Chosen by God

Prog# e585

Good morning and welcome in today. Today we are going to take a look at some scripture from 2 Thess 2.

2 Thess 2:13

¹³ But we are bound to give thanks alway 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:

Every time my son and I go to the grocery store, we walk by the fresh vegetable section. I really enjoy fresh jalapenos so my son will pick out a few for me. To choose something means to select something.

In the scriptures, being chosen means that somebody is the choice of divine favor. They are referred to as the elect of God.

The church people in today’s lesson we’re believing the same things that Paul believed. He knew in his heart that they were chosen.

1st Peter 2:9

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Before we had a relationship with God, we were living in sin. We have forgiveness and mercy for our past so that we can change and walk in his light. That is the calling for a Christian.

John 15:16

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Many people in the world today don’t believe that a person is ordained of God unless they go to a church somewhere or go through some kind of program at a college somewhere. God ordains a true prophet while they are still in the womb!

The Apostle Paul was called by God not by man. Worldly ordination is just a bunch of paperwork and plaques on the wall. God ordains and chooses people into his service even before they were born.

Some people will only listen if they see a plaque on the wall. This is different from those who are called by God. Who ordained Moses? Who ordained the apostles? God chooses certain people from the womb to lead his people. No paperwork, no plaques on the walls, no Divinity School, no College training. God chose some fishermen as apostles, rather than professionally trained religious people.

When you choose something it means that you pick it out and select it. The word salvation means deliverance from sin and its consequences. This happens through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salvation is deliverance from the power and the effects of sin. Salvation is preservation from destruction and failure. It is deliverance from danger and difficulty.

Salvation happens through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. These are two aspects that we really need to understand because they prove that you are the chosen of God.

God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Salvation is the direct result of these two issues. If you go through something, it means to continue until the completion of the process

Take for example, if you drive through a construction site. You are driving down the road but then you approach the section where there’s construction for the next 10 miles. You have to go through the construction site in order to get to the other side. That is the same with our salvation. We need to become sanctified.

God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: These are important concepts that we need to understand. Let’s start with sanctification of the spirit.

Sanctification has to do with purifying. It has two do with being freed from our sins. When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When this happens we are sanctified. We are freed from our sinful condition and we become righteous in the sight of God.

In order to be purified from our sinful condition, we have to believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life. We have to believe the truth of what the Bible teaches. We have to accept the truth that we are sinners and we have come short of the glory of God. We have to come to God as we are and admit our faults so that we can be forgiven for our sins. We are purified through his grace.

Each morning people get up and go take a shower. They want to wash all that dirt and filth off of them that has accumulated. When they towel off in the bathroom, they feel clean on the exterior. God wants to cleanse our hearts on the interior.

No matter how many showers or baths that you may take, it will not wash away the sinfulness that is inside of each of us. Only God can do that. It happens through God’s forgiveness and mercy in Christ Jesus. We need to admit the truth of what we really are. We are just a bunch of sinners.

…..God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Somebody who is sanctified is set apart for God’s special use and purpose. Remember, when we believe the truth of God’s Word, God changes us. It is the truth that sets us free. It happens from exposure to the teachings of Holy Scripture. The truth causes us to change into what God wants us to be.

The truth is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The truth is that we need to come to Christ Jesus to get forgiven for our sins. The truth is that we need to wash away our sins in the blood of the Lamb through Holy Communion. The truth is that we need to believe the scriptures. Believing the truth has to happen in a person’s life in order to become sanctified.

For example, imagine being on an airplane and somebody tells you that you need to put on a parachute if you are going to jump out of the plane. You can either believe what they tell you or not. If you don’t believe what they tell you, you are going to get killed!

Its like the teachings of scripture. We have to believe what it says because it results in sanctification and salvation in our lives. Ultimately we are being Sanctified by the truth.

John 17:17 sanctify them through thy truth Thy word is truth

If you really don’t believe what the scriptures teach, how will you ever be sanctified? It’s the holy scriptures that convicts us of our faults. It’s the scriptures that teach us that we are going the wrong way and that we need to correct ourselves. It is the scriptures that admonish, encourage, rebukes and leads us in the right direction. The scriptures are a map that lead us on the path to heaven.

Just like a map that you would pull out to find your way on Earth, the scriptures are a map that lead us on the way to heaven.

If you looked at a map, would you believe what the map said? Would you believe it so much that you followed it to your destination? Do you believe in the teachings of the scriptures that much? If required to become sanctified.

Imagine driving through a town somewhere and stopping at the local gas station to ask them where a good fishing hole was. Would you believe them? If people can believe directions to a fishing hole, then they should be able to believe the truth that is found in the scriptures. It is a spiritual map that leads us to Salvation.

……God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Belief means that you accept a statement as true. It’s having trust or faith and confidence in someone or something. Belief is a state of conviction or acceptance that certain things are true or real. That is what the Thessalonian church had in their hearts. If you can’t believe what is true and accept what is true then the only thing that is left is believing a lie.

Jesus is the truth. The things that he taught are truth. We need to accept the truth because ultimately it leads to conversion and repentance.

God wants to change us but in order to do that we must believe the things that he wrote to us. We need to believe in the map that he gave us so that we can find our way back home.

Think about those things for today and that’s where I’m going to stop for right now. Lord willing, we will talk some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody.