The Sovereignty of God 3 of 3

The Bible says in Eph.2:3, "We all...were by nature the children of
wrath." According to John 8:44, we are all the children of the Devil,
and according to Matt. 3:7 we are all the offspring of vipers, and
according to the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel we are all illegitimate
children born out of wedlock, dead in trespasses and sins, totally
corrupt and discarded on the garbage heap of the world as fit subjects
for Hell. There is nothing attractive in any individual that would
merit the love of God. Therefore, God has a right to love whom He
wants to, whom He pleases and how He pleases, and no man can tell Him,
"Nay."

Then someone will jump up and say, "Oh, preacher, what about John 3:16
-- 'For God so loved the world'?" Now, let me give you the shock of
your life -- that word "world" in John 3:16 means God's elect only,
and not all mankind. I know that shocks you; but that shows how little
we study our Bibles, and how little we know of God's dealings with
human hearts. You listen! The manifestation of God's love must be
traced back to His sovereignty. Why? Because God does not love by
rule. If God loved by rule, God would be under law; and if God were
under law, He would not be supreme.

God is a law unto Himself. You may say, "Well, I don't see that." All
right, listen to God's Word, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated" (Rom. 9:13). Now, God said that before they were ever born. He
did that to let us know that the reason for His love was not in Jacob
or in Esau but in Himself. Of the two, Esau was a better man,
outwardly, than Jacob. The marvel of God*s grace and the exercise of
His love is manifested in the ones He selects and chooses to be the
objects of His love. Why did He choose me? I don't understand
it. There was nothing in me to attract His love, but He chose me,
accepted me in the Beloved (Eph.l:6), drew me with the lovingkindness
of an everlasting love (Jer. 31 :3), and shed abroad His love in my
heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).

Now, listen to Eph. 1:3-5,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
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:
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to himself according to the good pleasure of his will."

We see here in this Scripture that it was "in love" that the Father
elected, chose and predestinated His children; in other words, before
the foundation of the world God elected His family according to the
good pleasure of His will. He did not select a single one of us
because He saw some good in us, or saw that we would believe, for we
were no different from anyone else, and the only thing that made the
difference was His distinguishing, sovereign grace. And He chose each
one according to the good pleasure of His will.

To me this is one of the greatest, most comforting truths in God's
Word-to think that I have been an object of His love before the
foundation of the world, and that He knew me before I was ever
born. Now, this great truth of God's Word deflates us and destruts
[sic] us and takes all our pride and all our importance away from
us. That is the reason you hate the God of the Bible-because this
leaves you at the disposal of a sovereign God.

Let's go a step further, and we see that God is sovereign in the
exercise or manifestation of His grace or the bestowal of His grace
upon undeserving, Hell-deserving individuals. Justice stands at one
end of the line and grace at the other in God's dealing with
humanity. The justice of God demands the enforcement of God's law. As
all have sinned, so death reigns upon all; therefore, all deserve to
go to Hell. Justice bestows no favor, no mercy and is no respecter of
persons. Justice said, "Man must die"; the love of God said, "Man
must live." Justice said, "I demand an impartial enforcement of the
law." Love said, "My elect must live." Love would not let go;
therefore, the Second Person of the Triune God said, "Father, I will
interpose for Your elect; I will pay their sin-debt; I will stand good
for their bond." Therefore, He became a baby in Bethlehem, took upon
Himself the form of a servant, took that body to the cross and paid
the sin-debt in full to the last farthing. He went back to Heaven
leaving the empty tomb, cancelling the sin-debt against God's elect;
therefore, God can bestow grace upon His elect.

He sent the Holy Spirit to call out His elect and to reveal to their
hearts that they were no different from anyone else, that God did not
choose them for any attraction in them. He also reveals the utterly
corrupt, vile, sinful nature of that sinner and shows him that he
deserves to go to Hell, he is condemned to die, and that he does not
deserve mercy. Yes, it is only as the Holy Spirit opens that sinner's
heart that he sees that he is Hell-deserving, and recognizes himself
as an utterly lost, ruined, wretched, miserable, bankrupt individual,
an object of mercy. The same blessed Holy Spirit leads him to look to
Christ who died for him as his only hope, the only way out, and as a
condemned sinner, an utterly lost sinner, one who does not deserve to
be saved, he trusts the atoning blood.

Then God bestows His grace upon such a low, loathsome, contemptible
wretch by delivering him from the power of Satan, forgiving his sins,
translating him into the kingdom of God and adopting him into the
family of God as His child -- all because Christ died for him. Now
that is grace, and God bestows His grace upon whomsoever He wills,
whom He chooses, and whom He desires, and you cannot make God save
you, but you can bow before Him.

I know when I was under conviction they said, "We just doubt that
Brother Shelton will ever get saved." You see, I had been preaching 25
years before the Lord awakened me. But that threw me on my face
crying, "Lord, make me as a little child. Lord, there are only a few
that be saved, but I want to be one of those few. Lord, here I am;
take me. If You can get more glory out of sending me to Hell, I'll go
to Hell; but if You will, save me by Your grace." And He did! He
saved me by His grace, and I am what I am, because of the grace of
God. (If you want that story, "How and When God Saved a Baptist
Preacher," you write me, and I'll send it to you.) Sinner-friend, the
Sovereignty of God is the greatest, most comforting doctrine for you
awakened sinners that you will find anywhere.

Now, brother, the Sovereignty of God does away with all your little
"decision for Christ," your signing of pledge cards and your religious
programmes, and your fleshly movements, and your silk-handkerchief
preaching, and it throws you upon your face before a sovereign God as
clay in the hands of the Potter. Now, that is so, whether you like it
or not. He is God on the throne, and that is the reason folks hate Him
and rebel against Him and gnash on Him with their teeth. The greatest
thing in the world is to be an object of God's love and an object of
God's mercy and His grace. Just to think that you and I have robbed
God, have trampled Him under our feet, have rebelled against Him, have
done despite to the Spirit of grace, have taken the breath which He
has given us and used it to curse Him with, the food He has given to
strengthen us to rebel against Him, and then for Jesus' sake He would
call us and bring us because of His grace to Christ to save us and
forgive us is amazing grace! Now, that is the God I know; that is the
God I preach; that is the God I worship; that is the God of the Bible!