in verse 22 of mark 13

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Uh lead astray if possible even the elect again And then in mark 13 27 the parallel to matthew 24 as well

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He will send out his angels and gather his elect from the four winds and I could go back over each one of these

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Uh, because there's so many more references to this specific term before we can get to our application

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Uh that we need to look at that now, let's look at luke chapter 18 verse 7

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Luke chapter 18 verse 7 And will not god

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Literally, it is uh do justice For his elect

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Who cried to him day and night will he delay long over them? So will not god

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Do the right thing for his elect That's another time where you have the word his attached becomes possessive

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So it makes sense that this is god's elect. They are his he is the one who's chosen them, but there seems to be an element by god's choosing of ownership of ownership now if we had more time

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I would Expand upon that looking at john chapter 6 especially where The doctrine of election laid out there by the lord

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Does specifically flow from the idea that god the father owns a specific people that he gives to the son

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So that god has it all of this only makes sense When you understand that god is not limited by the united states constitution

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Okay Um, and unfortunately, there's a lot of people who think that that somehow Is a bad thing

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But god is king and he rules over all things and since he created all things then he can

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Do with all things as he pleases. He is the owner of all things And here he has his elect and he gives them justice in luke chapter 18 luke chapter 23

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And the people stood by watching now here this is the Catch back up here.

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If you started to started to wander And the people stood by watching

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This crucifixion, but the rulers scoffed at him saying he saved others

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Let him save himself if this is

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Ha christos to the uha eclectos the christ of god the chosen one the elect one

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Now there's a really interesting use of this term And there are numerous parallels in the intertestamental literature

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That is the literature of the jews written between what we would call malachi the last of the inspired prophets

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And the writing of the new testament that 400 years You will find a number of terms used in in messianic speculation as to the messiah

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About the prophet or here the elect one the chosen one and here on the lips of his enemies you have

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Ha christos to the u the messiah of god And then using the same non -native form.

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So it's called in a positive use just renaming the chosen one the elect one

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So there is the idea That the messiah is the one chosen by god

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So when you hear someone saying well, well christ is a chosen one to try to get around the doctrine of election

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You don't you don't go. Oh, no. No, he's not. No. Yes, he is But in what context and in what office?

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In what context and in what office he is the chosen one? He is the messiah of god

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And that is is being proven by the fact that his enemies are standing at the foot of his cross Isaiah 53 and psalm 22 are being fulfilled right before their eyes and they're blind to it

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They're blind to it The early church understood why that was acts chapter 2 acts chapter 4 read what they had to say

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God was doing what his purpose in hand had predestined To occur is the term that is used there

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All right, we keep going And we go where you would expect to go romans chapter 8.

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I remember we already said in romans 8 28 We had the the term used there of the called those who are called according to his purpose

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And then in verse 33 after the golden chain of redemption And the mention of predestination election.

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What do you have? Who? Will bring a charge kata eclectom theu against the elect of god

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Against the elect of god. It's a legal term to bring a charge And it is directed at the elect of god.

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That is those whom god has chosen The answer is god is the one justifying

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So this is all that's in the in the context of the law court And so when you when you ask the question who can bring a charge in the law court?

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And the question is who would the charge be brought against paul's answer is the elect of god

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And that then defines what has come before Who does who is the son given for?

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Who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all?

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How will he not with him freely give us all things who will bring a charge against? the elect of god

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So For whom was the son given the elect of god? Romans chapter 8

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I believe is not only one of the clearest sections on predestination election, but on the particularity of the work of christ to accomplish in perfect harmony with the father the salvation of the elect of god

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It's also used and very interestingly enough in romans 16 13 There it is used greet rufus

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The elect one in the lord now normally that's again that's

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That's the literal rendering, but it's not smooth And so most of the translations are something like that chosen in the lord or something like that But it's it's the one chosen in the lord the elect one in the lord

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Now is there a specific something special about rufus that we should derive from this? I we're not given enough information but the terminology is used of believers

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And here a description of a believer elect in the lord colossians chapter 3 verse 12

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Put on therefore it's as in clothing put on them as the elect of god

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Holy and beloved So this is a description the description before you're to put on Compassionate hearts kindness humility meekness patience all these other things all the christian virtues

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You put the christian virtues on because it is appropriate because as the chosen ones of god holy ones or saints and beloved ones

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That term beloved there is used in the singular of jesus In ephesians chapter 1 in the beloved one in the beloved but here chosen saints beloved ones descriptions

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Of those who are to put on All of these Descriptions are given to us of christian characteristics

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All right We're almost through all of them 1st timothy chapter 5 1st timothy chapter 5

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Verse 21 I charge you

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In the presence of god and christ jesus and the elect angels

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The elect angels Notice That you keep these rules these precepts without prejudging doing nothing from partiality

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So here you have a very interesting Utilization and again, we see

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That the uses of this term Are not limited Just to romans 8 or matthew 24 or whatever else it might be

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You also see something that we do see a good bit in the new testament and that is when you do have a term

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Such as hagios holy It ends up turning into a noun and being used as a description of those who are made holy the saints

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Now if you have a roman catholic background, you may get itchy when I when I say that I start twitch a little bit like that and start looking at your watch

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Um, it's a perfectly wonderful word It was just abused and continues to be abused regularly within the roman catholic system

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It is all through the new testament. It's a beautiful word, but it's descriptive of all believers

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And it's not their personal holiness that is in view It is the holiness that is theirs in christ jesus.

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We are called to be holy because we are in fact saints

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We have been set apart by god the same thing happens when it comes to this issue of election and calling

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You have the verb god does this And then you have the application becoming descriptive of who believers are they are called

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Saints, they are the called of god Then in verse 21 as we saw you also have the elect angels

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Angels now, what does that mean? Here's where you really? Tune in here for a second.

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You see if we do what a lot of people do And we insist on Squishing down the semantic domain of any particular word to where it only fits what we're comfortable with or the really bad thing is

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If we decide that a certain verse in the bible has a meaning that we really like Regarding a particular word and we start shoving it into all these other verses.

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We can end up creating some really weird theologies If people didn't do this the christian bookstore would have half as many books in it as it currently has really does

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But here the whole idea is This charge is being made before Those who are observing timothy's life before god before christ jesus and the chosen angels

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I think what's being said there is God the father has knowledge of what we are doing.

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He is observing We are serving the lord. Jesus christ. He knows what is taking place and then there are certain chosen angels who likewise

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Are witnesses of what is taking place on this earth

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Not all angels have that function. So there's a specific subset That has that function and again god's the one that chooses that we're not the ones that choose that But there is a there are heavenly witnesses

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Of what is taking place and we are to be faithful in their sight if god has chosen them

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Then they are truly spectacular beings and they are observing as well.

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We are not alone And what's going on here? God always knows what is taking place with his people

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Then we have in second timothy chapter 2 verse 10 second timothy 2 10.

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I love this verse I love it because it teaches something as it's going along It's not the purpose of the verse

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To teach something but the only way to understand the verse is to recognize that there is already

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A specific understanding on the part of the people to whom this letter was written So therefore paul says for this reason

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I endure all things diatus eclectus

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For the sake of the elect the chosen ones In order that they may obtain the salvation

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That is in christ. Jesus together with eternal glory

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Wow, this is paul's last letter to timothy If you want an idea of why he endured

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Shipwreck why he endured stonings and beatings and imprisonments

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Here he lays it out for you I endure everything for the sake of the elect

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And so I when I talk with folks who just refuse to believe that god has the right to do this

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And don't know their own heart well enough that you better believe god does this because if it's up to you You are not going to make it

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And I talk to them about these things And I say well, what do you think paul means here?

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I endure all things for the sake of the elect So that they may obtain the salvation that is in christ.

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Jesus eternal glory If you think we elect ourselves by our free will actions

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And the number of the elect is is is just left open. It's really not something that is a part of god's choice

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If this is all up to us, then you have it backwards Because if the elect make themselves the elect by believing in jesus christ

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How does paul say i'm I endure everything for the sake of the elect so that they may obtain?

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The salvation is in christ. Just see see what I mean If if you are the one who obtained your own salvation and therefore make yourself elect paul was confused

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He had the wrong motivations for everything But he didn't

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He didn't paul Recognized that he was an instrument in the hand of god

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God ordains the ends as well as the means And so we hear it all the time

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Over and over and over again if you believe that why why would you ever do evangelism?

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If god's already chosen just sit back and relax How many times have you heard that all the time right

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Always the objection and what's it based upon? Completely ignoring the fact that first of all god commands us to go

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He changes your heart. You're going to want to be obedient to him So if he says go I don't need to know the reasons

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I just need to I need to go I need to do it But it's completely missing the fact That when god saves us he has a purpose for leaving us here

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And that is to conform us the image of jesus christ and to use us

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As the means of the proclamation of the gospel and the extension of his kingdom in this world

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And so he ordains the ends as well as the means paul understood it And what did it do for him?

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It gave him great endurance I endure

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Everything for the sake of the elect I recognize that god is using me as a means by which they also as have

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I May obtain the salvation that is in christ jesus with eternal glory.

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This is important stuff. We're doing in this world It's important stuff and he's using me and mother

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Mother You can listen to these words At two o 'clock in the morning when you don't think you're there's no way you've got enough energy to take care of this sick kid

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And get everybody else ready for the next day And you haven't gotten enough sleep since you can't even remember when you got enough sleep

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And you're just ready to give up and wonder if god's forgotten all about you and what in the world am I doing here anyways?

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How does this have to do with any cosmic purpose? but by your

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Patient endurance in the place in which god has placed you you become that means by which

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The gospel is being ministered To those who may well we pray with our greatest desire be amongst god's elect

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And how many times have I read in church history? great men of god

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Who when facing great trials and tribulations, you know what they spoke of? They spoke of the patient loving care and tender mercies of their mothers

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Who may not have even still been alive at that time? But god had ministered to them and they in their old age recognized

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How god had used those mothers those fathers

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In their lives Don't think this is only about the big people that get to do the big things

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Oh, that's just the apostle paul. He endured all things the sake of what does that have to do with me? You don't know

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The glory that is going to be revealed to us when we see the beauty

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Of what god has done in this world, we know this much of what god is doing in this world

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And when we see the final tapestry that he has woven in the history of this world

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We will Fall on our faces in worship As to what he has done

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Don't as a creature in a fallen world with limited knowledge limit what god can do don't

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Sell yourself short in your place God Will use each of us in this way.

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It is not just for the apostle paul a few more titus 1 1 paul a servant of god apostle of jesus christ and specifically

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For the faith of god's elect And their knowledge of the truth

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Which accords with godliness? Paul a servant of god an apostle of jesus christ for the faith of the elect of god

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And their and the term here is epinosis. It's not simply to know something like, you know facts facts of mathematics

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Is to know experientially to know truthfully The truth that is in accordance with godliness

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Paul is telling titus That there is an elect of god and the faith of that elect people

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Is should be vitally important to you the minister of god And you want the the elect of god?

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To truly know their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness

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This really is the whole purpose of the ministry of the word Why we focus so much upon the ministry of the word when we come together?

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We have to have doctrine and discipline and order The elect of god the faith needs to be nourished

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But it's based upon the whole idea that there is an elect of god There is an elect of god and that's what allows a minister even in the midst of great difficulty and trials to continue

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To press on even when there's people who leave the church. There's slander. There's attacks. There's divisions

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What can allow you to continue on a recognition that god has his people god knows his elect

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We are simply called to be faithful. He will bless his elect people even when we've been fooled as to who they were

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Because sometimes we can be that's the whole subject of apostasy. We can get to it at another point in time not from being the elect

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But from looking like you were First peter 1 1 peter an apostle of jesus christ

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To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion

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And so you have this idea of the diaspora Uh, the the dispersion of the jews af that takes place there in the first century there they're out

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In the they're not in israel themselves. They're they've been dispersed and here are the elect ones the chosen ones

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Same term is used in first peter 2 4 As you come to him a living stone rejected by men

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But in the sight of god what chosen and precious chosen and precious so here is a another of the passages that would rightly identify jesus

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As chosen by god in his specific role as messiah and savior

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It is a true statement That is the truth of who jesus is But as we've seen all the different uses you can see

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That trying to conflate all them together is not good. And then just a few verses later that cornerstone

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Precious cornerstone. That's where where peter was was drawing from in verse 4

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He's drawing from the greek translation of the old testament the fulfillment in jesus christ And then he quotes from that very that's very section of scripture in first peter 2 6

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And then goes on to say in first peter 2 9, but you are a chosen genos

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A chosen race A royal priesthood

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A holy ethnos from which we get ethnicity or nation

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A people for his own possession. These are all phrases that are being drawn from the greek septuagint

47:00

There were descriptions of the people of god that yahweh himself was redeeming

47:06

And so clearly for peter there is a consistency It's not you've got what was going on in the old testament

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Now you got what's going on in the new testament and this is all new and that's there's there's no connection No, god has continued the fulfillment of his promises in his drawing a people unto himself finally second john 1

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You have the elder to the elect lady. This is one of the only this is uh only time here in second john

47:35

Where you have a feminine form used the elect lady and her children

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Now we're not exactly sure Who that is name wise or something like that, but there is a description here the elder john the elder the presbuteros uh to the elect lady

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And in verse 13 the children of your elect sister Greet you.

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So again the term elect being used there description of christian people only one left revelation chapter 17 verse 14

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We already saw this one just to remind you of the phrase that was used there

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And it has three terms chosen and elect and faithful called chosen faithful Descriptions of those who are with the king of kings and the lord of lords in his victory so That's pretty much all of them

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That's pretty much all of them and you're sitting here going Uh, but we didn't look at john 6 and we didn't look at ephesians 1

48:49

We did look at romans 8 8 But what you're saying is there are entire sections in the bible about predestination

49:01

And election That don't use these specific words

49:08

That's right The scripture uses many different types of words to describe

49:15

What god has done? And so if we were to change our direction and we were to simply look at Verbs, we're not going to do that.

49:27

Don't freak out. It's like oh, no, look at the time Does he know what the time is? I don't know as as as jeff probably gotten to him

49:32

I don't know. Is he going to start doing what jeff does? I don't know. Um Jeff left so I can do that now

49:40

He he walked out of the room, so we're good. Um No, i'm not going to do that but that's what we would have to do

49:50

If we wanted to look at such terms that are used such as the term predestinate

49:57

Or to elect an eternity past or simply the term to choose Or simply the term to give

50:05

All that the father gives me will come to me and the one coming to me. I will never cast out for example

50:11

And so there are numerous terms that can be utilized to describe the concept of election

50:20

So what does what the what can we what can we draw from all of this? Well, i'm going to leave it up to jeff to make application in matthew chapter 24 um, he can

50:31

Pick up on this and and make application and say this is this is how it's going to fit into What we're seeing and what is happening in regards to the olivet discourse, but here's what we need to understand as believers

50:45

I Recognize that there are many people who struggle greatly with the concept that god has chosen to save a specific people

50:58

I don't know what those folks do with the first 39 books of the bible

51:04

Because when you think about it God's grace his word and his mercy

51:11

Was sent to one particular people It wasn't egypt

51:17

It wasn't babylon It wasn't the assyrians It wasn't the amorites

51:24

There was a specific people who received his law and his revelation and his word

51:32

They're the ones that received the beautiful hymns of david One people

51:40

There were many other people in the world And one of the objections that atheists have is well this whole christian message

51:48

What about all those people that lived before christ? I mean israel is a small little nation

51:55

What's god doing? And so I I struggle a little bit and it seems that a lot of people the idea they have aside from the sort of disconnection with the old testament is

52:07

Well, I just have the idea I want a god That's trying to save everybody an election

52:18

Doesn't fit with that idea I want a god who's trying his best to save everyone

52:29

That sounds good, doesn't it? Play along Oh, you don't have to go that far

52:40

It was a rhetorical question Really it was got some literalists in here No It sounds good.

52:48

It doesn't make any sense biblically or logically Do you really want a god?

52:55

Who's doing the best he can but he's going to fail over and over and over again

53:02

I mean if he really is trying to save every person equally then doesn't that mean in in in heaven?

53:09

That god's going to be extremely disappointed with his results I mean think about it

53:16

That would basically mean god's gonna have to be standing on the parapets of hell going. Oh, i'm so sorry

53:23

I tried I tried my best father son and holy spirit. We did our absolute best for you

53:33

Do you see that picture in revelation anywhere I don't see that picture in revelation anywhere.

53:39

I hear about god's justice and I hear About the recognition of the fact he's accomplishing his purposes, but I I don't get the idea that god is going to be eternally bummed

53:50

At how many people he wasn't able to get saved It's not what the new testament teaches

53:57

There is a purpose that he's accomplishing Now don't get me wrong

54:03

Some people say well election means that some people get injustice Never never

54:14

Well people get something different from god's that must be unjust no If you receive mercy and grace from god

54:24

That's not injustice If jesus hadn't died in our place if we had not been united with him that would be injustice because then

54:33

Our sins would just simply be forgiven for no basis. There would be no mediator. There would be no forgiveness.

54:38

God's justice would be destroyed But because of jesus christ and our union with him we receive mercy and grace god's justice is fulfilled

54:48

Because we have a substitute who bears our penalty in our place And those who do not receive the electing grace of god

54:57

Do not receive injustice They receive justice No one receives injustice at the end

55:07

God will be justified in all his acts and all his deeds And I simply believe

55:16

Very firmly that a person who objects to that simply doesn't know the depth of their own sin Simply doesn't know the depth of their own sin the worthiness of their own punishment

55:29

But there are many who would say no no, no, no, I I will never accept that In fact, i'll never forget

55:35

This was back when I had A full head of hair and large glasses I have pictures to prove it.

55:42

You can ask kelly. She remembers Had a full head of hair and large glasses and a lady came over from the local keno institute, which is a roman catholic organization

55:55

And she was doing a master's degree and she wanted to interview a fundamentalist

56:04

Now that term I don't use it positively almost at all anymore

56:10

But it had a historically valid and positive meaning And there still is a valid meaning to it just the mindset that goes along with it anymore is why it's become problematic, but She wanted to talk to someone who wasn't a roman catholic who just believed the bible and so we started talking it didn't get long to take long to get into the sufficiency of scripture and then the gospel

56:34

And when I laid out for her what jesus taught in john chapter 6 She was stunned

56:44

Maybe she had never heard this before. I don't know. She was stunned, but i'll never forget what she said She asked me some questions.

56:50

So are you saying are you saying and so when I finally said yes god has the right

56:57

To choose those to whom he is going to give his saving grace And to justly punish others

57:05

She said I would never Worship a god like that and I looked at her and said

57:17

I know That's the point You wouldn't

57:24

You would not of your free will Which is a myth Biblically speaking you would not of your free will ever worship the god who exists you would create an idol

57:36

That looks more like you'd like him to look Now, please recognize something

57:43

I know what the tough questions are here I worked for years as a hospital chaplain.

57:52

I did funerals for unbelievers I sat in the emergency room

58:01

With people whose loved ones had just died who had no hope of their salvation

58:07

None whatsoever This isn't just pie in the sky theology, but the question is

58:19

How are we going to answer when people ask us the tough questions Are we looking for the easiest answer that will not that will cause them to like us?

58:28

Or the answer that will actually have meaning to them in their lives because it's true it's been revealed by god

58:37

There are far tougher questions to be answered by the person who rejects this teaching

58:44

Than by the one who believes it Because when you boil it all down When you boil it all down Who would you rather have in charge?

58:56

Of salvation and eternal glory Sinful man

59:03

Or the judge of all the earth who proved his righteousness In the sending of his son jesus christ who died upon the cross

59:14

Which one do you want? There are good answers to all the objections there truly are

59:21

But the reality is scripture teaches the doctrine of election god chooses that results in a people who are

59:31

The elect do I know who they are? Do I know who the elect are well again

59:40

How are we using the term? Are you asking me when I look out over this group that I can identify?

59:47

the elect Are you saying that when I when we're when we're witnessing to mormons in salt lake city?

59:55

That when they're walking up I can go up save the track save the track not that one Trust me

01:00:05

Most of the time if we if we have that feeling we're the one that's wrong Uh, we're the ones that gets it completely wrong.

01:00:12

I mean look at us Yeah, we wouldn't be the first people who got ah, there's those those people over there.

01:00:18

Those must be the like. No, we don't know But there are descriptions of the elect. We are called to act as the elect and to put on Compassion and mercy as the elect so there's different uses of the term if we're going to be a part of this fellowship

01:00:33

Claim the name of jesus christ then what we're saying is I have been called of god to follow jesus christ and therefore

01:00:43

There you go. Are you saying well, so you all of a sudden gain infallible knowledge of who the elect of god are? No, I do not

01:00:49

I do not i'm not saying that i'm saying that in scripture The people of god are called the elect of god they're called his elect

01:01:01

He knows who they are the sheep We don't get to choose

01:01:06

Our shepherd the shepherd chooses his sheep The sheep follow his voice and the shepherd knows them and they know him

01:01:16

And there is no safer place in the universe Than to be one of his sheep

01:01:23

His elect It's a biblical teaching it's founded in scripture

01:01:32

We believe it we proclaim it but as an individual you should rejoice in it

01:01:40

Because any person My friends listen to me and we'll close any person

01:01:48

Who would take this doctrine And use it as an excuse for sin

01:01:55

Is worthy of the judgment he or she will receive There is nothing in this doctrine that would begin to give anyone ground

01:02:07

For a life of sin and licentiousness and apathy Because there is nothing in us that drew god's grace

01:02:19

In fact, there is everything in us that should have repelled god's grace But he did not choose me because i'm better than anyone else

01:02:30

And if I fully understand what god is doing in conforming me to the image of christ

01:02:35

I should be an individual Who desires? To know him and to serve him

01:02:43

And if I don't If I love the things of this world so much more than I love him

01:02:49

I have no reason to call myself elect We read all of what scripture says

01:02:58

And the very one who chose us also chooses To conform us to the image of christ

01:03:05

Remember those words of philippians 1 29 It has not only been granted to us to believe in him.

01:03:13

Everybody skips that part But it's been granted to us to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake

01:03:21

The same grace That gives us faith Is the grace that will then cause us to endure in suffering.

01:03:31

That's the doctrine of the new testament. That is what we believe Let's pray together Our gracious heavenly father we have but barely touched upon what your word says

01:03:46

About the divine truth that you are king And as king you can make choices you can choose

01:03:54

In accordance with the perfection of your will and your power We have barely touched upon these truths

01:04:03

But lord, we know it takes the work of your spirit to remove the rebellion

01:04:09

That we as creatures can so often have against your truth We want to have a part

01:04:19

We're willing to give you most of the glory But we want to have that final element of control

01:04:28

Lord we know that's not what your word teaches Remove that final Bit of rebellion and stiff -heartedness from us.

01:04:37

May we rejoice In describing you As the one who has chosen your people lord during this time if there be any amongst us

01:04:51

That does not know you even as we've been discussing something that may not seem to them to Have great meaning

01:05:00

Even at this time will they hear the message? About sin and redemption

01:05:07

And may you bring conviction of sin and draw them unto yourself. We thank you for the freedom we have

01:05:15

To gather together and worship in the name of jesus christ Thank you for loving us.

01:05:22

Thank you for choosing us We desire to live for you as a result.