Gospel

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The doctrine of election is found throughout the Bible.  Sometimes the word chosen is used in place of "elect." For example we read in Matthew 22:

"Many are called but few are chosen." Now substitute the word elect for chosen and you have the same meaning. 

What does it mean to be numbered among God's elect?  It means that certain individuals were chosen before the foundation of the world to salvation.  In theology some would argue that this election was based on a foreseen faith in the chosen person while others would say this election was based on nothing but the sovereignty of God.  In other words there was no cause outside of God Himself which caused Him to choose one person over another. 

Thus we read in Ephesians 1:4 "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
 In verse one we read that Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the WILL of God.  So likewise believers in Christ are children of God by the will of God.  This means that those who are chosen in Christ were not chosen because of anything in them including some foreseen faith which God saw beforehand that they would have.

I remember as a youth my Sunday school teacher whose name was Doug Somers explain election this way.  He said imagine a row of people whom God created.   Let's say there were a hundred people just for simplicity sake.  Election was like God choosing the first person he created to salvation and passing over the next and then choosing another person and passing over the next.  This made sense to me and it corrected my faulty thinking that I had received from others within my local church that said God looked down the corridors of time and because God knows all things he foreknew who would believe and who would not believe and so on that basis God chose or elected that person to salvation. Now while this sounds acceptable at first and much more fair, humanly speaking, than the first view yet it doesn't square with the Bible. 

The Bible teaches that faith is a gift of God and not of oneself. God is the author and finisher of our faith we read in Hebrews 12:2 and the Bible speaks of the "faith of God's elect" in Titus 1:1 NOT the elect of God's faith.  In other words the cause for election is not a person's faith as though he possessed some merit or ability to acquire this of himself but the reason for election is according to the good pleasure of God's will.  Eph. 1:5

In Ephesians verse 9 we read: "which he had purposed in himself"(Eph.1:9). This is to say that God considered nothing outside himself with which to be concerned in making his decree of election.  The Bible says in Ephesians 1:6 that God made us "accepted in the beloved."  We are accepted in Christ based on nothing in ourselves otherwise grace is no longer grace.  Grace is unmerited favor shown to a lost sinner.  What can a sinner do to merit God's grace?  Nothing!  

But now the often asked question by the Arminian "Well, why should we evangelize if God has already chosen certain persons to salvation?  Good question.  The answer is firstly because God's commands it.  Whatever God commands we should do.  Secondly, God uses means to accomplish his ends.  We are told "...it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1 Cor. 1:21

Thus when we evangelize by proclaiming the good news (Greek=Euangelion)we know that God will use the gospel to either save people or to leave them unaffected, unconverted so that they all might be damned who believed not the truth.  2 Thess. 2:12.  

When Jesus in gave to his disciples the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus expected them to obey his command which was  to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you."  

I'm of the belief that this command was not restricted to just his eleven immediate disciples but all those in his presence which some would number in the hundreds. Therefore we are also under this obligation to teach others.  Jesus had just commanded the eleven to go teach and to teach those who were converted to observe all things he had command them which included that we are also to be taught to go and teach. Reminds me a little of MLM, that is, multi-level marketing where you get recruited into say Amway and you are taught how to go out and recruit others.  Well, Jesus expects his children to show or demonstrate our love to him by obeying his commands.  In John 14:15 we read:  "If you love me keep my commndments."  

Look what Paul says in Romans 1:14, "I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise."  In like manner today we are debtors to every non-Christian because we have the good news that can save his soul.  This places us under obligation to share the gospel with the lost so they can be saved.  Because someone loved us enough to teach us the truth, shouldn't we do as much for someone else?  What if you were unsaved and doomed to Hell, wouldn't you want someone to teach you the saving gospel of Christ?

f people have not heard and learned the gospel they cannot obey it.  In 1 Peter 4:17  the question is asked, "What shall be the end of those who do not obey the gospel?"  The answer is given in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 which says when the Lord comes He will come "In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."  We should not want to see anyone lost but as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:11, "Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men."  Without Christ's salvation people are going to suffer eternal damnation. 

Too often over the years I have run across what you might call hyper-Calvinists who believe in election but they aren't motivated to evangelize the lost.  I can only discern such people have a head knowledge of such wonderful doctrine as election but they have no love for their neighbor which means in all likelihood these people are not truly saved.  

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:16, "Woe is to me if I preach not the gospel." The apostle was compelled to obey the Great Commission.  It is as if he were saying, "I am cursed if I do not go out and proclaim the grace of God to others."  He didn't deceive himself with such ideas as "Well, if God has chosen certain peple then why go out and evangelize since God knows who will and who will not be saved and since God has willed certain people be saved then they shall be saved without my help. 

 Let us abandon and do away with such ungodly thinking.  

How are we going to answer the Lord if we haven't bothered to tell the good news to others?  Jesus said "Go"  Therefore, we must obey and go wherever the Lord leads. 

In another article I will discuss where we can find potential prospects for the kingdom.  Although we do not know who the elect are before they are saved we can categorize by groups or institutions to make the task of evangelizing easier to carry out.

There is a harvest today although the fruit of our labors seemed sparse in America yet all around the world there is a remnant being saved by grace but I believe the time is quickly approaching when God will have gathered his elect from the four corners of the earth.  This is to say, the last of God's elect will have been called into his kingdom and there will be no more salvation.

Our Lord in teaching His disciples, tells them in John 4:35, "Do you say there are still four months then comes the harvest?  Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest."  Our Lord was speaking of the spiritual harvest of souls who would be forever damned if they are not harvested.  

There is an urgency when it comes to reaching the lost.  Jesus says in Matthew 9:37-38, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."  We must work in the Lord's harvest because if we don't then the Lord will raise up others to do what God commands us to do.  Ask yourself if you wish to stand before God at the judgment and find you unfaithful in doing his will by not evangelizing.

In the first century when the Lord opened the way of salvation to both Jew and Gentile the good news of the gospel caused such great excitement that "And daily in the temple and from house to house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus" (Acts 5;42).  We need to be as excited today. 

Paul's words in Romans 1:16 should echo loudly in our ears:  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

They Preached During Persecution

Some misguided souls today think that preaching is only for trained seminarians or a select few among church leaders but we read in Acts 8:4  "Therefore those who were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word."  Notice these were just ordinary Christians that we about preaching.  These were not the apostles.  So what should stop us today?  We are not being persecuted.  We have many more advantages.  We have the automobile,  the airplane, the telephone, the Internet, and the printed page.  We are without excuse brothers and sisters.  We are without excuse.

Teaching the lost is the work the Lord has commanded each of us to do.  Successful evangelism is accomplished one person at a time.  Evangelism is not only to be done in distant lands, but we must also teach those near us, our next door neighbors.   God will be with us as we teach His word to the lost.  We will be successful because we read in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  When we do what the Lord says to do we will not fail.

Jesus tells us that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents (Luke 15:7, 10). 

Carlton Pruitt ministers the gospel to the Los Angeles area.
Formerly a Hollywood actor (SAG member) and junk removal expert he now spends most of his time studying the scriptures, writing articles, hymns and poems and doing street preaching.

See all his videos on https://www.YouTube.com/user/LAStreetPreacher

CONTACT at [email protected]

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