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The Blessed Doctrine of Election By Henry Mahan

2 Thess 2:13

I want to take you back many, many years to the city of Jerusalem, Israel, at the height of its greatest glory.
But as we pass through the gates of that great city, everything is unusually quiet.
No one seems to have retired as a light in every home, but everything is so still and quiet.
The people seem to be waiting, watching for something unusual, special.
We're going through the city and to the palace and enter the gates of the palace, and it, too, is quiet.
People are walking about, but they're walking about slowly and crisply.
We go up to the king's bedroom. The guards are standing outside the door.
Open the door and look in, and King David is lying upon his bed.
And all of his great leaders are standing about the room.
Men whom he has known from the time that the prophet Samuel came after his father's home and anointed him king.
All of them are standing about. They're all quiet.
King's dying. David, sweet psalmist of Israel. David, great warrior. David, God's king.
When he put their king off the throne, he exalted his king. David, type of Christ.
David, of whom it is said the seed of David will set upon the throne forever.
David, son of Jesse, king of Judah, writer of so many psalms, and the greatest thing that could be said about any man.
God said he's a man after my own heart. And he's dying. He's dying.
End of life. End of all that God would be pleased to do by the hand of David.
He ministered to his generation. But he's leaving.
And everybody in that room is quiet and attentive, wanting to hear him say one more thing.
Waiting to hear his last words. David's last words.
David, who said the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
David, who wrote bless the Lord, O my soul. David, who wrote be merciful unto me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, blot out my iniquities.
Oh, David, David, David.
The great things that God caused to fall from his lips. People straining. They want to hear the last words of David.
And in the prophet Samuel, those words are recorded. These be the last words of David.
David, the son of Jesse. David, the sweet psalmist of Israel.
David, by whom the Lord spake. His word was in David's tongue.
Before he breathed his last breath, he said, I guess with added strength, for that dying moment.
Although my house be not so with God, yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant.
An everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure.
For this is all my salvation and all my desire.
David, that's his last word. That was it. And he died.
God took him to glory. But in his dying moments, in his last hour, the word he would leave to all of his friends and family and followers,
was the fact that his confidence and hope was not in the battles he fought, the victories he won, the psalms he wrote, the sermons he preached,
the faith he professed. His confidence and hope was in what God had done for him, by his grace.
God made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure.
And this is all my salvation and all my hope. This is it.
And that's what I'm speaking on this morning. And my text is 2 Thessalonians, if you'll turn there with me.
Chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians. And I have four questions. This will make it easy for you to remember the message and I believe to understand the message.
I have four questions. The first one is this. What is the doctrine of election? What is the everlasting covenant?
What is this business of God choosing the people? Alright, here it is. In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, first it's a cause for praise.
In verse 13 we're bound to give thanks. We're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation.
This is a doctrine of praise. We're bound to give thanks. If God had not chosen me, I would not have chosen God.
If he had not come to me, I would have never come to him. The hymn writer says, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still, still refuse thee, but thou hast chosen me."
Our Lord said to his assembled disciples, "'You didn't choose me. I chose you.'" We were dead in trespasses and sin. We had no desire for God. We had no understanding of God. We had no understanding of our lost condition.
And we had no desire for God. And every time that what we call election is mentioned in the Bible, it is connected with praise. You read that every time it's mentioned, it's connected with praise.
Our Lord in Matthew 11, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and he said, "'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and you've revealed it to me.'"
I thank you. Even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. In Ephesians 1, Paul talking about God choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world, he said that with praise. He said, blessed be the God and Father.
Bless God. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless God who chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Bless God. Thank God.
And David in Psalm 65 said this, blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. That's a happy man. The word blessed is happy, twice favored, honored.
So the doctrine of election first is the doctrine of praise. And secondly, look at the text again. We're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. It's the doctrine of love. Beloved of the Lord. What is love?
We see a, I've stood here many times, a young man on my left hand, best man beside him. We're both, all three of us, looking at that door and Martha sounds, here comes the bride.
Here she comes on her father's arm and love just shines in that young man's face. She's coming down smiling. That's love. Well, a form of it.
I go down to the hospital and I visit a young mother. She just delivered a precious little girl, a little boy. They let me in to see her and there's the baby. I look at her face, it's beaming with love.
Daddy's standing there like he did something, you know. But love fills the room. A lot of occasions like this, love, here's love between father and son, mother and daughter.
But the scripture says, here is love. Here in is love. You want to know what love is? Here's love. Not that we love God. He loved us.
I can see why that young man loved that young lady, but I can't understand why God loves me. She's lovable and she's lovely. I don't understand why that mother loved that little lump of clay.
I can understand that, but I can't understand why God would love us. We're not even like God. We don't even like God. We don't like His rules. We don't like anything about Him.
But He loved us, even when we were enemies. God commended His love for us and why we were sinners. So John says, here's love. Not that we love God. He loved us and gave His Son to be the perpetuation process.
So when you think about election, God chose you and I see why He chose her. But I can't see why He's choosing me. David said that. He said, who am I? What's my house? Why me? Why us?
Even so, Father, it seemed good in my sight. Third, the election is a doctrine of praise. It's a doctrine of love, God's love for us. And then it's an eternal work, He says, because God from the beginning has chosen you.
From the beginning, one old lady said to John Newton, he said, do you really believe God chose you before you were born? She said, if he'd have waited after I was born, he wouldn't have chosen me.
Before the children were born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but of Him that calleth. It was said to her, the elder will serve the younger.
Jacob have a love, he saw have a hated. Every believer knows three things. He knows, number one, that God chose him. He didn't choose God. Now, I know that and you do too. Don't you know that? I know that.
And I know when he chose us. The only time God can do anything is the beginning. God never learns anything new. He never learns anything. Known under God are all his works from the beginning. He declares the end from the beginning. He said, I've purposed, I'll do it. I've spoken, I'll do it.
So God chose us from the beginning before the foundation of the world. Now here's the third question, the third thing we know. We know why.
God is according to the good pleasure of His will. The reason was found in Him, not in us. Not under us, oh Lord. Not under us. That's what David said. Not under us. Be the glory.
To God be the glory. So we know those three things without question. They're beyond, they're not up for debate. God chose us, we didn't choose Him. He chose us from the beginning. Not when we did something. And why He chose us, the reasons found in Himself. Not in us.
And then fourthly, election is, now listen to me. It's unto salvation. Let's read this again. But we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Listen to me.
Elections, not salvation. It's to salvation. Elections, not salvation. A man's not saved because he's elected. He's saved because Christ died for him.
I rejoice that the Lord did not pass me by. I rejoice. I'll be able to really rejoice someday when I realize all the implications and consequences. I rejoice He didn't pass me by. I rejoice He didn't leave me in darkness. I rejoice that He didn't leave me in religion.
I was brought up in free will, Arminian, do-it-yourself religion. Helped God out. Went to school, studied there preaching, pastored a church. Three years. And then heard the gospel.
And God delivered me out of religion, out of darkness. I'm thankful. I praise Him for His covenant mercies. I praise Him for revealing who He is. The living God, the almighty God, the sovereign God.
But I don't look to election for my hope. I look to Christ. I don't look to election for redemption. I look to Christ. I'm saved because He loved me and gave Himself for me. The saints in glory. That's what they're saying.
They're saying unto Him. They're not saying unto election. They're saying unto Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins and made us kings and priests under our God.
Listen to me. The old Jewish nation believed that they were the chosen people. They believed in election. And they believed they were elected. And they missed salvation.
That's right. Every one of those old Jews believed in election. And they believed that God had chosen the Jewish people, the Jewish nation, the Jewish race, and passed by everybody else.
And that's what they trusted. They told Christ that. They said we have Moses. We have the prophets. We have the priesthood. We have the law. We have all these things. And they missed Christ and perished.
So you don't want to look to election. Election didn't save you. Christ didn't. Election done to salvation. Christ, God chose us in Christ to be holy. Not because we were holy, but to be like Christ.
And He does all these other things. He works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. He grants us repentance. He makes us willing in the day of His power. He grants unto us faith. You see, that's the next point here. Election always looks to the means.
Look at verse 13 again. We're bound to give thanks. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because He has from the beginning chosen you to this great work, to this great life, to this great gift, to this great glory.
He chose you to make you like Christ. Now listen, through sanctification of the Spirit. What's that? The Holy Spirit of God comes and takes you and sets you apart.
God already sets you apart by choice. Christ already sets you apart by representation. But now the Holy Spirit comes and makes you different. Who makes you the different?
God makes us the different. God revealed Himself to us. He reveals our sins to us. He reveals Christ to us. He reveals His word to us. And a lot of people read this and they don't know what in the world this is saying.
But you do, because the Holy Spirit has sanctified you, set you apart, made you different, given you understanding, given you life, regenerated you, given you eyes to see.
The world's blind, Christ said. They have eyes, they don't see. They have ears, they don't hear. They have hearts, they don't understand. You do.
He sanctified you by His Spirit and belief of the truth, by His word.
Remember those two things are always present when God saves the sinner, His Spirit and His word.
His Spirit and the seed. When there's a natural birth, there's always a person and a seed. Always a father and a seed.
That's the reason Mary was so amazed. She said, I can't have a son. I don't know a man.
And no man had any part in the birth of God's son. And no man had any part in your birth either.
The Spirit of God was there with the word. The Spirit of God with the seed. That's right. Of His own will begat the earth with the word of truth.
Isn't that what it says? We're born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed by the word of God, the word of God that liveth and abideth forever.
He told Nicodemus, you've got to be born again. Born of the Spirit and the water, the word. Always. In a spiritual birth, Spirit of God and the word.
Listen to Paul. God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His son in me.
There you have election. God separated me from my mother's womb. He called me by His grace, called me by Spirit, called me and revealed His son by the way.
Look at verse 14 here of our text, 2 Thessalonians, verse 14. He said He chose you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, belief of the truth.
Whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have anything to do with it.
I preach the gospel, teach the word, but the Spirit of God takes the word and makes it effectual.
We were born not of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh, but born of God. His Spirit, His word. That's election.
Now here's the second question. How may my election be known? How do I know I'm one of the elects?
How do I know I'm one of the elects? Alright, I'll give you a simple answer. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 1, or 2 Peter chapter 1.
2 Peter chapter 1. How do you know you're God's elect? 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 10. 2 Peter 1, 10.
Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure? Which is first with you? Calling.
Which is first with God? Election. He elected us and then He called us. With us, you don't know anything about your election until He calls you.
That's right.
I went to the high school graduation and some of the children got awards. Some of them didn't know they were going to get certain awards, but the faculty knew.
When did the child know it? When the child heard his name. See what I'm saying? It was already his, unchangeably his.
Unchangeably. Faculty had already decided it, but he didn't know it. I asked one of them, did you know you were going to get that? Didn't have the famous idea.
When did you know you got it? When they called my name.
God elected me before the world began, but I didn't know anything about it, until one day He called my name.
By the gospel. I heard the gospel. I did. I didn't deserve it. I didn't, old John Gill said to me, thought it, thought it, and bought it.
He just prayed. He called my name. That's how you know you're God's elect.
John 10. Turn over there a minute. Let me show you. Let me answer it another way. As our Lord spoke over in John 10, what better source do we have than our master?
In John 10, verse 24. Now listen to this. John 10, verse 24. The Jews, then the Jews came round about him.
John 10, 24. And they said to him, how long does you make us doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us plainly.
He answered them, I told you. And you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're not of my sheep.
I said unto you, my sheep, hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
The sheep were his, and he called them, and they heard him.
My friends, the Bible doesn't say, oh, everyone that's elected come to the water. It says, oh, everyone that thirsts it.
Are you thirsty? Most folks aren't. The Bible does not say, come unto me all you that are elect.
It says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden. I am heavy laden, laboring under the curse of the law with no hope of relief.
And I can't. That's how I know I'm the elect. The Bible doesn't say he that's elected hath everlasting life.
It says he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
Do you believe? You're elected.
If you weren't elected, you never would have believed.
The Bible doesn't say whosoever is elected shall be saved. It says whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
See what I'm saying? And I read to you a while ago from 1 Thessalonians, Paul said, I know, brethren and beloved, you're an election of God because our gospel didn't come to you in word only, it came to you in power.
I know. Well, the man you believe Mike Barton's elected, I really do.
I haven't seen the Lamb's Book a lot, Mike. I don't imagine I look for your name first. I look for mine first. I'm that selfish.
But I've never seen it. But I've seen him from the time he was eight years old and listened to him and watched him.
And his love for the gospel and his love for Christ and his love for the Word indicates to me that God has done something for him that he couldn't do for himself and nobody else could do for him.
And you know that too. You're not what you want to be and you're not what you're going to be and you're not what you ought to be but you're not what you used to be.
That's for sure. He made a difference. He did. That's how you know.
And then here's the third question. What are the effects of election? What are the effects? What is belief in God's almighty power and sovereigns and grace? What does it do for a fellow? What effect does it have on a person?
Well, let me show you in Ephesians chapter 1. In the effects, Ephesians chapter 2. Let's look at chapter 2 of Ephesians.
Chapter 2 of Ephesians. What effect does it have on a fellow? Well, when we consider what we were, and let me read you what we were. Ephesians 2 verse 1.
Ephesians 2 verse 1. You have to be quickened who were dead. Ephesians 2, 1. Dead in trespasses and sin.
In time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom we all had our conversation.
In times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were by nature children of wrath, even as others. That's what we were.
But we know it, don't we? Well, here's what God did. But God, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sin, had quickened us together with Christ.
By grace are you saved. That's what God did. Now here's what we are now. Listen.
And he hath raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ. And this is what he's going to do for us.
That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now what effect does that have on a fellow?
Look at verse 8. Here's what effect it has. He says, for by grace I have been saved through faith, and that not of myself. It's the gift of God. It's not of my works, lest any man should boast. I'm his workmanship. Thank God.
Thank God. Election promotes joy. It's not the hated doctrine of election with believers, it's the beloved doctrine of election. Thank God.
And then secondly, it promotes humility. Who am I? Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God. I have what I have by the grace of God.
Who makeeth thee to differ? What do you have you didn't receive?
And then election not only promotes joy and humility, it gives comfort in great trial. We know that all things work together for good to them who love God who are called according to his purpose.
That's our confidence. That's our comfort. I don't know where you, I just, a fellow asked me, he said, where was God when your son died?
Same place he was when his son died, on the throne. Where would you have him be? I'm glad he's on the throne. I'm glad there's no accidents.
You know, I get to thinking about different things. What if? What if? I go back to back when my oldest son died in the army. What if he had joined the Navy instead?
We talked it over and decided on the army. He was offered to go to sergeant school after he got out of advanced infantry. He talked to us about it and he said, I don't believe I want to be a leader in the army.
I think I just want to serve and get it over with and come home. What if he'd gone to sergeant school? He wouldn't have been in Vietnam. What if? You get to thinking like that and you got problems. Severe problems.
What if? What if I hadn't have done this? What if I had done that? No, sir. God's on the throne.
Everything that has happened, every decision we made, the steps of God's children are ordered by the Lord. He didn't just say their direction. Each step is ordered by the Lord. I believe that.
That's how you can praise God. That's how you can rest and that's the only way you can rest. That's how you can have peace is to know that it's in his hands. It's in his hands.
If there's something out there I've got to meet that God doesn't have control of, I'd just rather not meet it. And don't leave it up to me either. My times are in his hands. My God, I want them back.
Let's leave it like he ordered it. The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. That's comfort. And that makes dying easier. David came to die.
In what? In whom did he find comfort? Although it be not so with my house, God's made with me a covenant. This is my salvation. This is my desire.
Well, here's my last question. And I'll tell you another thing about election, the effect of it. It makes our preaching not in vain. I don't preach in vain. I'm on the trail of God's sheep. I'm a bloodhound looking for his sheep.
And they'll hear. He said, my word won't return to me void. It'll accomplish that whereunto I've sent it. This gospel is not preached in vain.
No, sir. The last question. Why should election be preached? Well, for that reason. That the sheep might hear. Paul said, I endure all things for the elect's sake. It's all right. It's all right.
And secondly, election should be preached because it's the word of God. God sent us to preach his word to keep back nothing profitable. Paul said, I am a son to declare the whole counsel of God. Wouldn't it be terrible if I sat over there in my study and picked out the different scriptures I wanted you to have? I wouldn't do that.
I just preach it as it comes. It's God's word. Here it is. You do with it what you will. I'm glad you will do with it the right thing. You always have.
I don't get in the opposition here. Somebody asked me one of the times, does everybody in your congregation believe in grace? I said, oh yes, yes. That's all they hear. If they didn't believe it, they'd go someplace else, wouldn't they?
They must like steak to eat it every meal. It's God's word. It glorifies God. That's the reason we preach it. It glorifies God. I'll tell you this. It's the sinner's only hope.
Old Jonah was down in the belly of the fish. He came to one conclusion. The salvation of the Lord. That's right. If a man ever discovers who he is and where he is, what happened in the fall, what this old heart is like, deceitful, desperately wicked, impossibility of pleasing God, inability.
He'll be awful glad, the salvation of the Lord. Awfully glad. He's the one we're going to meet. He's the one.
Alright, I hope that's a blessing to you. I hope the Lord will bless you to your hearts and bring forth fruit for his glory.
Let's sing a closing hymn. This is a good hymn to sing. Come thou fount of every blessing. It's number 17. We'll sing it together. Mike, you lead us.
Stand while we sing.
Teach me some melodious phonets sung by flaming tongues above.
Raise the mount. I'm fixed upon it. Mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Hither by thy help I'm come and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God, he to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee.
Come to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Come to leap the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.
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