1 Thessalonians - God's Elect

How can you recognize God’s elect? Their response to the Word of God. Do they hear the Word? Do they receive and welcome the Word? Has the Word changed their lives so that they obey the Word of God? Are they sharing that Word with others?

And now let’s pray together. We’re so thankful, Father, for a Bible teaching ministry, and we’re thankful for those who are being saved and built up, churches that are being helped through this ministry. Bless it and meet every need that it has, we pray. And now, Father, guide as we study the Word. Help us to understand the Word, and when we don’t understand, help us to worship and to adore and to trust. I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

1 Thessalonians 1 beginning at verse 2. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 1 Thessalonians 1:4.

I suppose the doctrine of election is probably the most misunderstood and maligned doctrine in all of Christian theology. Some so emphasize election that they destroy human responsibility. It’s as though man is a robot and God is working out His purposes in spite of us rather than in us and through us. On the other hand, there are some people who so minimize election that they actually deny the sovereign grace of God. It’s as though God is the victim of whatever choices man is going to make.

Now the doctrine of election is not totally explained in the Bible. There are many mysteries involved in the doctrine of election. God tells us what we need to know, and what we do not know, we simply accept by faith. The secret things belong to the Lord, says Deuteronomy 29:29, and that’s the best place for them. I don’t live by explanations; I live by promises. Mark Twain used to say it’s not what I don’t understand about the Bible that bothers me, it’s what I do understand. There are many things in the Word of God that are mysterious to us. We can’t completely understand or explain them. Why? Well, because God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and God’s ways are higher than our ways. But even though we cannot understand or explain all of God’s eternal purposes and plans, we can receive what He says in the Word of God and apply it to our own hearts.

The most dangerous thing we can have in Bible study is speculation. When you start mixing philosophical speculation with a humble obedience to the Word of God, you’re going to have trouble. We don’t speculate about these things. We ponder them, we meditate on them, we rejoice over them, we accept what God has taught us, but we don’t speculate. I receive mail occasionally from people who are theological speculators. Now what if this, what if that? Well, I don’t know about "what ifs." I’m concerned about what God says in His Word.

I’d like to try to answer two questions. The first question is, what is election? And the second question is, how can we recognize God’s elect? Paul said he knew that these beloved brethren had been elected by God. What is election? Well, election is God’s choice of individuals or groups for a particular relationship to Him or function for Him. Let me repeat that now. Election is simply God’s choice of individuals or groups for a particular relationship to Him or a function for Him. For example, He chose Abraham. Now why did He choose Abraham? By His sovereign grace. He simply in grace chose Abraham. Then He chose Isaac, not Ishmael. Abraham’s firstborn was Ishmael. God said no, not Ishmael, I’m going to choose Isaac. And then He chose Jacob, not Esau. Again, Esau was the firstborn, but Jacob was the one that God chose. Then out of all the tribes of Israel, He chose Judah to be the tribe to bring the Savior into the world. And out of all of the families in Judah, He chose the family of David. Now no one can tell God what to do. We do not second guess God. We do not give God our advice or our counsel.

That’s what Paul talks about in Romans 11. Romans 11:33. Here he is at the close of three chapters dealing with predestination, election, God’s sovereign plan in the people of Israel, and he ends up turning theology into doxology and says in Romans 11:33, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever, amen.

Now Paul doesn’t answer in Romans 9, 10, and 11 all the questions about foreordination, predestination, and election. He admits that there are some mysteries we can’t explain. What does he do? Get angry at God? Oh, I’ve had letters from people who because they can’t understand election get angry at God. They blame God for all the bad things going on in the world. That shows a hard heart and a proud mind. No, Paul says, I’m going to rejoice. I’m going to worship. I can’t explain these things but I don’t have to explain them. God doesn’t need my help, and he worships the Lord. The great British Bible expositor, G. Campbell Morgan, used to say when all of my attempts at exegesis fail, that is Bible study, I worship. And that’s the attitude we need to have today.

God chose Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God chose the people of Israel. Now why did He choose them? Well, He tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7:6, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all people. Now that would humble them immediately, wouldn’t it? They thought, well, God chose us because He saw how great we would become, this or that. No, God says that’s not why I chose you. He said I chose you simply because I loved you. Verse 8, But because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you. Now why did God choose Israel? Because He saw something good in them? No, He saw all of the sin that was in them. He chose them because of His love for them.

Now this choice that God makes is a free and gracious choice. It is not based upon anything we have done because He chose us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4. So it’s not because of any good works we did or any good works that He saw we were going to do. Every time someone brings that up, I try to mention 2 Timothy 1:9. 2 Timothy 1:9 says, Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works—that settles it right there—but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. That’s 2 Timothy 1:9.

I think that we need today a much higher view of salvation. We sometimes get the idea that salvation is something man does for himself, or man cooperates with God and somehow works the whole thing out. Salvation is of the Lord. It begins with Him. He took the initiative. He did the work of planning salvation, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb, was slain from before the foundation of the world. It was all worked out long before ever there was a universe. I’m glad for that. That means that the plan of salvation is something eternal, not temporal. It doesn’t depend upon me or churches or synods or councils. It is God’s great work. He chose us.

This election is something that involves the entire Godhead—not just God the Father, but also God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 1:2, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. You see, as far as God the Father is concerned, I was saved when He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world. I knew nothing about that. As far as God the Son is concerned, I was saved when He died for me on the cross. That I was told. The preacher preached and said that Jesus died for me and I trusted Him as my Savior. And as far as God the Holy Spirit is concerned, that night when I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s when I was born again. It takes all three. It takes the choosing of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son and the working of the Holy Spirit of God to bring about the salvation of the lost sinner and to make this election possible in our lives.

Now we don’t understand all of these mysteries. One of my professors at seminary used to say, try to explain election, you may lose your mind. Try to explain it away, you may lose your soul. Sometimes people write me and they’re all worked up about election and predestination and they’re—they’re almost paralyzed. You know, they’re like the centipede. An ant said to a centipede one day, how do you know which leg to move next? And the centipede said, I never thought about that, and he got paralyzed. Didn’t know what to do.

Now don’t let the doctrine of election paralyze you. Because we know God has His elect people in this world, we’re going to preach the gospel and trust Him to save those He has chosen in Jesus Christ. Now He tells us that He is not willing that any should perish, so we preach to everybody. God who will have all men to be saved, so we witness to everybody because God alone knows those who are His own. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, Paul tells us how all of this is working together. 2 Thessalonians 2:13, But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Ah, there’s where the Word of God comes in. To which He called you by our gospel. The same God who ordains the end ordains the means to the end. The Word must go out.

Now God tells us to preach the gospel to every creature. That’s why we broadcast. He doesn’t have us going around saying, are you one of the elect? Are you one of the elect? Nor does He want anyone to say, well, if I’m one of the elect, I’m going to be saved come what may. Oh no. No, no. Election doesn’t come first. First you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you discover you’re one of God’s elect. What is election? Election is that sovereign choice of God of a nation like Israel, of a servant like David, of the apostles Peter and Paul and the others, and of you. If you want to know if you’re one of the elect, you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. You repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you’ll find you are one of God’s chosen.

Now how can we recognize God’s elect? Paul dares to say in 1 Thessalonians 1:4, Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. We can’t always tell if somebody is born again. Oh, I know there are those who think they can, but we can’t always tell. The apostles thought Judas was born again, but he was not. He was a devil. And there are those in the Book of Acts who pretended to be saved and they weren’t really born again. Jesus said, not everybody who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, the secret here is in their response. I note that they had a threefold response that gave evidence that they were God’s people.

Number one, their response to the Word of God. First, they heard the Word. In verse 6, and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word. Verse 5, for our gospel did not come to you in word only. First they heard the Word of God. You see, the elect are saved by believing on Jesus Christ, but how shall they believe on Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? The same God who ordains the end ordains the means to the end. And the means to the end is God’s people going out sharing the Word of God. Paul and Silas and Timothy came to Thessalonica. You might want to turn over to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Now you can’t believe the truth until you hear it, so verse 14 says, to which He called you by our gospel. So the same God who ordains, calls. They heard the Word.

Secondly, they received the Word. Verse 6, having received the word. That’s a great word there. It means to welcome the Word of God. And when they received the Word of God, it was not just they heard preaching, but there was power and there was assurance from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God bore witness as they believed the Word of God. They heard the Word, they received the Word, they obeyed the Word. You became followers of us and of the Lord. They received the Word, they obeyed what they heard, it changed their lives. Their work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope. 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, they turned to God from idols, they served the living and true God. Their lives were transformed. They heard the Word, they received the Word—they welcomed it—and when they did that, the Holy Spirit worked in power in their lives and gave them assurance. Then they obeyed the Word of God; their lives were changed. And then they shared the Word of God. Verse 8, from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth. They shared that Word. We are chosen that we might share the Word with others. They didn’t say, well, we were among the elect and now we trust all the other elect will get saved. No, they shared that Word with others and others were saved.

Jesus said, You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. That’s election. And ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. Ah, that’s something else. Those of us who have been born again want to share the Word of God. How can you recognize God’s elect? Their response to the Word of God. Do they hear the Word? Do they receive and welcome the Word? Has the Word changed their lives so that they obey the Word of God? Are they sharing that Word with others?

Secondly, their response to God’s servants. Notice in verse 5, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake, and you became followers of us and of the Lord. They identified themselves with Paul and Silas and Timothy. When a person is one of God’s elect, he wants to be with God’s elect. We are sheep and we flock together. They imitated the apostles. They imitated the Lord. They had a new pattern for their lives. They wanted to be with God’s people. I think that’s a great evidence of the mark of election on somebody’s life.

Thirdly, their response to suffering. Notice what it says in verse 6 of 1 Thessalonians 1, And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. Now suffering came to them—persecution. When you read Acts 17, the story of the founding of the church at Thessalonica, you discover that there was persecution. The unbelievers brought pressure against Paul and Silas and Timothy and the believers. And as a consequence, Paul had to leave town; he was run right out of town.

Now faith is always tested. In the parable of the sower, Jesus tells about the seed that had no root. It was planted but it had no root, and when the sun came up, the plant shriveled and died because it had no root. Now that sun represents tribulation, persecution because of the Word, said the Lord Jesus. Here’s someone who professes to believe in Jesus Christ, persecution comes, that person falls apart, turns his back upon the Lord, that is evidence he has never trusted Christ. But those who are truly God’s elect, God’s people, when persecution comes, they still receive the Word of God joyfully. They will receive the Word of God in much affliction. They will pay the price to be God’s people.

Now if these are the marks of real election, I wonder how they relate to our lives today. What is our response to the Word of God? What is our response to the apostolic ministry that’s given to us in the Word of God? Are we following some false teacher? Are we following some human religious leader? Or are we saying we’re following Paul even as he followed the Lord Jesus Christ? What is our response to suffering? Have we given up and quit?

You see, you don’t begin with election, you begin with conversion. In 2 Peter 1:10, the writer says, make your calling and your election sure. First your calling. Have you heard the calling of God in the Word? Have you heard the calling of God through the preaching of the Word? Now if you’ve responded to the call of God and trusted the Savior, then you have no problem making your election sure. D. L. Moody used to say that the elect are the whosoever wills and the non-elect are the whosoever won’ts. Well, there’s some truth to what he has to say there. Be sure you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, and then share that. Share the excitement of the Word of God because you know you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.