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[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.!

[0:30] We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:47] For we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you. Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.

[1:01] You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord in spite of severe suffering. You welcomed the message with joy, with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

[1:15] And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, your faith in God has become known everywhere.

[1:31] Therefore, we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

[1:56] Let's hear the preaching of God's word. Who do you think you are? Ever had someone ask you that? Usually not very complimentary, is it?

[2:08] They're usually rather dismayed at the way you're behaving. Who do you think you are anyway? But we're learning that this is really a very important question.

[2:19] Who do you think that you are? It has to do with an awareness of your identity. And your answer to this question then has a powerful influence upon shaping the way that you live.

[2:33] You live according to what you think you are. And that's why in the Bible we find God is often reminding the believer of who we are in Jesus Christ.

[2:47] And then he tells us, now act like it. You are this, now be what you are. You are the light of the world, now let your light shine.

[2:58] Don't hide it under a bushel and so on. So we've just started our study in the Christian's identity. And then we were on vacation for a month or so or preaching elsewhere. So we're seeking to answer the question, as a believer, who am I?

[3:16] Not according to my thoughts. Surely not according to my feelings. Not according to what the world is telling me. But what does my maker, who knows me through and through, say I am?

[3:31] And what does he tell me in his word that I am? So far we've seen, I am a human being. I am a descendant of Adam. That has ramifications for me.

[3:44] I'm a dependent being. I was never meant to live without God. Secondly, we saw, I am in Christ. I am inseparably joined to him forever and ever.

[3:57] And then we saw, I am a new creation. I'm not the old man I used to be. Rather, a new creation with all things new. Now today, I am chosen by God.

[4:09] Believers, say it with me. I am chosen by God. Now this too is part of your identity, believer. It describes who you are.

[4:22] You're one of God's elect. You're one that he has chosen. And we want to let this truth sink down into our minds, into the pores of our heart.

[4:34] And to think of ourselves as God's elect. Until it more and more affects the way that we live. That's my aim this morning. So who do you think you are?

[4:46] I am chosen by God. Now let's consider first the biblical evidence for this. The Bible uses many different terms to describe the Christian. We're called believers.

[4:58] We're called saints. We're called disciples. A great variety of expressions to fill out our identity in Christ. Christ. And each one of those points draw out new facets that remind us who we are.

[5:17] But one of the titles for Christians found in the New Testament and in the old for believers, we find it in the letters of Peter, James, and John, and Paul.

[5:27] It's the name God's elect or God's chosen. You can't miss it if you read your Bible. Titus 1.1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect.

[5:42] 1 Peter 1.1 and 2. When writing to believers, Peter doesn't just say, well, Peter, to you believers. No, he says, he says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to God's elect.

[5:56] To those he has chosen. And these are individuals, not just an amorphous mass of people that no one really knows. Or I shouldn't say no one knows that God did not choose individuals.

[6:10] No, he chose individuals that make up this body of the elect. So that we read in Romans 16, 13, Paul says, greet Rufus chosen in the Lord.

[6:24] An individual man, he's chosen in the Lord. Well, many places. The Lord Jesus himself uses this terminology to speak of God's people. Six times in the New Testament, at least, that Jesus refers to the elect.

[6:40] He tells us that when he returns, he's going to send his angels into the four corners of the earth to gather who? The elect. That's who he's going to gather to himself into his everlasting kingdom in heaven.

[6:53] The elect. He speaks of that parable of the persistent widow who kept coming to the judge and tells us to keep praying.

[7:05] Luke 18, 7. Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones? That's Jesus speaking of his chosen ones. And we find the same terminology in the Old Testament.

[7:16] It all brings us to conclude that there are people in the world that God has chosen. They are his elect. They are his elect. You cannot miss it.

[7:28] That is their identity. They are chosen ones. Now, secondly, let's consider what the Bible teaches about God's election. And I just want to summarize it for you first, and then we'll dive into some five points.

[7:43] But what does the Bible teach about God's election? Here's a summary. Here's a summary. That out of all hell-deserving sinners, God has chosen to save some to magnify his mercy and grace.

[7:57] All those he has chosen before the creation of the world will, in time, in space-time history, in your lifetime, if you're one of the chosen, in your lifetime, you will be brought to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

[8:15] Now, let's notice five important points about God's choice. The first is the method of his choice. On what basis does he choose these people?

[8:28] And the Bible's answer in Romans 11, 5, and 6 is that we were chosen by grace, not because of works. That's his method.

[8:39] It's grace. Romans 11, 5, and 6, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works.

[8:50] Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. So grace rules out our works, anything that we do, as the reason for which God would choose us.

[9:02] Now, here we see just how different God's method is for choosing than our usual method. When you chose a wife, men, it was because of certain good qualities you liked in her, wasn't it?

[9:22] You were attracted to something about her, and because of that, you chose her. In a political election, you choose somebody who has qualities and convictions and ideas that you like.

[9:38] When you're choosing up teams in baseball, you choose those with something positive to contribute to the team. Whether batting or fielding or pitching or just a good attitude and a hard work ethic, there's something in the person that moves you to say, you know, that's what I want on my team.

[10:00] That's what I want as a wife, and so on. But when God chose to save sinners, it was because of grace in God and not because of works in man. In fact, it wasn't because of anything in man.

[10:13] Anything that would have commended ourselves to God to say, choose me. There was nothing in us to commend ourselves to God for him to choose us.

[10:24] And so if God chooses to save anyone, it will be grace. Now, that's just the teaching of the Bible, isn't it?

[10:35] God did not owe salvation to any of us. All he owed us was eternal hell. That's what he owes us for our rebellion and our sin against him.

[10:47] So if he chooses to save anyone, it will be on the basis of pure grace, unmerited, undeserved favor. He did choose to set his love on unlovely sinners, and he saved them for his own namesake.

[11:02] Paul says in 2 Timothy 1, 9, Who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

[11:13] And this grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

[11:29] So God's choice to save sinners is not because of anything in us, but because of grace in him. In Romans 9, 10, and 11, Paul punctuates this point by the example of Jacob and Esau.

[11:43] And he tells us that Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac, yet before the twins were born, or before they had done anything, good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls.

[12:01] She was told, the older will serve the younger. It didn't have anything to do with their works. They weren't even born yet. It was rather a choice that proved that the method of the choice has nothing to do with man.

[12:16] It has everything to do with God's sovereign grace. Well, that's the method of his choice. Consider the timing of his choice.

[12:26] When did God choose? And Ephesians 1 and verse 4 tells us, For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

[12:41] Ephesians chapter 1. Paul is praising the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for all the benefits of salvation that we have in Jesus. Where does he start?

[12:52] He doesn't start with Calvary. He doesn't start with our conversion, our new birth. No, he goes all the way back into eternity past.

[13:06] Before there was anything but God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one. Before the creation of the world, He chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight.

[13:24] I'm chosen by God. And it happened before the creation of the world. It wasn't that God was looking down through the eons of time and saw all of us who would trust in Jesus.

[13:38] And so he says, I will choose those who will trust in me. No, that would be our choice. Not God's. But this passage and every other one that talks of election speaks not of our choice, but of his choice that took place before the creation of the world.

[13:55] You say, I remember choosing to come to Jesus. Yes, you did. But why did you choose to come to Jesus? It's because long before there was anything, but God, he chose us before the creation of the world.

[14:08] We love him because he first loved us. We chose him because he first chose us. And had he not chosen us, they just left us to ourselves.

[14:21] We never would have chosen him. We would have embraced ourself and sin all the way to hell. Blessed be God for a method of grace that took place before the creation of the world.

[14:32] The timing of his choice. Third, the purpose of his choice. To what end did he choose us? What was this choice for? Was he, was he, we know he chose disciples.

[14:45] Was he, is that all it's saying? He's just choosing a band to travel with him? Or he chooses some men to be preachers and others to be evangelists? Is it just a choice of service?

[14:55] Why did he choose these people? What is this doctrine of election? Well, first of all, we were chosen to be saved. Chosen to be saved.

[15:07] Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. I'm going right through these passages because we don't have lots of time to turn them up.

[15:18] But if you can, we'll have a sword drill this morning. And this is why, children, it's important that you know the books of the Bible, that you can turn to the passage and see it yourself.

[15:30] This isn't what John Heaney says. It's not what John Calvin says. This is what Jesus says. This is what John the Apostle said. This is what Scripture says.

[15:42] 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Paul's writing to the church of the Thessalonians. These are the believers in Christ, the baptized believers in Jesus. And he's telling them about those who are perishing and are under condemnation.

[15:58] They're deceived by Satan. They refuse to believe the truth of the gospel. And then he draws a contrast. But it's not the same with you. No, we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord.

[16:13] Why thank God for you? Because from the beginning, God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

[16:26] These people were not perishing and condemned. Why not? Because from the beginning, before the creation of the world, God chose them to be saved. He chose you to be saved, to partake of his salvation from sin and death and hell.

[16:42] And so if you are saved, you owe your salvation, according to this passage, from God's previous choice to save you. And that's why Paul is thanking God.

[16:54] If it wasn't dependent on God's choice, why would he thank God for these believers? It's because God chose them that he's thanking God. Thank you for choosing these people to be saved.

[17:06] He doesn't thank them for being so smart as to become Christians. No, God is the first cause of our salvation. And you notice that when God chose you to be saved, it included the whole package of salvation.

[17:23] The whole thing. The sanctifying work of the Spirit and belief in the truth. These are aspects of God's full salvation.

[17:34] You needed the Holy Spirit to come and indwell you, to regenerate you, to sanctify you. And yes, that's part of the salvation that God chose you for. You needed to believe the truth.

[17:46] Yes, and that is part of the salvation. Part of this process for which you were chosen. So that's the first point. The purpose for choosing you was to save you.

[17:57] Secondly, Christian, he chose you to be holy. We notice this in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, that he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

[18:13] Notice, God did not choose us because we were holy and blameless in his sight, but he chose us in order to become that holy and blameless.

[18:24] And that through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and that through the cleansing work of Christ's blood, he chose us to be sprinkled by Christ's blood and to be cleansed and made blameless and righteous.

[18:40] He chose us to be holy. Thirdly, he chose us to be born again. And look back in James chapter 1. James chapter 1 and verse 18.

[18:51] Sometimes people say things like that, I chose to be born again. No, no baby ever chose to be born, did they?

[19:02] No, it comes from somebody outside of the baby, the parents perhaps. Well, no Christian ever chose to be born again. Notice what James says, he chose to give.

[19:13] James 1.18. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. Or another translation, of his own will, he gave us birth.

[19:26] It wasn't our will to be born again. No, it was his will that decided he chose to give us birth. So we're chosen to be born again.

[19:39] Fourthly, we're chosen to believe. Other people might tell us that the reason I'm saved is because I believed on Jesus Christ. True enough, but the next question is, why did you believe on Jesus when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come?

[19:58] Why did you come and believe on Jesus? Well, the Bible's answer is because you were chosen to believe. Before the creation of the world, he chose you to be saved.

[20:08] and that includes your repentance, your faith, your sanctification, your justification, your glory. It includes the whole package. He chose you to believe. We saw that in 2 Thessalonians 2.13.

[20:21] He chose to save you through belief in the truth, through belief of the truth. James 2.5, listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him.

[20:41] Then there's that passage that Luke tells us about in Acts 13.13.38 where Paul and Barnabas are out preaching the gospel in a synagogue on the Sabbath day in Pisidian Antioch.

[20:53] The whole city gathered to hear the word of God and the Jewish leaders in the synagogue were jealous of the crowds and so they spoke abusively against Paul and his message and rejected it.

[21:07] Rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah. And so Paul and Barnabas said, well, we had to speak the word of God to you first since you rejected and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life.

[21:19] We now turn to the Gentiles. And then they told the Gentiles that this Jesus from Israel is not only a savior for Jews, but he has been raised up and sent to save Gentiles, to save the nations as well as Jews.

[21:38] And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

[21:49] believed. Now when Paul preached, this gospel is for Jew and Gentile alike. You're both sinners. You both need a savior. Jesus came for all kinds of sinners.

[22:02] Come and trust in him and you will be saved. Not everybody was saved. Not all Jews believed. Not all Gentiles believed. Who believed? Luke tells us who believed.

[22:13] all who were appointed for eternal life believed. All who were chosen to have eternal life are the ones who in time believed.

[22:30] When the gospel came to them, they believed. They put their faith in Jesus. That's because he chose to save them through the belief in the truth. We were chosen to believe.

[22:40] We were chosen fifthly to be adopted as sons. Again, when Paul is thanking God the Father for all the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus, where does he go?

[22:51] He goes to predestination. Ephesians 1.5 In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ and according with the pleasure and will to his pleasure and will and to the praise of his glorious grace.

[23:10] So before the world began, he chose you and predestined you to be a part of the family of God, to be adopted as one of his sons.

[23:23] And that's just Ephesians 1.5. Circle it. Say, that's who I am. I'm chosen by God. I'm predestined to be a son of God. That's my identity. And then we could just go on and on.

[23:35] We could say, I've been chosen to be redeemed, to be forgiven, to be justified, to inherit eternal life as Ephesians 1 goes on and on to lay out these blessings that are ours, that had their beginning before the creation of the world and the first cause of God's election.

[23:56] He chose us for the whole package of salvation, including the eternal life that we will enjoy forever and ever. So Romans 8.30 says that those he predestined he also called.

[24:10] And those he called he also justified. And those he justified he also glorified. If he chose you, you get the whole package. What a blessing to be able to say I am chosen by God.

[24:26] That's the purpose for which he chose us. For salvation. The rich package of a so great salvation in Jesus. then consider not only the purpose for which he chose us but the assurance of being chosen by God.

[24:44] I mean, how do I know for sure that I'm a chosen person? How do I know that I'm part of the elect? That I'm one that God before the creation of the world chose to save?

[24:55] Maybe you're wondering that. Am I one of the elect? Is it even possible to know for sure if we're one of the elect? Well, according to the Apostle Peter, it's not only possible, it's your duty to know this and to be very eager to know this.

[25:11] 2 Peter 1.10 Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. Make sure you're one of the elect. Don't be iffy on this.

[25:21] You can be iffy about what kind of car to drive. You can be iffy about which job to take but don't be iffy and wondering about am I one of God's elect? Make your election sure, Peter says.

[25:34] So how do we do that? How do we know if we're one of the elect? Well, I can say for starters it's certain that you weren't there when God chose you or chose those that he would save for that was before there was anything outside of God.

[25:52] Neither can you sneak into heaven now and catch a peek into the Lamb's book of life to see is my name written there on that page white and fair? No? How is it then that you can know that God has chosen to save you that you're one of the elect?

[26:10] Look at 1 Thessalonians. We had this chapter read for us and let's return to it here. How do we know we're one of the elect? Paul tells us 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 4 For we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you.

[26:39] Paul not only knew God had chosen him himself he also knew that God had chosen them these brothers and sisters in the church at Thessalonica. And in verse 5 he tells us how he knows he tells them how he knows that God has chosen them.

[26:56] He says because our gospel came to you not simply with words but with power with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. In other words he knows that they are the elect because of their reception of the gospel when it came to them.

[27:16] The gospel didn't come to them and just roll off their back like water off a duck's back. One of you were telling me this morning that that's what the Bible used to be just so many words.

[27:31] That's all it was and when it came to you it came in word only. And this Jesus nothing to you your sin nothing to you hell nothing to you heaven nothing to you.

[27:44] It came in word only. Oh but there was a day when this gospel came to this group of people in Thessalonica and it came in more than word.

[27:57] Same word same gospel and many of you can testify as our brother did this morning sat in church all my life maybe you sat in a gospel church and you heard the gospel every week and you only heard it in word it was just so many words that's all it is words in words out no difference until one day it came with the power of the Holy Spirit it came with all the weight of heaven and you came to see that you are the sinner that this Bible is talking about and God's wrath is real and it's really coming against me and only Jesus can save me from this wrath and he does it through his cross bearing the wrath and we're invited to come and trust in this Savior and embrace him as ours and you did why?

[28:46] Because that day the word came and more than power or more than word it came with the Holy Spirit deep conviction the power of heaven well that's what had happened here you see the message penetrated all their their idolatry their false religion their pride their prejudice against the gospel their unbelief their indifference they became deeply convicted and they rejoiced to learn of a Savior for sinners in Jesus Christ God's Son that whoever they were if they believed in him they would not perish but have everlasting life and so they welcomed the message verse 6 says they welcomed it with the joy of the Holy Spirit and verse 9 and 10 and everybody knew the kind of reception that they had to the gospel it was the talk of the region everybody tells us how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true

[29:51] God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath you see this was the evidence that the word came in power to their hearts those idols the things for which they lived the things that got them up in the morning things they worked hard saved money to get thought about talked about lived for those idols in their lives they turned to God and they renounced their idols that's repentance and they turned from idols repentance and turning to God in faith in Jesus Christ and they waited for his son from heaven even Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath they trusted in God and in his son to rescue them from the coming wrath and Paul says that's how I know you're elect because you believe the gospel you threw yourself upon Christ's mercy and so I know that you that God has chosen you they were partaking of Christ and his so great salvation only those who are chosen to be saved ever partake of Christ and his salvation salvation and they were doing that you've heard the saying where there's smoke there's fire it's to trace the effect back to the cause isn't it so if you see smoke the effect you say

[31:20] I know there's a cause somewhere called fire if anybody ever trusts in Jesus to save them that's the effect of a cause it's that God chose them to be saved and that's why they came to Jesus to be saved the Lord Jesus draws the same connection between cause and effect when he says in John 8 30 John 6 38 all that the father gives me will come to me you see the cause and the effect from eternity past God the father chose a people and gave them to his son to come to this earth and die for their sins to live a perfect life to give them a righteousness so they could be right with God God the father gave them to his son and he came and purchased them for God and Jesus says all that the father has given me will come to me and those who come to me I will in no wise cast out all whom the father chose to save and gave to his son will come to be saved it always happens 100% of the time the chosen come to

[32:42] Christ and every single one who comes to Christ to be saved will be saved so Paul reasons backward from the effect to the cause Thessalonians you came to Christ to be saved and that proves that God the father chose you and gave you to his son before the creation of the world there's an important application here for the lost hear me Satan would just love to twist the doctrine of election to your eternal destruction election this isn't a problem with those who grow up in churches where they don't believe the doctrine of election but it is a problem in churches that teach it and preach it and Satan comes and says well you can't come to Christ unless you know you're one of the elect so he's got you waiting he's got you waiting to find out am I elect or am I not you will never ever ever know if you're elect until you come to

[33:43] Jesus and that coming to Jesus for salvation will prove that you are elect so here you stand as a lost sinner and here's Jesus Christ the door into salvation and above the door it says come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest and you come with your sin laden heart and you believe the promise and you trust in Jesus and you come and you enter through the door Jesus Christ and then you look back above the door and it says chosen in him before the creation of the world you can't read it on this side you can only read it on this side of coming to Jesus and then you realize I am one of those who was chosen in Christ before the creation of the world but if Satan has you on this side of conversion waiting one day pity your soul you'll never find out if you're elect on this side no one ever has figured it out

[34:48] Paul didn't know it of the Thessalonians he didn't know it of himself he only knew it because the Thessalonians had come through the door so come come to Jesus today that's the application and in coming to Christ he will cast none away what a savior and you will find out wow I came to Jesus and he saved me and now I see I am one of those that he chose to save before the creation of the world lastly what's your response who do you think you are Christian you say I'm one of God's elect what difference does that make in your life what's the response to his choice what's the fruit and result of it you know the teaching of the Bible on the doctrine of election it's not something to argue about shame on me in my early years for treating it as something to sword fight with others who don't believe it oh these things are too precious to treat in that manner the doctrine of election is something to praise

[36:04] God for can I just pry into your private prayer life for a moment and ask you when's the last time you thank God the father for choosing you to be saved is that part of your identity you living out of that identity father I didn't deserve to be chosen and you chose me to be saved and everything hinges on that choice and that's why I came to Christ and that's why I got the spirit and being sanctified and thank you does it make you a worshiper does it bring you to church on Sunday to praise this God of grace that chose you before the creation of the world does it fill you with wonder love and praise gladness why he would ever choose one so unworthy as me that's the fuel for worship you know that's one of the whys that will never be answered there are a lot of whys that

[37:05] Job had that I have that you have that we don't get an answer in this life but we'll understand it better by and by but there's one why that you will never get to the bottom of why did you choose me why would you ever choose one so unworthy as me and that is the fuel that will fuel worship for eternity as we stand in wonder and awe and never get over the fact that God has chosen us well there are both duties and privileges that arise out of being chosen by God if we have this sense of identity I am chosen by God it should drive us to certain duties did he choose us to be holy and blameless then be holy in all you do and so on we could say with many many different duties but I want you to see from Colossians chapter 3 that your election by God is to affect!

[38:01] how you treat others especially in the body of Christ and I must be quick here Colossians 3 12 to 14 says therefore as God's elect as God's chosen people holy and dearly love clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience bear with each other forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another forgive as the Lord forgave you and over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity this passage in Colossians is showing that God's chosen people are to have a new wardrobe they are to be clothed with all kinds of God like virtues your clothing is how you come across to people and so you are to have these virtues and attitudes by which you relate with people and this text says we've taken off the old man earlier in

[39:02] Colossians 3 we've taken off the old man with his practices and now we are to put on the clothing of the new man in Christ and it's all to be done with an eye to your identity as God's chosen people do you see that the whole list is started as God as God's God's God's chosen people whatever follows you are to do as God's chosen people that's to motivate you that's to move you into this kind of behavior toward other people your election by God is to affect what you wear these virtues you put on so dress in a way that's appropriate for God's chosen people dress the part first of all clothe yourself with compassion notice we're not just told clothe yourself with compassion but as God's chosen people clothe yourself with compassion oh the compassion of God that rather than leaving you in your helpless damned state saw you and pitied you and moved toward you in salvation and began that all with choosing you he he looked at you as a sinner helpless without strength and he chose you he pitied you he had compassion on you well then chosen one put on that same kind of compassion and pity towards others who are in need others around you our compassion to others is to be flavored by the fact that

[40:33] God chose us in such great compassion such great pity! and then kindness clothe yourself with kindness as one of God's elect there we were Titus says disobedient deceived enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures we lived in malice and envy we hated and we were being hated but when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared he saved us God's kindness and love did not begin when Jesus came to save us no they were from eternity when he chose to save us in that hidden plan of redemption in eternity past and that kindness and love from eternity broke out into the open when Jesus came to live and die and rise again for you it appeared that love and kindness appeared it broke into clear view but it has been there from eternity from the day he chose!

[41:37] even before days were counted kindness it's a result of election sadly kindness kind of gets a backseat I think in the fruit of the spirit and it's often overlooked as kindness it's such a little thing but what a precious and powerful thing is the kindness of God our Savior it broke our hearts it won us to him to see the kindness of our Savior it disarmed us what a powerful thing is kindness and what a powerful thing is kindness in your life your kind word to another your kind greeting to another your kind deed your kind look Augustine lived for many years as a lost and immoral man God used the persistent prayers of Monica his mother to save him but he also used Ambrose the bishop of Milan a man of

[42:39] God and Augustine talks of eventually coming to Milan to take up a teaching position and that's where he first met Ambrose known throughout the world as one of the greatest preachers of the day and Augustine writing in his confessions to God says I was led to him by you unaware that through him I might be led to you I began to like him at first indeed not as a teacher of the truth for I had absolutely no confidence in your church but as a human being who was kind to me and gradually though I did not realize it I was drawing closer here's Augustine coming into the orbit of Ambrose the great preacher of the day and it wasn't his skill in preaching it wasn't all his knowledge it wasn't even the message that he preached that first drew him in he was kind to me him the power the power of

[43:59] Holy Spirit generated kindness that's the fruit of election in a man who knows that God has shown kindness to him and choosing him before the creation of the world that's to color our kindness to others and then clothe yourself with humility you know there's no room for a proud Calvinist there's no room for an arrogant man to say God chose me not you or this or that or the other you know what first Corinthians 1 27 and 28 says he chose the foolish the weak the lowly he chose the despised he chose the nobodies so that no one may boast before him so put that into your pride and what do you find oh we get down low!

[44:43] nobody ought to be more humble on the planet than those that God has chosen oh how low he stooped when he chose me and that generates this clothing of ourselves in humility towards one another gentleness and patience we sang of that perfect gentleness in our Lord elect of God have you not been on the receiving end of such gentleness and patience put that towards the people who try your patience tempt you to be rough with them what a gentle God what a patient God with me one of his chosen and and forbearance and forgiveness don't forget to put that on where you're able to put up with much and forgive even more just as the Lord forgave you you were chosen by grace therefore as

[45:47] God's chosen people don't hold grudges and offenses with each other but extend the grace of forgiveness and the grace of forbearance to those who have wronged you to those who have irritated you and and then over all of this here's the big overcoat put on love God loved and chose you before you loved him he loved you when you were unlovely when there was nothing beautiful about you in fact we were repulsive objects of wrath in God's sight and yet he set his love on us he fixed it on us and he chose us to belong to himself so as God's elect put on that same coat of love over every other virtue and love others as you have been loved by God who chose you so what are we saying as you get dressed remember who you are God's elect

[46:48] God's chosen those are some of the duties! growing out of election! but then there's privileges! I just want to speak of one and it's just the comforts and encouragement that comes from knowing that God chose you this is a vast universe ever seen a picture of something from outer space and all the lights and galaxies and then there's earth and it's just a dot and you're just a dot on that dot one out of seven and a half billion people here I am on this little planet and yet this God who made all of this before he made it had me in his mind and even as he was designing a plan of salvation he had me on his mind and he said I am going to choose now this one to be saved what significance that we have a God who knows us by name who wrote our names in the

[47:49] Lamb's book of life whose names are engraved on the palms of his hands you might be persecuted you might be rejected you might be cast off as nothing by this world but God chose you to be his own know what a comfort that is and here's also the comfort of security here's our eternal security God chose to save me before the creation he chose that he says I am going to save John He I can say side of conversion and trusting in Christ yes chosen before the God was back here in eternity passing I'm going to choose John Heaney to be saved I do that right now and he chose me to be saved and that set in motion all of God's power all of God's work to bring that to pass let me ask you is there anything that God plans that doesn't get done

[48:49] Job chapter 42 and verse 2 I know that you can do all things no plan of yours can be thwarted that means if God planned it it's going to happen and election is simply God's plan to save his people I am going to save her it's not salvation it's his plan his choice to save Christ had to come and live the perfect life we don't live he had to come and bear the wrath of God on our behalf he had to send the Holy Spirit to quicken us and rebirth us to new life to keep us preserving to the end all of that he has to glorify all of that must take place but at the very beginning!

[49:37] he set the plan in motion I'm still mid race I've got some laps to go never know when the next step is my last but this is a tremendous comfort to me to know that the God who chose me is going to finish what he began in me isn't there a verse something like that in the Bible he will get it done for he works all things according to the counsel of his will my name in the palms of his hands eternity will not erase and therefore more happy yet not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven they're happier than I am today but they're no more secure than I am because God chose to save me and he will get it done blessed comfort that's what the doctrine of election is in your

[50:41] Bibles for not to sword fight but to glory in to draw comfort to suck in all the comfort and encouragement as we are making our way through this world Romans 11 7 the elect will reach heaven at last because they always obtain the salvation that they were chosen for one more text Revelation 17 14 it fast forwards us to the end the end of this present age when God's plans are all fulfilled for this present age and after the dust of the final battle has settled Romans 17 14 shows him to us our victorious Lord who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings but he's not alone there with him will be his called chosen and faithful followers there we are every last one he chose kept faithful to the end not one of them missing now forever with the

[51:55] Lamb who is Lord and King over all elect of God glory in God's choice of you and let it affect your heart and your worship and your relationships the way you treat people the way you glory in Jesus Christ amen let's thank you our father we thank you that you're a God of plans of eternal plans most of them secrets that we cannot pry into but once we've trusted in Christ you have assured us that we are those that you chose before the creation of the world and I pray for every believer in Jesus here this morning to taste something of the sweetness of your grace found in that fact alone that you chose us to be your own people I pray for lost sinners that they wouldn't get hung up by Satan's twisting this doctrine to their destruction that they would see that the business that they have to do is to enter through the narrow gate of

[53:02]  Jesus Christ and to do it now we love you Lord because you first loved us we chose you because you first chose us melt us and move us then with this part of our identity and help us to be thinking of it even this week and even this day as we worship before you a great God of eternal decrees we pray in Jesus name Amen Amen