• The Response – YOU ARE FOREKNOWN
“God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew”
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” God does not make bad investments; God does not make mistakes! His response to the Romans was the same response he made to Israel! God does not change! He is immutable. He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore! Peter says, “we have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood…”
• The Reserved – YOU ARE KEPT FOR HIS OWN
"I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
God has kept for Himself! – Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” If you believe that God has the power to save you, you need to also believe that God has the power to keep you!
Paul illustrates this point by teaching us of Elijah: 1 KINGS 18 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, “I am by myself, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us and put them on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—He is God.” The prophets of Baal prayed all day and Elijah said PRAY LOUDER, your god may be on the toilet! Then Elijah called on the name of Jehovah God and fire came down from heaven and consumed the bull, the alter and the water in the trench! Elijah then said gather all 450 of the false prophets and he slew them all! Old King Ahab ran back and told his wife, the evil Jezebel, what Elijah had done and she sent word that because he killed her prophets and mocked her fake god she was going to kill him! Elijah gets word and though he had just seen the mighty works of God on Mount Carmel he was afraid of Jezebel and hid in cave.
1 KINGS 19 In verse 9, the Lord asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah was in a place where he should not have been and God intended to bring him back. There are times when we all find ourselves in a place like Elijah. We get discouraged; we get defeated and we get down and out. Have you ever been there? Sure you have! We all have. In fact, some are there right now. This passage has something to say to us during those times of life. When you find yourself in a place like Elijah, you can rest assured that God will come by and ask you the same thing he asked Elijah, “What doest thou here?” Elijah answers, “I am the last prophet left and they are out to get me!” 11 And God said, Stand up where you can see! And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
• Elijah was not moved because of the WIND.
• Elijah was not moved because of the EARTHQUAKE.
• Elijah was not moved because of the FIRE.
• Elijah only moved at the Voice of God!
It is time to get out of your cave! – Paul is teaching us that just as God did not call Elijah to live in a cave, He did not call you to live a defeated life but to stand up for the Lord. God did not save you for you to be discouraged and defeated. Notice how Elijah was not moved by the spectacular and the majestic. God taught him to look for Him in the little things. Too often, we get defeated when God does not answer in a spectacular way. If we would learn to see Him in the quiet times, we would have plenty to praise Him for! Elijah Assumed That He Was Finished – Elijah thought his life and ministry were over, and he was ready to die. God reminded him that he still had big plans for Elijah’s tomorrow. Too often, our assumptions fail to take into account the sovereignty of God. Elijah thought that because he had done all that he was able to do then, God must be finished too. Never assume that your ministry is over; as long as there is God in Heaven you have work to do for the Kingdom! Elijah Assumed That He Was Forsaken – God reminded him that he still had 7,000 pure hearts in Israel. Paul reminds us of the history of Elijah to drive home the same fact that “You Are Not Alone!” Psalm 121:7-8 “The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.” “The best medicine for depression is the cold hard truth” – “I have 7,000 that have NEVER bent a knee to Baal! You Are Not Alone!”
• The Remnant – YOU HAVE BEEN FORESHOWN
“Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
Paul is making the case that a remnant of Israel has remained faithful to God by faith in Christ Jesus. Paul proclaims now that this remnant has been chosen by God's grace. By this, Paul means that they have not earned their place but, just as we are chosen by God's grace, these Israelites have received salvation the same way. Paul wants to be clear they have not earned it in any way by being faithful to the law of Moses. This verse not only summarizes this point, but it also stands as a crucial part of Christian theology. Do you know that God’s plan for your salvation has never changed? You were never second best; you have always been the plan of God according to the election of grace. I don’t know when I was taught that God chose for Himself Israel and when they rejected Him, He then offered grace to me! That is not biblical! The Election of Grace teaches that, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:” Ephesians 1:4. There has never been two plans of salvation! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
