The Faith Of God's Elect Series

INTRO. - You’ve been elected! How do these words grab you? If some politician said, “you’ve been elected,” would you be excited? Or how about if God said those words to you?

ILL.- One day when preacher Lyman Beecher agreed to exchange pulpits with a neighboring preacher who believed strongly in predestination. As the preachers passed each other on the designated Sunday, Beecher’s friend said, “Dr. Beecher, I wish to call to your attention that before the creation of the world God arranged that you were to preach in my pulpit and I in yours on this particular Sunday.”

“Is that so?” Beecher exclaimed. “Then I won’t do it.” And he turned his horse around and started back to his own church.

There are at least two schools of thought when it comes to this predestination business. And maybe more.

1- There are apparently some who believe that a person is predestined to accept Christ and be saved. The problem with this thinking is that it rules out the matter of choice, which God gives to all mankind. We get to choose our own destiny, in a sense. He has paved the way to eternal life but we won’t go there unless we make this choice.

Joshua 24:15 “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” YOU CHOOSE WHOM YOU WILL SERVE!

John 7:17 “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” You can choose to do His will or not.

2- There are those who believe that God predetermined salvation in heaven, in the sense of making the plan before He even created the world. This seems most sensible to me. God planned for man’s salvation in Jesus before He created the world. He knew that man would sin and would need a way to be saved from sin and hell. HE MADE THAT PLAN BEFORE CREATION.

And it’s true that God knows the road that every human person will take in life, but I don’t believe that He predetermines the way we will go, like we are robots. God did predetermine, however, that those who would choose His Son as their Savior would be His “elected” ones. WE ARE ELECTED IN CHRIST. WE ARE GOD’S ELECTED ONES! And it’s all because of Christ and because we have chosen Christ.

ILL.- A black preacher was once asked to explain the doctrine of election. Said he, “Brethren, it is this way: The Lord he is always voting for a man, and the Devil he is always voting against him; then the man himself votes, and that breaks the tie!” AMEN!

People need to choose Christ and become an elect child of God!

PROP.- The faith God’s elect consists of several important matters.

1- The faith of God’s elect leads to godliness

2- The faith of God’s elect rests in hope

3- The faith of God’s elect trusts in God

I. THE FAITH OF GOD’S ELECT LEADS TO GODLINESS

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.

If we are truly elected in Christ we will see the truth of God which leads to godliness. Is godliness your goal or a goal in your life? What is godliness? It could well be “God-likeness.” To be godly is to be like God! What a tall order for us sinful human beings.

If we are truly elected by God I think we will want to be better and different people. We will want to become more holy, like God who is totally holy.

The problem is that today we live in a world where we are surrounded by ungodliness or by things that completely distract us from the will of God.

ILL.- I know that by all health standards I am overweight, not excessively, but I am overweight. And at my age, it’s easy to give in to it and not fight it. I know that for my health’s sake I should walk, exercise, and eat less junk and lose some weight. It’s highly possible for me to do, but it’s much easier to eat ice cream, hamburgers and french fries.

And this is the same problem that we all have when it comes to spirituality as well. We know what we should do in order to become a better person and more like Christ but it’s much easier to give in to the world and do what everybody does. Indulge ourselves on the things of the world instead of abstaining and growing in Christ. MANY THINGS IN THIS WORLD ARE JUST A WASTE OF OUR PRECIOUS TIME!