1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and our text for this morning is the verse 9. And in verse 9 we read, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Our subject for today, as you might gather from that text, our subject is appointed unto salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Last Sabbath morning we considered the subject of caught up or caught out with reference to the Lord's return. Paul here speaks about those who may be caught out when the Lord returns, not being ready, not being prepared to meet the Lord. Then we considered the awakened saints, those who had been awakened to their need of Jesus Christ and would be awake when the Lord returned. We looked at the virtuous saint because Paul said in verse 5, ye are all children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. The night and the darkness belong to the ungodly. But Paul was pointing out that's all in the past as far as the children of light are concerned. When the light comes on in the room, the darkness disappears. So it is with the Christian. He no longer walks in darkness. He walks in light. Christ is the light of the world. Christ is the light of man. We noted the virtuous saint, we noted the vigilant saint, because Paul exhorted the believers to be sober. The ungodly, Paul says, they are the drunken. They're not only drunken with their wine and strong drinks, but they're drunk with the pleasure crazes of this world. That's their life. But the Christian, Christian is sober. And he's to be sober. For he says in verse 6, Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. In verse 8, But let us who are of the day be sober. putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. Now today I want to consider the appointed saints. The awakened saints are those who have been appointed to salvation. This is a doctrine that some, of course, today do not believe and do not like. Basically, it's the doctrine of election. We want to look at that this morning in the light of this verse. For God hath not appointed us to wrath. The ungodly are headed for the day of wrath. They're not appointed to wrath, but their sin is taking them to face the wrath of God. But the Christian has been appointed to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul shows that believers have an obligation, a responsibility, to live holy lives in the light of the Lord's return. As we pointed out last week, we are to live every day in the light of the Lord's return. saying to ourselves, the Lord may come today. I better make sure I'm walking in the light. I'm living for the Lord. I'm serving him. And to emphasize that responsibility, as Christians, to live for the Lord, Paul emphasises here in verse 9, that our salvation did not come of ourselves. We were appointed to salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. We're appointed saints, we're appointed on to salvation. First of all, we are chosen in Christ. we are chosen in Christ. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world will be saved. Rather, everyone in the world deserves to be cast out of God's sight forever because of our sin. because of our disobedience, because of our transgressing of the laws of God. We have gone against God. We're enmity with God. We were the enemies of God in our unsaved days, as the world is today. And so how then were we to be saved and delivered from the wrath of God to come? Quite simply, God has chosen for himself a people to be his own people. That's the clear teaching of Scripture. And how thankful we are, when we look at these words of Paul, that God has not appointed us to wrath. We're not appointed to wrath, but we are appointed to obtain salvation. When we know what the wrath of God is, we're thankful we're not appointed to wrath. But I want to point out here that God has not appointed any person to wrath. It is man's sin. that makes the appointment with God's wrath. It's our sin. God must judge sin. God pours out his wrath upon sin, and it's our sin that will take us to the place where God's wrath is poured out forever and ever. We see here in these words then, chosen in Christ, appointed to salvation, we see here the will of God. It was not our will to be saved. It was not our will to be brought to salvation, but the divine and sovereign will of God. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 verse 4. According as he hath chosen us in him. Now, who is Paul speaking about? He's not speaking about the whole world. He's not speaking about every person that lived in Ephesus at that time. He's talking about a particular people. Verse 1 tells us, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints, which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So he's talking about the saints. And then he says in verse four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. And so God did not choose us to be saved the night we were saved. Paul tells us clearly, we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. God knew us then, before the foundation of the world. chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Because you see, there are those who go to the other end of the spectrum. First of all, there are those who tell us that it is in the will of man to be saved. There are those who go to the other end of the spectrum who tell us, well, if I'm chosen in Christ and I'm the elect of God, then nothing can happen to me and basically I can live as I please. But the Bible tells us here that we are chosen unto salvation and unto holiness, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, verse five, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, not our will, but to the good pleasure of his will. I read these words, the words of a commentator on this very verse, verse 9 of 1 Thessalonians 5, and he said this, If we are willing to become Christians, we know that the almighty arm will be stretched out to aid us and that the gates of hell cannot prevent it. If we be willing to become Christians, Well, I don't know about you, but in my own days, I did not have any kind of will or desire or want to become a Christian. But on the night that the Lord saved me, the Lord then worked in my heart by His Spirit, brought me under conviction. And He was the one, not me. who did the saving, who did the convicting work, who did the converting work. You see what Jonah said and cried out of the fish's belly. Jonah said, salvation is off the Lord. Salvation's not of man and the Lord. It's not as if the Lord gave man a helping hand to be saved, not at all. God saved us from beginning to end. How can a dead person have a will? A dead person has no will, has no feelings, he's dead. What did Paul say in Ephesians 2? And there in verse 1, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. So Paul's dealing with the spiritual state of man, his soul is dead. Verse 5, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us. Pointed out before, the word quickened means to make alive. Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us, together with Christ by grace are ye saved. So we who were dead in our sins Yes, we heard the gospel, but how many times did we hear the gospel before we got saved? For some, they have heard it many, many times, but they still remained unsaved until that hour that God worked with what is known as the effectual cause. When God called us on to salvation with a call that we could not resist. There were other times we did resist the call of the gospel. But then came that wonderful hour when we were called of God with a call that could not be resisted. We're very familiar with the words of Isaiah, Isaiah 53. In the opening words of Isaiah 53, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who hath believed our report? The preacher preaches the word. As it were, gives his report. on what Christ did for sinners. And the preacher then asked, who has believed our report? Many who heard the report, many who heard the word did not believe. You remember those days, don't you? You remember those days when you were told about Christ and had Christ's priest to you, and you were told about the The cross work, and the cross work was described to you, but you didn't see anything in it for you, because you were dead in your sins. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. because we were dead, you see, in our sins. That great sacrifice and sufferings of Christ meant nothing to us because we were dead in our sins. It wasn't until the Lord quickened us by His Spirit. God quickened us. We had nothing to do with it, you see. He quickened us because we had no life in us. Paul then says in our text that God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. As I said, it was our sin that would have brought the wrath of God upon us. God has appointed us to salvation. He has appointed us to obtain salvation, to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1. In 1 Peter 1, And verse 2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Elect or chosen. Whenever any church, but certainly talking of our own denomination, whenever in our churches there's need for a minister to be called to a pulpit. There's a congregational meeting. And a vote is put to the congregation. And they decide who they want as their minister. In other words, they choose their minister. Whenever the church needs elders, Names are put before the congregation of eligible men. The congregation chooses the elders, whether they need one or two or three elders, the congregation makes the choice. In other words, those elders have been elected to perform the office of an elder. They've been elected. We use the word all the time. And Paul tells us that we have been elected. We have been elected by the Lord, chosen. Now, the difference being, the congregation, whenever, let's say, they're electing men to stand in the office of elder, they say, well, that's a good man. He has a good way with them. He's a godly man. He's a great prayer warrior and so forth. He would make a good elder. And so there are good qualities about the individual that prompts the congregation to vote for him and choose him. Same with a minister. But when it came to the Lord choosing us, electing us to be his people, the Lord looked upon us and saw no good in us at all. Didn't see any good in us at all. God looked upon us and saw us as we are described in Isaiah 1, verse 6. From head to toe, covered wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores. Describing the sin that's in man. See, there's no good thing in man. Since there is no good thing in man, when God looked upon us, he didn't see anything good in us. His choice of choosing us was according to his own sovereign will. Friends of ours down in the Orlando church and their son, And his wife went to Romania to adopt three children, actually. And they went to the orphanages there, and they looked over all the children. And through time, they weren't able to bring them all home at once. They were able to bring home two girls and a boy. It cost a lot of money to do the traveling back and forth and all the paperwork, etc. But whenever they went into the orphanage, they looked upon the little girls. And there were the two girls that they chose, where their hearts just went out. They saw something in them that attracted them to those little girls and to the little boy as well. Maybe it was their lovely brown eyes. Maybe it was their personality. But there was something in those children that attracted those would-be parents to them. And they paid the price and brought them home over a period of time. God looks in us. There was nothing whatsoever attractive in us in the eyes of God. Because we're all sin. Everything about us is sin. We're born sinners. We lived as sinners. We loved our sin. And God hates sin. So Peter says in 1 Peter 1, verse 2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God The Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Do you notice in the references we have given when it has come to dealing with election, predestination, what follows? Holiness, sanctification. It's the point Paul's making here. That's the point Paul is making, that the Christian who has been appointed unto salvation, appointed to obtain salvation, is to live a holy life and be living that holy life when the Lord returns. That's his point. That's what he's emphasizing. Again, we go back to Ephesians. And this time, Ephesians, or once more, Ephesians chapter 1. And this time, verse 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. What has God appointed us onto? God has appointed us to obtain salvation. Here Paul says, in whom also we have obtained and inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trust in Christ. So we see clearly it's after the counsel of God's will that you and I are Christians today. Pause, or the Lord Jesus said, in John chapter 15. Henceforth, I call you not servants. For the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Verse 16. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. You have not chosen me, We did not choose God, God chose us. So we have the will of God, that leads us to the wisdom of God. We know that according to Jude, chapter 25, or verse 25, the one who appointed us to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ is the only wise God our Savior. So God, in his wisdom, according to his sovereign will and purpose, chose for himself a people to be his own. And how that ought to make us rejoice that God chose us. Out of the teeming millions and billions of Adam's fallen race, God chose for himself a people to be his, to inherit the kingdom of God. And he chose us, believer. Think of it. He could have bypassed us, and we would have deserved it. He could have turned his back upon us, and we would have had no argument. But instead, he turned his face toward us, and his love toward us. And he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Appointed us, not to wrath, but to obtain salvation. Paul also said, Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever. and ever. Amen. And he's the only wise God, and we are to give him the glory forever and ever. Now, the word of God teaches us that faith cometh by hearing, and faith itself was not something that we created in us. It's the gift of faith. God gave us the gift of faith that enabled us to believe. But faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. In other words, we had to hear the word of God. And that's, again, where the wisdom of God comes in. Turn to Romans 10. For in Romans 10, we read in verse 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. My very first text that I preached from. In an open air. I remember I had spent all week preparing. First time to speak. And I had notes and notes and notes and I thought, well, that'll keep me going for half an hour. I was finished five minutes. But that was the text I preached on at Woodlands Housing Estate in a place called Guildford. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Paul then asks, how then shall they call on him of whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? we have to hear the word. We must have the gospel preached to us for to believe. And how shall they hear without a preacher? That's why our missionaries go out, to bring the word to people who have never heard. And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. For they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who hath believed our report? Just what we were referring to earlier on. For us to be saved, to obtain that salvation that we're appointed to, we need to hear the word. And God in his wisdom brought us into contact with the Word of God. Now you can look back in your own life to when you first heard the Word or received the Word. Maybe it was through a Christian mother or father. And you remember receiving the word from your earliest days. Maybe it was through a faithful Sabbath school teacher. You came from a home that knew nothing about the things of God, but you were sent along to Sabbath school and you heard the word. God, in his wisdom, brought you in contact with the Word. My own experience, I was brought in contact with the Word through a gospel mission in Tandregie that Dr. Paisley preached. First time in my mid-twenties I heard the gospel for the first time. But according to the providence and the wisdom of God, We were married. We lived in that town where the mission came to and heard the word. Maybe it was likewise for you in a gospel mission. Maybe it was a personal worker brought you the word. But somehow or other, God in his wisdom planned it all. And in his providence, brought you in contact with the word. And God used the Word to work in your heart. God used the Word by His Spirit to bring you under conviction. And God used the Word by His Spirit to bring conversion. And you obtained the salvation that God had appointed for you. It is a blessed, blessed doctrine. That leads us then to the worship of God. Surely we have wondered at times, why? Out of the teeming millions of Adam's fallen race, why did God choose you? Why before the foundation of the world did God set his electing love on me? That's a mystery. But what it does do, leads us to worship God. Leads us to give thanks to the Lord. Why did the Lord choose us to be his own people? Why did he send his son to die for me? to save his people from their sins. So we might say today, and cannot be, that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood, that the blood was shed for me. I cannot be And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood? Died he for me, who caused his pain? For me, who him to death pursued amazing love? And can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? It leads us then to truly worship the King. Oh, worship the king, all glorious above. Oh, gratefully sing his power and his love, our shield and our defender, our ancient of days, pavilion and splendor. Guard it with praise. God deserves our worship and he deserves our praise because he chose us when we didn't deserve anything at all except a lost eternity. We were chosen in Christ. We have our claim in Christ. Paul makes it clear that the salvation which God has appointed his people to receive came alone through Christ. Notice what Paul said. For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us As Peter preached in Acts 4, in verse 12, Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. Neither is there salvation in any other. No other religion. No other way. No other individual. No other church. Neither is there salvation in any other. Salvation is in and through Christ. The Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man, no man, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. So there's no one and nowhere else that a man can be saved except through Christ alone. And Paul says, for God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain. He has appointed us to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ. The word obtain means to be led up. Remember what Paul said in 2 Timothy 4? Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Well, we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and God had laid up for us our salvation. And the hour that you and I were saved, that's when we obtained it. That's when we receive the gift of salvation, through the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2 verse 10, Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Paul was dealing with the preaching of the word there in that second chapter of 2 Timothy. Dealing with the preaching of the word and all the trials and the tribulations, the preaching of the word brought upon his head. But Paul knew that God had his elect out there. Paul knew that God had his chosen ones out there. And Paul says, no matter what comes upon my head, I will endure all things for the sake of those whom God has elected. And I'm going to get the gospel to them. And I'm going to bring the word to them that they may obtain the salvation that's laid up for them. through the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what Paul told, or what the Lord told Paul regarding Corinth, when Paul entered Corinth? The Lord told Paul, it was to fear not, for he says, I have much people in the city. Paul had just arrived in Corinth. It was as if he had been ministering to the Corinthians. He had just arrived and the Lord saying to Paul, I have much people in this city. I have my chosen people in this city. You need to go and preach the gospel to them because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The Lord was encouraging Paul. to go and preach the word. That leads us then to the cross of Christ. For Paul goes on to say, but God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Paul takes us to the cross. And it is through the cross of Christ and the atoning death of Christ that salvation was purchased for us. That salvation that God appointed us to obtain was purchased for us. Remember we talked about that couple who went to Romania to adopt children and they chose out the children they wanted to be in their family? But there was something attractive in the children that drew them to them And as I said, it was quite expensive to get those children from Romania to America. To bring them into that family. Well, Christ paid the price for us to be brought into God's family. Who died for It was then a substitutionary death who died for us. We know what the Bible teaches. The wages of sin is death. And God must judge sin, and he will pour out his wrath upon sin. But the gift of God is eternal life. Sin brings death. Christ brings life. But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6.23. Remember what the Lord told our first parents in the garden in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. In other words, they brought the death sentence of God upon them, upon themselves. In the day thou eatest her off, thou shalt surely die. And Paul tells us in Romans 5 and 12, the death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. We were under the sentence of death, but then Christ came. We had been appointed to obtain salvation, but we couldn't obtain that salvation until the price of our sin was paid, and Jesus came and paid that price. He was our substitute. He died instead of us. As we taught the children during the week in the assembly and school, we were talking about Isaac, And the Lord called upon Abraham to offer up Isaac, and they went to Mount Moriah, and Isaac asked his father, Behold the wood and the fire, but where's the lamb? And Abraham said, God will provide himself a lamb. And we know how, just as Abraham was about to slay his son, God called out to him. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he looked, and he saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. He took the ram and he slew the ram and offered the ram instead of Isaac. In other words, the ram was the substitute. Instead of Isaac being slain, the ram was slain. Christ is our substitute. He took our place at Calvary. It was a substitutionary death, sacrificial death. The Lord Jesus sacrificed his life for us. On the night of the Passover in Egypt, a lamb was sacrificed in order that the children of Israel could be saved. Romans, or sorry, Hebrews 10 and verse 12. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. You see, God demands a sacrifice for sin. That's God's law. Because he has said in Hebrews 9, verse 22, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There is no remission. You remember the night that the Lord Jesus instituted the communion feast? What did he say? This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for the remission of sins. The word remission. That word remission means ascending away. I shed my blood that your sins might be, as it were, sent away, cast into the sea of God's forgetfulness forever. What a wonderful salvation. and we are recipients of it. We didn't do anything to earn it. We didn't do anything to deserve it. There's no good in us. We're all unrighteous. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. And even any good we did do was still stained by the sins of our lives and the sins of our hands. For you and I to be saved, it must be all of God. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, appointed us on to obtain salvation. And we praise God for that day that we obtained it by his grace. Who died for us that whether we wake or sleep We should live together with him. There you have our company with Christ. Paul, as it were, comes back to his main theme in this chapter, namely the Lord's return. And Paul has been dealing with salvation and how we are appointed to obtain salvation. showing the great cost, the great price, the great glory should be given to God because salvation is all of God, and we ought to live holy lives. We have a responsibility to live right in the light of the Lord's return. Then Paul says, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. In other words, he's talking about those who were dead in Christ, had died years before, You remember some of the Thessalonians wondered what would happen to them, and Paul says, well, the dead and Christ shall rise first. And then we, when it's alive, shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. He returns to that theme now, and he says, it doesn't matter whether we're dead in the grave when the Lord returns, or alive and see the Lord's return. We shall live together. with him forever. And what a blessed thought, living together. We're caught up together in the air. And when the Lord comes, whether we're dead and in the grave or alive, we'll still be together. Together with the Lord. Together with the Lord. What a blessed thought. Being together. Being together with those who have gone before us. No more partings. No more farewells. No more kisses of goodbye. We'll be together. And we'll be together with Christ forever. It's all made possible. Through what our God did, the foundation of the world, he chose us in Christ. And because he has chosen us in Christ, when he comes back again, we'll be together with him. Yes, we ought to worship the Lord with all of our hearts. Where would we be if the Lord had not appointed us to obtain salvation and saved us when he did? Where would we be today? We know where we would be in eternity, but instead, we shall be together with him. In glory. Let's bow our heads in prayer. O Lord, our God, we bless thee for the great work, plan, salvation, that is indeed a mystery all, the immortal dies, that Christ, the God-man, should come and die, take the place of sinners such as we. And it is a mystery, Lord, why Thou should choose us, why Thou should set Thy love upon us. We love Him because He first loved us. O Lord, have us ever to rejoice in our salvation. Have us, Lord, since we are saved, we have obtained salvation through Christ, to endeavor to live that holy life that's demanded of us. For we have been chosen unto holiness and sanctification. So dear Lord, write thy word on our hearts today. May thy good hand be upon us now as we part the one from the other. Take us, Lord, to our homes in safety and then thy will return us tonight to learn more about thee, about the word. Lord, to gain that victory through faith. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit abide and remain with us now and forevermore. Amen.