If you're joining us, we have been systematically working through the book of Colossians since a little less than a year ago, I think, maybe half a year or so. And we're in chapter three. And today we'll look at one verse, verse 12. For the sake Of context, I'm going to read verses 12 through 17, and it's going to take us about maybe five weeks to get through these verses, verses 12 through 17. But if you'll look at your Bibles, we'll read together here. Colossians chapter 3, verse 12 through 17. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Let's pray. Father, we come to you in the name of Christ and just we ask for your grace. As the brother prayed this morning, God, in our weakness, we are strong. And your grace is sufficient. So I come to you in weakness, God. Needing your grace to be poured out. God, that you would bring clarity to this text. There is such rich truth here that I so desire for your people to see. And I feel very inadequate. So would you please grace us? Me to bring clarity of words, them to have ears to hear, hearts to receive. And for us to see and magnify Jesus Christ. I pray for lost people here this morning, God. That through the proclamation of your word that they would repent of their sins and believe the gospel. I pray for the children this morning that they would listen intently. They would strive to understand and what they can't grasp that you would work in the hearts of their parents to be faithful, to teach them. To lead them. To help them to understand. We love You, God. We praise You. We come with expectancy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. We are here in chapter 3 talking about living the Christian life. Living a life that pleases and glorifies God. A life that is consistent with our new identity and nature in Jesus Christ. In verse 5-11, Paul gave us the negative aspect of Christian life. He told us what we are to put off or to put to death. Paul is saying in these verses here that those things that are not consistent with your new nature in Christ need to be put off or put to death. Those are consistent with the old man. And he calls us to a violence towards our sin. To kill it. Things like sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. And in this, Paul showed us that sin begins in the heart and works its way out through actions. And if we're going to put sin to death, we have to get it at its root, which is in our heart. We've also learned that it's not enough just to say no to these things in this list, because we sin out of desire that we must say yes to the greater promise and treasure of Jesus Christ. So having a list of not to dos isn't enough. We need to see the sufficiency and joy we have in Jesus so that as we say no to things like sexual immorality, we say yes to the treasure of Jesus Christ. In verse 8, Paul told us to put away things like anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk. And again, this was in the negative aspect, to take those things off, to put them away, to kill them. Why? They're consistent with our old nature. And if you're in Christ, you're a new creation in Christ and you need to live and act based upon your new nature and put on things consistent with that. So here in verse 12, if you look at it, he says, put on then. So he switches from the negative, take off, kill, put to death to the positive. I want you to put these things on. So Paul wants us to live lives consistent with our new nature and bring glory to our Father God. Now, that being said, for many people, Christianity is a ticket out of hell and a call to morality. And that's an unbiblical view of Christianity. For many, Christianity is merely, hey, you don't want to go to hell. Repeat this prayer and make sure you go to church and do good things and don't do bad things. And it's true that in Scripture there are things that we are called to forsake and kill and not do. And there are things we are called to do and to put on. That's true. But to minimize Christianity as a ticket out of hell and to be a moral person is to miss the whole thing. Paul has been very helpful to see that Christianity is not merely turning over a new leaf and being moral. This is supernatural. This is a transformation within that manifests itself on the outside, and he has shown us there are means of grace God has provided to live this life. Putting to death sin by treasuring Jesus Christ, by renewing your mind. Our minds play an essential role in our ability to live the Christian life. And our motivation, what drives us in Christianity, plays an essential role in your success of living out the Christian life. Brothers and sisters, if you're striving to live the Christian life so that God will accept you, you've missed it. Christ finished the work. He said on the cross, it is finished. He completed what we so desperately need. We need to be sinless and perfectly righteous. And that's the only way God can accept you, if you are sinless and perfectly righteous. And I don't need to convince you, you cannot accomplish that on your own. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ accomplished that. He bore our sins. He shed His blood to cover our sins. We sang the song, Jesus paid it all. There is nothing to contribute to our justification. Our position before God regarding our justification was paid for in the blood of Jesus Christ and His righteousness being applied to us, received by grace through faith. Any gospel so-called message that says Jesus plus this is no gospel at all. You can't live a good enough life to be accepted by God, he demands perfection. But here in verse 12, Paul is pointing us to the positive aspects of the Christian life that we are to put on. And one of the great things I love about the Bible and about our God, about the Apostle Paul, is he doesn't just say, hey, just do this, just put on these things. But unfortunately, I think that's how many of us read the Bible. I think many of us look at the Bible as a list of do's and don'ts. And you want to do because your hearts been transformed, but you keep failing. Because you skip over the how. In the Bible. It's easy to stand up here and tell you what to do and what not to do and make you feel guilty. That's easy. I want to teach you how to put on. so that you can glorify God and enjoy living the Christian life. So we're into the positive aspects of living the Christian life. Put on them. I'm going to ask you for a moment to do something I don't normally ask you to do, but I'm going to try to teach something here. So don't look at your Bible for a moment. Look at the screen. Let's read that verse there, verse 12. Put on then compassion, kindness, humility, meekness or gentleness and patience. It's not what it says. But unfortunately, in our reading through the Bible, I think that's what most of us focus on. And how we read it, and how we try to live it out, and why we fail. The way I read this verse is how many people approach the Christian life, and we all do this. And as you're reading through just a normal reading to get the breadth of Scripture, the daily renewing of your mind, we tend to focus on certain aspects of what we're reading. And my fear is we don't read carefully and we skip over how. You read, put on compassion, kindness, humility. And you say, yeah, that's Christianity. And I'm going to grit my teeth and put these things on because I want to do that. And I think you really want to do that. But I think if you read that way and skip over the how, you can't do it. And you're probably growing frustrated. It's true. Paul is calling us here to put on something. That's true. This is the command of the text. Verse 12. Put on. That's the command. And he gives us a list of things were to put on. That's true. Put on has the idea of putting clothes on. You're a new creation in Christ. In verse 5 through 11, he says, put these things off, which are no longer consistent with who you are. Don't wear clothes of the old man, that old raggedy, sinful, earthly clothes. Take those off, put them to death, burn them. And I want you to put on these things. But how? How, Paul? We've talked about renewing our mind. We've talked about seeing the greater treasure in Jesus Christ. Let me ask you this, how many of you already know that were to be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient? How many of you know that? The youngest of us know that. You could learn that and the Cub Scouts, I think. Put on these things. Atheists might even say to put some of those things on. Why? Because if someone's like that, it creates a more peaceful atmosphere. The knowledge that I am supposed to be compassionate, kind, maybe not humility because it's viewed as weakness in this world, but at least the other things, gentle and patient, those things would bring a good living experience in any home if we could actually put those things on. So may all of you know we're supposed to be like that. But let me ask you this. How many of you struggle daily to be these things? All of us, we all struggle daily to be these things. So Paul's just not putting a list out there to merely inform you. That is true to help us see the path that would be Christ-like. And because we struggle, he commands us in it. But Paul didn't just give us a command put on, he gave us hope and motivation with the command. And I think if you miss it, you miss the power and the hope to put on these attributes of Christ. What did Paul say? He didn't say put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, gentleness and patience. What did he say? He said, put on then. as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. Paul is not just trying to add some length to his letter here. He is under divine inspiration from the Holy Spirit, calling you to manifest Christ in everyday aspect of life through compassion, gentleness, kindness. We'll see love and forgiveness. And he wants it to be a reality. So he says as. God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. And I think those words rightly understood. Are the how. You put on these things. I'm afraid in our reading, though, you've read Colossians chapter three, verse 12, I'm assuming dozens of times. Honestly, how many times have you stopped at God's chosen ones, holy and beloved? If you're like most people you read, put on and you get to the list. And you start memorizing these things you're supposed to be. And when you turn to your children, you say, hey, you need to be compassionate. Paul says here, put on compassion and patience and gentleness and kind. Put these things on. What's wrong with you? But you missed the how. So I want us to look at carefully what did he say and what does it mean and how does it impact my ability to put on these attributes and virtues of Christ? Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. See, Paul says put on, that's the command. But before he even tells them what he wants them to put on, he's going to remind them of who they are in Jesus Christ. Brother Phil preached a couple weeks ago about the indicative and the imperative. When you see a command from God, look before it or after it and find an indicative, a statement of truth about who you are in Jesus Christ, which often accompanies the commands in Scripture because they motivate, encourage, and help you to fulfill the command He has put before you. So what is the command? Put on compassion. kindness, gentleness, that's the command. How? By understanding who you are in Jesus Christ. By understanding who you are in Jesus Christ. The first thing he says is God's chosen ones. Paul is reminding the church that they are God's chosen ones. God's chosen ones. And before we answer what this means, I want us to remember what Paul is trying to accomplish by mentioning this here. What's the context? He mentions God's chosen ones in the context of a command. And again, he's not just trying to fill up the paper and make his letter look longer and more important. He's under divine inspiration. In other words, these three things, if we can grasp what they mean about who we are, will have an impact on our ability to be compassionate, to be humble, to be gentle, to be kind. So context is very important when you're attempting to understand what a verse is saying. Paul is trying to motivate, encourage and give hope to fulfilling the command to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. If that's true, and it clearly is because it's in the context. then your understanding of what he means by God's chosen ones should have an impact on your humility, on your compassion, on your kindness. Otherwise, it makes no sense whatsoever for Paul to put that in there. Doesn't make any sense for him to put that in there. So when Paul says God's chosen ones, he's dealing with the doctrine of election. That's not a popular topic that people talk about a lot. One of the things about systematic exposition is you don't get to pick and choose what verse you're preaching. You got to preach what's there. So I'm not here to try to win a debate this morning. I'm here to preach a text and try to understand it rightly. Our understanding of what the words God's chosen one means is vitally important because it impacts a lot of your life. And in this context, it impacts your ability to live out the virtues of Jesus Christ. A short definition. Biblical election is an act of God before creation in which He chooses some people to be saved. An act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved. It's clear in our text here, God's chosen one. Who's doing the choosing? God. He's choosing ones. So election is clearly about God making a choice. And you can see that throughout Scripture. Now, there is a debate regarding election in the Bible. And the debate is not whether God elects. Our verse said God elects. The actual Greek word here is how we get our word for election. God chooses. God elects. So the debate is not does God elect people? Does God choose people? That's all throughout scripture. I could take you in literally every to every book of the New Testament and show you where God chooses, let alone the Old Testament. Clearly, God elects. That's not the question of the debate. The question is this. What's the basis of God choosing? Why does God elect who he elects? That's the question. That's the debate. And I'm not dividing between Christians and non-Christians here, but I really want us to figure out what does this mean? And I wonder, I'm going to try to stay, I'm going to look a little bit outside the text, but I think the immediate context is one of the greatest verses to a right rendering of election. Because I think if you have a wrong understanding of election today, this verse is pointing to you being a chosen one of God as a motivation to make you compassionate and humble means nothing. If you have the wrong understanding of election, it actually does the exact opposite. So I want to use the context of our verses to try to drive home this point, but I will look outside of it a little bit to show you that it's true in other texts as well. Did God elect us because of something we did or would do, or did he elect us despite us? That's the question. That's the question. Some people believe election means God chose them because God can look down the corridor of time and see that they, unaided of the Holy Spirit, would choose God when they hear the gospel call. And then, therefore, God chooses them in eternity past because He can see all the time. That's one thought. Another thought is that God chose us before the foundation of the world, not on the basis of what we would do of our working of our willing, but according to his own goodwill in love. That's the debate. Those are the two sides. So what is the Bible say? And more importantly, if we're going to understand it in our context, Which of those two beliefs would be a motivating factor to remind you of if I'm going to try to help you be humble. And compassionate. And gentle. And kind. And loving. And forgiving. You see why it's important to get this right? Because it makes no sense at all to have a wrong view of election and for Paul to promote it here as a motivating factor for you to be virtuous like Christ. I hope I'm saying that clear. I really don't feel good, but I hope that's coming across though. I won't be doing an exhaustive Bible study on election this morning. I just don't have the time. I'm really praying about taking next week though and just stopping for a moment and doing a biblical overview of the doctrine of election because I think it's been a couple of years since I've done it here and it just might be good for us to just let the Bible teach us. Um, let's say this though. Your understanding of being God's chosen one and what that means and what the basis of God choosing you should have a direct impact on your ability to be compassionate and humble and kind. And if it doesn't, you misunderstood the doctrine of election. So I didn't plan on focusing so much on election, but I think this might be one of the best verses in the Bible to prove the basis of God's election. In my opinion, but I could be wrong on that. OK. A little bit of outside context on the doctrine of election. Ephesians, chapter one, verses three through six. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Paul and Ephesians 1 is going to address the underworking of your salvation. We are saved through repentance and faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. What Paul is going to address here is the underworking. Of why did you believe? Why did you repent? And we would say, well, the Holy Spirit awaken me. And then he would answer this question. Why did he awaken you? Why did he draw you to repentance and faith? And the answer is election. And in chapter one of Ephesians, he gives a lot of insight to that. He begins here in verse three by praising God for our salvation. Look at verse four, just as he chose us in him. So we defined election as God choosing. And Ephesians here tells us again that he chose us and we know the verse, you did not choose me, but I chose you. God chose us. When did he choose you? Before the foundation of the world, for the world was even created. God chose you. Guess what? You weren't here then. He had not done any good or evil yet. Before the foundation of the world. What did he choose us unto? That we would be holy and blameless before him. He chose us unto separation unto himself, justified in Jesus Christ and sanctified unto himself in our Christian life. What was the motivation? In love He predestined us for adoptions as Son through Jesus Christ. Love is what drove God to elect people. You say, well, what was the basis then if he was going to set his love upon certain people before the foundation of the world unto salvation? How did he choose which of these people he would set his love upon and then send his Holy Spirit to awake them and make it an efficacious salvation? And the answer is. According to the purpose of his will. Not our will. His will. And why did he do all this? Ultimately, look at verse six, to the praise of His glorious grace. That you would look at yourself dead in sin. made alive in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, not because of anything you've done, but because He, in love, chose you, and awakened you, and drew you, and died for you, and granted you repentance and faith, and then you would raise your hand up in the air and go, oh, to the praise of your glorious grace that you would save a wretch like me. That's why He did it. Try to put that in a little more common words. Praise God because he chose us before the foundation of the world to be saved. He chose us unto himself in holiness. God is love and love motivated him to choose you because we were not lovable. He chose us according to the purpose of his will, not based on what we have done or even would do so that in the end he would get all the praise and our salvation from eternity past to eternity future. Does Paul ever use the doctrine of election as motivation anywhere else in Scripture to encourage Christians to live the Christian life? He does. In Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse 13 and 15. He says, But we ought always to give thanks to God for you. Brothers, beloved by the Lord. Now, why should we give thanks to God? Look at it. Because God chose you. As the first fruits to be saved. Why are you saved today? Because you're smarter. Because you figured it out. Or because he chose you. Through sanctification by the spirit and belief in truth, you said, see, it says we're saved by faith. I agree we are saved by faith. That is a means which we receive forgiveness of sins. Why did you believe? Is what this question is asking. Well, I read the Bible and I understood it. Why did you understand it? There have been billions of people who have read this book and have just thrown it aside. Well, I saw what a sinner I was. What made you see what a sinner you were? And if you keep going down and digging deep, you're going to get to this. God did something to my heart one day. And he changed me. It was in an instant. And I saw who I was and I understood this gospel and I didn't want my sin anymore. I wanted Jesus Christ and I knew he was the only sufficient savior. And I ran to him and I would say to you, who made that work in your heart? And you would say rightfully on either side of election, you would say the Holy Spirit. And I would ask you this question. How come he did that to you then? Many of you have lost family members who right now, if they die, would go to hell. Why are you repenting and believing in Jesus Christ and they are not? You're not more intelligent. It is because of sovereign grace that God looked down in pity, and out of love, He set His love upon you, and He sent His Spirit to change your heart, and awaken you, and draw you, and He granted you repentance and faith. And yes, you repented and believed because He gave it to you, but you don't get the credit for that. And He didn't do it because He thought, oh, one day, of their own free will, they'll choose me, He did it because He is love according to His own free will. That's humbling. You know why it's humbling? I didn't do anything but sin. We always talk about it. What is your contribution to your salvation? It's one thing. Sin. That's all you get a boast in. If you're going to boast in yourself, you get a boast in sin and we don't boast in our sin. This doctrine is hated by many people because of pride. They want to be able to say, no, it was ultimately because of me, I made the final decision. No. If God is glory. Verse 14, to this He called you through the gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So He just told them He's thanking God because they were chosen by God, undue salvation again. And why does He do that right now? Look at verse 15. So then, in light of this, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. He's pleading with them and encouraging them. Stand firm. Don't turn aside. And what is his motivating factor to help them to do this? God loves you and he chose you. Remember that. And they would be so encouraged that God would set his love upon a wretch like them, not because of anything they did, but because he is love. And that would encourage them to stand firm and finish the course. The doctrine of election as motivation to live the Christian life. It doesn't work if he chose you because you chose him. Because the difference then of why people get saved ultimately is because they chose God. And in heaven, I want you to know this, there'll be no glory for anyone but Jesus Christ. But if the ultimate reason why God chose you is because He looked down the corridor and you chose Him, then what separates you from unbelievers is you. And I want you to know this, you've got to be very careful, because God does not share His glory with anyone. He wants the praise and glory He is due. Christ paid it all. God the Father planned it all. The Holy Spirit applies it all. And the Trinity of God gets all the glory from beginning to end. We don't get any glory. If election is God choosing you because he saw you would choose him, how does that motivate you in your obedience to Christian living? It doesn't. But if election is that God chose you according to his will, motivated by his love, even though you were a wretch and deserving of hell, that's very humbling and does motivate you to be humble. And gentle and forbearing and forgiving and loving. Again, I'll encourage you to think about your own salvation. Ultimately, why did you believe if you just keep asking the question why you're going to get to the answer? God changed my heart. God changed my heart and the doctrine of election answers the question of whose heart does God change and why? So this isn't just something to sit here and have debates over. This is about the glory of God and the ability to find motivation to live a life pleasing to him. It's important that we get it right. When you come to the realization that God chose you despite you. And he said his love upon you, not because you deserve it, because God is love. That's very humbling. It will make you a very compassionate person for other centers. Very compassionate person for other centers. When you struggle to be compassionate or humble, doesn't being reminded that you're under grace, you did not choose God, but He chose you in your sin, and left alone, you would die and perish, bring you to a place of humility and compassion towards others? Some struggle with the doctrine of unconditional election for fear it would make people apathetic or lazy in their striving for godliness. But Paul doesn't believe that. Paul believes that if you rightly understand that God chose you according to His own goodwill because He is love, it will be a motivating factor to drive you to Christlikeness. I think many people hold a wrong view of election because they have a wrong view of what it will produce. Like evangelism. And many people have a wrong view of election because they fear, well, if God elects people before the foundation of the world, evangelism doesn't even make sense. And you've got to throw away all the verses that say, come and repent and believe and you'll be saved. And the answer is it doesn't erase those verses. In fact, the only thing that gives any hope to any of those verses of anybody coming is that God would change some hearts. I mean, think about when you go evangelize. Think about your lost family members you're praying for right now. How do you pray for them? God, change their heart. You don't pray, God, don't do anything, because they need to make a decision of their own free will. You already sent Jesus, just leave them alone, and hopefully one day they'll figure this whole thing out. That's not how you pray. You pray, oh God, change their hearts, awaken them, grant them repentance, grant them faith, and God answers those prayers. And the reason why is in the doctrine of election. But I want you to know this, a right understanding of election doesn't drive you from evangelism, it gives you hope in evangelism. I'm done witnessing if it's left up to mankind to decide. Because I know what the doctrine of depravity teaches in the Bible. They hate God. They will never understand Him. They love their sin. They're dead in their sin. They only do evil continually in their heart. They're not going to come. But if I believe that there's hope that God can change someone's heart and I proclaim the gospel and he draws them through the spirit. And the reason why he does that is because he is so gracious to elect someone to salvation. I got hope in my evangelism. And I got hope to be more Christ like. Because if I'm lacking in compassion and humility. It doesn't make sense to turn to myself and say, God, you chose me because I chose you. Now I'm going to be more humble. But if I'm lacking in humility and I say, God, you chose me and you shouldn't have chosen me. Because I was full of sin, but you did anyways in love at the cost of your own son. That is a humbling reality. It makes me go lowly and it makes me want to serve and love others. Not only does Paul encourage them through reminding them that they are chosen ones, but he says also that they are holy. In God's sovereign plan of election, he elected us unto himself. He sets us apart for himself. We just read that in Ephesians chapter one. and we are holy. according to God's plan. We are righteous in Jesus Christ and then we are set apart to holy living for God. It's very encouraging for us as Christians to hear that not only did God chose me, but he has an eternal plan at work here. And this eternal plans mean he chose me in eternity past because of his great love towards me. He sent his son Jesus Christ to die. The spirit came and awakened me. It granted me repentance and faith. And part of that plan is that I would be set apart for his purposes and he will keep me to the end and glorify me. That's encouraging to hear that this is part of God's plan. Knowing this is very encouraging because we see that God has sovereign plan and purpose in our salvation, that He chose us unto Himself in holiness. Romans 8, 29-30, For we know those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. often referred to as the unbreakable chain of God's plan of salvation for humanity. And in each one of those areas, he gets the glory in all of it. Our holiness is part of God's eternal plan. Conforming to Christ is the plan of God, and being justified in Christ through faith is the plan of God. And knowing this, when I'm struggling to put on these virtues, We can find hope, strength and encouragement and understanding that Christ and Christ, we are holy and chosen unto God's holiness. Not only are we chosen ones holy, but we are also. Beloved. We already saw that the motivation for God choosing us was his love and love, he predestined us to adoption. Understand this about God's love, God's love towards us is not based on us or our performance. See, when he said his love upon you, it was before you had performed. And the beautiful part of that is it doesn't change. God's love for you does not rise or fall based on how you perform, because the basis of his love towards you was never performance in the first place. I don't know about you, but hearing that is very encouraging to me, and propels me towards sanctification, and encourages me and humbles me, and that it wasn't me as to why He loves me. Almost everything on earth called love is based upon the one being loved. In other words, all love as so it's called on earth is pretty much conditional. I love you because the way you make me feel. I love you because the way you treat me. I'm going to show you love if you show me love. Why does God love us? Because God is love. And he set his love upon you. We cannot allow the world's skewed view of love to shape our view of God's love towards us. Paul is motivating us again to be compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, and loving, we'll get to that later, by reminding us that we are loved by God. These are motivating factors for Paul and his love towards us is not driven by us, but by him, because God is love. I don't know about you, but being loved by the sufficient supreme king of the universe frees me. To lay my life down for others. To be compassionate towards others. To not have to stand up for myself anymore because he already stood up for me and he loves me. He already saved me and I'm secured in that. Isn't it humbling to know God chose you, set you apart, and loved you despite who you are, were, or would be? Hearing that we are chosen ones, holy and beloved, screams grace. Screams grace. And Paul uses these as a motivating tool to put on the virtues of Christ. All these virtues that Paul is calling us to put on or clothe ourselves with are overlapping and they flow out of a place of humility. I can't be compassionate to you if I'm not humble and I'm full of pride. I can't be loving to you if I'm self-focused. And knowing that God chose me despite me, set me apart for his good purposes and loved me despite me, humbles me and makes me compassionate and gentle and kind. Notice also how all these virtues are other focused and how pride would stand in the way of them. It's hard to be proud when you're unconditionally elected, set apart and loved by God. That doctrine is very humbling. What is compassion quickly on these, it's a heart of mercy, it's pity. And I'm not trying to just pick on the doctrine of election here, but think with me for a second. If what separates all of us in this room, if who's going to be saved and who's not going to be saved and why God chose you is because you chose him. That doesn't produce humility. It says, I chose him and you didn't. So when I look at you and your sin, my pity drops because I say, why don't you just choose him like I did? What's wrong with you? I chose him. I figured it out. I hated my sin more than you did. What's wrong with you? Would you just choose him already? But if the reality is, I can't say that. The only reason why I chose him is because he chose me. Then I look at the pity of one in sin and I'm compassionate to them. Why? Because there go I but the grace of God. There go I but the grace of God. To look on one situation and feel pity. Kindness, goodness or gentleness, not being harsh. People who lack kindness typically have a low view of God's kindness towards them. They typically view God's kindness towards them based on their works. And not to pick on the doctrine of election again, but if what separates us again in the end is that I chose Him, therefore He chose me, His kindness towards me really is because I chose Him. Now He's choosing me. But if you flip it and the reason why I chose God is because he chose me, then it produces his kindness towards me, not based upon me, but based upon his great love. And that humbles me and makes me more kind to you. Your understanding of election must be consistent and fit with it being a motivating factor to drive you to compassion, kindness, and humility. Do you see that? A lowliness of self. Do you understand that even though God sent his son Jesus Christ to pay it all and die in our place, and even though the gospel message goes forth and says anyone who repents and believes will be saved, and that's a true statement, that unless God changes the hearts of people, no one will ever come. Do you understand that? And God, knowing that, elected, set his love upon some. And we say, well, I don't like that thing because I don't like that he chose some and didn't choose others. And I think that's the wrong view of election because our struggle shouldn't be, well, why didn't he choose everybody to be saved? Our struggle should be, why did he even choose one of us to be saved? The angels fell and He sent no Savior for them. Mankind fell and He sent a Savior. But we were so dead in our sin and in love with it, we reject God's love and grace through Christ because we love our sin and we're dead to it. And therefore, he awakens us to see our sin and draws us. And the reason he does that is because of love. And if in his freedom he sets his love upon some and not all, who are we to judge God? We don't put God on trial. That's the whole argument of Romans 9. Who are you, oh man? Well, that's not fair, God. You're going to put God on trial. Because you don't like the way he has done something. What God does is right. There is no counsel to measure him against. He is the counsel. As he acts, justice is done. There's nothing to measure him against and hold him on trial against. He is truth. He is perfection. He is the judge. He is righteous. He is just. We should not struggle with why did you not save more God? We should struggle with why in the world did you save me? That's humbling. And it's hope giving for the gospel message. Because he has saved many, it tells us. Do you see why a right understanding of unconditional election produces humility in the heart, which is then reflected towards others? But meekness or gentleness, a mildness which can comes through humility, all these words overlap. It's seen when we are willing to suffer instead of letting others suffer in a view of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, we should be the most meek people on the planet. Finally, patience, endurance and long suffering, a willingness to put up with others. When you remember that sovereign grace came over you. Makes you more humble and patient rather than what's wrong with you, would you just wake up and get with it already? Well, listen, you didn't get with it already. God came and got you. So be patient and be humble and be compassionate and be kind and be gentle. And I'm going to confess this, that should be reflected in our parenting as well. What's wrong with you? You know what's wrong with them. Sin. That's what's wrong with them. Pointing to the hope of Jesus Christ. Let me stop for one second before my last slide and say this. If your understanding of the doctrine of election leads you to believe that man is not responsible, you have misunderstood the doctrine of election. Because that's another reason why a lot of people just reject this thing. Well, the Bible clearly calls men to culpability in regards to repenting and believing the gospel. And they're going to be held accountable if they forsake the gospel call and don't repent and believe. Isn't that right, Jesse? Absolutely that's right. Well, that doesn't doesn't work then with your doctrine of election. Of course, it works with the doctrine of election. Men in sin do not repent and believe the gospel, but because of God's electing grace, he awakens some and they do repent and believe. But that doesn't mean I don't take the Bible and stand before you today and I can say this fully believing the doctrine of election. Anyone in this room right now who repents of their sins and puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ shall be saved. That's a true statement. You know what election does? It gives me hope that some are going to repent and believe. Election doesn't negate man's responsibility. It gives hope to man's responsibility. So if you have a view of election that does not lead you to be better evangelizing and to have hope in evangelizing without removing the responsibility of man, you have a wrong view of election. It should produce all of those things, and it should also be a motivating factor to put on the virtues of Christ. So when we struggle to put on these virtues which match our newness in Christ, we need to remind ourselves that we are God's chosen one, set apart and loved, not because of who we are or what we did, but because of who God is and what he did. And this, in turn, will make us humble and in humility, we will count others more significant than ourselves. And all these virtues, Christ is our model. That's why Paul, in a very paralleled verse, Romans 13, 14 says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, put on compassion, put on kindness. What are those virtues? They are Christ personified and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. Brothers and sisters, I'll tell you this doctrine is important and doctrine is practical. This isn't stuff just to be debated on websites. These are motivating factors to be compassionate at home with your husband, with your wife, with your children, with your coworkers. What you believe about doctrine impacts how you live. And I'll end with this. If there are unbelieving people here today outside of Christ, And you're going to listen to this and turn around and say, well, there you go. The reason I haven't repented and believed is because God hasn't chosen me. And I just got to sit here and wait until God chooses me. And you put another notch on your belt as to why you won't repent and believe. I want you to know you're wrong. You have not repented and believed because you love your sin. And you don't want to turn from it to the love and mercy and grace God offers you in Jesus Christ. And you say, well, what should I do then? You need to repent and believe and obey the command and prove yourself to be elected. Repent, forsake your sin, believe, put all your hope in Jesus Christ. And you shall be saved. And when you do that, you will prove to be one of God's chosen ones, beloved and holy. Let's pray. God, I pray you would take the truth. Any truth that was spoken and work it in the hearts of your people. Not that we would be an arrogant people running around trying to debate things. To win arguments. To feel proud in our knowledge. But we would be so humbled. By your amazing grace and love towards us and your son, Jesus Christ. That we would be compelled, motivated, strengthened and encouraged. To put on the virtues of Christ that you would get your glory. Your love is amazing. Your plan is perfect for things we cannot reconcile and understand. Let us rest in faith in your goodness. Let us remain humble in our understanding of these things and let it compel us to renounce ungodliness and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask these things in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.