Salvation, Not Probation

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Salvation, to use the words of another, is in no sense a probation. To be saved by grace, to some, seems to mean to be placed in such a relation to God that at the end of the earthly life one enters glory, provided the one has been faithful to God and has lived according to certain moral standards. It may not be stated as definitely as this, but this is the meaning of salvation according to many today.

The doctrinal epistles of the Bible tell of a great many things that are true of the one who has been saved. These are all spoken of as being fully accomplished. There is no mention of growth or development of any one of them. They are always considered as being final. The following is only an incomplete list of these things. It is not necessary to enumerate all in order to prove that the one who has been saved is in an unalterable condition.

The saved person has been redeemed from under the law (Galatians 4:5) and the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13) by an eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). He is dead to the law (Romans 7:4) and shall not come into condemnation (John 5:24, Romans 8:1). He is reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18) and is at peace with Him (Colossians 1:20). He is justified (Romans 5:1), and all trespasses have been forgiven (Colossians 2:13). He has been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of the Son of God (Colossians 1:13). He has been born again of incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23), is a son of God (John 1:12) , and has eternal life (John 5:24). He is a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). He is perfected forever (Hebrews 10:14), is complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10), and has been accepted of God (Ephesians 1:6). He has been born of the Spirit (John 3:6) baptized by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13) is indwelt by the Spirit who abides forever (John 14:16,17), and sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). He has become the object of God's love (Ephesians 2:4), of His grace (Romans 6:14), of His power (Ephesians 1:19), and of His faithfulness (1 Corinthians 1:9). He is a citizen of heaven (Ephesians 2.19, Philippians 3:20), is seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), and is already glorified (Romans 8:30).

All of the above and more too, God says of the one who has been saved. Before the one who has been saved can be lost, every one of these things must be made void. Is that possible? God's Word is absolutely silent as to any such possibility. This should be final, for it is only through His revelation that these facts are known to man.

Can one who has been redeemed by an eternal redemption be brought back into bondage? Can one who is dead to the law be made alive to it? Can one within the Kingdom of God be taken out of it? Can one being born again of incorruptible seed and having eternal life die? Can one that has been perfected forever be found imperfect? Can one that is complete in Christ become incomplete? These are eternal in their very nature, and therefore are unalterable.

--J.F. Strombeck

Peter's Heart

Is the believer's heart still "deceitful above all things"? (Jeremiah 17:9). Or has God's work of regeneration and the implanting of a new nature and the indwelling Spirit of God solved this problem for those who follow Christ?

In Matthew 26:33 we read Peter's confident words: "Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended." Could this one, who had followed in the footsteps of Christ for those years, been witness to His miracles and His glory, heard His public teaching and private instruction, who professed "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God"--could this one be so deceived by his own heart? Yet it wasn't long before we see Peter denying the Lord, cursing, and swearing.

Little did Peter realize that those things were in his heart, ready to burst forth when the occasion presented itself. Little did this one, who was ready to go with the Lord "to prison and to death" (Luke 22:33) know that he would soon be found wielding a sword.

If we go back to the previous scenes we will see what led to his stumbling. While Jesus was in the garden praying, Peter was sleeping. Before that, at the last supper, while John was "leaning on Jesus' bosom," Peter was far enough removed from the Lord that he needed to get John to ask Him a question (John 13:23,24). Thus, it is no surprise that when Jesus was brought before the high priest, John went in with Him, while Peter stood outside (John 18:15,16).

Is it not the same with us? If our heart is not occupied with Jesus, the very sins we would despise even the thought of, might be those to which we are unwittingly led through one step of temptation to another. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Proverbs 28:26). "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Let us learn these lessons from Peter: Instead of slumbering, pray! Instead of following Christ afar off, lean on Him! Instead of trusting your own resolutions, rely on His grace! Instead of following your heart, walk in the Spirit!

From Moments For You Magazine 3rd Qtr 2002

Facing the 21st Century

Excerpt from "How God Makes Known the Riches of His Glory to the Vessels of Mercy" by John Piper

You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. -Romans 9:19-23

Have you ever considered - I am asking you to consider - that what is coming to us in the 21st century may be so catastrophic, so unprecedented in this country, that everything we ever knew of earthly securities will fail, and that this God, the God of Romans 9 - the God that, in our three centuries of American security and comfort and luxury could be so easily marginalized - that this God may be precisely the God perfectly suited to take on the challenge of Islam, and shield us from false teachings within the church, and be big enough to give you hope when the whole world seems to collapse and then rise in rebellion against Christ? Are you sure that your inherited God is the Biblical God? Is your God big enough and majestic enough and sovereign enough to be the God of the 21st century and of the world that we see developing around us?

Read or listen to the full sermon here.

HT: Truth Matters

Total Depravity

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9).

Many object to the doctrine of total depravity on the ground that all men are capable of some good, even if unsaved. All of us recognize the value of decency in behavior, a kind spirit, generosity in caring for the needy, and similar virtues which are frequently seen in unconverted and even positively godless men and women. How, then, it is asked, can they be said to be totally depraved? Dr. Joseph Cook, the great Boston lecturer of the latter half of the nineteenth century, answers this question with the following illustration.

He had in his home a very beautiful and valuable clock. It had an exceedingly handsome case, a very fine set of works, a nice-appearing dial, and elegantly finished hands. It was altogether a good clock to look at, but it had one fault. It simply would not, or could not, keep time. It had been gone over by many different clock makers, but no one had been able to correct this fault. As a timepiece it was totally depraved!

Is not this like man, even at his best, if he has not been born again? There may be much about him that others can admire, but he is positively unable to do the will of the Lord because his heart is utterly estranged from God and therefore, as far as holiness is concerned, he is totally depraved. Only the new birth--regeneration by the Word and Spirit of God--can enable him to keep in line with the divine will as laid down in the Holy Scriptures. However righteous he may appear in the eyes of his fellows, because of this fatal defect all his righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6).

--H.A.Ironside

Does Your Life Match Your Profession?

Excerpt from the message Doers Not Just Hearers by Pastor Ron Bridge

Having or knowing the law requires one to glorify God (Romans 2:23-24).

Paul quotes Isaiah 52:5 which was a reference to the Captivity. Israel boasted in an all powerful God. But because they did not obey God they were defeated and taken from their land. The Assyrians and then the Babylonians blasphemed God as being weaker than their gods. The Jews did not consider that God's reputation was either glorified or despised by their conduct. They boasted in the law and in their relationship with God and yet the history of Israel is a tragic tale of constant failure - of running after other gods, of being self seeking instead of God honoring, of arrogance instead of humility.

Church people can, and do the same thing. I have had several experiences over the years of knowing people who insist that they are born again, but it is obvious that their lives do not match their profession (as an aside I think that the more a person insists - protests - that they are saved, the greater the likelihood that they are not). But, it is also obvious to unbelievers as well. This, my friends is the most serious thing. If you profess to be a Christian but fail to live up to that profession the world will soon recognize your hypocrisy - and rightly so. In fact, is that not one of the most common reasons why unbelievers won't enter a church?

When life and profession fail to correspond, the potential exists for God to be blasphemed. No one wants to stand before the judgment seat of God to answer to that charge! Therefore it is incumbent on each one of us to make sure that our lives do not bring discredit to God. Listen to what William Hendriksen writes about the life of a genuine Christian: "Precisely because they have been delivered from [judgement], they are all the more deeply obliged not only to hear but to obey the gospel. By their good deeds, resulting from gratitude, they show that by God's sovereign grace and power they have given their hearts to Him. In Him alone do they place their trust. From Him alone they have received their status of being righteous in God's eyes."

If we are truly saved, our lives will match our profession. Our aim will be to bring honor and glory to God in all that we do. The thought of causing God's name to be despised or blasphemed would be just about the worst thing we could imagine. We will be doers of the word and not hearers only, not to be right with God, but because we are right with God through His grace and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you right with God or have you been playing the hypocrite? Does your life match your profession? Do you love the gospel and the law and love to obey His word? Are you right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Listen to the full sermon here.

Justification by Faith - John MacArthur

The Reformation doctrine of justification by faith is, and has always been, the number one target of the enemy's attack. It provides the foundation of the bridge that reconciles God and man--without that key doctrine, Christianity falls. But the doctrine that the Reformers so painstakingly clarified, even spilled blood over, has become so muddled today that many Protestants barely recognize it. Sadly, there are some who react against a clear presentation of justification, calling it nothing more than useless hair-splitting.

The superficial interests of the seeker church have caused doctrinal issues to be downplayed and deemphasized--what "unchurched" person wants to come hear about theology? Under the influence of pragmatism, the seeker-sensitive movement has traded God-honoring doctrinal clarity and biblical purity for entertainment and motivational speeches.

Social and political concerns have brought evangelicals and Catholics together in recent years to unite against the forces of secularism. Under the influence of ecumenism, it's difficult for either group to remember what it was that divided them in the first place.

The pragmatists and ecumenicists are aided in their forgetfulness by new theological movements that redefine justification in more Catholic terms. Under the influence of liberalism and postmodernism, proponents of the New Perspective on Paul, the Emergent Church, and others have so confused and redefined the doctrine of justification that it has become shrouded in darkness once again.

The Christian church today is in danger of returning to the Dark Ages. The seeker movement has Christianity turning in its Bibles; the ecumenical movement urges Christians to use worldly means to accomplish temporal ends; and current theological movements look through the lens of philosophy--Enlightenment rationalism and postmodern subjectivism--rather than Scripture. The departure from sola scriptura has led to the departure from sola fide--justification by faith alone.

Back to the Beginning

In the 1500s a fastidious monk, who by his own testimony "hated God," was studying Paul's epistle to the Romans. He couldn't get past the first half of Romans 1:17: "[In the gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith" (KJV).

One simple, biblical truth changed that monk's life--and ignited the Protestant Reformation. It was the realization that God's righteousness could become the sinner's righteousness--and that could happen through the means of faith alone. Martin Luther found the truth in the same verse he had stumbled over, Romans 1:17: "Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith" (KJV, emphasis added).

Luther had always seen "the righteousness of God" as an attribute of the sovereign Lord by which He judged sinners--not an attribute sinners could ever possess. He described the breakthrough that put an end to the theological dark ages:

I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.

Justification by faith was the great truth that dawned on Luther and dramatically altered the church. Because Christians are justified by faith alone, their standing before God is not in any way related to personal merit. Good works and practical holiness do not provide the grounds for acceptance with God. God receives as righteous those who believe, not because of any good thing He sees in them--not even because of His own sanctifying work in their lives--but solely on the basis of Christ's righteousness, which is reckoned to their account. "To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness" (Romans 4:5). That is justification.

Continue reading here.

Jesus: More Than a Savior

Video clip from a sermon entitled "Christ Centered Relationships, Part 2" by Francis Chan at Cornerstone Community Church in Semi Valley, CA.

"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." -1 John 2:6

If you can't see the media player, click on the post title.



HT: http://postvhs.com

The Great Dilemma

Excerpted from "Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church" by Paul Washer

You see, when you talk about the gospel, my dear friend, let’s set it up just clearly. The gospel begins with nature of God and it goes from there to the nature of man and the fallenness thereof. And it goes from there, those two great columns of the gospel come to set up for us what should be called and known as, in every believer’s mouth, the great dilemma. And what is that dilemma? If God is just he cannot forgive you.

The greatest problem in all of Scripture is this. How can God be just and at the same time the justifier of wicked men, when Scripture throughout the Bible says—especially I will draw from one text in Proverbs—“He who justifies the wicked is an abomination to God.” (Proverbs 17:15) And yet all our Christian songs boast about how God justifies the wicked.

That is the greatest problem. That is the acropolis of the Christian’s faith so said Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Charles Spurgeon and anyone else who has read Romans three. You see, you have got to fit this before people. The great problem is that God is truly just and all men are truly wicked, God to be just must condemn wicked man. But then God, for his own glory, put a great love with which he loved us, sent forth his Son who walked on this earth as a perfect man. And then according to the plan, the eternal plan of God, he went to that tree. And on that tree he bore our sin and he became, standing in the law place of his people, bearing our guilt, he became a curse.

“Cursed is every man who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law so as to perform them.”

Christ redeemed us from the curse becoming a curse in our place.

So many people have this romantic, powerless view of the gospel that the Christ is there hanging on the tree suffering under the wounds of the Roman Empire and the Father did not have the moral fortitude to bear the suffering of his Son so he turned away.

NO!!

He turned away because his Son became sin.

And so many when he is in that garden and he cries out, “Let this cup pass from Me,” people speculate, “Well, what was in the cup? Oh, it is the Roman cross. It is the whip. It is the nails. It is all this and all that.”

I do not want to take away from the physical sufferings of Christ on that tree, but the cup was the cup of God the Father’s wrath that had to be poured out on the Son. Someone had to die, bearing the guilt of God’s people, forsaken of God by his justice and crushed under the wrath of God, for it pleased the Lord to crush him.

True Spiritual Conversion

True conversion and regeneration is vital to being a Christian. Unfortunately, all too many in the professing church today believe that because they once said a prayer or walked an aisle that they completed "God's checklist of salvific criteria" and are now on their way to heaven. Mark Kielar of CrossTV gives a good summary of what a true, spiritual conversion is as opposed to the false, hypocritical, manmade "conversion" that is causing so much division in the professing church these days.

If you can't see the media player, click on the post title.



This is part of the "How God Converts the Human Soul" series. You can find the series at CrossTV's website here: http://www.crosstv.com

HT: http://www.symphonyofscripture.com

A New Nature

The Lord Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). Today there are many people that think of the new birth as a kind of change that takes place in one's life, or what they call a "Christian experience." But when the Bible talks about new birth it is because God actually gives a new life to the one who believes on the Lord Jesus. It is not an improvement of the old one, but a new one--born from above. Of course a change will result, because the new life wants to please God.

Trusting, Not Teaching

Nicodemus came to the Lord with the thought that he would get some teaching. Indeed the Lord Jesus is and was a wonderful teacher, but what the sinner needs first of all is to receive a new life, and so the Lord replied, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). Man had teaching under the law, for "the law is holy ... just and good" (Romans 7:12). All those commandments and precepts laid down for man in the Old Testament were from God. But they did not give a new life, for the Scripture says, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (Galatians 3:21).

Why then did God give the law? Many people do not believe that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). If I have a child and there is a heavy suitcase which he thinks he can carry, how can I prove to him that he cannot? Just give him a chance to try. God did just that when He gave His commandments, and we have all failed miserably to keep them.

Rebirth, not Reform

What the Lord is showing here in John 3 is that salvation does not come by being reformed--it comes by being reborn. There has been a work of God for us at Calvary's cross when Jesus died for our sins and rose again, but there has to be something wrought inside us because the natural heart of man will never respond to God. God uses His precious Word applied by the power of the Spirit to accomplish this. "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.... Being born again ... by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:22,23). When we see our need of Christ, repent, and trust in Him, we are born again and receive a new life from God. That is why the believer desires different things. God has given the believer a new life, the "new man" that wants to please Him.

What About the Old Nature?

When someone is born again, what happens to the old nature? God does not improve it. He forgives our sins, but the nature that causes us to sin will remain with us as long as we are in this body. Even if one has been saved for fifty years, the fallen nature has not improved one bit, and it never will.

In Romans 6 we are told about what God has done in connection with our old nature, and what we are to do with it as well. This old nature is sometimes called "the flesh," "the old man," "sin," or "sin in the flesh." In verse 6 we are told "Our old man is crucified with Him." At the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus not only bore my sins, but His death was the end of my standing before Him as a child of Adam. God no longer sees the believer as a child of fallen Adam, for we have died out of that position and entered a new position before Him by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (Romans 6:9-11).

Out With the Old, In With the New

Oh, you say, sometimes I want to do what is wrong! Now it is not the new life that wants to act that way--it is because you're allowing the "old man" to be active. Romans 6:11 says, "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." When temptation is presented to us we can turn from those bad thoughts and allow the Spirit of God through the "new man" to occupy us with Christ. The new man finds its joy and deliverance in looking away from self to Christ.

Let me use an illustration to help make this point clear. Let us suppose I plan to build something, and I have a pile of lumber which I have been saving for this purpose. I decide to hire a carpenter to build it for me, and I ask him to please use this lumber for the building. He goes out to look at the lumber and after a while he comes back saying, "I have looked over your pile of lumber and I have some bad news for you. Your lumber is all rotten. There is not one good piece in the whole pile." What did he do? He did not try to improve it, or use part of it. No! He condemned it. This is what God has done with our old nature, and what we should do, too.

My carpenter condemned my pile of lumber, but then he said, "I have some good news for you. I have brought you all the new lumber you need, and it will not cost you anything. It is a gift." It is indeed a sad discovery to find out how very bad the old nature really is, but this should only lead us to be more thankful for deliverance, knowing that our new standing before God is because of that blessed work accomplished for us at Calvary. Dear born-again believer, never forget that God sees you "in Christ Jesus" and "holy and without blame before Him in love" (Ephesians 1:4). How great is that!

Are you, dear reader, looking for something good in the old nature? God gave it up long ago, and if you give it up now you will be a happy person. Allow the Great Carpenter to throw a tarp over the pile of rotten lumber. It will not improve while under there, but he says just to consider it is not there. That is what it is to "reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin." When some bad thought comes into your mind, how are you going to be set free? If you allow the Spirit of God through the new man to occupy you with Christ, you will be set free.

Feeding the New Nature

It is vitally important that we read God's Word and pray. If we neglect this, the enemy knows our weak points and he will come and work on that "old man" to lead us into sin. A true believer can never be lost, but he can, like David of old, lose the joy of God's salvation and dishonor his Lord. The prayer of the Psalmist is good for us all: "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer" (Psalm 19:12-14).

--Condensed from Two Natures in the Believer by G.H. Hayhoe.

Justified By What's Been Done For Us

Video clip: Alistair Begg explains how we are justified not by what we have done or by what has been done in us but by what has been done for us.

If you can't see the media player, click on the post title.



HT: http://www.reformedvoices.com/

What is the Gospel? Are you Saved?

Video clip: Kevin Williams answers the questions: What is the Gospel? Are you saved? Do you know what saves a person?

If you can't see the media player, click on the post title.

Discerning “X-MEN”

by Pastor Larry DeBruyn

Marked for life: discernment ministry in light of Ezekiel 9:1-11.

Someone once said that sin is as much breaking God’s heart as it is His Law. When God looked down on the perversity of the people on earth before the Deluge, it was recorded that He “was grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:6b). When confronted by resident wickedness both without and within the professing church, Christians can manifest one of three reactions: approval (1 Corinthians 5:2), indifference (Zephaniah 1:12), or disapproval as indicated by the presence of either anger (Psalm 119:53) or grief (Psalm 119:136). So the question becomes, as we see the worldliness-wickedness invading the church, how do we feel about it? Are we agitated by, indifferent to, or accommodating of it?

Not unlike the society and church of our times, during Ezekiel’s ministry Judah found herself in a moral and spiritual “melt down.” Fraud, violence, adultery, and idolatry were running rampant amongst God’s chosen people. Idols had been set up in the Temple (Ezekiel 8:17; 9:9). From his location in Babylon, the Lord took Ezekiel on a virtual reality tour of the Temple, the place where on the Mercy Seat beneath the Cherubim, God’s Shekinah glory was to have been seated (Ezekiel 8:4). What he saw in that place of worship stunned the prophet. On his guided tour of the inner court, the Lord showed the prophet where first the people had substituted an idol image for Yahweh; where second, the elders worshiped animals; where third, the women sobbed over the death of Tammuz, a mythological fertility god who had married the Egyptian goddess Ishtar; and where fourth, the priests worshiped the sun (Ezekiel 8:5-18). Up-close and personal, the prophet saw how the nation had abominated into apostasy, how Israel had turned from worshiping the Creator to idolizing the creation and its creatures (See Romans 1:21-23.).

Yet in the midst of all those “alternative spiritualities,” and like the remnant of Elijah’s day who refused to bow their knee to Baal and kiss the idol god (1 Kings 19:18), some believers preserved themselves to be holy unto the Lord. So the Lord instructed the angel dressed in white to mark an “X” on the foreheads of the faithful, a mark that would spare them from the coming divine judgment (circa 600 BC).[1] Most have heard about “the mark of the beast”, the mark the deceived will receive at the end of the age, an identity without which they will neither be able to buy or sell (Revelation 14:9-12). The prophet Ezekiel wrote about a different mark, an “X” that was to be written on the foreheads of those in Judah who had refused to go along with the popular spiritual trends of that day. The “X” would spare them from the coming divine wrath. So the Lord instructed the angel: “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst” (Ezekiel 9:4). Pause with me . . . for a moment let’s project back to that era and ask ourselves the following question: If we had been alive in Ezekiel’s day, would the angel have marked us to be spared from divine judgment?

Continue reading here.

What is the Gospel? (Dr. Alan Cairns)

Video clip: Dr. Alan Cairns explains what the Gospel is in a nutshell.
If you can't see the media player, click on the post title.

Knowing Your Election

When the gospel of God's grace was brought to the Thessalonians, they received it as the Word of God in the power of the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance (see 1 Thess. 1:5). They "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for His Son from heaven ... even Jesus" (vs. 9,10). They were saved by faith in the Saviour, Jesus.

In verse 4, however, we learn another truth concerning their salvation. Paul writes, "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God." They were saved by believing the Gospel, but they also learn they had been elected by God to be saved. These two truths appear to some to be contradictory, and human reasoning finds them to be irreconcilable. Consequently, either one truth or the other is received, but not both, and the result is that God's Word is only partly believed for lack of human understanding.

As a matter of Scriptural revelation, both truths are most precious; namely, God's sovereignty in choosing (electing) some to salvation, and man's responsibility believe and be saved. Inference is often wrongly drawn that because God chooses some to salvation that he chooses some to be lost. This, however, is erroneous, human assumption not based on Scriptural revelation. In fact, a multitude of Scriptures reveal His desire that all might be saved, and never is there one found that in the least indicates He chooses some to be lost.

In 2 Peter 3:9, we read He "is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish." John 3:16 tells us that "whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And in 1 Timothy 2:4 we read, He would "have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." That is God's Word.

Just so, however, is it equally true as revealed in Ephesians 1:4 that the believer has been chosen "in Him before the foundation of the world." Also, in 1 Peter 1:2 we read, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."

Writing further to the saints to whom Paul had previously revealed "Knowing your election," he says in 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14, "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation," and then reveals the means: "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto He called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." God's election of them is stated; the means whereby He brings His elected ones to salvation is by the Holy Spirit's conviction, and by their believing the truth set forth in the Gospel.

Why He chose me, I will never be able to fathom. However, I am assured by His Word that He did so. Jesus says in John 15:16, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." In Deuteronomy 7:6-8 where Moses speaks of Jehovah choosing Israel for His earthly people, it was "Because the Lord loved you." That is the answer for the believer. This will evoke eternal praise from the redeemed.

An illustration may serve to show the truth of what we have before us. Imagine a house with a sign on the outside which reads: "WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME." Many pass by, some enter the door. Inside there is a sign which reads: "CHOSEN IN CHRIST BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD." The latter is a truth for those who came into the house. They learn their salvation was all of God, and according to His eternal purpose to have an eternal companion, the Bride, for His Son.

If you believe, you have been chosen and owe all to Him. If you don't believe, you are lost and cannot blame God, for He says, "Whosoever will may come." No one will be turned away. Now notice both truths brought together in John 6:37: "All that the Father hath given Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."

From Moments For You Magazine, September-October 1988