Who Chose Who? – Part 2
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
June 11, 2017

Well, last time we met started looking into this idea of Sovereign Election.

Having already settled the issue of ABSOLUTE INABILITY
• We saw in Romans 5 that Adam killed us all.
• We saw in Ephesians 2 that we were all dead and incapable of responding
• We saw in John 6 that no one can come unless God draws him

So we saw that man is incapable on his own.

This then led us to our next question.
If man cannot initiate salvation then who does?
• And of course the only possible answer is: God.

If God does not breathe at least some life into the dead
Then he cannot even hear the gospel call, let alone respond to it.

So salvation then is a matter of God’s sovereign prerogative
To give life to whom He chooses.

We are talking then about GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION.

And as I told you last time,
This is not a doctrine that comes without massive argument.
I even read you some quotes of prominent evangelical leaders
Who see this as the most evil and blasphemous of doctrines.

Tim Lehaye even said:
“And to suggest that the merciful, long-suffering, gracious and loving God of the Bible would invent a dreadful doctrine like this, predestination, which would have us believe it is an act of grace to select certain people for heaven and by exclusion others for hell comes perilously close to blasphemy.”
(MacArthur, John [The Doctrine of Election, Part 1, a sermon on www.gty.org,] code: 90-273)

And perhaps you’ve had similar thoughts on the matter.
• No way God chooses…
• No way God elects…

Well, that’s why we went on our little Bible journey LAST WEEK
To see that God is in fact a God who chooses.

We started with Israel (God’s chosen people)
And walked right into the New Testament
Where we saw over and over the reality that God does have His elect,
Whom He foreknew, and whom He chose.

You just can’t escape the language.

So what do people who reject this doctrine do with all of those verses?

That is simple: they reinterpret them.

They simply take the word and say it means something
Other than what it means.

Let me give you an example.
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

That passage seems pretty clear to me, so what do Arminians or Semi-Pelagians do with a passage like that?

They simply interpret it as groups of people instead of as individuals.
So, “He chose us” doesn’t mean He chose me and you,
It means He chose a group of people.

Well that then begs the question, WHO IS “US”?
• Everybody (well not everybody is saved, so I guess not)
• Gentiles? (obviously not)
• Jews? (couldn’t be)
• Ephesians? (they weren’t all saved)

The only possible answer is that God chose believers.

Let me give you another one, and this one is probably the most famous.
Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”

Perhaps you’ve heard this point.
Foreknowledge simply means that
God just knows ahead of time who will be saved.

Now, the problem there is that in Romans 8:29 “foreknew” is a verb
Which means it is something God does. He foreknows people.

When people try to say that God just knows ahead of time they are using “foreknowledge” as a noun, which doesn’t work.

But perhaps you’ve heard that foreknowledge simply means
God knows ahead of time.

Well, can I tell you that this still doesn’t solve the problem?

So God just knows ahead of time who will be saved.
You say, “Yes”.
Then I have to ask: If God knew that some people would not be saved, then why did God create them?

So people say, “No, God didn’t know specifically.”
And you just jump into the “open theism” debate and say,
“No, God doesn’t know ahead of time who will and won’t be saved, He just creates men and hopes for the best.”

Well surely by now God has to have seen that the majority of men love sin and reject truth, so at what point would you call God cruel for not doing a better job of reading the data and just pulling the plug on the whole thing?

See, you never escape it.

But because it doesn’t taste well,
We try to say election is just a broad term for a group of people,
Foreknowledge simply means God knows ahead of time
And predestination just means that
God determined for you to hear about Jesus.

I know that’s how I grew up hearing it
And that’s how I believed it for many many years.

God doesn’t choose, God doesn’t foreknow (in the verb sense)
God doesn’t’ elect, God leaves all that up to the sinner’s free will.

Well, LET’S SAY THAT’S HOW YOU BELIEVE IT,
And even though we saw all those verses last week,
You still want to hold on to that way of thinking.

Then tonight I want to challenge your thinking a little.

Let’s now get to 1 Corinthians 1.

And just to save some time, the backdrop here to this passage
Is the boasting of the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 1:10-11 “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.”

And that isn’t the only time their boasting is mentioned in this book,
But you get the idea.

• They were looking for ways to distinguish themselves as more important or
more holy or more devoted than the person in the pew next to them.
• It was a bunch of people flexing their pride and their spiritual resume, seeking
to feel superior to their fellow brothers and sisters.

Paul’s answer to that arrogant boasting comes here.
And he simply seeks to point out to them
Who they were and why they were saved.

And there are 4 things we learn in our text tonight.
#1 THE ELOQUENCE OF THE CALLED
1 Corinthians 1:26

I do want to help you see a natural progression.
This text has a definite skeleton or structure to it.

Paul takes three characteristics and follows throughout the text tonight.
1) WISDOM
2) ABILITY
3) WORTH

Paul will continually refer to these three characteristics in this text.
And you will notice first tonight,
That those who are called of God had NONE OF THEM.

“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;”

One could almost say, that in order to succeed in life,
A person must have 1 of 3 things.

1) BE SMART – and education
2) BE SKILLED – a skill (such as sports)
3) BE SPECIAL – have a rich family

And in general those are three areas that make a person successful.

But notice what Paul says about what type of people
The Corinthians were.

“were not many wise”

In other words, these were not the brainiacs of ancient Greece.

It could mean they did not have a formal education,
But it could also mean they lacked the street smarts simply to survive.

There were not many who were deemed as “wise according to the flesh”

“not many mighty”

The word here is DUNATOS, and it is sometimes translated “mighty”

For example:
Acts 18:24 “Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures.”

Many times, this word is translated
“possible” as in “with God all things are possible”

And it carries the idea of a person with ability.
Someone who has the ability to do something else.
They are skilled in an area.
They can do something that perhaps someone else cannot do all that well.

But as you will notice,
The Corinthians didn’t have much of that going for them either.

Paul also notes that:
“not many noble”
The word here is EUGENES (you-gen-ace)

“Eu” = well
“Genos” = family

So it would speak of a person who came from a good family,
And was ahead in society because of their family status.

And yet Paul says that there weren’t many of those in Corinth either.

And so the point is that when God called the Corinthians,
It wasn’t because they were worthy to be called.

AND THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A MOMENT.
WHAT DO YOU THINK GOD SAW IN YOU?
John 2:24-25 “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

God didn’t call you because
He saw in you something exceptional and special.

Our world has spent billions on the notion of “SELF-ESTEEM”
Trying to convince people of their inner goodness, and their inner worth

It plays right into the ego driven society that we have.

Where everyone is looking for an area
In which they can boast in regard to their goodness.

BUT SELF-ESTEEM MAKES PEOPLE FURTHER FROM SALVATION.

But when Paul asked the Corinthians to look back over their lives, do you know what they found?
NOTHING.
• They weren’t smart…
• They weren’t skilled…
• They weren’t special…

And yet God called them anyway.
For when it comes to salvation,
God calls those who are down and out.

In fact, look at the first beatitude.
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

But you see Paul’s point.
Don’t boast about being something special.
God didn’t choose you because you were special.

I KNOW THAT IS HARD TO SWALLOW, BUT LET’S GO ON.

The eloquence of the called
#2 THE EXPLANATION OF THE CALLED
1 Corinthians 1:27-29

Paul just said that when God called you,
There wasn’t much noteworthy about you.

“but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,”

Paul’s second reference to WISDOM
And he points out that God didn’t choose you because you were wise,
Instead God chose you because you were “foolish”.

God chose “foolish” people on purpose.
WHY? – “to shame the wise”

He goes on
“and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong”

Paul’s second reference to ABILITY

God didn’t choose you because you were strong,
But rather He purposely chose you because you were weak.

WHY? – “to shame the things which are strong”

And look at Paul’s third point.
(28) “and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,”

Paul’s second reference to WORTH

“base things” translates AGENES (a-gen-ace)

“A” = not
“GENOS” = family

In other words, you were of no reputable family,
And that is why God chose you.
You were a nobody, a figurative orphan in the world.

“despised” translates EXOUTHENEO

Paul will use this word later.
1 Corinthians 6:4 “So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?”

You were literally of “no account” in the world

Then Paul really drives it deep.
“things that are not”

Meaning you had no worth.
It wasn’t that you were rejected,
You weren’t even noticed to begin with.

Reminiscent of that Ezekiel 16 forgotten baby
We saw a couple of weeks ago.

And Paul says that God specifically chose us like that.

WHY? “so that He may nullify the things that are.”

• God chose the dumb on purpose…
• God chose the weak on purpose…
• God chose the despised on purpose…

To make a point that man’s wisdom, man’s ability, and man’s status are of absolutely no benefit in regard to salvation.
His choice was a slap in the face
To man’s wisdom, man’s ability, and man’s status.

DON’T YOU EVER GET SICK OF THE ARROGANCE OF MANKIND?

People who think they are important because they are so smart?
And yet none are smart enough to figure out how to get to heaven.

People who think they are so talented?
And yet none are talented enough to avoid the grave.

People who think they are so important?
And yet none are so important that they get to remain forever.

Well God is sick of their arrogance as well.
Instead God chose the dumb, the weak, and the despised
In order to shame them.

God purposely selects the rejected
In order to shame those who think they are so special.

(29) “so that no man may boast before God.”

Could you imagine heaven of God called those who thought they were worthy?
Every conversation would be about why I deserved to get here,
Or how I got here, or the way I figured it out.

THAT IS WHY HE CALLED THE WEAK.

The eloquence of the called
The explanation of the called
#3 THE EQUIPPING OF THE CALLED
1 Corinthians 1:30

Now here you will notice Paul’s third reference to:
WISDOM
ABILITY
WORTH

First notice the grace involved.
“By by His doing you are in Christ Jesus”

If there was ever a verse
That squashed the notion of works salvation, this is it.

The only reason you are in Christ is because God did it.
Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

• You weren’t smart enough to choose Christ…
• You weren’t strong enough to claim Christ…
• You weren’t important enough to deserve Christ…

You are not saved because you did anything at all.
Salvation is “by His doing”

And look at what He did.
“by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God,”

We did not have anything the world thought was noteworthy in an intellectual sense, and yet God chose us, and instilled wisdom to us.

He gave us Christ.
He gave us the Holy Spirit.
He imparted wisdom to us.

Earlier Paul told the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 1:4-5 “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,”

God took the foolish, chose us, and then gave us wisdom.

Paul continues.
“who became to us…righteousness and sanctification”

We had no ability.
We had no way to distinguish ourselves at all.

Not to fear, God gave it to us through Christ Jesus.

Mike Trout appears set apart on a baseball field…
Tom Brady is set apart on a football field…
Michael Phelps is set apart in a swimming pool…
Ussain Bolt is set apart on track…

But I am set apart in this world because I am righteous.
I didn’t achieve it, God gave it to me through Jesus Christ.

And still Paul continues.
“who became to us…redemption.”

We had no worth, until God bought us back.
And now, we are members of the most esteemed family every born.

When Bill Gates dies I will not inherit a penny of his estate,
But when I die, I will inherit all of creation, for I am a co-heir with Christ.

We were literally like that China-baby on the sidewalk.
No wisdom
No ability
No worth
And that is why God called us.

So that when He gave to us wisdom, and ability, and worth,
The only One who could receive any glory from it would be Him.

The Eloquence of the Called The Explanation of the Called The Equipping of the Called
#4 THE EXPECTATION OF THE CALLED
1 Corinthians 1:31

Notice that “so that”
It is vitally important.

“so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boas in the LORD”

DO YOU SEE PAUL’S POINT NOW TO THE CORINTHIANS?

You are all running around looking for a reason
To boast in something you have done.

1 Corinthians 1:12 “Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”

You constantly run around trying to prove
• Why you are important to this church,
• Why the church could not go on without you,
• Why we should all bow before you, give you your way, and worship the ground you walk on.

BUT YOU HAVE MISSED THE POINT

• You would not even be worthy if God hadn’t given you worth.
• You would not be here if God hadn’t chosen you.
• God wouldn’t have chosen you if you in yourself weren’t worthless.

None of us have one single thing
That we can boast about in this life.

Christians ought to have
The absolute worst self-esteem
And the highest God-esteem in the world.

That is the problem with the Church.
We all run around looking for ways to esteem ourselves,
When we are commanded to “boast in the LORD”.

Romans 3:27-28 “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

Paul will tell the Corinthians later:
1 Corinthians 4:7 “For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”

And that is precisely Paul’s point.
Quit elevating what you have done,
And start bragging about what God has done!

God did it all, and He deserves all the glory!

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

SO YOU SEE THE TEXT.

Here is what I want to do now.
For just a moment I want you to DENY the doctrine of divine election.

Go ahead and take the other side of the issue.
• Tell me that God does not choose individuals for salvation.
• Or Tell me that God just chose everyone and the reason not everyone is saved is because everyone didn’t choose God in return.
• Tell me that God merely foreknows ahead of time what choice I will make.
• Tell me that predestination is nothing more than be being exposed to Christ so that I will have the opportunity to choose Him.

Take that train of thought.
That is the Arminian position, that is the Semi-Pelagian position.

By chosen it just means that God chose you after you first chose Him.

SO TAKE THAT DOCTRINAL VIEW.

NOW:
EXPLAIN THIS TEXT TO ME

If it doesn’t mean God chose me when I was incapable of choosing Him, then what does it mean?

I mean what is Paul’s point?

Stop boasting!
• You’re not wise (even though you were smart enough to choose Christ)
• You’re not mighty (even though you were strong enough to overcome the flesh)
• You’re not noble (even though you took the high road when everyone else didn’t)

I mean that kind of kills the whole point doesn’t it?

Paul gives the point as “So that no man may boast before God.”

But if I chose first and if God only knew what I would do,
And I was willing to respond after being predisposed to the gospel,
Then absolutely I have something to boast about.

SO WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES THIS TEXT EVEN MEAN?

It can only mean one thing.
• It can only mean that God chose me, the man too dumb to choose Him.
• It can only mean that God chose me, the man too weak to choose Him.
• It can only mean that God chose me, the man too unimportant to choose Him.

That’s all it can mean,
Any other doctrine and this passage makes no sense at all.

Furthermore, how can a person only boast in the Lord
If salvation is a cooperative effort?

Maybe they boast mostly in the Lord, but they can’t boast only in the Lord.

Do you see?
There is no other way to see it.
• When the Bible speaks of God choosing, that is what it means.
• When the Bible speaks of God electing, that is what it means.
• When the Bible speaks of God foreknowing, it doesn’t just mean He knows ahead of time, it means He brings to pass that which He desires.

You can hate the doctrine of divine election, but that doesn’t make it false.

GOD CHOOSES THOSE WHO WILL BE SAVED.

Now, that doctrine is met with cries of “That’s Not Fair!”
Some come back next time and we’ll talk about that.

Is Election Fair? – Part 1
Romans 9:1-33 (1-13)
June 18, 2017

As you know we are currently knee deep into our conversation
Regarding the sovereign election of God.

Because we looked at the Scriptures and learned that
Man is spiritually dead by reason of the fall,
We have learned that the only possible way for man to be saved
Is if God sovereignly chooses to save him.

Man cannot (and would not) initiate salvation on his own.
It must be done according to the divine prerogative of God.

This reality is commonly known as:
• Sovereign Election
• Predestination
• Unconditional Election

Now we have also noted that this doctrine is not without its opponents.
Indeed there are many, however, one thing that cannot be denied
Is the presence of this reality everywhere in Scripture.

• We’ve seen the O.T. and Israel as “God’s Chosen People”
• We’ve seen the N.T. and the many passages referring to God’s elect.

And last week we looked at what I believe to be the most compelling argument for election in all of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Where we encountered a passage that makes absolutely no sense
If it does not mean that God chooses whom He will.

However, as I told you in closing last time,
There is ONE CRY THAT SEEMS TO DROWN OUT ALL THE OTHERS.

When people hear of sovereign election we continually hear the cry: “THAT’S NOT FAIR!”

And those who take issue with the fairness of election
Inevitably assume that to hold to election
Is to portray some sort of evil reputation upon God.

One pastor on the radio writes:
“This doctrine makes our heavenly Father look like the worst of despots.”
(MacArthur, John [The Doctrine of Election, Part 1, a sermon on www.gty.org,] code: 90-273)

A Calvary Chapel pastor writes:
“Five-point Calvinism, makes God a monster who eternally tortures innocent children. It removes the hope of consolation from the gospel. It limits the atoning work of Christ. It resists evangelism. It stirs up argumentation and division and promotes a small angry judgmental God rather than the large-hearted God of the Bible.”
(ibid)

Another says:
“To say that God sovereignly chooses who will be saved is the most twisted thing I have ever read that makes God a monster, no better than a pagan idol.”
(ibid)

A website from theological students in Canada:
“This doctrine makes God a diabolical monster and reduces man who was created in the image of God to a mere robot.”
(ibid)

Dave Hunt:
“This doctrine’s misrepresentation of God has caused many to turn away from the God of the Bible as from a monster.”
(ibid)

Well, I think that just about sums up
What many think about the doctrine of election.
If sovereign election is true, then according to these men,
God would be a monster.

But this is where we all have to be very careful.

We are not afforded the liberty of setting the definition
Of fairness or justice or even love
And then using our definition to define who God is.

On the contrary, we learn who God is,
And that changes our definition of fairness, justice, and love.

We don’t define God by our terms, we define our terms by God.

But this is commonly the problem.
Men like those we just quoted are so worried that
God may be considered “unapproachable” by sinners.

They are afraid that if we uncover the truth about God’s sovereign election
That sinners might think Him to be some sort of monster, be turned off by Him,
And then not want to come to Him.

But do you understand that the goal has never been to make God acceptable to sinners?
The goal has always been to make sinners acceptable to God.

So we aren’t really concerned about how the world perceives God,
We are only concerned about who God is,
That we might accurately proclaim Him to the world.

Now, that being said, I certainly believe in sovereign election,
And I most certainly do not think this makes God a monster
Or the worst of despots.

But none the less, the question remains:
IS ELECTION FAIR?

In order to answer that question, I must really first ask you another one.
And that is: WHO IS THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY; YOU OR GOD?

Because we have already seen that election is real.
If we are now asking if it is fair then we must be at a point where we are now going to put God on trial as to whether or not His methods suit us.

• You either have to deny that God is a God of election (which you
cannot do according to all the Scriptures we have seen over the last two
weeks)

• Or, you have to put yourself in the chief seat of authority, and put
God on trial, and ask Him if He is right in what He has chosen
to do.

And that really is the heart of the problem.
In the end, we think too highly of man, and too little of God.

Or as R.C. Sproul put it, “We don’t know who we are and we don’t know who God is.”

IT IS HUMANISM
Where we believe that this whole thing is somehow about man.
After all, if it doesn’t seem right or fair to man
Then it just can’t be because it really is all about us.

The reality is that it is all about the glory of God, not man,
And since God is the ultimate authority then whatever He does
Is always right because God answers to no one but Himself.

I know our text is supposed to be Romans 9, but first
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 18:1-6

Now there is a question for you.
“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?”

Now in that passage we aren’t talking about their election, but rather God will either discipline or bless them, but the question remains.

Who is the potter?
Who is the clay?
Who is in charge?

If you look at the end of the book of Isaiah,
• Isaiah sees the coming (and future) salvation of Israel.
• Key to their salvation is understanding of who God is and who they are.

One passage speaks volumes about the day when they return to God.

Isaiah 64:5-8 “You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved? For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.”

You can pick up on several attitudes of salvation there.
• We definitely see “poor in spirit”
• We definitely see “mourning”
• We definitely see “meekness”

These people finally reached a point where they realized who was God and who was not, and they decided to submit fully to Him.

That is salvation.
• It always has been.
• It is to fully confess Christ as “Lord”

So I really need to ask you who is the ultimate authority here;
You or God?
Before we ask if election is fair
Then I need to know who is getting to decide what fair is.

Because if we are taking the definition of fair from fallen sinful man, then the answer is, “NO” because man thinks he deserves far more than he actually does.

But if we are taking the definition of fair from holy God, then the answer is still “NO” because no man deserves to be chosen.

That is why I told you last week, God is not fair.
If He were, no one would be saved.

But in God’s sovereign prerogative this holy and just God
Has graciously determined to save some who don’t deserve it,
And we believe that as the Potter, He has every right to do so.

Romans 9:21 “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”

Well, let’s look at this 9th chapter of Romans
And talk about the fairness of election.

Because I think what you will find is that God is NOT FAIR,
And for you and I that is a very GOOD THING.

Now, just some background here.
Romans 9,10, & 11 are all about Israel.
• Romans 9 – The Present state of Israel (they are lost)
• Romans 10 – The Possible state of Israel (salvation through Christ)
• Romans 11 – The Promised state of Israel (salvation, for they are chosen)

You should also know; this is a very difficult portion of Scripture for Paul.
He is attempting to be the Jew who chronicles that Israel is lost.

Imagine that for a moment…
• He is already considered a traitor
• He is already hated
• And now he is about to just stop way over the line and talk about how Israel is
lost.

Because this is such a hot topic Paul leaves no stone unturned,
And the benefit for us is absolute doctrinal treasure.

The chapter begins with Paul first off revealing that though Israel is lost,
He has nothing in him but DESIRE FOR THEIR SALVATION.

(9:1-3) “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”

You can’t read a statement like that
Without coming to grips with the great missionary heart of Paul.

I point that out because it is important to know that
Paul believed in sovereign election as much as anyone
And it did not affect his missionary zeal.

One of the criticisms of Calvinistic doctrine is that
It kills evangelism and kills prayer
(after all if God has already determined it, why bother?).

BUT A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
Does not kill evangelism, it motivates it,
Because the evangelist understands
He is being used by God to call out the elect.

AND A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
Does not kill prayer, it drives men to it,
Because we understand that
Nothing occurs apart from His divine intervention.

You certainly see that with Paul.
He is not indifferent toward unbelieving Israel,
He is passionate about their salvation.
And that isn’t hard to prove, if we had time.
• Just look at the book of Acts at the number of times this apostle to the Gentiles first went to the synagogue to do his preaching.

But you see Paul’s heart.

The next thing we see about Israel is THEIR PRIVILEGE.
No nation can ever say that they were ever
As spiritually blessed as the nation of Israel.

In fact, I have often called these “The 8 Great Rejected Privileges of Israel”
(9:4-5) “who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”

You see their privileges.
Adopted, the presence of God, the covenants, the Law, the temple, the promises, the patriarchs, even the Christ.

SO WHAT ARE WE TO DEDUCE AT THIS POINT?
Well simply this: Israel is lost, but it is not for lack of revelation.

Can we agree there?
Israel is lost, but it is not because they didn’t have access to the truth.
To put it another way, Israel is lost, but it is NOT GOD’S FAULT.

And that is the next point of Paul.
(6) “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.”

See Paul already knows where the argument is going.

If you step out and say that Jews are lost then you have every Jew breathing down your neck saying that is not possible because God promised that He was going to save Abraham’s descendants.
(The Jews very much believed in sovereign election)

I mean we saw that confidence even in the New Testament when you have John the Baptist talking to the Pharisees, “And do not suppose that you can say, ‘We have Abraham for our father.’ For I tell you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”

There was a supreme confidence in the fact that we are all saved
Because of the promises God made to Abraham.

So… Paul, if you’re going to insinuate that Israel is now lost then we need to ask you about all of those promises in the Old Testament.
• Was God lying?
• Or was God just not able to follow through on His promises?

Paul anticipates the question.
And so after revealing that they are lost,
Paul immediately reveals that the lostness of Israel
Is not at all due to weakness in God or to some lack of integrity in God.

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed.”

Well then Paul, you’re going to have to explain
How God could promise the salvation of Israel,
And yet not be a failure
Even though you now suggest that Israel isn’t saved.

Well here it is:
“For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;”

Now what Paul is about to do
Is explain to you THE PARTICULARS OF GOD’S SALVATION.

Let’s look at it together, there are 3 points Paul wants you to know.
#1 A SPECIFIC SALVATION
Romans 9:6-7

As already noted, Paul began by saying:
“But it is not as though the word of God has failed.”

In other words, the reason we see lost Jews today
Is not because God lied, or was unable to finish what He promised.

The reason it appears like God’s word failed
Is because people failed to understand what God really said.

Many read that statement in Genesis 17 to mean that God’s salvation
Was a UNIVERSAL salvation to anyone who came from Abraham’s seed.
This is absolutely not true.

“For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;”

In other words, just because you are a descendant of Jacob,
Does not make you a true Jew.

And to a degree Paul already dealt with this in chapter 2.
Romans 2:28-29 “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

Outward creeds, outward ceremonies, even outward ancestry
Does not make you a true follower of God.

And Paul elaborates on that by what he says next.
(7) “nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.”

He is quoting Genesis 21:12.
SETTING
God has promised a child to Abraham.
Abraham was impatient and went in to Hagar.
But Abraham’s impatience did not hinder the will of God, for Sarah did have Isaac

Genesis 21:8-12 “The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.”

Abraham was distressed about forcing Hagar and Ishmael away.
The context seems to suggest that at least part of Abraham’s anxiety
Was due to the fact that he was worried about his descendants.

God set Abraham’s mind to ease by revealing that it is ok to send Ishmael away, “for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.”

It is that point Paul uses to reveal that being a physical descendant of Abraham means nothing in regard to salvation.

All we have to do to reveal that is ask about Ishmael’s descendants.
Jews did not consider his descendants as God’s chosen people,
And yet they were descendants of Abraham.

GOD’S SALVATION IS NOT UNIVERSAL, IT IS SPECIFIC.

But now, honestly, at this point,
The Jews would have been in wholehearted agreement.

But then we must ask a very important question.
WHY ISAAC?

That will lead us to the 2nd attribute of God’s salvation
#2 A SUPERNATURAL SALVATION
Romans 9:8-9

Some would argue, that it may be through Isaac,
But how does that prove that Jews are lost?

The reason is because they miss the point
To what salvation through Isaac reveals.
IT IS NOT that God chose Isaac’s blood line
Over the blood line of Ishmael or one of Abraham’s other sons.

It is still not a hereditary thing.
It is still not a genetic thing.

And so here Paul explains why Isaac is important.
“That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.”

This of course is what separated Isaac from Ishmael.
Ishmael was of the flesh. Isaac was of the promise.

The birth of Ishmael was no miraculous thing.
Take a fertile man who goes in to a fertile woman,
And it is no surprise that you get a child 9 months later.

But Isaac is a completely different story.
Abraham was able, but Sarah was not.
Sarah was barren.

But God intervened for Isaac.

(9) “For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.” He is quoting Genesis 18:10
CONTEXT

God had already made the promise about Abraham’s descendants
That we read at the opening of this sermon.
(“I establish My covenant between you and your descendants after you”)

Of course Abraham didn’t know how that was possible,
And at the end of chapter 17 tried to get God just to take Ishmael.

Genesis 17:15-19 “Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”

After this, God would appear to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre,
And Abraham would prepare a dinner for them.
(It was at the same time that God revealed His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah)

It was then, that God made a promise again to Abraham.
Genesis 18:9-14 “Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ “Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

NOW WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT THAT?

Well look at what Paul chose to quote out of that passage.
“AT THIS TIME I WILL COME AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.”

The way Paul reveals the culmination of the promise
Is that ONE IS AFFECTED BY THE OTHER.

The idea is that “SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON” because “I WILL COME”

Now I am not insinuating a virgin birth,
Or even that Isaac was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

What I am saying is that God intervened directly in Sarah’s body
To enable her to have a child.

This child was born by a legitimate miracle, of supernatural means.

THIS IS WHAT MAKES ISAAC SPECIAL.
• His birth, his life, his descendants
• Are not those who are so by the work of man,
• But those who are so by the promise of God.

And this is what Jews failed to understand.
It was not those who are genetically linked to Isaac who are saved.
But those whose birth is of the same kind as Isaac’s.

This is why Paul wrote what he did to the Galatian church.
Galatians 3:6-9 “Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”

Abraham’s children are children of the promise, not children of the flesh.
Genuine salvation is both SPECIFIC and SUPERNATURAL.

#3 A SOVEREIGN SALVATION
Romans 9:10-13

“And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”

Let’s make sure we see what Paul was saying.

Rebekah had conceived twins from Isaac.
Paul calls him “our father Isaac” based upon the previous point,
that we are children of the promise.

And once Rebekah had conceived, before she gave birth,
God came and told her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”

He is quoting Genesis 25:23.
CONTEXT

Genesis 25:21-23 “Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”

And so you see that before the boys were ever born,
God had elected who would serve the other.

Notice what Paul adds in his text.
“the twins…had not done anything good or bad”

In other words, what God decreed
Was not a matter of consequence, but a matter of choice.

This was absolutely 100% the sovereign selection of God.

In order to prove that
Paul quoted another Old Testament passage
written several thousand years later which recounts the story.

(13) “Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Malachi 1:2-3 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”

This verse was not a prophecy, it was merely an appraisal of history.
When you look back to trace what happened to Jacob’s line,
And compare it to what happened to Esau’s line,
There is no doubt that God favored Jacob over Esau.
Israel is continually blessed
Edom is continually rejected

Paul is revealing that God’s salvation is a sovereign salvation.
• Salvation exists because God chose to give it.
• It only exists by His supernatural power,
• And it only exists for those He chooses to give it to.

Now the reason God’s sovereignty gets a bad rap
Is because people read that verse wrong.

There are two ways you can read this verse.
You can read that verse as though Esau gets shafted,
And Jacob gets what he deserves.

Or you can read that verse as though Esau gets what he deserves,
And Jacob is a recipient of grace.

The fact of the matter is, if man is born,
Suffers his entire existence, and then spends eternity in hell,
He has only gotten exactly what he deserves.

Justice has been played out with extreme accuracy,
If man only inherits judgment.

You’ll see, that’s where Paul is going next:
Romans 9:14 “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!”

Esau was NOT treated worse than he deserved.

But if a man somehow has a life of blessing,
Which ends in eternal glory,
The only way to explain that is that God must have
Bestowed some sort of unmerited favor upon that individual.

We call it GRACE.

And we are out of time here, but at this point we are already answering the question as to WHETHER OR NOT ELECTION IS FAIR.

The obvious answer is: NO, IT IS NOT.
Fair equals that because of the fall, all humanity is an offense to God and deserves to suffer for their entire existence, first on earth and then in hell.

We don’t want fair – we want Grace.

And this is really Paul’s point to Israel.
• You are lost, but you cannot blame your lostness on God, you certainly had enough revelation.

• In fact, the only reason any of you are saved is because God refused to let you all go and saved some in spite of what they were.

• Election is not about God being fair, it’s about God being gracious.

Out of all the people on the earth,
God specifically chose whom He would save,
And then He supernaturally saved them
Apart from any ability of their own,
And this was not done according to their worth
But according to His sovereign choice.

Salvation is SPECIFIC
Salvation is SUPERNATURAL
Salvation is SOVEREIGN

That means it isn’t fair, it is pure grace.
We’ll continue on with this next time.

Summarizing the Revelation
Revelation 22:6-13
June 18, 2017

As you know, we have been working through this book of the Revelation.
• We’ve seen the great judgments during the tribulation,
• The glorious return of Christ,
• The millennial reign,
• The final judgment,
• Most recently we’ve been allowed to see the coming new heavens and new earth.

And now we are reaching the point where we begin to wrap up this book.

What we see taking place here at the end of the book of Revelation,
Is very similar to what we saw taking place
At the beginning of the book of Revelation.

Chapter 1 served as a preview of the book,
Chapter 22 seems to serve as a summary.

Now, of course we don’t have a complete rundown
Of all the events that are recorded in this book,
But what John is doing here, is pretty much hitting the high points.

One of the biggest issues regarding studying this book
Is the common fantasy with the mystical story
And very little concern as to the theological point.

People tend to get so caught up in the “mystical” side of this book
That they fail to see anything that is relevant for life today.
AND THIS IS ALWAYS A MISTAKE

You’ll probably remember when John made this mistake.
In chapter 4 he saw heaven and he was amazed by the throne.

But in chapter 5 he is weeping uncontrollably,
Because there was one thing that he failed to see.

Revelation 5:6 “And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”

From that point on, John was also concerned that you see the main thing.

And in this last chapter, he lays out a list of 6 essentials
That you should have seen.

So this morning, we will highlight these key elements
And understand the purpose behind the Revelation.
#1 THE RELIABILITY OF THE REVELATION
Revelation 22:6

Before we could even begin to study this prophecy,
We have each had to come to grips with a most essential truth.

The book of the Revelation is one hundred percent, absolute, infallible, inerrant, guaranteed to happen FACT!

Revelation 1:1-2 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

As with all of Scripture,
Its relevance stands or falls based upon its credibility.
(This is why Baptists fight so hard for the inerrancy of Scripture)

AND THIS BOOK IS NO DIFFERENT.
This book is not the result of a star gazed dreamer,
Or a man out of his mind.
This book came about as a divine Revelation from Jesus Christ.

And we need to know that for this book more so than any other.
WHY?

Because unlike other prophetic writings, this one is yet to be fulfilled.

No one questions the prophecy of Jeremiah anymore because it was fulfilled.
No one questions Ezekiel or Isaiah or Malachi because they actually came to pass.

BUT WE ARE STILL WAITING ON REVELATION
And therefore our willingness to obey this book
Is directly affected by whether or not we believe it is true.

This is the purpose for verse 6.
God told John very simply to write, “These words are faithful and true”.

God desired to leave little doubt in any of our minds
That there was a chance that the book or Revelation was a mistake.

Revelation 19:9 “Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

Revelation 21:5 “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

God is telling us, that even though these prophecies are yet future,
They are one hundred percent accurate.
He then reveals why we should know these words are accurate.

Because: the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servant the things which must soon take place.

We can know this prophecy is true,
Because it originated from the same God who issued all the other prophecies that have already been fulfilled.

The book of Revelation stands or falls on the credibility of God.
If God has been credible throughout the rest of history,
Then we have no reason to doubt His claim that this prophecy is reliable.

THE FACT IS:
God has yet to give us one reason to doubt His word,
And this would be no time to start.

These words are faithful and true, bank on it.

#2 THE REALITY OF THE REVELATION
Revelation 22:7

Once we have come to grips with the fact that this book is accurate,
Then we had better understand, and pay attention to what it says.

So John reminds us of the overlying theme to the book of Revelation.
THIS IS THE CRUX OF THE BOOK

“And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Jesus issued this prophecy
In order to send a dose of urgency through our veins.

If you gathered nothing else, please understand that
Jesus is returning, and it won’t be long, for He is coming quickly.

This is a truth that has been mentioned since the beginning.

Revelation 1:7 “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

This is also a truth He repeatedly issued while on earth.
John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

But not only did Jesus teach us that He would return,
He also taught us the importance of understanding
That we must each be ready for His return.

Matthew 24:42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.”

Jesus would continue:
Matthew 24:43-51 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The simple truth taught in the Revelation,
Is one that Jesus repeatedly emphasized on earth.

He would leave, but He would come again, and when He returns,
Be ready, for He is coming at an hour when you don’t expect Him.

Now, since Jesus is coming quickly,
And at an hour when we don’t expect Him,

We would do good to remember blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.

This is the 2nd part of the central message to Revelation.
Not only must we believe that Jesus is returning,
We must let that truth change our lives.

IMAGINE JESUS RETURNED FIVE MINUTES AGO,
Tell me, is there anything you wish you had done differently today?

We must believe that Jesus could return any minute,
But we must allow that belief to change our lives.

That is what true faith does. True faith produces righteous action.
1 Peter 1:17-19 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

I heard a man preaching at a funeral one time, He said to remember “to live each day like it was our last.”

I don’t know if that is a very good statement.
For many would just live for wanton pleasure.
Quitting jobs, indulging their lusts, the world would be chaos.

Better advice is for each of us to live each day
Like in a split second we could be standing before the judge.

Then, maybe we would be more willing to get that last bit of work done.

He gave us this book to warn you that He could return any minute,
And blessed is the person who believes that, and lives like it.

#3 THE RESULT OF THE REVELATION
Revelation 22:8-9

Another essential truth that we should all get from the book of Revelation, IS THE RESPONSE WE SHOULD HAVE.

• We have just seen God’s power over evil…
• We have seen the glorified Jesus…
• We have seen God’s provision for His people…
• We have seen the judgment of the wicked…
• We have seen the marriage of the Lamb…

IT OUGHT TO CAUSE SOMETHING IN US

It certainly did in the 24 elders.

They worship because He is the author of creation.
Revelation 4:10-11 “the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

They worship because Jesus is worthy.
Revelation 5:8-10 “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

They worship because of the scope of salvation.
Revelation 7:11-12 “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

They worship because of the judgment of the harlot.
Revelation 19:3-4 “And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

Because of these great truths,
We should all be motivated
To give glory, and honor, and power, and dominion, and praise
To the One who was, and who is, and who is to come.

When John sees this Revelation, he is in such awe,
That he immediately fell down to worship.

In fact, he worships prematurely
And fell down to worship at the feet of the angel.

But the angel reminds him that he is a fellow servant of John’s
And of his brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book.

The angel’s advice to John is very simple.
Worship God.

That is another key truth we should each get from this book.
GOD AND GOD ALONE IS WORTHY OF WORSHIP.

Satan wanted it…
The Anti- Christ fought for it…
The False Prophet demanded it…
YET IN THE END ONLY GOD DESERVES IT

And we have seen this continually.
Most recently in the understanding
That heaven is all about the glory of God and the worship He deserves.

Psalms 100 “Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.”

If you have studied through this book of the Revelation
And have not yet seen that God deserves worship
And that God will receive worship
Then you have missed one of the most vital points.

#4 THE REQUIREMENT OF THE REVELATION
Revelation 22:10

Found here in verse ten is another key concept
That I hope you gathered while reading this book.

It is something that has been required of each of us.

“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.”

Don’t take this truth and hide it under your hat.

I remember once, after studying the demonic army that will come screaming out of the pit of hell, comparable only to a locust invasion, I heard a lady come out and ask one of her peers: “Do you think people really know about this?”

That is precisely the point to the Revelation.
God didn’t entitle this book the secret of Jesus Christ,
Or the surprise attack of Jesus Christ,
He called it the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

It is to be truth revealed.
Matthew 10:27 “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”

He didn’t reveal this truth to us to just set back and do nothing with it.
He gave us this truth so we would spread it.

AND WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE.

Ezekiel 33:1-9 “And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. ‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’ “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.”

We are now the watchmen.
We have seen the coming doom.
We are accountable to tell the world it is coming.

Then God tells us why He is so passionate about the role of the watchman.

Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

God has appointed us each a watchman for America.
He has revealed truth to us,
That we are responsible for telling.

Just as we learned in chapter 10
Revelation 10:11 “And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

You cannot un-know the things you have now seen.
And as those who know them, we are accountable for them.

• We know where this world is headed…
• We know why this world will be judged…
• We know about the coming deception…
• We know about the coming tribulation…
• And we know who does and who doesn’t go to heaven.

Leo and I were talking about this a little this past week
As he had a funeral to do here at the church yesterday.

• Funerals are always tricky affairs, especially if there is concern about
the salvation of the deceased.

• And you know that there is a lot of bad theology that floats around at
funerals, and sadly this is the only time many people are in church at all.

So my goal is simple:
To tell people what heaven really is, and why people go there.

And friend, that is knowledge that you now have as well.
You also have seen what heaven is,
And you also know why people go there.
It is a message our world needs to hear.

Don’t get me wrong, our world doesn’t want to hear it (they would much rather continue on with their own pre-conceived notions of heaven and the belief that everyone goes there) but their disdain does not justify our silence.

We are called to make sure the world knows this truth.

#5 THE REASON FOR THE REVELATION
Revelation 22:11

We know we are called to warn the world.
Some may say, but I can’t make a person believe the warning I issue.

But as we learn here that is not the purpose.

We aren’t here to change a person’s destination
(only God can do that)
We are here to render men without excuse.
We are here to make sure they hear the truth
Regardless of what they do with it.

Perhaps you remember the calling God had for Isaiah?
Isaiah 6:8-10 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Earlier we read the “watchman” passage out of Ezekiel.
Several times we heard God use the phrase, “whether they listen or not”

Results aren’t the goal, Faithfulness is the goal.
We are called to proclaim the truth.

And the fact of the matter is that for some the truth leads to repentance and righteousness and for others it leads to rebellion and judgment.

God did not give you this revelation
So that you would be more successful in changing the world.
God gave you this revelation so that you would faithfully proclaim it
To the end that He would accomplish His purposes.

Some hear the words of this prophecy and scorn it, and reject it.
They will reveal that they are filthy men who only know how to do wrong,

And even the graphic truths contained in this prophecy
Won’t penetrate their hardened heart.

The Bible speaks of that drastic day in a person’s life,
When they have so hardened their heart to the calling of the Holy Spirit,
That eternity is impossible for them.

Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

When Israel was hardened in sin, and refused to repent, God said in
Hosea 4:17 “Ephraim is joined to idols; Let him alone.”

Jesus spoke of the Pharisees in
Matthew 15:14 “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Once confronted with the drastic truths of the book of Revelation,
Some will fail to repent, and because of their hardened heart,
Their fate will be sealed.

We read of this several times in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 16:9 “Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”

Revelation 16:11 “and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.”

Revelation 9:20-21 “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

One of the reasons for the book of Revelation
Is to secure the hardened heart for eternal destruction.

A second reason for the book however
Is encouragement to those who are holy,
To encourage them to continue to practice righteousness.

This book serves to encourage the downtrodden believer to persevere,
For we win in the end.

Jesus tells those who are doing righteous deeds
To still practice righteousness,
And those who are holy to still keep himself holy.
There is relief in sight.

And this is a good reminder to you so that if people don’t respond to this message the way you think they should, then perhaps you won’t be motivated to change it or stop preaching it.

It is the truth, proclaim it, regardless of how it is received.

#6 THE REWARD OF THE REVELATION
Revelation 22:12-13

One last truth I hope you’ve gained from this book,
Is that there is coming a reward for how you live this life on earth.

There is a judgment day.

Revelation 20:11-12 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”

Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

Jesus said:
Matthew 16:24-27 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

And now you have a better understanding of
Exactly what He was talking about.

If you want to save your life.
And that is anything from choosing this world over Christ,
Or choosing the mark of the beast over death..
Then you will lose it.

But if you lose this life, then you will find it.

And now, having learned all about His return and the second death and the lake of fire, those words make much more sense to us.
This life is not all there is.

And God continually beckons us,
Not to live for this world, but to live for the next.

Beyond that, when Jesus says, “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” we have an even better understanding.

For this whole world (even if it could be gained) will not endure.
It is going to pass away, and it is foolish to make obtaining it the goal.

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

THE POINT IS, THERE IS COMING JUDGMENT
NO ONE LIVES THIS LIFE UNNOTICED
EVERYONE GIVES AN ACCOUNT

For some that is a good thing, for others it is a tragic thing.
If you have been faithful in obedience, you will be rewarded,
If you haven’t, you reward will be less enjoyable.

I hope as we’ve studied, you’ve learned that
• This prophecy is true,
• Jesus is returning,
• These truths should motivate you to worship,
• You are responsible to share what you’ve heard,
• These words will determine people’s eternity,
• Judgment is certain

If you get nothing else from this book, please get that.
These are truths that can change a man’s life.

Who Chose Who? – Part 1
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
June 4, 2017

As you know we are in our study called “500 Years of Reformation”
And presently we are exploring the concept of SOLA GRATIA

We are examining the Scriptures to determine what exactly is meant
By the term “Grace Alone”.

And the first thing we had to come to grips with was the word “Alone”.
• We are asking if salvation is the sole work of God (monergism)
Or if salvation is the cooperative work of God and man (synergism).

AND TO BEGIN answering that question had to begin at the fall
To figure out what the state of man actually was.

And we found that Adam killed us all.
As a result of the fall, we all became “dead in our trespasses and sins”

And the consequence of this is what we called ABSOLUTE INABILITY.
That is to say, that it is impossible for a sinner
To initiate any sort of salvation process whatsoever.

So the notion that man demonstrates “good will” toward God
And then God responds to that good will with grace and mercy
Is a spiritual impossibility.

Man is dead and has no ability within himself
To ever make that first step toward God.

And we spent several weeks looking at that biblically.
Whether you want to go to Ephesians 2 or 1 Corinthians 2 or John 6, it becomes increasingly evident that man did not have the ability to initiate anything.

If any man is to be saved it only occurs because God initiates it.

I think we can safely say we have crossed that bridge.

Well, tonight I want to move a little further down that road.

And so let’s ask this question:
IF MAN IS INCAPABLE OF INITIATING SALVATION, THEN WHO DOES INITIATE IT?

And of course the only possible answer there is: GOD

And Jesus made that pretty clear to us:
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

So then, in a world filled with lost and spiritually dead people,
The only people who can be saved
Are those whom God brings to salvation.

Since man can’t do it on his own, God must do it for him.

SO… the only people who get saved are those whom God chooses to be saved. Right?

We cannot say that it is up to the sinner to choose God,
Since he has no desire or ability in the matter.
It is up to God to choose the sinner.

Romans 9:16 “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”

And that introduces to us the DOCTRINE OF ELECTION
Traditional Calvinism has called it “Unconditional Election”

Carrying the idea that God chooses or “elects” those who will be saved based on nothing but pure grace.

That is to say that God doesn’t just look down and see who are the best and then “choose” them.

And of course that is true because we recently learned that all humanity is in the same boat.
• We could go back again to Romans 3 and be reminded that “there is none
who does good, not even one”

So anyone whom God chooses
Would most certainly be apart from any merit which deserves it.

What all that means then is that
Salvation is up the sovereign prerogative of God.

HE SAVES WHOM HE CHOOSES TO SAVE.

AND IF THAT REALITY HITS YOU A LITTLE SIDEWAYS
THEN REST ASSURED, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

The doctrine of divine election is without a doubt
One of the most argued and hated doctrines of our evangelical world.

• It directly offends man’s notion of “free will”,
• And it even violates what most people assume to be the all-encompassing love of God.

How could a loving God choose some and not choose everyone?
THAT’S NOT FAIR! (is the common cry)

I heard a sermon several years ago about election and in it the pastor quoted several well-known evangelicals just to illustrate how hated this doctrine can be.

Tim LaHaye
“And to suggest that the merciful, long-suffering, gracious and loving God of the Bible would invent a dreadful doctrine like this, predestination, which would have us believe it is an act of grace to select certain people for heaven and by exclusion others for hell comes perilously close to blasphemy.”
(MacArthur, John [The Doctrine of Election, Part 1, a sermon on www.gty.org,] code: 90-273)

Another pastor says:
“The flawed theology of preselection is an attempt to eliminate man’s capacity to exercise his free will which reduces God’s sovereign love to an act of a mere dictator.”
(ibid)

And another:
“This doctrine is the most unreasonable, incongruous, self-contradictory, man-belittling and God-dishonoring scheme of theology that ever appeared in Christian thought. No one can accept its contradictory mutually exclusive propositions without intellectual self-debasement. It holds up a self-centered, selfish, heartless, remorseless tyrant for God and bids us worship Him.”
(ibid)

And that is only a few of those listed even in that sermon.

The point is, that this is a hated doctrine.
And most likely, the first time you were ever exposed to it, or heard it,
I’d be willing to bet that you rejected it too.

• It OFFENDS the very essence of all man-centered theologies.
• It CRUSHES the pride of man and offends all that seems right and fair to all human reason.

But…As we have said,
• Our reason does not dictate what we believe.
• Our sense of fairness does not dictate what we believe.
• What we want to be true of God does not dictate what we believe.

In order to determine what is true and what we believe, where do we go?
SOLA SCRIPTURA

SO THAT IS WHERE WE ARE GOING TO START TONIGHT.
Now, I put down as a text that we were going to study 1 Corinthians 1:26-31,
And we are, though I must confess, we may not get there for a while.

What I want to do first is
Take you on a sweeping journey of Scripture
To make sure that you understand just how much the Bible
Speaks of this doctrine of election or predestination.

We will eventually seek to analyze the doctrine a little more fully,
But I first just want to make sure that you know that
This is not some obscure, left-field thought
That we just grabbed from a verse or two.

It is not like we just found some verse in the middle of Obadiah
And used it to build an entire doctrine on.

I’ve told people many times that this doctrine of election
Is literally everywhere in the Bible.

In fact, I’ll go a step further and tell you this:
If you believe the Bible then you believe in election and predestination.

This doctrine is so prevalent that it is impossible to believe the Bible
And not believe it.

So, let’s just go on a sweeping journey together
So that I can show you that the God of the Bible
Is in a fact a God who chooses or elects or predestines people.

I think the place we have to START is with the Old Testament,
And let’s look at Israel.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 10:14-15 “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. “Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.”

Deuteronomy 14:2 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

Moses’ doctrine there is impossible to miss.
• He could see that God did in fact choose Israel over and above all the other peoples of the earth.
• He did not choose everyone, but He did choose Israel.
• There is no doubt there as to what Moses is saying.

Now, we have no real interest in challenging the authority of Moses here,
But just for argument sake, let’s push him a little.
Was Moses correct in this assessment?

When he says that God chose Israel “above all peoples” was he right?
TURN BACK TO GENESIS 11.
In Genesis 11 we have a universal reality over the whole earth.

In fact, we could easily make the point that in Genesis 11
The whole earth was just 1 people.

(READ 11:1) “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.”

There weren’t multiple peoples on the earth at this time, there was just 1.
They were all descendants of Noah.
One language, one people.

But you will then remember the idolatrous attempt they made with the tower of Babel and how God then separated all the peoples.

God confused their language and there became distinct and separate peoples scattered all over the earth.

Had God wanted to “choose” everyone,
It would have made much more sense
To leave them all as one people, but He didn’t.

God first separated all of humanity, and then we come to chapter 12,
Where God reveals who, of all the peoples, He is going to choose.

And in chapter 12 we are introduced to Abram.
(READ 12:1-3)

Now a study of Abram will reveal that he was anything but remarkable among the people.
• He was idolatrous
• He was greedy
• He was worldly
• He was even disobedient

BUT HE WAS CHOSEN

And time won’t permit us to walk again through his life, though if you never have, I certainly recommend our sermon series online from Genesis.

Abraham tried many times to reject (or at the very least neglect) this blessing from God, and God simply would not let it happen.
Abraham was chosen.

And it wasn’t just him.
God continued to make distinctive selections among Abraham’s children.

You will remember that Abraham had a son by his hand-maid Hagar.
That boy was named Ishmael. He was Abraham’s first born son.

But God had not chosen Ishmael, even to Abraham’s surprise.
(READ 17:15-21)

God made a definite and absolute distinction between Ishmael and Isaac.

And then it happens again with the children of Isaac’s children.
(READ 25:19-26)

And this selection may be the most remarkable of all.
• We sort of dismiss the selection of Abraham because we think him to be a good man.
• We then dismiss the selection of Isaac over Ishmael because Ishmael was the son of a hand-made.
• But this selection makes no rational sense.

Both of these boys had the same father and the same mother.
And God just said, “I choose the younger”.

And you are certainly aware that Paul made a strong point regarding this revelation of God’s choice.
Romans 9:10-13 “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”

IT’S PRETTY CLEAR.
And in reading that, it’s not hard to see why Moses believed
Israel to have been chosen above all the peoples of the world.

And if those stories weren’t enough,
Surely the Exodus convinced Moses that God favored them.
• God took a nation of slaves and chose to deliver them at the ruin of the nation which owned them. God made His choice of Israel undeniable.

Psalms 135:4 “For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession.”

And if the exodus was not enough to convince you,
Then take a little farther journey into the book of Joshua and see how God uprooted entire nations that He might give the land to Israel.

How many peoples did God command for Israel to totally annihilate?
Over and over and over God shows His favor and choice to Israel
Over and above all the other nations.

And why did God choose Israel?
Because Israel was more righteous than the other nations?
No, in fact they were probably more sinful.

The only reason is because God wanted it that way.
He chose Israel because He wanted to.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 16:1-14

There again the point is made.
• You weren’t special
• You weren’t loved
• I made you live
• I made you grow
• I made you clean
• I made you loved

God simply chose to do that for Israel.
He most certainly did not do that for all the nations of the earth.
It is clear, unmistakable election.

HE IS A GOD WHO CHOOSES, HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

And it is important for you to see in the Bible that HE HAS NOT CHANGED.
Election and predestination are ALL OVER SCRIPTURE as well.

Let’s take a quick walk through the New Testament.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 22

• There you find that parable of the wedding banquet and the regrettable reality of those who would not enter the wedding banquet.
• We also find there a man who sought to enter by his own righteousness who was then thrown out.

But it is the statement of explanation in verse 14 that is so telling.
(14) “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

TURN TO: MATTHEW 24
• Here we have the Olivet discourse and Jesus teaching on the end times.
• He reveals to them just how awful the tribulation will be and then says:

(22) “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

(24) “Fro false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

(31) “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

I mean there is no mistaking who is and who isn’t being saved.
He is saving His “elect”, His chosen.

TURN TO: LUKE 12
• Jesus is teaching about the sin of worry and commanding people not to do it.

(32) “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”

It was a choice that God made.

TURN TO: LUKE 18
• Here we have Jesus teaching on prayer, and it is that parable of the persistent widow.

But notice the point Jesus makes at the end of the parable.
(6-7) “And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?”

Last time we looked at the gospel of John, so you don’t have to turn there, but let me remind you what we saw.

John 13:18 “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’”

John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

It’s pretty clear isn’t it?

TURN TO: ACTS 2
• Remember Peter preaching at Pentecost?

(38-39) “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

This promise of salvation is for anyone whom God calls to Himself.
Anyone who is chosen by Him.
It’s not for everyone, but for the elect.

TURN TO: ACTS 9
• Remember the salvation of Paul?

And might I just say that all true salvation is like the salvation of Paul.
Paul was a dead man whom Christ chose and changed.

And look what God says to Ananias as he is concerned about confronting Paul.
(15) “But the Lord said to him, “God, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.”

TURN TO: ACTS 10

• This is where Peter is preaching to Cornelius about the saving work of Jesus.

(39-41) “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.”

TURN TO: ACTS 13:48
• Here Paul is preaching in Pisidian Antioch, and after the sermon, notice what it says.

(48) “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

TURN TO: ACTS 16
• Here Paul is preaching in Philippi and he comes across a woman named Lydia.

(14) “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”

Who did it?
God did.

TURN TO: ACTS 18
• Paul is preaching in Corinth, and although the opposition is heavy, God makes Paul a promise.

(9-10) “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

Who are these people?
They weren’t saved yet, but they were going to be,
Because God had chosen them.

All throughout Paul’s ministry,
He recognized that salvation was the sovereign prerogative of God.

Those whom God chose were saved.
It was that simple.

And Paul’s belief in this echoed throughout his writings.
TURN TO: ROMANS 8
• Paul is speaking of God’s determination to save us forever, and look at what he says.

(28-30) “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

(33) “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;”

Paul certainly understood the doctrine of election.

TURN TO: ROMANS 11
• Where Paul talks about the present reality of a Jewish remnant.

(5) “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”

(28) “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;”

We read to open the sermon the passage from 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 1:27-28 “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,”

TURN TO: EPHESIANS 1
• This is really unmistakable.

(3-6) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

TURN TO: COLOSSIANS 3
• Notice what Paul calls the Colossians.

(12) “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;”

TURN TO: 1 THESSALONIANS 1

(4) “knowing, brethren beloved of God, His choice of you;”

TURN TO: 2 THESSALONIANS 2

(13) “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”

TURN TO: 2 TIMOTHY 2

(10) “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

TURN TO: TITUS 1

(1) “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those who are chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.”

And it wasn’t just Paul.

TURN TO: 1 PETER 1
(1-2) “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

TURN TO: 1 PETER 2
(9) “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”

TURN TO: REVELATION 13
• Speaking of the deception and persecution of Antichrist.

(8) “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”

Only the chosen won’t surrender to him.

TURN TO: REVELATION 17
• There again we notice who will not submit to Antichrist.

(14) “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”

Ok, so I hope you’re getting my point.
I realize this was just a quick skimming through Scripture,
But I felt it necessary to make sure you understand something.

People hate the doctrine of election and when most of those people argue against it, they just throw out these vague blanket statements like:
• “A God of love would never do that”
• “Our God would never choose who is saved”
• “Election makes God a dictator or a monster”

And most people never even give it a second thought.
They hear some vague statement like (which is a statement their itching ears want to hear) and because it agrees with their sense of reason or logic they just accept it as gospel fact.

But go read your Bible.
You may not like the fact that God elects or predestines or chooses who will be saved, but that’s your problem.

THAT FACT SATURATES THE PAGES OF SCRIPTURE.

Because man is dead in sin and can come to God on his own,
The only reason anyone is saved
Is because God chooses for them to be saved.

And before we dive into this doctrine a little deeper, I just first wanted to make sure that you knew this wasn’t some off the wall doctrine.

Now, you may have to go home and wrestle with this a while, and that’s fine.
I’d be lying if I told you that I believed this the first time I heard it.
I did not.

The first time I heard it, it flew right in the face of what I had always believed to be true about God.

However, when the Bible is opened, there is no mistaking what it says.
So go home and chew on these verses a little while.

And come back next time, we’ve got a lot more to look at.

Heaven
Revelation 21:1-8
June 4, 2017

When last we looked at the book of the Revelation, we came across what has to be considered the most awful scene in the entire book.

• We actually witnessed every single one of the unredeemed called to life to stand before God’s judgment throne.
• And after God revealed every single piece of condemning evidence against them, He then ordered them thrown into the lake of fire, which is called “the second death”

This is the final and eternal dwelling of everyone who has offended God,
Who has not had their sin atoned for through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Which is why the chapter ended with this pointed warning.
Revelation 20:15 “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

What we learned is that hell is real and that hell is just.
People will go there, and everyone who goes there absolutely deserves it.

What you need to understand is that we see the grace of God
In the fact that He chose to warn us of this place ahead of time.

He could have just left hell a secret, and not told anyone, and then surprised sinners on that day with the eternal torment, but He did not.

Instead God, repeatedly warned sinners of this coming judgment
Which will fall upon all sinners who fail to repent.

Perhaps the greatest spokesman about the dangers of hell
Was none other than Jesus.

Mark 9:43-48 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.”

And I hope you understand the very revealed grace
Simply in the fact that God has chosen to tell you about it ahead of time.

This morning we learn that there is still more
Which God would desire to show you.

We know where the unredeemed go, they go to the fiery hell.
But what about the redeemed?
What about those whose name is recorded in the book of life?

And that is what God reveals to us here.
It is the other side of the coin.

WE ARE ABOUT TO SEE HEAVEN.

There are two main points here.
#1 THE VISION
Revelation 21:1-4

Here we simply see what John saw and then what John heard.
It is a piece of information which God revealed to him.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”

We know why “the first heaven and the first earth passed away”,
It fled from Him who sat upon the throne.

Revelation 20:11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.”

As we said last week, this earth has become corrupted.
When Adam sinned, God cursed even the ground.

And even though Jesus reigned upon this earth for 1,000 years
And reversed the curse to a large extent,
The scars of what this earth was remained.

This earth is less than holy.
The heavens maintain corruption.

And when the perfect Judge sat upon the throne, the present earth and heaven fled…they were gone, “and no place was found for them.”

Well here John sees God’s next step, which is to create “a new heaven and a new earth”

And apparently this time it didn’t even take Him 6 days.
God, in His infinite power, instantly replaces all of the earth and the entire picture of the heavens.
• He didn’t just clean the old one (like with the flood)…
• He didn’t just redeem the old one (like in the millennium)…
• It is a totally new one.

John also says, “and there is no longer any sea.”

My official answer is, don’t ask, because I don’t know.
• One commentator used it to discuss how our current creation and bodies need water for survival and so the absence of the sea indicates a new creation and a new body that is not so fragile and needy.

• One commentator sort of spiritualized it to talk about the inherent evils of the sea, which are now gone.

• I don’t know, and they don’t either, namely because God doesn’t tell us why, or what it means.

John is merely making an observation.

And that is not all he saw.
(2) “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.”

• Here is the earth’s new capitol city.
• It is not revamped Jerusalem, it is “new Jerusalem”

And the key characteristic is HOLINESS
It is “the holy city”, it is “made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.”

She sparkles and shines and is absolutely perfect in beauty.
• This new city has no flaws.
• This new city has no corruption.
• This new city is not fallen in any way.

It is just an absolutely perfect new creation.

And as John is watching this new creation unfold, he HEARS something.
(3) “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,”

The tragedy is that I will never be able to do justice to what this verse reveals.

John simply hears an announcement that
God will now be dwelling among men.

I hope you understand how marvelous this is.

Every single time God has ever come to this earth for any extended period of time, He has always come behind a veil.
• When He dwelled among the children of Israel, it was only His glory in the form of a cloud and that always behind the veil.

• Even when Jesus came who was God incarnate, even then His glory dwelled behind a veil of human flesh.

Humanity has never had unhindered and total access
To all the fullness of God.
Indeed, we can’t even comprehend that.
Solomon built God’s first temple and even when it was brand new and spectacular he said:
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”

When Paul preached to the Athenians who had built all sorts of temples for all sorts of gods, he said:
Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;”

When Jesus gave a sort of reference to the dwelling of God during the Sermon on the Mount, He said:
Matthew 5:34-35 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.”

The idea is portrayed over and over that
God is beyond us in every possible way.

He is absolutely and totally transcendent.
• We can’t contain His presence.
• And we can’t comprehend His wisdom.

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

I hope you understand
Just how little you actually know about God.

Sure, we know what He has chosen to reveal,
Which is all we need to know pertaining to life and godliness.

But that makes none of us experts on God.
He is beyond us in every possible way.

AND YET, on this new earth, and in this new city John is told that “the tabernacle of God is among men”

In case you aren’t sure what that means, John also hears, “and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people,”

And if you’re still a little perplexed, John hears one more time, “and God Himself will be among them.”

A couple of years ago Carrie and I attended a Bible conference
In Los Angeles and John MacArthur’s church.
On our day off, we were looking for something to do so we decided to take a tour of Hollywood (waste of time), but the “big to do” of course is that all of these famous actors and actresses live right there, and you might even be able to see one of them out on the street. You can even take a tour of all their front gates which keep you from seeing their homes.

And this is supposed to be a really big deal.

AND THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
But in this city, God Himself will dwell.

It is absolute unhindered access to the God of the universe.
Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

As I said, I wish I had better ability to bring that reality to you, but I can’t.
Just to say that this is an absolutely astounding reality.

Whereas the wicked will be cut off from intimacy with God
As they are tormented for all eternity in the lake of fire;
God actually draws even closer to the redeemed
By living amongst them.

IT IS REMARKABLE.

Also remarkable are the BENEFITS of having God dwell among men.

(4) “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

No doubt a verse you’ve heard before.
You may have even quoted it.

One thing is for certain and that is that
ALL OF GOD’S REDEEMED ARE LONGING FOR THIS.

It is no wonder Paul said:
Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

And
Philippians 1:23 “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;”

• Paul was actually a man who was at one point caught up to the third heaven where he was allowed to see glorious things which God did not allow him to speak about.
• We don’t know what Paul saw, but we do know Paul found it superior to this world in every possible way.
THE NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH WILL FAR EXCEED THE CURRENT ONE

Now it is hard to explain how,
Since we are limited by our own imaginations.

But John can tell us why it is better,
Not by listing what will be there, but by listing what won’t be there.

You won’t cry in heaven.
No one will die in heaven.
No one will mourn in heaven.
There will be no pain in heaven.

WHY?
Because sin won’t be there!

I have listened to a song recently about heaven which has it all wrong.
It is trying to promote heavenly type worship on earth, by seeking to make the point that as believers in Christ, we are already experiencing heaven.

Now, I won’t deny that as believers in Christ we are already immensely blessed and that we most certainly should worship as the angels do.

But this song made the statement.
“Make no mistake, trust me I know, there’s a place waiting that we’ll call home, but there ain’t no hurry, it’s all been prepared, life is much sweeter, knowing I’m already there. What are we waiting for, if we’re honest? Together forever with Christ is the promise. Heaven has started, heaven has started.”

• Now look, I can appreciate the fact that in Christ we have been raised up and
seated in the heavenlies.
• I can appreciate that we’ve been given the Spirit of God and a personal
relationship with the Father.

But if you think for one second that I’m not in a hurry for heaven,
You’ve got another thing coming.

WHAT WE HAVE HERE, EVEN AS BELIEVERS,
CANNOT BE COMPARED TO WHAT’S COMING.

Paul said:
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,”

There is no comparison whatsoever.
And the main reason is because sin won’t be there.

I heard a quote from John MacArthur this week:
“When people ask me what appeals to me about heaven, it isn’t the streets of transparent gold or gates made of pearls; it’s the absence of sin. I’m tired of sin.”

Absolutely!

And that is what John hears announced here.
When God dwells among us,
You can bet one thing won’t hand around, and that is sin.

The darkness has always been expelled by the light,
And the closer God gets, the farther the darkness flees.

This WON’T JUST BE a place where sin isn’t celebrated.
This will be a place where SIN WON’T EVEN EXIST, and neither will any of its consequences.

It is a glorious place!

Later in the book John will show us a little more about this place,
But this is what we get here.
And before more is given, there is a point made to John by God.

So, you see the vision.
#2 THE POINT
Revelation 21:5-8

Now we are getting the message
Which God wants us to gain from this brief vision.

(5) “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

There is the announcement.
“I am making all things new.”

I saw an uproar this week because President Trump announced that
The United States has pulled out of the Paris Agreement.

No, I don’t have an opinion about whether or not that is a good idea,
But I do know this. This earth won’t last either way.

God is going to scrap it.

And if you haven’t figured out yet, this is how God always works.
God is a “new creation” kind of God.

• Listen to Jesus tell Nicodemus that renovation won’t do, “you must be born again.”
• And when God does work redemption upon a person, do you remember how Paul described it?

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ; he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

This is how God works.
He goes out with the old, and in with the new.

And God announces that this is His plan for all of creation.
He is going to scrap what is currently here and create a brand new one.

And then He says, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

It almost reads as though John was a little star struck by what he was seeing and God had to say, “Snap out of it John, write this down.”

God wanted you to know that this world will not last.
He is creating a new one.
(And that should certainly tell you something
About where you store up your treasure.)

But that’s not all He wants you to know.
(6-7) “Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”

First He squashes any notions of flexibility here when He says, “It is done.”

And incidentally, ONLY GOD can make a statement like that since He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”
• God alone is eternal.
• He is not limited by time as we are.
• He the great “I am”
• He dwells in the end as surely as He dwells in the beginning.

When He says “It is done” He is not saying “It is planned”,
He who dwells in eternity has already seen it,
In fact, He has already done it.

THIS IS ABSOLUTE.
• The wicked will be judged in a lake of fire for all eternity.
• And the redeemed will dwell with God forever in a perfect sinless creation.

“It is done”

And then grace reveals itself once again, for notice what God says next.
“I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”

Now, we’ve heard this invitation before.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 55

(READ 1-3)
This is nothing short than a call for salvation from God the Father.
• He is calling to those who have found the unfulfilling end to their sin and asking if they would have something better.

It is the picture of the Prodigal, in the pigpen,
Having come to his senses about where his sin has taken him
And now wanting to return as a servant to his father.

Well here the Father is saying, “Come on!”
Quit investing your life in things that cannot satisfy, come to Me!

He goes on later:
(READ 6-7)
There it is again, a gracious offer of pardon to all who will repent.

Does it seem strange that God
Would be so gracious to sinners who have so offended Him?

It certainly is to us, but then again, we aren’t God.

(READ 8-9)
God is a God of mercy and forgiveness to all who repent.

God has said He will satisfy the thirst, and His word never fails.
(READ 10-13)

That is the same invitation that God is once again offering
Here in the book of the Revelation.

It is the SAME INVITATION THAT JESUS OFFERED as well.
Remember His conversation with the woman at the well?
• That woman whose life was filled with bad decisions…
• That woman who had been married 5 times and was now living with a guy…
• That woman who was for all practical purposes dwelling in the pig pen and feeling the full sting of all of her mistakes…

And Jesus said to her as she stood drawing water:
John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

He was giving that same offer…LIFE!

Later Jesus said in the temple:
John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'”
It is the opposite of the broken cisterns of stagnant water
That the world offers.

And it is an invitation that God has offered time and time again.

WHO GETS THIS?
(7) “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”

What does that mean?
“He who overcomes”?

It’s a phrase we’ve seen often in this book of the Revelation.
To each of the 7 churches, the message ended with that same reminder:

Ephesus “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which in the Paradise of God.”
Smyrna “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.”
Pergamum “To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”
Thyatira “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations…”
Sardis “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
Philadelphia, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”
Laodicea, “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

This theme of overcoming is a pretty big theme isn’t it?

Even at the end of this book,
God is still talking about the necessity of overcoming.

What does that mean?
1 John 5:4 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.”

God is looking for real and genuine and lasting
And abiding and persevering faith.

The type of faith demonstrated by the tribulation believers who would not deny Christ even though faced with death.

Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”

The type of faith that would turn its back on the world and all the worldly pleasures in order that it may gain Christ.

The faith that overcomes selfishness and fear and compromise and worldliness and laziness and fatigue and idolatry and lust and greed.

You get the idea.

Which is why God goes on to say:
(8) “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO DON’T OVERCOME

I always thought it interesting that the first type on the list was “the cowardly”

Following Jesus is not for the cowardly.
Matthew 13:20-21 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”

But it’s also not for people who are immoral or idolatrous.
Matthew 13:22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

“sorcerers” is PHARMAKOS in the Greek, it’s where we get our word for pharmacy. It speaks of those who use drugs to aid in their cultic false worship.

You put all of these people together and you can really sum it up
As people who just love this pleasant world
And will do whatever it takes to maintain their comfort in it.

• They won’t confess Christ because they might lose their reputation, they are cowards.
• They don’t believe in Christ they simply seek to use Him for temporal comfort.
• They are abominable indicating their love for all the lustful things of this earth and all the pleasures it contains.
• They are murderers.

Remember James said that greedy people end up murdering when they don’t get their desires fulfilled.
James 4:2 “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.”

• They are immoral always seeking to gratify the flesh through whatever means necessary.
• Sorcery and idolatry and lying; it’s all just to maintain their worldly cover and their worldly comfort, and to gratify their flesh.

They are people who chose the world every single day of their life
Instead of the things of God.
THEY DID NOT OVERCOME THE FLESH AT ALL.

And God reminds that “their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

SO DO YOU SEE HOW WE’VE COME FULL CIRCLE?

Mankind has a date with eternity.
And each and every person will end up in one of two places.

• There is a lake of fire, called the second death, for all those who love this world
and seek only to gratify their flesh, and therefore deny Christ.

• And there is a new heaven and new earth where God dwells in perfect peace
and joy for all those who deny the flesh and place their faith in Christ and
overcome.

And God is pretty clear as to who can come to heaven.
ANYONE WHO THIRSTS CAN COME.

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

And all those who do, and who as a result run to Jesus for it,
Will not only be saved,
But will dwell with God forever in His new and perfect creation.

LET ME SHOW YOU AGAIN.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 13:24-30
(read the parable)

Now the explanation comes later.
(READ 36-43)

THERE IT IS AGAIN.
• There is coming a day when God will take out the wicked and burn them with fire,
• And when they are gone and sin is gone with them,
• Then the righteous will enjoy the life which God intended.

This isn’t some obscure fact.
All of Scripture points to it.

And God has graciously revealed this so that you might repent of your sin, run to Christ, and be saved.