Chosen From the Beginning

The message is about the role of God in the salvation of sinners. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the theological mechanics of how God operates in salvation and the doctrine of the Trinity. The main points discussed are: God chooses His people by Himself, God sanctifies His people for Himself, and God uses means to gather His people to Himself. The sermon emphasizes that salvation is solely a work of God and not based on human merit or contribution. It also highlights the biblical teachings of God's predestination and election of His people. The speaker rebukes the idea of a grace that does not save and emphasizes the uniqueness and significance of God's grace. The message concludes with the assurance that if God loves someone, they will be saved, as God is a promise-keeping and way-making God. The following message is brought to you by the people of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. For more information, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org. And now, here's Pastor Jason Booth with the message. And so, God has a role to play in the salvation of sinners. That shouldn't shock us. That shouldn't come as a surprise. But it's important for us to understand the theological mechanics of how it is that God the Father operates in salvation. Also, it's important for us to remember that the Trinity is not just a select, elective doctrine that you can choose to believe or reject. The doctrine of the Trinity is thoroughly scriptural. It is how the Scripture describes and explains the Godhead. And it is by apprehending the Trinity that we also apprehend how it is that God works in the salvation of sinners. So, a couple of key points. We're going to see that God has chosen His people by Himself. And we see that bared out in the text. I believe we'll see that plainly. Secondly, we're going to see that God sanctifies His people for Himself. And finally today, God uses means to gather His people to Himself. I hope you caught the very purposeful sermonizing I'm doing here. He saves us by Himself, for Himself, to Himself. Notice the theme. And I did that on purpose so that it might be more memorable to us. This is all about God. We constantly hear the old Reformation Latin, Soli Deo Gloria, to the glory of God alone. And beloved, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. First of all today, we want to see that God has chosen His people by Himself. And to see this, we're going to illustrate a couple of points. Namely, that God's choice was made before the world began. How much of salvation is your contribution? Let me tell you. You brought the kindling for the fire. You brought the kindling pit for the flames of hell. And the Lord God did all the work. You did nothing to merit your salvation. You do nothing to maintain your salvation. Salvation is the gift of God. The Bible declares a few key points, and I'm going to share a lot of Scripture this morning. Bear with me. Keep your minds open to hear the Word of the Lord as I read Ephesians 1, 3, and 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Verse 4. Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. He chose us before the world began. You were loved before time began. You were in the purposes and plan of God. If you belong to Him, or if you will belong to Him at a future date, at least in your mind's eye. Understand that if there's a pulse beating through your body, I don't know whether or not God is still going to... if God's going to save you if you're yet unsaved. But I know this, if there's a pulse in you, I need to preach to you to turn to Christ. Because I don't know if He'll grant you repentance, and if He does, that's awesome. And so everyone who hears this message needs to understand that if you come to Him, you only do so because He has chosen you before the world began. The Bible says He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. In love He predestined us. Understand that He did not just make it possible for some people to exercise a certain amount of pervenient grace, whatever that is, and choose Him. That's not how love operates. He predestined us in love. It was a surgical strike at the heart of fallen man. God says, I will have victory. I will have victory through my son. I will be satisfied by the sinless and perfect death of my son, and I will receive that sacrifice as a sweet-smelling savor of life unto life. And now there remaineth no sacrifice within. Why? Because the debt was paid. And if a debt was paid, then surely God's going to take delivery of the purchased possession. So many today preach a gospel that says that God died for everyone, but He's not going to claim everything He bought. That somehow the pottery at the store gets to choose whether or not it goes home with the buyer. Worse than that, that the pottery, the clay, gets to decide that it won't be fashioned by the potter's hand. That's what passes as gospel preaching today. People say that the pottery has all the power. People say that the clay and the ground can decide whether or not it's going to be made into one vessel or another. And I tell you that God is sovereign. He's in control. And what does this do? Does this puff us up with pride? Are you to go around to your neighbors and say, I was elected by God's grace. And you might not be, so I'm better than you. No. Where is boasting, the Bible says? It is excluded. Why can it be excluded? Well, if I could make better use of provident grace than my neighbor, if God gave us all the same invitation and I just made a better decision than my neighbor, then when I get to heaven, by God, I'll have a lot to brag about. Boy, I chose right. And do you think God is going to share His glory with me throughout eternity? Now, I will share in His glory. But He is not going to share His glory with me. We're not going to stand in heaven as our own co-redeemer. And that's exactly what passes as modern-day weak-kneed evangelical preaching today, that God has done all He can do and now you've got to choose Him. And yet the Bible declares that He chose us in love before the world began. This is God's salvation. He chose a people by Himself. You are any more worthy than the worst dark-hearted sinner that has never darkened the doors of a church building. You're no more worthy than the most wicked soul that has ever lived. And why did God choose you? He bestowed His love and grace upon you. And that's the only qualifier. Who shall lay a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 1 Thessalonians 1, 4, and 5. This is from the previous letter to the Thessalonians. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you. Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. How do I know that you are loved by God? Because He has chosen you. And how do I know He has chosen you? Because God allowed the gospel to go forth in saving power among you. If God loves you, He's going to work in your life to save you. I can't for the life of me understand why so-called Christians would go about telling the world that Jesus Christ died for every single man, woman, boy, and girl. And they know full well that broad is the way that leads to destruction. And my God is to spend eternity in heaven with some unrequited love for the people that He failed to reach through all of the evangelical gimmicks that His so-called people employed begging and pleading these free will sinners to come to Him. God is supposed to spend eternity in heaven looking all throughout time wondering what could have happened differently? What could have transpired that would have caused a greater harvest of these souls that I love? Do you see how foolish that sounds? God loves His people. And those whom He loves, He predestines. Those whom He predestines, He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and will one day glorify. How do we know this? Because the Bible says right in 1 Corinthians 1, 4, and 5, we know you are loved by God because our gospel came unto you in saving power. And God saves those whom He loves. Every time grace is mentioned in Scripture, it leads to salvation. There's never a time when grace is mentioned in this book where it doesn't lead to salvation. Grace is never a non-saving, unsaving, un-efficacious grace. There's no such thing as a grace that does not save. Why? Because grace is rooted at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. Grace flows from Calvary. That's why when someone tells you, oh, I believe that there's common grace, and God has a common grace for all mankind, I want to look at you and say, and where does this grace flow? From when does this grace flow? Are you telling me there is an unsaving grace, an unsaving favor of God, that flows from someplace other than Calvary's tree? That flows from a secondary source? Not Christ? Or are you telling me that the cross of Christ procured a type of bastard grace that doesn't save? It just makes sinners on their way to perdition a little more comfortable. Common grace. Christian people don't ever consider the grace of God a common thing. It's amazing. It's wondrous. It's glorious. You don't deserve it. We're just as wicked, left undone as anybody else in this world, and yet He has bestowed upon us the richness of His grace and favor. Don't ever count grace a common thing. If God loves you, you will be saved. And that ought to paint a smile on your face from ear to ear, because the redeeming work is done. God's love has been cast abroad and spread to His people all over this world. He is going to draw a people from every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue, and He will lose none of them. And it's not because you're so good. It's because He is a promise-keeping, way-making God. With man it is impossible, the Bible declares this. Jesus told us it's impossible for man to forgive sin. But with God all things are possible. 2 Timothy 1, 8, and 9. Remember, we're talking about God choosing a people by Himself. 1 Timothy 1, 8, and 9. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Who saved us? Let's just camp here for a second. Who saved who? God saved us. Was God waiting in heaven, wringing out His hands, hoping that we would say, please Lord, just save me? No. For if you cried out for His mercy, it's only because He woke your heart up. He regenerated you so you'd know from whence cometh your help. Your prayer doesn't save you. Your prayer is a reflex to the work of God. You cry out to God? Absolutely you do. But you only do so because He quickened your heart. Because dead people don't make choices. The flesh is at enmity against God. And those who are in the flesh cannot please Him. So the Lord's got to wake us up! That's why I tell sinners that tell me they can't believe this gospel. I say, I know you can't. You're not shocking this preacher when you tell me that you think this is all a bunch of hokums? Or that you don't believe it? Or that you can't wrap your mind around it? You think that sweats God? If God is pleased to save you, He will make you willing in the day of His power. He will change your stubborn, stiff-necked old will. He'll conform you to the image of His Son. He'll rip out your old stony, dead heart. That old heart that you think knows everything. And He will humble you! Right at the foot of the cross where you'll be crying out for the mercy of God. And you'll be loved of God. You will experience what God has known all along. That you were elected unto salvation before the world began. And in time, you will experience what God has ordained in eternity. But if you think I'm preaching to convince you, the Spirit of God will go forth in this message and do what He will do. He'll take these words, these old stammering words, and He'll do His miraculous work. A couple loaves and a few fish and a few thousand people. You don't think He can take these humble words from this old preacher and do something miraculous with it? Pretty near magical with it? You don't think God's not able to do it? God's able! And you can mock all you want to, but if God's got this deal of love on you, one day you'll know. You'll come a running. And you'll smile the whole time going, I don't know how this happened to me, but one day I woke up and I knew that Jesus was my only hope of righteousness. And everything that preacher said is true. And everything that Bible declares is right. And I know I have a hope and a future in God. And how did this happen to me? Let me tell you how it happened. He saved you and He called you, the Bible says in verse 9 of 2 Timothy 1, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works. That means you didn't go looking for it. You didn't activate it. You didn't repent to get it. You didn't do something to ring God's bell, then He'd come a running. No, no, no, those would all be works. If you predicate your faith as a condition for salvation, you are adding your works to the Gospel. And you're no different than some false religionist. You're trusting in something inherent within you. You think you're holding on to God. You think you're clinging on. You think you're putting your little hand in His big hand. And let me tell you, that is the doctrine of the devil. Because if you're putting any hope in your ability, what are you doing? You're looking at God and saying, your grace isn't sufficient. Your work isn't sufficient. What Christ did was just enough to get me over the top. But I've got to add my two cents. All idolatry. Works of the flesh. Listen now. Not because of our works He saved us, but because, listen, of His own purpose and grace. I've got it underlined in my notes. He saved us because of His own purpose and grace. When someone asks you, why did He save a sinner like you? You say, because of His own purpose and grace. That's why we can sing Amazing Grace and believe it, beloved. Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound. How sweet the sound! Why is it sweet? Because I know what life I lived last week. You know what life you lived too. You know every evil thought your little sinful peon brain come up with. All the thoughts you thought about getting even with all the people that did you wrong. All the little sly comments you said to a brother or a sister. All the times you rebelled against your mom or your dad. All the times you said something under your breath. All the little things you thought that were just wicked and evil and vile. Then you come to church and you realize, hey, man, if I take stock of everything I did, why don't we just say it like the psalmist said it? Oh Lord, if Thou shouldest mark iniquity, who could stand? If you remember each misdeed and of each thought and word taken, who can remain before you? This should shudder you to the core. If you belong to the Lord, you know where this is going. Why can you stand before God? What makes you think that you can stand before a holy God? And you know what a Christian reply is? Only by grace. Only by grace. Oh, don't think grace is weak need. Don't think grace is God just saying, oh, you're just being you and He rubs your little head and sends you off. No, no, no, no, no, no. Grace reigns through faith. Grace is the power of God that conquers death, hell and the grave. That conquers sin. Hallelujah forevermore, grace reigns. And God came with grace-filled power in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He made an open spectacle of all the things that would hinder us from coming to Him. Death itself was His plaything. Just a trifle. Because any time the Lord wanted to, He could just command death to give up what it took. Spiritually and physically. What do you think He did with us? He literally raised us from spiritual death. We weren't looking for God, but thanks be to God, He was the good shepherd through Christ who went out looking for us. He found us. He made us willing in the day of His power. And by His grace, we are saved because of His own purpose and grace which the Bible says He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. Oh, this preacher's working on a theme. It's almost like there's this relationship in Scripture with this notion that God is sovereign and that Jesus actually saves His people and that the cross of Christ actually accomplished something more than just sending out a party invitation to a bunch of dead sinners. Thanks be to God for that thread of redemption that runs all through this book. The blood of Jesus. Such power. Such love bestowed. Such grace given to us in the one name given among men whereby we must be saved. And God did all this choosing before time began. According to the purposes of His own grace. And before the ages began. And so God's choice was made before the worlds began. Secondly, He is to be praised and glorified for the sovereign election of His people. I want you to know that there's only one person. I shouldn't say person. I should say there's only one being who deserves praise when salvation is on the table. And that is God. You deserve the glory. God, you deserve the praise. All praise and glory to God. Because it's not about us. And the Bible's replete with examples like this. Ephesians 1 and 6. To the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. So what do we do? We've been blessed in the Beloved. So what do we do? We praise the Lord. And we say hallelujah. Because it's all the Lord's work. It's not our work. I'm saved by grace through faith. And this is not of my own doing. It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Isaiah 61, 10 and 11 says this. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exult in my God. For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. Hallelujah. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress. And as a bride adorns herself with jewels. For the earth brings forth its sprouts. And as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up. So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. This is the work of God. And He is greatly to be praised. Hallelujah forevermore. The Lord is worthy. He is worthy. He's the only one worthy. You and I, we are lost and undone without Him. But with God, all things are possible. And greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world. And I am so thankful that one day this corruption will take on incorruption. I'm thankful that when I breathe my last to be absent with the body, is to be present with the Lord. I'm thankful that He who began a good work in me shall be faithful to complete it until the day of the Lord Jesus. And what is all this about? The Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up. I'm thankful that He has clothed me in the garments of salvation. I was a dead old sinner wearing dead old sinner rags. And He clothed me in the righteous robe of Jesus Christ. Don't tell me this is about us. This is all about God. Chosen from the beginning. Hallelujah. 1 Peter 2 and 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. Mind you, if salvation were just a mere possibility predicated on the choices you and I make, then how in the world could the scripture say that we are a people of His own possession? I grow weary with the religionists who keep wanting to hold on to their own little additions. Their own little leavens that they throw in the bread. They've got to have a stake in the matter. They've got to have something of them in their salvation. Let me tell you, that's not gospel. That's leaven. That's false gospel. That's false hope. Because if any of this depends upon you, then you can mess it up. If any of this depends upon how much of a good little boy or girl you know in your heart of hearts that you are not capable of perfectly pleasing a holy God. And if you're trusting in your own efforts, your own religiosity, let me tell you, you may as well go on home, go back to bed. Quit getting up so early on Sunday. Because if you're trusting in your own works, you're lost and undone. You won't have a chance. Because you ought to know better. Quit lying to yourself. And if you dare stand there and try to rob Him of His glory by claiming some of it for your own, you're just a thief and a robber trying to get in by a different way. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellency of Him Who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Who did the calling? Who did the calling? You didn't call God. And if you called on His name, you only did so by His power and His gift of faith. People have the misunderstanding that faith is something that they bring to the table. Your faith, people talk about my faith is this, my faith is strong, my faith is weak. First of all, you have no faith. Not in the proper object, which is Christ, until the Lord grants you His gift of faith. Oh, you have faith, you have belief that certain things will be certain ways, but you have no faith to believe unto righteousness until the Lord God grants it to you. And when He does, then you cry out. But you don't cry out to be saved, you cry out because you're saved. And how do we know that? Well, we're going to see it. Secondly, God sanctifies His people for Himself. Salvation is the spiritual work of God for His people. So God chooses the people by Himself, and He sanctifies His people for Himself. Now I want to read the key text again, Thessalonians 2. I'm going to read now, we're going to look at verse 13, part B. The Bible says, Because God chose you as the first fruit, or chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So many people argue that salvation is predicated on you believing, but the Bible says that the Lord calls us, then we believe. It's plain as day in the text. You are saved, then you believe. You've got to be quickened, made alive. God has set His people apart, He's chosen them, He's selected them, which is His sanctifying work and His prerogative. God has chosen us before time unto salvation. I like what the theologian of old, Robert Hawker, says. He says, but it was one act of God, it was but one act of God the Father, when in His infinite mind He chose the church in Christ, and which, when chosen, became a complete perfect and immutable purpose remaining forever. You understand, when God decrees anything, it becomes reality. It's that simple. God does not make plans like you and I make plans. A man divides up his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. God's decree becomes reality. God is a creative force in, I should say, above the universe. When God speaks, things happen. Things that used to not exist now exist. He spoke and the very worlds were made. When God purposes anything, it is as good as already happened. And I don't know how to explain it in any more fullness. God's purpose will always stand. God cannot be thwarted. He cannot be overcome. He cannot be second guessed by the creation. He cannot be checked by the works of His hands. That's not how this operates. That's not how the world in God's economy works. It can't work that way because He is all powerful. He is God. Sanctification is the resulting reality of having been saved by God's grace in Christ. Hebrews 10 and 10. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So God chose a people by Himself. God sanctifies a people for Himself. And how did He do it? He sent Jesus Christ. And the Bible says, by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. How are we sanctified? How is it that we're set apart? We're set apart because God has chosen a people by Himself and He has sanctified that same people through Jesus Christ for Himself. 1 Corinthians 1, 30 and 31 says, and because of Him you are in Christ Jesus. Because of who? Because of God. Who do you think gave you to Jesus to be saved? Jesus taught us that in the 6th chapter of John. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Hallelujah. You are in Jesus Christ says 1 Corinthians 1, 30 and 31 who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Oh, brag on Jesus any time you want. Extol the virtues and the glories of Almighty God all you want. But do not think yourself anything special outside of the grace and mercy of God. But you can brag on Jesus all day long. You can sing His praises. Why do you think we take the time on Sunday morning to sing? We don't do that as some sort of perfunctory formality. We sing praises to the Lord because He's worthy. I don't know of anybody else on this planet that I would wake up on a Sunday morning and have a song in my heart about. I can't imagine singing a song about the mailman on Monday morning. Oh, he delivers my mail. You know. Okay. And as a matter of fact, when you see other cultures singing songs of praises to their leaders, you know it for what it is. That's some sort of tyrannical despot. Some weirdo who thinks he's God amongst his own people. The poor North Koreans, those poor souls, they sing praises to their great leaders, hanging pictures in their houses and all this other stuff. And we look at that like, what? But there is a name but there is a name given among men whereby we must be saved. And that name is worthy of praise. To God be the glory. Thank you for Jesus Christ. And when we gather together on a Sunday morning, we can have a song on our list. The Bible says He's given us a new song of praise. I waited patiently on the Lord, and He inclined unto me and He heard my cry. And He picked me up out of a horrible pit, out of the clay, and He set my feet upon the rock. Establish my going. He has put a new song in my mouth. Even praise to our God. Many shall see it in fear and trust in the Lord. Hallelujah forevermore. He is worthy of our praise. So yeah, we're going to praise Him. Yeah, we're going to sing songs about Him. Yeah, we're going to gather together and sometimes we might just sing, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord. We might just sing, Be glorified. Be glorified. We might sing, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. But let me tell you, His name is worthy to be praised. So when we gather together, you better believe we're going to sing a song. You better believe we're going to comfort one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Because His name is to be praised. Hallelujah forevermore. Romans 8 and 9 says, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. So the sanctification we're talking about is something procured entirely from God out of heaven. Jesus Christ came to pay the debt in full. And we have been made sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ, the offering of the blood of Jesus Christ once for all. The Bible is clear. Thirdly, God uses means to gather His people to Himself. And so, yes, it is true that God chose His people by Himself in time immemorial. It is also true that God sanctifies His people for Himself. And I want you to understand that God has chosen a means whereby He gathers these sanctified people to Himself. And that means is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans 10, 14, and 15. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe of Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. God has a means that He uses to share this truth with everyone else. And you know what that means is? It's the gospel preaching. Romans 10, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Isaiah 52 and 7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who bring good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns. Oh, wouldn't it be nice if preachers in this land would actually preach about a God who reigns? Wouldn't it be nice for them to preach a gospel that could actually save a sinner, and keep a sinner saved? Oh, we don't get a whole lot of that. We get a lot of half-truths and humanism. We get a lot of philosophy in the pulpit, but we don't get a whole lot of preachers who come into a town and say, Listen, you need to be saved if you're going to make heaven your home, and here's the deal. You can't do it in yourself. But I know a man who can. Jesus Christ the righteous, and He has gone the way for His people. Who believes this? And it is at that point, those who have been moved upon by the Holy Spirit of God in saving mercy will be willing, and the Lord will appoint or add to the church daily such as should be saved. This is the Lord's work from beginning to end. Secondly, in point three, the preaching of the gospel is the means God has ordained to gather His people, and we see that in 1 Corinthians 1 and 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. What did I say earlier? People that don't want to believe this, they're already condemned. The Bible says, He who believeth not is condemned already. So when I hear people say, God's not being fair. He's not giving everyone an equal chance. I want you to know that if God were fair, none of us would be saved. You need not worry about how a sovereign God dispenses with His grace. You need to just be thankful that He's chosen you before time began. You need to bow down and realize that there was nothing inherently good in you that caused God to choose you over the multitudes He passed by. Those who are condemned already. But instead, we need to seek the Lord's face in praise and in worship, thanking Him for the matchless gift of His grace in Jesus Christ. And I believe, just as Paul taught us with his own passion for his people, that we should pray that God would use us as means to reap the harvest of as yet unsaved people. Because God has a number no man can number. And guess what else, beloved? God has a number that you will never know. So your job is to share the gospel with anybody and everybody who will hear it. Our job is to evangelize. Don't you understand that this gospel isn't calling you to complacency and fatalism? This gospel isn't saying, well, God's just going to save whoever He's going to save, and we don't have a part to play. No, God has ordained the means, whereby others are called in and drawn in. 1 Corinthians 1, 21-25 For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called. Oh, my goodness. Oh, God wants everyone to be saved. Then why do so many call His gospel folly? But if you've been called, you don't. Why? To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. So you'll think this gospel foolish until the Lord gets a hold of your heart. Until the Lord does a work of transformation in your heart. And then you're not going to run from Him. You can't resist His will. Oh, you can tell this preacher to pound sand. But when the Lord of glory moves upon your heart in saving mercy, you're going to do what Jonah did. You're going to go ahead, get up off the shore, and you're going to go and do His will. You're going to go, and you're going to be His child. Why? Because you work for Him now. That's what He told the Apostle Paul when He knocked him off His high horse, quite literally. Matthew 28, 19, and 20. Our Lord Jesus Christ said these words to His disciples. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. The gospel is God's appointed means to reap His harvest Why do you think we take the time to meticulously record and to broadcast and to produce and to write literature and to write books and to hold studies? We do all of these things because the Lord God has appointed a means whereby He reaps His harvest. He causes righteousness to sprout. That's what Isaiah taught us. You don't. I don't. But He has chosen these means. The foolishness of a man preaching at you on a Sunday morning. The folly of you sharing this old ancient story with a friend during your work break at lunch. Oh, it seems like folly to anybody else, but you know if God's calling someone unto faith, they're going to hear this word and it's going to hit their dried up soul like water. Like sweet, sweet cold water. Have you ever been thirsty? And I don't mean you went a couple of minutes without taking a sip or pop at the office. I mean, have you ever been out working? And I mean working. And the sweat just rolled. And you look down and there's nothing to drink. All of a sudden, here comes somebody. Maybe it's a wife or a husband or a mom or a dad or maybe a brother or sister or friend. And here they come. And boy, they've got a cooler in tow right behind them. And they said, hey, would you like something to drink? And you're like, oh yes! Why? Because you thirst for it. And whether it be a cool glass of water or maybe a dip down in a bucket of cold water. Some of the old timers would know about some of that. Or in my day and age, the best thing would be that first crack of a Coca-Cola Zero or a Diet Coke, right? The official drink of Baptists everywhere. And that first drink hits your dried up lips and the water or the soda or whatever it is you're drinking that's cooling you down just sort of refreshes you. And in that moment, strength and vigor return to you, right? All of a sudden, you were wilting like greens in a skillet. And then you take and you drink a sip of that cool refreshing beverage and now you feel vigor and vitality returning to your members. That analogy doesn't even come close to what God does when He pours rivers of living water into your dry and thirsty land. And He does it through the preaching of the Gospel. Oh, you'll snarl your nose until He grabs you by the nose and drags you on home. He'll throw you over your shoulders like a stubborn old calf or a stubborn old sheep and He'll walk you home and He'll put you in the fold. What's the fold? It's a gate. And it keeps the vermin out. It keeps the varmint out. But you know what else it does? His keeping power keeps your stubborn hind end right where it belongs to. Don't think that sheep fold just keeps the bad out. It keeps the stubborn in. Hallelujah. His keeping power is real. Let's conclude. Salvation is truly God's greatest expression of love for His people. He chose us by Himself apart from any works on our behalf. And God sets us apart in Christ for Himself using the means of the Gospel to draw His elect to Himself. What is the takeaway? What do I need you to remember? What do I need you to remember today if you forget everything else I said? I'm going to leave this to the Apostle Paul. I believe he gives us our takeaway in Romans 8 33-39. And as I read the word of the Lord, pray that the Lord causes our stubborn minds not to wonder, but to consider God's word. Who shall bring anything to the charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Shall distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Danger? Sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. But know, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He saved us by Himself, for Himself, brought us to Himself through the means of the Gospel. It's all His work. By Himself, He saved us. For Himself, He sanctified us. And to Himself, He has drawn us. Hallelujah. Praise be to God for electing grace and mercy, all ordained and decreed before the worlds were made. God, glory be to Your name. You have caused us to be seated together in the heavenly places with Jesus Christ. Blessed be to God and Father for sending Christ in the fullness of time to propitiate sin and establish righteousness for all His people for all time. Lord, please bless and comfort us in these words of truth. Help us, Lord God, and help us to simply rest richly in the knowledge that we are kept by Your power, by Yourself, for Yourself, and we're drawn to Yourself through the Gospel. Hallelujah forevermore. Lord God, be praised in Jesus Christ, the One whose work is finished. Amen. You have just heard a message from Pastor Jason Booth of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. To learn more about the good news of Jesus, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org.