C.H. Spurgeon

Sinners, let me address you with words of life; Jesus wants nothing from you, nothing whatsoever, nothing done, nothing felt; he gives both work and feeling. Ragged, penniless, just as you are, lost, forsaken, desolate, with no good feelings, and no good hopes, still Jesus comes to you, and in these words of pity he addresses you, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

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Thursday, March 01, 2007

Am I One of the Elect

The simple answer:
If you have accepted by faith the gospel of Jesus Christ, that He was delivered for our offences, was buried, and was raised again for our justification, then indeed yes you are of the Elect.

There is no special formula or hidden message in the scriptures to identify the Elect of God. “Elect” is not a dirty word and should never be treated as one. “Elect” means “chosen or selected”, so it should carry a sweet smell that indeed we are chosen, selected, and most importantly loved by God.

Being of the Elect does have great benefits: He shall gather them up by His angels when the time is right [Matthew 24:31]; He has shortened the tribulation period [Matthew 24:24]; He shall not allow them to be deceived in the end [Mark 13:22]; He shall avenge them [Luke 18:7]; He will have no one lay charge upon them [Romans 8:33]; He knew us by foreknowledge, sanctified us by the Spirit, cleansed us by the blood of Christ [1 Peter 1:2]; and these are just a few. Read the Manual and you will find many, many more.

Being of the Elect does not authorize us to be proud: We are not given the authority or privilege to walk about with our chest held out and our nose in the air as if we have attained that which others have not. This is not a club or lodge whereby we have earned our title by works of the flesh. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” [Ephesians 2:8, 9] We should be in a continual state of humility and obedience for the simple fact that God has chosen to give grace and mercy over justice.

Being of the Elect carries great responsibility: One is to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind [Matthew 22:37] and obey Him [Acts 5:29]; One is to love thy neighbor as thyself [Matthew 22:39] and thy enemies [Matthew 5:43-45], and forgive them [Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 18:22]; One is to spread the gospel by witnessing [Mark 16:15] and being a light in darkness [Matthew 5:16]. If we fail to be obedient, we shall be chastened of the Lord [1 Corinthians 11:32].

There is no reason to sit around and wonder if you are of the Elect or not. One needs only to obey scripture by putting their faith in the finished work of Christ. Don’t worry about if the Father is going to call you, whether the Spirit is going to convict you, and whether Christ will accept you. All one needs to do repent of your sin and come to Christ in faith believing He can take care of all the details!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

However, one might wonder why all the elect seem to all believe most of the same things. If the group of the elect is so small, then couldn't we suppose that those small number of people will believe different than the great mass of unelected. So we can conclude that if one believes with only minor variation what the unelect believe, then one is not the elect.

Splinters of Silver said...

Actually election is not based on how varied our beliefs are, but on whether we have been regenerated.

One's beliefs (in entirety) will most likely change and progress as they pray, study and meditate on God's Word, and live the Christian life in obedience to God.

Too often our beliefs are based on careless, lazy, acceptance of what we hear and read in books and not what the Spirit is telling us.

Bobby Cohoon said...

Good post brother Tim. I also like the second paragraph of your comment above. That is so true!

Bobby

Anonymous said...

You're saying that the elect haven't had greater spiritual and Word-based revelations than the non-elect, which must be demonstrably false.

The truth is the truth and any deviation is a lie. Hence the verse, "believe a lie and be damned" (2 Thes 2). Therefore, if God does not reveal the truth then you are none of His and, therefore, not one of the elect.

Splinters of Silver said...

RC cola :),

Let’s consider what you are saying by elect have “had greater spiritual and Word-based revelations than the non-elect”. What exactly do you mean? We can agree that there are people who do not believe that Christ is neither the Savior nor the Son of God, right? The devils believe and tremble [James 2:19], are they elect?

You say “The truth is the truth and any deviation is a lie.” I agree.

You continue with, “Therefore, if God does not reveal the truth then you are none of His and, therefore, not one of the elect.” Are you suggesting the elect are then without error? Was Peter elect? Was he not corrected by Paul? How many times did Christ correct the disciples? The truth than one must believe is the gospel of Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15.

Ephesians 4:11-16 says “11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

Your reference to 2 Thess. 2 is a Tribulation/Antichrist reference.

He begins with “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him” [rapture], then mentions “that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, that Wicked”, he continues with “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie”, and makes clear “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”.

What is the truth here? To trust in God, not the Antichrist.

The elect are “called by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Yes, if one is fooled into worshiping the Antichrist, they are indeed not the elect, for it is written, Matthew 24:24, For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

The elect and un-elect are not split on whether they agree or disagree that women shouldn’t wear pants, but whether they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, John 3: 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John Bunyan

To be saved is to be preserved in the faith to the end. 'He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.' (Mt. 24:13) Not that perseverance is an accident in Christianity, or a thing performed by human industry; they that are saved 'are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation.' (1 Pet. 1: 3-6) But perseverance is absolutely necessary to the complete saving of the soul…. He that goeth to sea with a purpose to arrive at Spain, cannot arrive there if he be drowned by the way; wherefore perseverance is absolutely necessary to the saving of the soul.