(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You get two things. You're going to get one of these items. We've still got one battery daddy left, if you want one of those. Or a three-pack of headlamps. So these are cool. The cool thing about this stuff is, you know what? All of these are good gift ideas, too, if you want to re-gift them. If you're like, I don't like either of those things, just come and grab one and Christmas is coming up. You can gift it to someone else. And then the chocolate side, you get one of these as well. And these are all on the same playing field over here. So you can get one of these boxes or some hot chocolate mix here. Peppermint, marshmallow, salted caramel. Or some turtles here, too. Some Fannie Mae turtles. If you completed November challenge, come on up and claim your prizes. . You know what? I should throw these on the mix, too. There's Brewster's cards up there, too. You're exchanging. That's fine. I don't even know what the value of that is. You can find out. They've been sitting up here for a while. You'll get ice cream. There's enough to at least get one, guaranteed. What? I don't know. We have one there that has a cardboard backing and some that don't. So I don't know if they're different or the same or who knows. At one point, I knew. But either way, it's free. They were earned. So whatever it is, it's what it is. Good job on that. Congratulations. There was a lot of people that finished. I was surprised at how many people. It was one of the harder challenges to do the Bible memory. Now, if you memorized Hebrews chapter 5, you have your choice of this table right here. These are off the table for Hebrews 5. How many people completed Hebrews 5? One, two, three, four, five, six. Come on up. We have some more hot chocolates, too, if you didn't get one of those before and you want one of those. And there's still a Brewster's thing up there. So come on up and claim a prize. Any one of those is up for grabs. All right. Well, good job for both of those, everyone who did some of those challenges. Lots of Bible memory. So good job with that. And hope it's been a blessing for you. And this is a miracle because I got these all squared up like right on time. It never happens. Hebrews chapter 6 is our next Bible memory. You've got you've got a couple of months, almost three months to complete Hebrews chapter six. So we're only on week two right now. Verses three and four. Great time to get started if you haven't already. It's easy to get caught up on this one and great passage. More of one of the more controversial passages. So I definitely encourage you to memorize this so you can really have the have the word of God in this passage. And what you believe about it cemented in your mind by getting it committed to memory. And then the upcoming birthdays are listed down there. We've got a couple of birthdays tomorrow. Mrs. Doty and Mrs. Rogers are sharing a birthday tomorrow. So happy birthday to you early. And then on the back, we've got the upcoming events. Like I mentioned this morning, Christmas. We'll be moving the evening service up a little bit and we're going to have a potluck right in between the church services. And then on October or December 31st, New Year's Eve fellowship from two to seven homeschool field trip. All the homeschoolers January 10th at the aquarium is very important that we get an RSVP ASAP. The sign up sheets are up here at this table. You can feel free to to sign up for that as soon as you know that you're able to do it. We need to get the tickets. You need to get your your letter of intent for your child that you are homeschooling in the state of Georgia. And just let us know so that we can have the tickets purchased in advance. And also, if you're going to be if you end up being an hour late, you forfeit your tickets to be able to get in. This is good and bad. Obviously, it's not cool to lose your ticket. But on the other side, they're they've made a lot of efforts to control the volume of people at the aquarium. And if you've been there in the past, you know, sometimes it's it's like a zoo because there could be lots and lots and lots of people crammed into that space. It's really popular. It's a cool aquarium. So this might actually this will probably make the trip more enjoyable because they're limiting how many people can come in. So they're making you schedule your time when you show up. So there's not these floodgates of massive amounts of people coming in and it should make everything a lot better. But because of that, we you know, we got to follow the rules here and try to get everything in order. We have to have the total number of people and all this stuff submitted and the tickets bought. So just sign up over there for that. And then the Telescience Museum is going to be in February on the 10th and the sign up sheet is listed for that as well. And that is about it for our announcement. So I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Peter and he could sing or lead us our next song. All right, church, you can open up your notes to song number four hundred and twenty six. Song four twenty six. I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Song four hundred twenty six. Let's sing this out on the verse. I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Carols familiar, carols play and wild and sweet. The words repeat of peace on earth. Good will to men. I thought as the day had come. The bell fries of all Christendom. And rolled along the unbroken song of peace on earth. Good will to men. And in despair I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said, for hate is strong. And bogs the salt of peace on earth. Good will to men. Then healed the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With peace on earth, good will to men. Till ringing, singing on its wing. The world revolved from night to day. A voice, a chime, a chance, a blood. Of peace on earth, good will to men. Amen church, great singing. This time we'd like their Sunday night offering. Ask the ushers if they can collect the plates for me. While the offering plates are being passed around, if you could open up your Bibles. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7. That was the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7. And as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church, we're going to read the entire chapter. I'm going to ask brother Devin if he can do that for us. Deuteronomy, chapter 7. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites and the Gergashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall you deal with them. He shall destroy their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people. For ye were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his covenant with him. And repayeth them that hate him to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day. Thou shalt keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day. Thou shalt keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day. Thou shalt keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day. Thou shalt keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day. Wherefore, it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers. And he will love thee and bless thee and multiply thee. He will also bless the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy land, thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep, and the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all people. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee. Thine eye shall have no pity upon them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, for that will be a snare unto thee. If thou shalt say in thine heart, these nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt, the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out. So shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them, for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little. Thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven. There shall no man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire. Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein, for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it. But thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for this church and for all the blessings you've done and given to us here. I pray that you would bless this hour now and I pray that you would help us to listen up and pay attention to your word preached right now and that you would also bless Pastor Burzins as he comes to deliver the message to us. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Alright, so we started out here in Deuteronomy chapter 7. And we're going to get into the passage in just a minute, but I'm just going to give you a little, I guess, roadmap if you will, on what we'll be preaching about this evening. I'm going to preach just a doctrinal sermon. I'm going to give you a little, I guess, roadmap, if you will, on what we'll be preaching about this evening. I'm going to preach just a doctrinal sermon. It's called God's Chosen People. God's Chosen People. So lots of references to God's chosen people in Scripture or another word would be elect, chosen, you know, things like that. Elect and chosen basically mean the same thing. You know, we just had elections. So what are we doing? People are choosing a ruler. They're choosing a governor. Choosing a politician. You know, obviously that's not what I'm talking about is choosing politicians. We're talking about God choosing people to be called His people. So who are God's chosen people? What exactly does that mean? This doctrine of this teaching, this subject, actually has kind of a lot of ramifications into other teachings. And I'm going to try to be careful with the time this evening because I don't want to just take too much, but this is one of those things that could get off into lots of different areas. I want to try to keep it focused because it is important to know what this is and hopefully you can just get some good doctrine tonight and we're going to see just what the Bible has to say about this. We started in Deuteronomy chapter 7 because this is probably one of the first references of God choosing out a people for them and literally just calling them a chosen people. Look at verse number 6. The Bible reads, So this is our first reference to God referring to a people as being a chosen people. They're chosen unto Him. Why? It says to be a special people unto Himself. So I kind of want to investigate not just who are the chosen people, but what does it mean to be chosen? What are you chosen for? What kind of connotations does that carry with it as being one of the chosen people? As well as why are people chosen of God? What is it that would make them different from anybody else? And even when were they chosen to be the people of God? All of these things, these factors come into play with various other doctrines and people who have some bad doctrine will teach them things that will really screw things up. So let's get started here. So we see right off the bat that God has chosen this people, the people of the nation of Israel to be His people. They were special people unto Himself above all people upon the face of the earth. So God chose this people. Verse 7 says, Now just right off the bat, this kind of highlights an attribute of God. God chooses and cares for and loves the weak things of this world, people who don't have anyone to let go for them. God wants to be their defender. God wants to be that righteous God that's able to step in and help and be there for the helpless. He wants to be there for those that have no advocates. He wants to be there as the help and the strength and the rock in a time of need for people to turn to and be the one there when all else would forsake that God is there for the small, for the weak. And He likes to also make Himself known and make His power and His might known when He chooses a small person or small people when it's very, very obvious they could not do that on their own. So God's strength is magnified and there's much more glory that goes to the Lord when He's choosing people or using people for whatever purpose it is that don't already have their own strength, their own skills. He's not choosing the greatest, mightiest nation on the earth at that time to be His people. Like, wow, you've really excelled so I'm going to choose you to be my people. That might be a worldly mindset. That might be something that a human being might look to and be like, well, who do I want to have to be my people? Who do I want to look for the best? It's like someone wants to be a sports fan and they're going to baseball. Who am I going to choose to be my team? It's like the New York Yankees, right? Because they always buy their teams and try to get the best people and they have the best team so people will choose. That's the way that a man would look at it. But see, God looks at it and He's like, okay, who's the worst team? He's like, I'm going to choose you to be my team and I'm going to pull up and then all the cousin glory and honor is going to go to the Lord. And I haven't seen enough baseball in a long time but I could probably safely say it's the Cubs. He'd be like a Cubs fan or something. I could say that because I was a Cubs fan for a long time but I think they did finally win a World Series at some point past 1908 or something. Like I said, I haven't been into sports for quite a while so I don't know. I have no idea what's going on. I just think of teams that have just always historically just been really bad and that's like one of the first things that comes to mind. So, sorry. Sorry, not sorry. But that's what we're seeing here in scripture, right, to bring it back to the Bible. He says, I didn't choose you because you were more number than any people. He said, you were actually the fewest amount of people. You were the smallest group. I chose to love you. And then he says, but in verse 8, just because the Lord loved you and this is also important, because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. So not only were they the fewest in number and God likes to show himself strong, but he's also saying, you know what, I also owe an oath. And when it's talking about their fathers, it's not talking about a nation of people, it's literally talking about individuals. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It started with Abraham, with one man that God made the promise to. God gave this promise unto Abraham. He says, you know, you're going to have a host of children, of descendants, and your seed is going to be blessed and all nations of the earth shall be blessed from your seed and all this and we'll get into a little bit of that later. But God chooses Abraham, which then passes on to his son, Isaac, which then passes on to his son, Jacob, this blessing. Or God continues to work through these descendants and saying, okay, here we go. And he kind of renews his promise with each of those individuals as he continues. And then he says, you know, much time had passed then as they're in Egypt, and he says, look, I made a promise unto your father, so I'm keeping that promise, which is another one of the reasons why they're chosen and they're special and they're called out and they're sanctified unto the Lord. This is actually going to be extremely important as we continue to look to God's chosen people, because today many Christians, if you were to ask them, well, who are God's chosen people? Israel. Or, now Israel would not be a bad answer. I actually agree with that answer. But it depends on what you mean by Israel. Okay? It's actually a perfect answer. And again, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. We're going to get there. You'll see what I'm talking about in a little bit. But it depends on what you mean. But what some people might just say is the Jews. Again, it depends on what you mean, but I can't say that I'm going to agree with that answer. Because most people, when you say the Jews, is not going to think at all about any other answer than just the people who physically exist right now in the Middle East in the plot of land that's called Israel. Right? Whoever it is that's calling themselves the Jews because they think they're of the seed of Abraham physically, that is what most Christians are going to determine to be God's chosen people. Okay? Now, there is a little bit of truth to that because originally that's who God chose to be His people. Right? So they were the original chosen people in the Scripture. But as you can see from Deuteronomy 7, which is pretty early in the Bible, He gives the reasoning as to even why they were chosen. It wasn't by any of their merits. And elsewhere, I forget where the reference is, but when He's giving the law, He also states that, look, you guys are actually pretty wicked and stiff-necked and rebellious. You don't want to bring them into the promised land. He's like, I'm not doing, you're not getting all this land and inheriting all this for your sakes. And He refers back to the promise again. It's not like you are getting all this stuff because you're so great and you're so righteous. He's like, actually, these people were extremely wicked, so I'm judging them and I made a promise unto your fathers. Just similar to what He's saying here. And I don't have the reference. The reference escapes me right now. But it's the same concept. It's the same teaching. Now, God's chosen people I'm just going to state this right now. It does not have to be the same group of people throughout all of time. God's people can change. The Bible says in Psalm 33, and turn, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 1. We're going to see this illustrated perfectly from Scripture. Psalm 33 verse 12, the Bible says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Amen. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. That stands true no matter what time you live in. No matter what nation you live in. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance. Now, let's do the time test on this verse to see if this would still be considered to hold true today for the physical nation of Israel, otherwise known as the Jews. Okay, because that group of people, when the Psalms were penned down, they were under the leadership of King David, a righteous, godly man. They were serving the Lord. They were following that. They were interested in actually serving God, and they were about to build the temple. They were kind of heading into a great era of service to God, right? So when this Psalm was penned down, yeah, I mean, I think it would perfectly describe the nation of Israel at that time. The Jews, for lack of a better term. Hey, the nation whose God is the Lord, they're blessed, and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance. Amen. But can anyone honestly stand up today and say, you know what? The nation whose God is the Lord, yeah, that's the Jews. That's physical Israel today. Their God is the Lord. Can anyone say that? And do you really think that they're the people that He hath chosen for His own inheritance? Now, if you read enough Scripture, especially in the New Testament, it talks about our inheritance, right? What are we going to inherit? Well, we've inherited eternal life, right? Believers have. When I say we, I'm talking about believers. Believers of any nation are going to receive an inheritance. And it's not something we've purchased, it's something that God has purchased for us. And if we are His inheritance, now, let me just say this. If He's chosen people for an inheritance, does it make sense that, because I'm talking about our inheritance, but this is more talking about God's inheritance, right? Chosen for His own inheritance. Does God have any interest in sending an inheritance, like, does He have an inheritance in Hell? Like a whole group of people that don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Because what are the people who don't believe on Christ go? They go to Hell. And we, by and large, there's a nation in the Middle East that's inhabiting the land that the people in the Bible inhabited, but they worshiped the Lord, they believed on the Lord as their Savior, right? For their salvation. They trusted in the Lord by and large. Again, not everybody by any means. But as a nation, they worship and serve the Lord. So it makes sense that, hey, you're my inheritance. But what about a people who's rejecting the Lord, rejecting Jesus Christ, have nothing to do with the Lord? What kind of an inheritance is that? I mean, it's not, that doesn't make any sense that God's going to still look to this people as being His inheritance. Oh, I'm inheriting you. No, no one wants that inheritance. I'm going to claim that inheritance. I'm going to let that one go by the wayside, right? It's like inheriting debt. I don't want to inherit somebody's debt. There's nothing good about that at all. Now, but furthermore, I mean, this is, that was just, you know, kind of almost a side point. 1 Peter 1, look at what the Bible says here. Because again, we're talking about what? God's chosen people. So we had Deuteronomy 7, we see God choosing out this people because they were small in number and because He made a promise. Look at 1 Peter 1 now. Other extreme as far as where we are in Scripture, right? One, we're very near the very beginning. The other one now, we're near the very end of the Bible. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, verse 1, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Now, when the Bible's referring to strangers, what does that word mean? It means foreigners, right? Now, the apostle Peter, was Peter physically a Jew? Yes. Yes, he was. So if he's talking to strangers or foreigners, he's talking to people who are not Jews, right? He's not talking to people, he's talking to strangers who have been scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, all these heathen nations, all these other nations that did not serve the Lord, but he's talking to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and he says this, verse 2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Elect is another word for chosen. They're just established. And how are they elect? Through sanctification of the Spirit. Now, we all know what that means, okay? Sanctification, your Spirit set apart. Why? Because you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So people who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are elect according to 1 Peter 1. Unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Now flip over to chapter 2. I just wanted to show you what Jesus is targeted to. It's targeted to the strangers. It's targeted to the foreigners that are scattered about in all these various countries, okay? That's who this epistle is written to, already calling them elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Keep that in mind. We'll get back to that a little bit later. The foreknowledge of God the Father. Chapter 2, verse 1, wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. So this is just instruction to these people saying, hey, put aside all that malice, guile, hypocrisies, all these bad things, and desire the sincere milk of God's word. Desire to learn from God's word that you may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now the context here going into verse 4 is the Lord to whom the Lord is gracious to whom coming unto the Lord as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious. Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So when we read about and this is kind of a big subject, kind of a deep subject, and I don't have time to get into everything tonight but when we're looking at just specifically the elect, because I'm focusing more on chosen people, chosen elect are very similar, practically the same thing but when you look at the elect or the election, you're going to have elect referring to a person or a group of people or the elect referring to one person, the man Jesus Christ who is God's elect. And the only reason that we're elect is because we're elect through him who is the elect. And we'll get to that, we'll show you that from scripture as well. So here the coming unto Christ, Christ is a living stone, Christ was disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious that we're reading about here in 1 Peter chapter 2. And then it says ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice is acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Verse 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone elect, precious, again Jesus being referred to as elect, as the chosen, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builder is disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, where unto also they were appointed. Look at verse 9 But ye, so the contrast and comparisons between those who believe and those who don't. Those who believe have these blessings and are these precious stones but then there's those that don't and you know Christ is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense and now he's gone back to talk to the people who do believe in verse 9 but ye are a chosen generation. Who is this written to? Strangers in other countries. This wasn't written to Jews in Israel. This was written to strangers in other countries. Ye are a chosen generation. You're a new group of people. You are chosen. This generation, you are now chosen a royal priesthood and a holy nation. So he's not only calling them and saying oh but that's not calling them a chosen people. That's calling them a chosen generation. Well then he just calls them a holy nation. A peculiar people and when you go back to the Old Testament, again you go back to Deuteronomy, God is choosing out a people to be a peculiar people unto himself. I mean it's literally written in the Old Testament that that's what he's doing. He's trying to establish a peculiar people unto himself and now he's saying hey you're a holy nation. You are a peculiar people. You are a royal priesthood. These are a bunch of strangers. Foreigners. That you should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Verse 10 which in time past were not a people, look at this, but are now the people of God. You know what? Before they weren't considered the people of God. They weren't. Why? Because they had nothing to do with the Lord. They weren't serving the Lord. They were serving idols and false gods and everything else. But now things have changed. But now the disciples have gone out and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now you've got groups of people out there and the word of God is spreading and the gospel is catching on in various areas and he's teaching the people here and saying you know what? Now hey you're a chosen generation. Now you are a people of God. They've become the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. So things have changed. So we're talking about people who are chosen. People who are elected. It's very very clear from 1 Peter that's definitely not talking about Jews at all. Not in any sense proven up and down all day long. He is clearly giving all these different names. You are chosen of God. You're a chosen generation. You're a holy nation. You're a peculiar people and now you're the people of God. How many ways can you say it? I mean literally how many ways can you say it? Flip over if you would to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Why does this matter so much? Why am I even wasting my time tonight to preach on who are God's people, God's chosen people? It matters a lot. Specifically because there's a lot of people out there who want to elevate one group of people in this world and think that they are a special people that all believers ought to be practically worshipping. They're not going to come out and say worship but they're going to say you ought to be blessing them and doing everything for them and praying for them. Just elevating this group of people but the group of people they're talking about reject Christ. In fact they hate Christ. In many cases not even just an average unbeliever but actually hate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But people want to tell you well no, no, no, but God chose them. No, no, no, yeah, yeah, God chose them a long time ago. But something happened. Something changed. Other people became the people of God. They weren't before but now they have become. This is what Jesus was talking about and I'll read this for you because you're already in 2 Thessalonians so stay there. In Matthew 21 43 Jesus said this, Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this throne shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall will grind them to power. Isn't it funny it's talking about the same exact thing that Peter's talking about in 1 Peter. The cornerstone, the chief cornerstone and whoever you know if you reject it it's going to be a rock of offense and a rock of stumbling. This is exactly what Jesus said. I mean where do you think Peter got the teaching from? He got it from Christ himself. He got it from the rock himself. The rock who is going to be grinding them to powder is stating this while he's even on the earth saying look the kingdom of God is going to be taken away from you. And you know who he was talking to? The chief priests and Pharisees they knew what he was talking about because the next verse says and when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables they perceived that he spake of them. Inspiration of the Holy Ghost my friends they knew that he was talking about them because he was talking about them. And those parables where God's got this vineyard well the master has this vineyard and he's letting it out to other people to look over it and address it and take care of it and they're supposed to be sending the boss his money and his due and everything back and they're not doing anything. They're stealing. They're just doing their own thing and he's sending his servants to go and collect from them and they're killing them and beating them and everything else and then he sends his own son and they kill his son and then he's like well what do you think that guy's going to do? They're like well he's going to miserably destroy those wicked servants and let out the vineyard to other people. He's like that's right. That's exactly what he's going to do. You got it. And then they're like oh wait a minute. Wait a minute. Maybe he's talking about us. Yeah. Because that's exactly what they did. They killed the prophets and then they killed the son. So what did he do? I'm taking this away from you. You are not my chosen people anymore. You are not the nation that I'm going to use to be the lighthouse to the world. You are not going to be the group of people that is going to use my name because you've already abandoned me a long time ago. You've rejected me. You are not my people and I'm going to look for the nation now that's going to bring forth the fruits. I'm going to look for the nation that wants to serve me. I'm going to look for the nation that is looking to me and that I am their God. They will be my people. And that nation will be blessed. And that's what Jesus says. I'm going to take it from you. The kingdom of God is going to be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And that's exactly what he did. Some people go even as far as to think that the Jews physical descendants of Abraham somehow get this free pass into heaven. It's crazy. And you know what's evident? You know how I know that this is Jew? I can't tell you how many times I've run into a Jew out soul winning, right? And they tell me, and look this is different from any other religion of any other person I ever talk to and say, oh well I'm a Jew. With the expectation of going, oh you're a Jew? And like changing my behavior or something as opposed to continuing to try to win them to Christ. And look, I could discern that. I understand body language and how people talk and stuff. I kid you not, that is the way that it is expressed many, many, many times. And it is not like that with any other person that says, oh I'm a Muslim. There's no expectation in their voice. There's no expectation from a response other than they're saying, that's what I am. Like everybody else who tells you what religion they are. I'm telling you. And you know I also know it's true because even the scripture, John the Baptist said, hey think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father. Don't think that that descendancy is gonna mean anything for your eternal life because God's able of these stones to raise up seed unto Abraham. That doesn't matter. It means nothing. They thought it meant something back then. Some of them still think it matters today that that's actually gonna get them in. And even some so-called Christians think that that matters. Like listen to John the Baptist. If Bible's my mind, anyone who's gonna call themselves a Baptist is gonna think that some Jew is gonna have a special ticket into heaven based on their genealogy. Like open up the Bible and read it man. Go back to your Baptist heritage and listen to John the Baptist a little bit and see what he's saying to these Jews who think they have a free ticket into heaven and he's saying, uh, no. Someone's gonna hear a sermon and be like, oh, Passover, he hates Jews. No, I don't. I don't. That's why I'm going sowing and trying to get him saved, right? Because I hate him so much. No. But you know what I hate? I hate false doctrine. I hate especially doctrine like that where people are gonna not sow in, are not gonna try to reach him with the gospel of Christ because they think, oh, they're this special chosen people, they're okay. That's actually the most hateful thing you could do for any unbeliever is just think, oh, they're okay, they don't actually need to hear this. No, they actually do need to hear it. Nobody gets a special pass because God's not racist. God didn't choose his people because of their race. God chose people because he made a promise unto one person and these are his descendants and then he chooses the people that are going to choose him as their God. That's it. Pretty straightforward. Pretty simple, right? 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, I think is where I had you turn. Look at verse number 13. The Bible says, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to have to skip over, well, we're kind of getting into this area where we mix, different doctrines start to get mixed here with the elect, with the chosen people, who are God's people, and I'm going to dabble a little bit into exposing Calvinism for the fraud that it is too because the two go hand in hand and I'm not, it's definitely not going to be a full sermon, don't worry. It's not going to be a full sermon on all the five points of Calvinism and why it's all messed up and stuff but they do sort of go hand in hand and the reason why is verses like this, I put this in my notes because I'm also not going to you know, when I preach the word of God, I'm not going to shy away from scripture. We're going to look at everything because it's worth looking at to understand exactly what the Bible is talking about. So, just because some people take verses and come up with really bad conclusions to it doesn't mean I'm not going to still look at them and talk about what I'm preaching because in fact, I'd much rather go over it so that people aren't going to turn your head around with what they're trying to say things like this mean. But when you look at verse 13 again, the Bible says, God hath from the beginning, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. So here we see God choosing, so when did God choose according to this, from the beginning, right? Beginning isn't necessarily clear, but we could just, I mean, we could just go all the way back to the beginning of creation for that matter. That's not a problem unless you're trying to remove free will from people. That's when it becomes a problem, and here's why. You say, what do you mean? If God's already chosen me, then what can I do? Hold on a second. You have to understand who God is like outside of our constraints as human beings, and this really does matter. We are bound by time. Everything that we think about has to do with time. Our brains, I mean, we are thinking about beginnings and endings and where we are, and we are stuck in time, and God is not. It's hard to think of anybody not being bound by time. We have ancestors, and they have ancestors, and they have ancestors, people who have lived before us, and they all had origins. They all had beginnings and endings, and that's how we know and experience everything. What happened in the past is over. It's done. We can't go back. We're still, we're always in the present, right? We can't jump into the future. God is not bound like that. To God, in God's view of us, of everything, of His whole creation, of everyone who ever has existed or will existed, it's all just open before Him. For us, we are stuck by time, but to God, everything has already happened, and nothing has happened yet, or what's the point in the middle, because He's not limited at all. People who have lived a thousand years ago, right, just like we are experiencing life right now, they were experiencing life a thousand years ago, is that way, but to God, it doesn't matter at all. Time doesn't mean anything to God. That's why the Bible says a thousand years is a day, and a day is a thousand years, and we're gonna actually look at that verse, too, because it doesn't matter. God is just outside of time. So, the point at which God chooses is irrelevant. It's relevant to us because we're bound by time, but for God, it doesn't even matter. God can say at any time, because He knows everything at all times. In the very beginning of creation, God already knows, for example, God already knew that I forget the exact day in April when I was 19 years old, and I called on the Lord to be saved. God knew that from the beginning. Because God knew everything, just like He knew that for you, whatever day that you called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to save your soul, He knew that. He knew the day that was gonna happen, and He knew that you have already, like Him, it's like you already had done it. In the time of this world, you might not have been born yet. But in God's view, it was already done. Just like things to come, God writes about them as if they already were, because God knows the beginning from the end. He knows all of it. Because He's seen it all, He knows it all, there's no surprises, but that because God can see everything and knows everything, does not imply that He makes you choose what you've chosen. Two different things. The knowing and understanding and all that goes along with it is not the same as forcing you to not have a will of your own. And that is the number one super important key to understand, and that is, you know, one of the biggest fails of Calvinism. If you're gonna start to say that there's no free will of an individual, now the ramifications of that are enormous. Because the God that you worship is not the God that I worship. It's one little disagreement in doctrine. Who cares? We both believe on Christ, right? No, you are actually believing in a different God. Because the God that I believe in, the most wicked, horrible atrocities that happen in this world, that are perpetrated by people, those thoughts are not originating, or those acts are not originating with God. They are not. The Bible even says, hey, those things didn't even enter into my mind. But if man did not have free will, they would have had to originate with God. So the two year old that gets defiled by an adult, if no one has free will, then that would imply that God made that person commit that act, and I'm sorry, that is not God. That is not the God of the Bible. That is the devil. Yeah, it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. And these concepts all float together. But when we understand God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation, but how? Salvation, how? Through sanctification of the Spirit. That's how we were chosen because it's through that sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Right? We got saved, so God chose us, but the process was still us believing but He didn't force us to believe. He knew we were going to do it. So we're chosen because we believed. Everyone who has put their faith in Christ is chosen of God. And because God knew you would believe, He's chosen you. Verse 14 says, where unto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Flip over if you would to Romans 10. I'm trying to determine now. I'm looking at my time. Alright, I'm just going to skip the last part that I have in my notes here. There's not enough time to get to it. I figured that might happen. I'm starting in Romans 10. Really the meat is going to be in Romans 11, but I want to get the context going into Romans 11 from Romans 10. So we're going to start with verse 16 in Romans 10. The Bible says, But they have not all believed the gospel. For as I sayeth, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. Now, Romans 10 is definitely talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. You can read the whole chapter earlier in the context. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. All this stuff, right? And then he's kind of concluding here, like, well, didn't Israel know? Yeah, Israel did know, because now he's going back to Moses. You know, the question is, did not Israel know? Of course Israel knew. Because Moses said, like, of all people who should know what Moses said, Israel? Of course Israel knew. First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people. Prophesying of the events to come that the Apostle Paul is living right then and there. Provoking the physical seed by those people who are not a people. They were not the people of God. Now they're going to become jealous because God is choosing them and is replacing Israel. So now they're going to be jealous. Oh, who do you think you are? You're not the people of God. Yes, we are. And then Israel gets jealous. Verse 20, but Zias is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith, so the contrast here between the other nation but then to Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. So this is setting the stage for chapter 11 about the disobedient, gainsaying people being Israel. Right? Verse 1, I say then, hath God cast away his people? I mean they knew this because Moses talked about it, you know, faith cometh by hearing and obviously they're not receiving and he's saying Israel is disobedient and gainsaying. So with all this in mind he's saying, well I mean did God just cast away his people then? Like is God just done and his people are just completely gone and thrown in the trash? God forbid. So for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. So he's talking about being of Israel here he's clearly talking about physically. Because he's talking about what tribe he's from and everything else and God hasn't cast away like the physical seed of Abraham from being the people of God. God forbid because hey look I'm one of them. Right? And I'm saved. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew what ye not what the scripture saith of Elias how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying Lord they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars and I am left alone and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the church of Baal. So he brings up the story of Elijah and Elijah is feeling like man there's nobody left. And God tells him hey don't worry you know there's actually seven thousand people you're not all alone. Right? You're not just completely the only person left that's a worshiper of the Lord there are other people. So now he's using that story to say in verse five even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Why? Because there are physical Jews seed of Abraham of various tribes that believed on Jesus Christ and were saved by grace. So there's still other people out there it's not just the apostle Paul right there's other people who also physically descended and they're saved. Which means that you know they were according to the election of grace so they're still elect. Right? They're not cast away. They're still elect because of the election of grace. And then he goes on and if by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more. Great verse highlight that one save it for later. Verse seven what then? And this says it all for people who want to say Israel physical Israel because that's who he's talking about are the chosen people. Verse seven what then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for. Okay regardless of what that is whatever they're seeking for it doesn't even matter for what this verse is going to teach us about what I'm teaching tonight. Israel hath not obtained it but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded. So it's talking about Israel being a different group of people from the election. And very clearly in context this Israel is talking about is a physical seed because he's talking about just earlier him being a physical Israelite and of the seed of Benjamin and everything else. So let's keep reading here verse eight according as it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. Flip over if you would to Galatians chapter three and I'll close with Galatians chapter three. I'll have to go into predestination another day. That's going to be my last points covering the, we covered it enough though when we talked about that free will and everything. It all goes hand in hand. Galatians chapter three and this is one of my favorite passages just any time anyone wants to talk about Israel it's just as good as where we just were in Romans 11. Galatians chapter three look at verse number six and when I say good it's because it's really clear. Like this is irrefutable. It's irrefutable. And I decided to make this a sermon for another day but I was going to get into this a little bit but I'm going to preach a sermon on how to discern what's true and what's not true. I mean you hear different teachings, hear different doctrines and stuff. Whatever is lining up with what the Bible is actually saying is true. Just a little precursor to that next sermon I'm going to preach. And when you can just see statements like okay you've got Israel and you've got the election. What do you say against that? How could you say that they're not two different things when there clearly are? At that point it's like if someone's going to try to refute that I'm just going to say I'm done talking to you. Because you refuse to accept what the Bible just says on its face. I don't even want to talk to you anymore. And people will try to come up, and if you have to come up with some weird roundabout twisty answer to try to give an explanation for scripture, you've got it wrong. You've got it wrong. Galatians 3, look at verse number six. The Bible says even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. So who is a child of Abraham in this passage here, in this context? Those who are of faith. Who were the chosen people of God? Well they were the ones that God had promised to Abraham that they were going to be his people. They were children of promise. Just like Isaac was a child of promise. All throughout the Bible it's never really been about your genealogy. Ever. Ever. Now there were rules about the priesthood and your genealogy. Yes, there were. There were rules about that in the service of like the Levitical priesthood. But not about your salvation. It never was about your salvation. That's why there was one law for the land that applied evenly to everybody. God's law applies equally. Whether you're a native born in the land or a stranger that's come in to sojourn, law of God applies the same directly. They which are of faith. Let's keep reading here. Verse number eight, Galatians 3. In the scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham. Saying in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. More reinforcement that Abraham was saved by faith. He's called faithful Abraham. And the gospel that was preached to Abraham was a gospel of faith. Which is why those of his, the people who are called his descendants are doing the works of Abraham, so to speak. They're his children because they are children of faith because Abraham had faith. So if they have faith, they're children of Abraham. And this is what even Jesus was trying to explain to the Pharisees. Hey, you're of your father the devil. Because you do the works of your father. Hey, if you were of Abraham, you wouldn't go about trying to kill me. If you were of Abraham, you'd have faith like Abraham. Abraham, what is the number one thing he's known for? It's his faith. Look at Hebrews 11. Look through Genesis. Look here in Galatians. He's known for his faith. He's known because when he was called out to go into a country they didn't know, he did it. He had no idea. He was all alone. God just said, hey, I need you to go. And he did it. And he was known as a friend of God. Let's jump down to verse number 16. Here's a famous 3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. So those promises that God made, the whole point was that they were made to about Christ. Because he was the seed that he was chosen to be the line that ultimately Jesus Christ was going to be born through. And we all get to share in the blessings through Christ. Through that error. Let's keep reading. Verse 17. In this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God and Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul. That it should make the promise of none effect. So he's saying the promise supersedes the law. So no matter what the law says, it can't touch the promise. Which is why for those of you who are of faith, the law is no more effect on you. You're saved regardless. We're free from the law because the law cannot disannul the promise. We are receiving the blessings. We are receiving of the promise through faith. That law has no more effect on you. It cannot disannul. It can't make it void. That it should make the promise of none effect. Verse 18. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? So why do we even have the law then? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. Of course it was just Christ. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now jump down to verse 28 and we're going to close on this. And we know also the law is a schoolmaster. It's meant to point us to Christ. It's meant to point us to know that we're not perfect. And we need to put our faith in Christ. That's the purpose of the law is to show us our need for a savior. Verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. And this is not some isolated teaching by the way. I mean this is all throughout the New Testament. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So who are the chosen of God? Is it the physical seed of Abraham? No. It's Abraham's seed by faith. It's those that have faith with faithful Abraham. It's those that are heirs according to the promise. Those that have an inheritance according to the promise because you're born again, because you're saved, because you're put to your faith. You are the chosen of God. That ought to make you feel pretty good too by the way. God did choose you. And he didn't make you believe but because he knew you were going to believe, he chose you. And that's cool. And you know what? He chose you individually. Every single one individually knowing you personally, you're chosen of God. That's great. It's not because where you were physically born. It's not because of who your ancestor was. It's because you humbled yourself and accepted Christ as your savior. And God likes that. God likes the humility. God likes people who are willing to admit they need a savior. They need help. They need someone. God likes that and he chooses and says, yeah, I'm going to choose you. So what he did with the people of God from the beginning, I'm going to choose the weak, the small, God chose you. Can't do any of it on our own. Thank God. And you know what? Now he's there for you and he's never going to leave you or forsake you. Amen. That's about right. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for choosing us, not for any of our own merits or righteousness, dear Lord. What a foolish thought that would be. But we thank you for loving us and loving us first and dying for us and for saving us, dear Lord. And I pray that you would please help us to never think that anyone doesn't need salvation apart from just understanding if people are professing faith, obviously, then they already have it, dear Lord. But I pray that you would please help us to never place one group of people above another for any reason at all, dear Lord, but that we would be able to treat everyone equally in the sense that, hey, everyone needs to be saved. Everyone needs a savior, dear Lord. I pray that you would please help us to reach all with the Word of God. I pray that you would please soften up the hearts of this world. I pray that you would please help us to reach as many people as we possibly can with the truth. Thank you so much for being our God and for saving us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're going to sing one last song before we are dismissed. Brother Peter, please lead us. All right, church, if you can open up your hymnals, song number 167. Song number 167, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Song 167. All right, let's sing the sound of the verse. All right, sing the second verse loud. Lord of all Let every kindred, every tribe On this terrestrial ball To him all majesty Astride and crown him Lord of all To him all majesty Astride and crown him Lord of all Let every kindred, every tribe On this terrestrial ball To him all majesty Astride and crown him Lord of all Let every kindred, every tribe On this terrestrial ball To him all majesty Astride and crown him Lord of all Amen, church, great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. Thank you.