Salvation Ordained and Obtained

(Article for publication week of 1-12-2011 AD)

“Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory” (II Timothy 2:10).

Down through history the most zealous and faithful evangelists have been men who believed in the sovereign grace of God. Such men as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Rolfe Barnard, and the Founders of the Southern Baptist Convention all were Calvinists and took their example from the Apostle Paul who was willing to endure all things that sinners might be saved. One reason modern day evangelism has been so ineffective is that it is generally man centered and tells sinners what they can do for themselves rather than telling them they are hopelessly ruined without Christ.

This was no small statement on the part of the Apostle Paul. When he said he endured all things for the elect’s sakes, he was not just blowing smoke. He had been imprisoned, stoned, whipped and treated as the off scouring of the world for preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Church history tells us that he was at last executed for the sake of Christ, His gospel, and the elect’s sakes.

Our text tells us that salvation has been ordained by God from all eternity. The expression “the elect’s sakes” speaks of this glorious truth of predestination. I have been setting this truth before you my readers for several months now because it is such a neglected truth in our day. Not long ago I met one of our dear readers in Wal-Mart and she told me how much she enjoys the Narrow Way and said to me “you ought to be a Presbyterian!” I thanked her because I really took it as a compliment. But the fact is our Baptist forefathers believed these truths as strong as Presbyterians. In the old days the main difference between Baptists and Presbyterians concerned church government and the administration of baptism, but they were in agreement on the doctrines of election and predestination. And true Baptists in our day still hold to these truths. I challenge my Baptist readers to search your Baptist history and you will see I am telling you the truth.

Salvation has been ordained, but it must be obtained. As we have shown you in previous articles, God has ordained the end and the means of salvation. Paul was a great believer in election and predestination, but that did not keep him from calling upon all men to repent and bow to the Lordship of Christ. His confidence in the sovereignty of God was his motivation to tell sinners who would listen that Christ is able and willing to save all who will lay down their arms of rebellion and come to Him by faith.

I pray that some elect sinner might obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory this very day. God bless you all my dear readers.

Much People

(Article for publication week of 1-5-2011 AD)

"Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city ’ " (Acts 18:9,10).

When the Apostle Paul first went to the city of Corinth to preach the gospel to every creature, the situation did not look very hopeful. The inhabitants of the city of Corinth were so vile and perverted that when a person was noted for his lewdness, he would be called a Corinthian. Corinth was as vile as any of the wicked cities here in Mississippi. There were only a very few that initially responded in faith to the gospel that Paul preached. But the Lord encouraged the heart of Paul with these words, “I have much people in this city.”

This is a statement that makes no sense to you unless you know and believe the Biblical doctrine of election. Even while they were in a state of unbelief and living in the grossest of sins, God declared “I have much people in this city.” They were the Lord’s people from before the foundation of the world. The sovereign decree of election had made them, and every heir of promise, the Lord’s people from all eternity. They were the Lord’s for God had justified them in eternity. And they were His for Christ stood as their Surety from all eternity and His saving work was an effective act in the mind and purpose of God eternally (I Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8).

Believer, did you know you were the Lord’s even before you believed in Christ? According to my text, you were. Even before you repented of your sins, and flew to Christ, you were one of the Lord’s. He has loved you with an everlasting love and made you His by sovereign grace.

Now, even though God confirmed to Paul that He had much people in the city of Corinth, Paul did not know who they were until they were converted. Although salvation is sure to God from all eternity, it is not sure to any of us until we have repented of our sins and believed in Christ, the Only Saviour of sinners. As we saw in last week’s message, “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Dear reader, entertain no hope of being one of God’s elect unless you are trusting in Christ Alone for your salvation. The sovereign decree of election has ordered that “They must come” (John 6:37a), but YOU MUST COME (John 6:37b).

Finally, our text teaches us to be hopeful in the day in which we live. We live in a culture as vile as Corinth. Our neighbors are, for the most part, as lost as the Corinthians. But the Lord still has His people. Let us preach and pray that God will call out His elect here in Mississippi and that it may be known that God has much people here.