Introduction to The Godhead: The Election Decree | Steve Benson

Welcome to our Sunday evening service.

Pastor is on vacation.

Pray for him. Mrs. Hixon. He will be

back next weekend.

He'll be here next Sunday.

Hopefully refreshed from his

vacation.

We've been talking about the sound

doctrines, the great doctrines of the

Bible,

doing a doctrinal uh study.

And you know, we typically go verse by

verse.

That's sort of my favorite way.

But uh I'm sure glad for this series

I've benefited from it allowed me to you

know go deeper in some of these great

subjects of the Bible and

you know God he is the greatest subject

of the Bible. So

you know he's the first one we've looked

at

and I think every message but two we had

two on the word of God and the

sufficiency of the word of God. That's

where we get our sound doctrine.

Um, it's in the sufficient word of God.

It is from the word. You guys go to the

Bible church, you know that.

Uh, but so many people miss this. And so

many people replace

the word of God with something else. You

know, whatever you you replace it with,

you you know, you've exchanged

gold for lead or even worse,

And that's what David said that about

the word of God. It's gold

and it helps us in this life and in the

life to come. So in keeping them there

is great reward.

So you know we value the word of God

greatly here because that's what it is.

It's the word of God. And that's where

our sound doctrines come from is from

God's word.

And you know, some of them we probably

won't get to or we won't look at, but

we're trying to look at the important

ones, the very important ones

in the study.

So, we have been

uh recently looking at the decrees of

God.

And you know, maybe you've never heard

that term, but it basically it's God's

plan.

It's God. Well, God is going to do what

he said he would do. John read Hebrews

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 for us tonight. If he'd have

went on down there in chapter 3, it

says, "Well, Moses, you know, Moses

built, you know, and and and this and

that with Israel, but then it says, you

know, God is the builder. God builds all

things,

you know. So, we wouldn't think about a

house just popping up in our

neighborhood.

Oh, wow. There's an house just popped

up. I think I'll take it. No, they have

to be built. They have to be planned.

And you know, that's what the writer of

Hebrews says about God.

You know, he has a plan. He has a

purpose.

And he reveals that plan and that

purpose to us in the word of God. Only

there will we find it.

So that is the reasoning behind the

sound doctrine and and us looking at it.

And you know the greatest thing about

God, one of the greatest things about

God is that he he is saving sinners. He

save you know and that's who we are.

That's where we come in.

And he h God has decrees and we've

looked at God's decrees to creation

now a couple weeks ago. I enjoyed that

one. But you know all the things that

God said about his creation. It's all

over the word of God.

And you know he God brought this world

into existence and God's going to take

this world out of existence.

It's his. He's the owner. He's the

author.

And who's going to argue with God?

So as we come to his word, that's what

we want to find out. What has God said?

That might be of great importance to us,

especially when it comes to creation.

You know, I know we we need to be

stewards of the environment,

but um we're not going to wreck and ruin

what God has set in motion.

You know, we're still doing 24 hours a

day. We still have four seasons. We, you

know, everything God put in place back

in Genesis is still going.

Nobody's had to fly up to the sun and

take the Energizer Bunny and exchange

the batteries in the sun.

So, God can fire is a good thing for us

to look at. God can,

you know, the burning bush.

God was in it, but he didn't consume the

bush. So God can be a fire but not

consume anything.

And we had Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abedneo in the in the furnace.

Says they come out not smelling like

smoke and with no burns, you know. So

God can decide if fire is going to burn

or if you're going to smell like smoke

after you have been around fire. I mean,

these are the great sovereign things

about God. There's nothing beyond his

reach. There's nothing that he doesn't

know. And you know, that's how great our

God is. Jim talked about that

this morning. Pastor Ospar used to say,

"You're either you're a little God or a

big God.

Either your God is little or your God is

big."

And when we get into the word of God, we

find out that our God is big.

He's great.

He's beyond our comprehending. And you

know, so that's why we count on his

revelation

to help us with these things. So, you

know, some of God's decrees came from

eternity past. God has always existed

and his decrees and the things that he

says are like him.

He's faithful and so is his word, you

know, and everything that God says is

and will come to pass, you know, even,

you know, right down to the day that we

are going to die.

You know, we all have a number

and we all go in that number and God

knows the day, the hour, the conditions

in which we will die. He knows

everything.

So this all knowing God

has um predestinated some things to

creation.

And this tonight we're going to look at

what God has decreed to his children.

Now God has a big family. you know, we

have the Jewish promises,

but we have what uh you know, that us

Gentiles, you know, we've been grafted

in, and now we're children of God. And

you know, we wouldn't be children of

God. We wouldn't be we're Gentiles.

Remember, we you know, I don't even know

a Jew anymore.

So you know Gentiles are preaching the

gospel reaching other Gentiles.

So as that happens we find out about

these great decrees of God that God it's

there in the Old Testament you know

multiple times where he said that he was

going to bring the gentile nations in

through his grace.

Well here we are. You know, Jesus had

one when he said, "The gates of hell

will not prevail against his church."

That's a decree.

You can't go against what he said.

And so the these things we began to

understand

and we begin to explore the word of God.

And not all of God's decrees are are

creature comfortable.

There are some things here I wish wasn't

here, but it's here.

And we can't change it. We can't alter

it. We just have to believe it. And

there, you know, we have hell, we have

retribution. And, you know, I'll we'll

be looking at that in the in the weeks

to come. But tonight, I want to zero in

on election, on what God has done for

his children. That's that's his elect.

That is us. Turn over to Acts chapter 4

Acts 4 · chapter mention

as we be get going here.

And you know, we we our God's a great

God. You know, he's sovereign.

He He does whatever he pleases. He needs

no one's permission. He's a great God.

You know, he's he's able to do these

incredible things. We know about the

providence of God.

No, we can just, you know, rest in that.

You know, everything works together for

the good to them who are called. So

these things bring comfort to us as we,

you know, learn that, you know, just who

our God is. And it's the same way with

his decrees to his children. That's us.

It's God's promises

to his children and to us.

And here in the book of Acts in chapter

4, we also had last week we talked about

concurrence.

And maybe you know what that is, maybe

you don't. It's a big word, but it's not

in the Bible. But concurrence is here,

but that word's not here. There's a lot

of things that, you know, the words

aren't here, but it's here. like

trinity. You know, the word trinity is

nowhere in the Bible,

but the trinity is

it's just a term we use to describe

that, you know, the triune God. Well,

concurrence means that, you know, God

has the last say.

And that's the way the book of Genesis

ends with

the way Joseph was treated by his own

family.

I mean, that's an amazing story. If

you've never read it, if you have, you

know what an amazing story it is.

His brother sold him into slavery,

you know, and then

he was abused and, you know, up and down

and around he went. And then in the book

of Genesis, um, God says, "They meant it

for evil, but I meant it for good."

So God can take things that are evil.

God doesn't sin. You can't tempt God

with sin. Sin never come from God.

It come from the devil and it came from

us. And it does come from us.

But God doesn't sin. Neither does he

tempt any man with sin. Neither could he

be tempted with sin. all those great

things. God is holy, just in, and in all

of his ways. So, we find out that, you

know, God's, you know, he's greater than

we are. He's better than we are. He

knows more than we do.

So, he lets us in on some of these

decrees that he made

so that we'll believe them and

understand, you know, sometimes what's

going on.

And and here's here's here's one that

you know immediately after Jesus is

crucified

in Jerusalem.

He he returns 40 days he was with them

and he said go tell those people who

murdered me they're sinners and they

need a savior.

And well that's not going to work out

too good is it? Well that's exactly what

God told him to do. So the Jews were

like, "Wait a minute. I thought we were

going to have a kingdom."

No, God says, "We need a savior before

um we can have a kingdom."

So God in his wisdom, God in his decrees

sent his son to this earth. And you know

what the Romans did to him, you know

what the Jews did to him, you know what

we did to him, we were a part of that

and the human race as well. But here in

chapter uh four of the book of acts in

verse 27

here we read for of a truth

you know that you know this is truth you

this isn't a fairy tale this isn't a you

know something that we thought up or the

church come up with

this is truth that god come to earth and

we crucified him

Well,

God,

I hope he don't hold that against us.

No, he is going to hold that against us.

You know, this is the part of the savior

that we need. This is the the redemption

that God bought for us.

And this is the truth against the holy

child Jesus. He's,

you know, the Jews didn't call Jesus

God.

you know, they they had a better term

for they just said, you know, he he's

the son of God.

Well, that automatically makes him God.

You know, there we have uh little gods

with little G's and and Jesus is the son

of God, big G.

So, he is exactly like the father. Jesus

said, "You've seen me, you've seen the

father."

They are exactly alike. and the his son

come to earth

and the holy child Jesus the sinless

child Jesus the holy one

um whom

uh thou has anointed

both Herod and Pontius Pilate and with

the nations and all the people of Israel

were gathered together were all guilty

of this

and it says here to do whatever your

hand and your counsel determined

beforehand to be done.

Now, this doesn't mean that the father

murdered his son.

That's not what this means. It says that

men murdered Jesus and the nation

murdered Jesus. The Gentiles and Pontius

Pilate and everyone who was involved,

the high priest, everyone chose the

thief

and crucified

Jesus.

Now, God in his concurrence

let that happen.

And you know, it was it was hard to go

through.

And we have the accounts and it was hard

to understand as well why why would God

do this? What's you know well God is

trying to get our attention about our

sin and our need of a redeemer and our

need of a savior.

And now, Lord, he says here in verse 29,

"Behold their threatenings, and grant

unto your servants with all boldness

that we may speak the word, the truth

about Jesus dying

and and why he died and for whom he

died."

And he was sinless. He He didn't deserve

this by any means.

and by stretching forth thine hand to

heal th that by signs and wonders may be

done to the name of that holy child

Jesus. And when they prayed, the place

was shaken. They were assembled

together. They were filled with the Holy

Spirit. They spoke the word of God with

boldness. So here Peter says, "Yeah, we

did it. But guess what? It was God's

determined counsel to let this happen.

There must be a reason." Well, if you

will turn back to

um

look over if you will in verse

um 31,

>> which

>> uh 4.

Yep. I just read that one. So when Jesus

was on the cross,

he said he could have called, you know,

a million angels to rescue him.

So he didn't do that. He laid down his

life. And here's the reason why he did

that. Now, turn back to Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And here's what here's what the Bible

said.

So, he laid down his life. That that

happened, you know, over and over in the

gospel. You know, they were going to get

him, you know, but he got away. And he

said, "My time has not yet come. My time

has not yet come."

But once his time was come, that's what

Galatians says, in the fullness of time,

Jesus came and died

for our sins. In verse

23 here,

it says, "Him

being delivered by the determined

counsel and the fornowledge of God."

That's what we're talking.

God knew this. God knew this was going

to happen. God allowed this to happen.

And God volunteered

uh to pay for our sins. And it says

here, "You took him and by wicked

hands." It's sinful

what we did to Jesus. Very sinful.

And we've crucified

and slain. But that's okay. Verse 24

says, "God raised him up. He loosed the

pains of death. And God did a great

thing um when his son laid down

his life for us. So as we begin to talk

about election then you know the that's

what election is. It's these determined

things that God has determined

that will happen.

And you know some of these doctrines go

go together and you know some of them

don't.

But um predestination we looked at this

morning and election. These two go

together.

You know, God has predestined us

to be elect. And you know, as we said

this morning, if he hadn't done that,

then no one would be saved. We'd all be

we'd be out there with the world, like

the world

in every way.

And uh here we have go back to the book

of Job in chapter 23

Job

and you know we are free moral agents.

Now what that means is that

um

you know we we we were born dead in sins

because of what Adam did to us. Then we

come along and then we um uh as as uh

the book of James says about sin. When

we're enticed then we develop a lust and

we when we develop a lust then we go and

sin and the end of sin is death.

That's what it is. So, we are, you know,

we're responsible for this life that we

live.

Now, before we're saved,

we're in bondage

to sin. We need the the new birth. We

need to be regenerated,

the Bible says. And and uh we need light

and we need life. We talked about that

this morning. But once God gives that to

us, he says, you know, walk in the

light. You know, Jesus is the light.

Walk in the light. So that's what he

wants his elect wants to do. And here in

Job 23 and verse 10,

he says here, he knows the way that I

take.

you know, so God knows, you know, what

color tie you're going to put on or what

color uh shoes you ladies are going to

put on or what purse you're going to

grab. God already knows all those

things. I mean, pretty simple and pretty

basic. But as well, God knows what we

will do with his grace, what we will do

with his mercy,

you know, and that's what that's what

Job says here. When he has tested me, I

will come forth

as gold. My foot has held his steps. His

way have I kept and not decline.

So that's what God wants us to do, to

keep his way, not go another way.

But now that we are uh children of God,

his decrees are that we walk in his

ways. And you know, Job had great

suffering. He had a lot of pain, a lot

of grief, a lot of anguish.

And you know, he didn't curse God and

die like his wife wanted him to.

No, he uh he had a tough life, but he

continued to trust in the Lord

and uh not for what God was giving him,

but for who who God is.

So that will help us in our walk. You

know, there are days that

maybe we're not happy with what we got

for that day,

but God knows and he gives us in his

sovereignty the things that that we need

to continue to trust in him.

And you know, that's God already knows

what Job's going to do. God already

knows what we're going to do. And as we

walk with him and we learn about him,

that's what verse 10 says. He knows the

way that I take.

So, you know, this is how God pours his

his grace and his mercy and his love out

upon us.

And, you know, many people associate the

doctrine of election with with John

Calvin.

And you know that's um a lot of people

say, "Oh, you know, you're a Calvinist.

I'm not a Calvinist."

A lot of people try to associate these

things with him. But before I ever heard

about John Calvin, I believed in

election

because that's what the Bible teaches

us. And you know that's here. How can

you deny

that elections here? How can you deny

it? In that word, sometimes we're

blessed that these words are here. The

word trinity is not here.

But you know, the word elect is here.

The word predestined is here. Seven

times in the New Testament. It says

predestined.

And election appears over and over. Not

just for us

Gentiles in the church age, but as well

for the Jews. They're chosen of God. You

think the Jews would exist if God hadn't

chosen?

I don't think so.

And you know, he God told Abraham, "I'll

bless those that bless you and I'll

curse those that curse you." That's a

decree of God.

So, uh, we see how important sometimes

it is for us to see these things and to

understand them. So,

uh, you know, this is, uh, you know,

it's like the word saint. You know what?

What's that? Well, we're we're set apart

ones for God.

You know, it's nothing that, you know,

we have done. God said, "All right, you

you know, you did enough good deeds. Now

you're going to get the saint badge, you

know, and and I'm going to take you into

heaven." It's not the way this works. We

become saints the moment that we are

saved. And God makes us a saint.

And uh we're in that kind of fellowship

with him. And uh

this is uh

this doctrine is throughout the word of

God. Turn with me if you would to John

John 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17.

John chapter 17

John 17 · chapter mention

and you know

the election is here. predestination is

here and as well we can see Jesus

teaching these very things. You know

this morning we saw Jesus you know

talking about predestination and the

apostles as well coming along after him.

So Jesus taught on these subjects as

well. Go to John 17

and verse 8.

This is the great high priestly prayer

of Jesus. This is God talk. God talking

to God.

And you know those are decrees.

The father has decrees to the son. The

son has decrees back to the father. You

know they're doing the will of God.

They're doing the plan of God. and and

Jesus 33 years on this earth was all

part of God's plan,

you know, to to and that is, you know,

why did God you now, you know, let him

be here 33 years? Why wasn't it 30? Why

wasn't it 40?

Well, that was the will of God.

33 and a2 years, as a matter of fact.

But God knew the father, the son, the

holy spirit, they all knew what was

going to happen to the son of God. And

here Jesus is praying

to the father.

And notice what he says here in verse

eight.

For I have given unto them

the words which you gave me. They have

received them and they have known surely

that I come out of thee and that they

have believed that you have sent me.

So this is what the elect knows. You

know that's us. We're the elect. We're

the church. This is what we know.

Everybody says, "Well, I believe in God.

I maybe not today, maybe tomorrow. You

know, don't bother me now. Come back

later. You know, come talk to me when

I'm ready to die. I have no use for God.

But Christians, the elect,

you know, it's much different. You know,

we have this, we have these decrees. We

have these promises uh even between the

father and the son that God the father

sent his son to die and pay for our

sins. And here we see then in verse 9, I

pray for them.

I pray not for the world but for them

who you given me. There it is. That's

us. That's the elect.

God the father gave God the son the

elect when before the foundation of the

world. You know we have to add verses

that we know with this. And that's how

we know that. And when that happened, we

weren't there.

But we saw last week that uh God allowed

sin.

You know, he allowed the devil to sin.

He allowed Adam and Eve to sin. You

know, God could have prevented it. God

could have done something different or

something else. He's God.

But what he did, what he allowed

um are a part of his decrees. And

you know, someday we're going to end up

with him. And here Jesus is praying,

you know, it's it's proof that prayer,

you know, we can't change things. Um,

you know, we're a victim of our

circumstances many times, but not God.

You know, God can do anything. He can

change circumstances. he can, you know,

uh,

so many times at work I've had, you

know, this to go and do and this

happened and that happened and, you

know, the end of the day comes and I

didn't get that done

and then something else happens the next

day and I'm like, are you kidding me? I

didn't even know this. You know, God,

the little thing I was worried about,

God was about to wipe out

and wipe out he does. And I'm not saying

God's our big Santa Claus in the sky in

the sky waiting to do everything we ask

of him by any means. I'm just saying

we don't know the future, but he does

and we need to trust him. And here we

see him praying for them, not for the

world. That's us. We're not of the

world. And here's the, you know, there

are decrees to the world. God has made

decrees to the world. We will look at

them in the future. But now we're

looking at God's decrees to his elect.

God's decrees to his own children. And

and that's who we are.

The father gave a gift of the elect to

God the son

for safekeeping. Now turn back to John

John 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15.

And we have, you know, we looked this

morning at the the verses in Ephesians,

and you guys are familiar enough with

those. We don't need to turn there, but

you know, there is where,

you know, God said, "This is my

pleasure." You know, in Romans, Paul

says, you know, are you going to argue

with God,

you know, human being? You know, not all

of God's decrees are creature

comfortable. God is not politically

correct.

you know, you can count on his promises

and and that's what we need to do. We

need to find out what we need to do to

be saved and and to to trust in Jesus.

But,

you know, evil is going to get worse.

The devil is going to get worse. Things

are going to get worse and worse. But

God

uh if we turn back to Revelation, we see

God sending his son into this world

um on a white horse to you know

eliminate the enemies

of God.

So there are a lot of enemies of God.

And I I have a great warning for you. If

you're an enemy of God, you will not

defeat him. No one. God is going. All of

God's enemies have been defeated. Jesus

defeated every one of them on the cross.

Every one of them defeated on the cross.

And we're we're the beneficiaries of all

this that he has done.

And here in John 15:E 19,

here Jesus makes a distinction between

the world and his apostle.

And that's what this doctrine of

election does. We're we're we're not the

world. We uh yeah, we come out of there,

we go back there, we work there, our

friends are there, we you know, we go to

the bank to make our payment, you know,

all those things. We can't leave that,

Paul told the Corinthians, or we have to

just leave the whole world.

But that's a part of this that we have

to deal with. But at the same time,

we're children of God. We're we've been

purchased by the son of God.

You know, the world wants nothing to do

with us. They're of their father, the

devil. And the works of their father,

they will do. But Jesus says here, "If

the world hate you, you know that it

hated me before it hated you. So don't

take it personally.

It's Jesus they hate. All you got to do

is just stop talking about him and stop

being like him and they'll stop hating

you.

But he says if you were of the world,

that's what he said. The world will love

its own. If you're like them, you know,

you're you're in the club. You're in the

anti-God club. You know, you're in the

less sin and you know, we'll worry about

later club, but not us. We're not of the

world.

And the reason we're not, there's only

one reason we're not. And it's nothing

we've done. It's everything that he has

done. He says, "I chosen you

out of the world.

Therefore, the world hates you." Where

did Abraham come from? The of Caldes,

God called him. Where did Israel come

from? God called them. Where did uh the

apostles come from? God called them.

Where did you come from? God called you

and God has called me. This is just an

amazing thing for help us with our

faith. And you know, we would be there.

If we were not chosen by Jesus,

then we'd still be out there with our

buddies in the world. Turn to Colossians

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1.

And you know there's a sin has a power

over us. I mean we talked about that a

little this morning. We are slaves. You

know we

you know everybody not everybody sins as

much as they could.

You know but at the same time it's not

the devil made me do it. We're doing it

on our own. We what the Bible says, we

got this old sinful nature in us.

And you know, God wants us to walk

in the new birth, walk in the new man.

And and you know, that's what he has

given to us.

And the Bible says, you know, not only

has God elected us, not only has God

predestinated us, if I can get to the

book of Colossians

in chapter 1, verse 13,

it says here,

who

the who the who

the God who predestinated us, who

elected us. That's the who,

you know, we'd still be there. You say,

"Well, you know, sin is powerful. Sin

gets a hold on us and we can't break

free from it." That's that was my that's

my story before I was saved. I was a I

was a I broke nine of the ten

commandments.

I was pretty much engrossed in sin and

suffering greatly because of it and very

guilty because of it

and I can't deliver myself from this

from sin.

It's not something humans can do.

Only God can do this. That's what the

Bible says. That's why he elected us.

That's why he chose it. Otherwise

um Abel would have been like

uh Cain.

All the apostles would have been like

Judas.

But no, God chose and the reason God

chose is that's the it was his good

pleasure to do these things. And here

Paul tells the Colossians about this

power of God

to deliver us from sin.

That's why we tell sinners the gospel.

Oh yeah, wait. You know, you you need to

believe on Jesus and turn from your sin.

It's a kind of a joint thing there that

you need to do.

And sin has dominion over us even after

we're saved.

But God has provided the Holy Spirit.

God has provided his word to help us uh

fight this fight. And here in Colossians

Colossians 1:13

1:13,

who has delivered us from the power of

darkness, there it is. That's what sin

does.

It's darkness. It it um it it takes us

captive.

And you know, we can't do what we wanted

to do anymore.

We have to answer to sin because we

thought it was going to be fun. We

thought it was going to that's what I

needed or to do or whatever. And and and

you know that's what sin does. And then

and then someday we're going to die. And

that's because we're sinners.

You know, we have this new man. We have

been regenerated. We have the Holy

Spirit. We have the truth of God. We

have all these great things that God has

given us. In fact, we lack nothing.

And death is going to do us a favor. The

wages of sin is death. And the gift of

God is eternal life. And God has

delivered us from the power of darkness.

Now, it doesn't stop there. He has

translated us

into the kingdom of his son.

That's what regeneration does. That's

what the new birth does. That's what

believing on the Lord Jesus Christ does.

When we come to God by faith, then all

the blessings of Christ come with us. So

there are two groups of people now.

Those who are going to find the wrath of

God, the judgment of God. We're going to

talk about that. That's where we would

be without election. That's where we

would be without predestination.

These great things that God has done to

deliver us. Turn over to

second Thessalonians

in chapter 2.

What's What was the first book written

in the New Testament?

>> Nope.

Close.

First Thessalonians.

He Paul wrote this before he wrote

Corinthians, but you're right, John.

Right after that. So if we read the

Bible in order that it was written, this

should be in the front.

And and so many people struggle with

signs and wonders and miracles and all

those things. And Paul never mentions

them.

He talks about faith in Jesus. He talks

about everything that Jesus has done for

us.

And here in 2 Thessalonians in chapter

2,

um,

we find where the mystery of iniquity

already works up there

in verse 7.

And

down in verse 13,

Paul says, "We are bound to give thanks

always for you,

brethren, beloved of the Lord." Wow.

How'd that happen?

Well, the regeneration that the

delivering us from the power of darkness

and God has taken us out of this sinful

wicked heathen world that we were a part

of. I I made my contributions

and they were terrible. But all that's

behind me now and and I'll never answer

for another sin because God chose me

from the foundation of the world. not

just to save me, but to

for me to to end up being like his son.

That's the amazing part. And here Paul

says, "We're we're bound to give thanks,

brethren, beloved of the Lord, because

God,

not you, not me, but God has from the

beginning

chosen you to salvation through

sanctification of the spirit and the

belief of the truth, unto which he

called you by our gospel to obtain the

glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my brethren, stand fast and

hold the traditions which you have been

taught. That's it. You know, Paul, he he

doesn't mess around. This is uh you

know, this is one of the greatest

sections in the New Testament. If this

is all we had, this would be enough.

We have much more. But notice what God

has done for us. He chose us from the

beginning. It says here

to salvation.

That's the new birth. That's when we're

born again. That's the day that we said,

"Okay, Lord, I'll rest my faith in your

son and his work for me."

And then but but then it goes on

through sanctification

of the spirit. So God sent his spirit to

me.

So I have the promise of the spirit. The

Holy Spirit is the spirit of promise.

You don't have to ask for it. You're

insulting God when you ask him for the

spirit.

Jesus said, "I I will send him to you."

And the moment you get saved, the Holy

Spirit is a great blessing that God

gives us. That's why we're we aren't

what we used to be

because of God and his spirit.

in the belief of the truth. God has the

God has the cure for sin.

The absolute cure for sin. Don't look

anywhere else.

It's the blood of Jesus. It's the death

of Jesus. He paid for all of our sins.

They are gone as far as the east is from

the west.

And unto which he called you. So God

even calls us. You know, if if he didn't

call us, we wouldn't be saved. You take

any one of these things out, we're out

there with them.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by

the word of God. And blessed are the

feet of the preachers, you know, and the

teachers because, you know, they come

forth and they speak God's word like

Paul did in Thessalonian.

And that's how this church began.

That's, you know, that's what chapters

one are all about in both books. Paul

says, "The gospel saved you

and I brought it to you and I preached

it to you and I told you about the son

of God who has done this and the spirit

of God and God the father and all these

great things that God has done for us."

In verse 16, now our Lord Jesus Christ

himself and God even our father. You

think Paul believe in the Trinity

who has loved us and given us. We earned

it.

Oh well, God looked out into the future

and he saw who was going to believe. So

those are the ones he elected. That's

the wrong view of election.

Paul shoots that down right here. No,

that means there are some people that

deserve the mercy of God.

No one deserves the mercy of God. No

one. No, not one. Not you, not me, not

anyone deserves the mercy of God.

He just pours it out on us through his

son.

And he loved us.

He's given us an everlasting

consolation. Consolation means comfort.

We can go home tonight, lay our heads

down on the pillow, and know if we die

during the night, we're going to heaven.

Why? Nothing you did, nothing I did. But

God chose us before the foundation of

the world and and brought us to himself

uh through his son. And in verse 17,

comfort your hearts and establish you in

every good work. You don't need miracle

to do a good work.

you only need to um be born again

and through Christ and then you know

these things are given to us by our

great God.

So

you know over in chapter one go to first

1 Thessalonians 1 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter 1

and this book was written just shortly

before that.

You know how every church in the New

Testament was started?

By the word of God, by the preaching of

the gospel of Jesus.

So churches begin, you know, that's how

I that's, you know, that's what happened

to me. I was born again.

You know, I trusted, you know, the

promise of God. I took God at his word.

you know, I uh believed on the Lord

Jesus Christ as my savior. All those

things I did one night about midnight

um a long long time ago.

But that

is where the new birth began. And it is

so with the church. Every time God

starts a church, somebody gets saved.

That's what happened all the way through

the book of Acts. It's still going on.

How did Mike Brunk start his church?

He's He's coming.

He's here. But he'll tell you. I was

over there. Some of you been over there.

One of the fellows that he was

ministering to finally said, "You know

what?

This is truth. I need to get saved."

And they got saved. And bingo, that's

church started right then and there. And

then it it sort of spread out. That's

what happens. Somebody gets saved and

it's like the Philippian jailer,

you know, he believed and then he went

home with his whole house.

So

God works miraculously and delivering us

from our sin.

And over here in 1 Thessalonians chapter

1 Thessalonians 1 · chapter mention

1,

you know, that's why Paul can say,

you know,

how could we face tomorrow if we didn't

know we were saved?

Well, you know, I don't know. I don't

know if I'm really going to make it or

not.

You know, after all,

uh, this takes away all that.

You know, I I I am chosen of God to come

to him through his son, and he's given

me eternal life and everything else that

goes with it.

How can I doubt God and his word? How

can I doubt God and his work on my

behalf?

And Paul never says anything like that

to these churches. Well, you know what?

I hope you guys hang on to the end.

No, he says

uh here in verse one, God the Father and

the Lord Jesus Christ, grace be unto you

and peace from God our father and the

Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said

to every church except one.

And he says we give thanks to God.

That's what this doctrine should do for

us. We should be thanking God. I should

be thanking God that you are one of the

elect

and and and vice versa, you know, and

and our children and our friends and our

family,

you know, this hopefully has spread to

them and you can become one of the

elect. Uh just, you know, the whosoever

will may come. We talked about that this

morning, too.

But, you know, this is God's decree.

This is God's plan. And this is God's

purpose.

And you know, we're in on this. We're

we're the elect. And we've done nothing

to cause God to save us. And it's 100%

through his mercy

that he has done this.

And uh again, you know, we have to keep

the human stuff out of it. Oh, God. You

know, he he knew who was going to

believe. So those are the ones that he

elected.

No, that's a wrong view of this um in in

many ways because of what Romans says.

You know, God chose

Jacob before he had ever done anything

good or bad.

So that's our God. He knows everything,

his fornowledge. And and he predestines

according to his will, the good pleasure

of his will.

And you know when it when it comes to

this doctrine, we have to be like like

John told us to be and test the spirits

and like Paul told us uh in first

Timothy to test the spirit.

And anyone who doesn't believe this,

you know what spirit are they of? You

know, they're not of the Holy Spirit

because this is the truth of God's word.

This comes from God. This is God's great

truth. You know, whether we, you know,

just now beginning to understand this

or, you know, we've been I've been saved

for a long long time and 40ome years

and,

you know, this is in the Bible. We can't

run from it.

And the word election is here. And

that's exactly what it means. God

predestined and God elected a group of

people to have eternal life. That's why

Paul can say in Romans,

justified freely by his grace.

And that's this great salvation that we

have. God didn't see who, you know, who

needed a little more mercy than anyone.

We're all We all fall short and we're

all we're all sinners and we're all

enemies of God. all those things that uh

Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

But you know, God is wise and

understanding and gracious and and all

those great things that God is. He's all

of them at once.

So, as we go back and look at what he

did, how he did it, you know, we have to

say what Paul said. are you're going to

find fault with God?

And we say, "Nope. No, Lord. I'm not

going to find fault with you. You know,

everything and and uh you know, these

great things should bring us comfort."

And we should agree that he elected us

before the foundation of the world. He

chose us before the foundation of the

world. We We're real sinners, you know.

I I just thank God for, you know, what

he's done for me. And I know you thank

God for what he's done for you. And,

you know, he shouldn't have saved me.

I'm I'm I'm like Paul. I'm a terrible

sinner. I'm a wretched sinner.

But sometimes those are the people God

saved.

You know, uh, not many, Paul says to the

Corinthians, not many wise men after the

flesh

are called.

But, you know, God shows us his plan.

Who built this house we're in? God. Who

built this world we're in? God. Can he

not start it and run it and finish it

the way that he wants?

Oh, I think he can.

and he's shared all that with us in his

word so that we could trust him and

know, you know, there's uh there's no

merit in us.

And if he hadn't elected us, we'd be

just like everyone else out there.

And you know, uh people have, you know,

we lost the ability

in the garden with Adam not to sin.

We lost it and we inherited our sin

nature from Adam. And then we come along

and we do our thing and you know God has

elected us to be

um saved and justified and that great

golden chain that we talked about in

Romans sanctified.

I hope

I was a I was a pretty bad sinner and I

I still sin,

but not like I did back then.

And it's the grace of God and the mercy

of God and the love of God, the word of

God, the light, the spirit, these great

gifts that God has given to us, not

because we deserve them, but because

he's given them to us in his son.

So we can continue to trust this God who

has elected us from the foundation of

the world. And again that word election

is all over the place. And and again

Paul told the Corinthians, you guys have

rejected the grace of God. And people do

that. You give the gospel to them.

You're like, hey man, they say, hey,

what happened to you? Oh, let me tell

you. And you share with them what

happened. and they're like, "Oh, wow. I

don't,

you know, I'm not interested in that."

And um they reject the grace of God.

You know, they take all God's benefits.

They love breathing his air.

You know, they love, you know, uh

enjoying the great outdoors and all

those things that God has done for them

even though they're dead in their

trespasses and sins. and we'd be right

there with them if God hadn't chose us

before the foundation of the world. And

you know, that's what happens. The

gospel comes along and the elect believe

the gospel

because of a preacher and a teacher.

And again, it's not any good in us.

And we don't deserve the mercy of God.

And again, we don't want to argue with

God, but he he does as he pleases.

That's why Paul, you know, can can say

and in and uh go to Romans 3 and I'll

quit.

Romans chapter 3,

Romans 3 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

And here in verse 26,

uh Paul here,

this is just an incredible

section on

things that we have been talking about

God taking the initiative to save us.

And it says there being justified freely

by his grace. If it wasn't for God's

mercy, there's no there's no merit in

us. There's no reason for God to justify

us. Not one.

But God did it anyway through the

redemption

that is in Christ Jesus whom God set

forth. There's a big word to be a

propitiation

through faith.

You know, God set it up this way

that we would come to him through faith

to have this remission of sin. This is

God's plan. Who's going to argue with

God? Well, the devil tries to. People

try to,

but no one can argue with what God has

done

in in electing some and choosing some

and passing over others.

We can't lay anything to the charge of

God.

Charge God with anything.

26 to declare I say at this time his

righteousness God's that he might be

just and the justifier of him who

believes in Jesus or boasting there is

no boasting and he goes on

so God

can make an ungodly unrighteous filthy

sinner

clean

through the blood of his

And that's the way he wants us to come.

You know, all the elect will come. That

whosoever will come. If you're not

saved, come

come to God and receive from him this

great gift of eternal life. And you can

we can have it through faith.

You know, we uh extend our faith to God

in these things.

And then Paul deals with this again here

in chapter 4. And I got to wrap things

up. But

thank you all for coming out tonight.

And let's close in prayer.

Father, we thank you for your word. We

thank you for the

for the light that it is,

Father,

to bring us to salvation.

And we didn't know we were such sinners.

We didn't know we were so guilty. And

you you showed us, Father, that we were

and that we are. And you are holy. And

you cannot look on sin,

but you have found a way to be

propitious and

uh gracious and loving and kind to us

sinners, Father, through your son,

through his through his birth,

uh through his life, and through his

death. Now we can have

um a place at the table with him because

you chose us before the foundation of

the world that we might um be made a new

by him and for him and receive the glory

that he's going to receive when we get

to heaven.

You've been so gracious to us. You've

been so kind to us and merciful to us,

Father. and we don't deserve a bit of

it, but we thank you for it. We praise

you for it this evening and we thank you

in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Stand with us and turn to page 90.

Lord, as we go from this place,

loving you more, trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world.

As we go from this