Clayton’s Story

I must commend this video to you all. It’s a little over six minutes long, it was filmed and directed by Josh and Jacob Lewis who used to attend church at Emmanuel (Pastor Rick’s two oldest sons). It is an excellent video in every aspect, and it has a message of urgency to all of us. You can view it here and it will remain in my Featured Videos page for as long as it is viewable on the internet. Enjoy.

Clayton's Story

I must commend this video to you all. It’s a little over six minutes long, it was filmed and directed by Josh and Jacob Lewis who used to attend church at Emmanuel (Pastor Rick’s two oldest sons). It is an excellent video in every aspect, and it has a message of urgency to all of us. You can view it here and it will remain in my Featured Videos page for as long as it is viewable on the internet. Enjoy.

Election

As I was reading in Acts chapter 13, I came to verse 48. Before I quote it for you, let me say that if you do not believe in God’s sovereign election of his children, you will have a hard time dealing with this verse.

“And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

I’m not sure that one could find a more direct verse – outside of John 6:44 – concerning God’s sovereign election of His saints to salvation.

Election is one of those words which strikes fear into the hearts of many. When we speak of election, people tend to think of Calvinism, but the fact is that Armenians also believe in election. What is election? Election could be simply defined as God’s sovereign choice in eternity past of those who would be born again into His family. Calvinists and Armenians – again put simply – primarily disagree on His method of choosing people, not whether He chooses or doesn’t choose.

Why is the doctrine of election so maligned? It makes people angry, it makes them feel helpless. I know a brother who left our church because he couldn’t attend a church that believed in election. I think the heart of the matter is that it makes them feel powerless. The idea that we control our own eternal destiny gives us some sense of pride that we made the right choice in loving Jesus. It makes us feel like we’re in control. Scripture, however, teaches the exact opposite.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:44

“As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands;no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good,not even one.” Romans 3:10-12

If God is the one who calls people to salvation, and no one can seek God, we are left with little options. God is the one who calls, who elects people to salvation. He did it in eternity past before He laid the foundation of the world.

“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 as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” Epesians 1:4-5

We are completely at God’s mercy to call us to salvation. There is no escaping this Biblical truth. I can do nothing to bring about my own salvation. I can’t earn it, I can’t buy it, it is completely God’s sovereign choice to call me to salvation.

How should we respond to this? Does salvation occur in a vacuum of human activity? Thankfully, no. God includes us in the process. We don’t do the saving, but we provide the catalyst through which God saves people. We proclaim the Gospel. It is through the hearing of the Gospel that the Holy Spirit regenerates the hearts of the lost. God has given us a role to fulfill in the work of salvation. Yes, God can and God has saved people in situations where the Gospel wasn’t being preached. Paul was saved on the road to Damascus by direct intervention from Jesus himself. I’ve heard of stories of people from closed countries where the Gospel has not penetrated who were saved through visions and dreams given to them by God. But this clearly isn’t the normal means by which God saves people.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17

There is one objection people raise about election which is probably the most difficult for many to overcome. How can God be a loving God and choose some people yet reject others? This isn’t a new question. It arises out of a misunderstanding of our own innate lovableness.

Let’s say that a man’s daughter is kidnapped by a gang of rapists, who rape and kill her (This thought is intolerable to me and makes the point all the more potent). Through an amazing set of circumstances, they all end up on a plane; the father and the gang of rapists. The plane’s engines begin to fail and the plane begins spiraling toward the ground. In another amazing coincidence, the father has two parachutes. As hurt and wounded as he is, the father unshackles one of the rapists and gives him a parachute. And they both float safely to the earth while the rest of the rapists die a fiery death in the plane crash. Is the father unmerciful and unloving because he let everyone else on the plane die? No! It was GREAT mercy and compassion that moved the father to rescue the one rapist. They all deserved to die, yet mercy and compassion moved him to save one.

It is GREAT mercy and love which moved God to call any of us to salvation. We are the rapists! It was our sin which killed his Son. We think far, far, too highly of ourselves when we think God unjust for leaving anyone out of his redemptive works. Isaiah says that our best efforts to please Him are as clean as a woman’s menstrual cloths. Our best efforts at pleasing Him are utterly disgusting to Him. Why not? Wouldn’t you be disgusted if your daughter’s rapist and murderer tried to buddy up to you?

The fact that He called even one of us to salvation demonstrates that He is loving and He is merciful. And He has called an innumerable multitude of people to Himself which magnifies His love and mercy to an incalculable degree – truly love beyond degree!

Assurance

Something that has been a pet topic of mine for a while now is the issue of true conversion. Maybe because for a long time I struggled with whether my conversion was genuine. I mean, without going into the minutia of the details, I had two false alarms prior to being genuinely converted. And yes, with both false alarms, I was baptized. Imagine how it feels to come before the church for the third time to be baptized. “Really, it’s for real this time.” I must have seemed like the boy who cried wolf to everyone. And even after it happened for real, the doubts still raised their ugly head. Finally I stand before you today with assurance. It didn’t come all at once, but once I understood how to have assurance, I have never forgotten. I will tell you the secret to assurance of salvation.

First of all, it has nothing to do with what other people think. I guarantee you that if you go up to your church friends and ask them whether or not you are saved, they will do their best to affirm you – unless you have really mean friends. But the fact is that we are capable of great acts of masquerading around people. We’ve all done it and some of us have become exceedingly proficient at doing so. Only you can know the absolute truth about your salvation.

Secondly, it has nothing to do with how your feelings. Feeling saved, is not a great basis for assurance because you will go through times in life where you don’t feel saved. Faith is not an emotion, it is a gift we receive from Christ, and therefore is not dependent upon a particular emotion to exist.

The real secret to assurance is fruit. Jesus says this about fruit in Matthew 7:

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

This tells us that we know we have faith, if we have good fruit. A good tree will always bear good fruit. In this metaphor, Christ is the good tree. If you are in Christ, your life since your conversion will have a history of good fruit. Yes we stumble, and every moment of life will not all be moments of bearing good fruit. But the trend will be that there is good fruit – the fruit of righteousness.

Philippians 1:9-11 – “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Is there a marked display of good fruit in your life? Can you look back over your life since the day you were saved and see the fruit of righteousness at work, in spite of the pitfalls? If so, then take assurance that your salvation is sure. If not, you should take this moment to examine yourself to see if your “election and calling” are sure. What a tragedy it would be to arrive before the judgment throne of God thinking everything is peachy, when the reality is that you are naked, you are guilty, and you are heading straight for eternal hell. If you hear His voice, listen to His voice today, for today is the day of salvation.

The Lord is Gracious

This morning, Matt Lambrecht sang a song. I’m not sure of its title, but the chorus goes, “The Lord is gracious, He is slow to anger, He is rich in love, He is good to all.” That song sings right to my heart. This week I’ve been a bit retrospective, thinking much about the day I was born again, and the events surrounding my new birth. It was in May of 1992 at crusade on the New Albany High School football field. I had been raised in church, and had actually already been baptized (twice – ask me later). So you might guess that when the Holy Spirit began convicting me of my lostness, I was a bit confused and not sure of why I was under such heavy conviction. The counselor, Sheldon, and I battled for at least 45 minutes about my salvation. Actually, Sheldon was a spectator to the real battle. I was actually hearing very little of what he was saying to me. My mind and soul was busy doing battle. Satan did his best to keep me confused. Everyone had gone home, and they were packing up the chairs, but Sheldon and I remained. It was the battle for my soul that night. Then very suddenly, all things became very clear to me. The Holy Spirit triumphed, and breathed life into me, giving me the faith I needed for trusting Jesus Christ.

The Lord is gracious. The Lord is slow to anger. The Lord is abounding in love. He is good to all. He was definitely good to me that night. This week I have found joy that I didn’t know existed, just from simply dwelling upon the goodness of God and how He chose to save me, when I was still in my sins. I have wept this week, tears of exceeding joy, because of His grace that He has given to me, an undeserving, wretched worm. He is my King. The joy of my salvation is found in His love and mercy which He has given me. That joy has moved me this week. It has helped me shine brighter for Christ. Due to the joy that has filled my heart, I have had needed conversations with people this week which I have put off for a long time. I pray that you find this joy that is found in God and let it be the pursuit of your life: to seek out and find the joy that is found in Christ.

Many blessings this week.