The Election

I appreciated the sermonette this afternoon, timely in a different fashion, nonetheless seasonal, timely for where we are in the calendar, and an opportunity to contrast the ways of this world with those ways with which we are preparing. This time of year also reminds us of some other issues, and I will go that particular direction this afternoon. All of us are aware, when it comes to social niceties, that there are two general topics of discussion that are guaranteed to stir more controversy than all others—religion and politics.

If you wish to avoid controversy, you avoid these. I can skirt that bit of wisdom in this audience and speak of religion, since we share that in common. Here, speaking of things concerning religion is not only safe, but appropriate, in fact required. On the Sabbath day, no matter who is standing behind this pulpit sermonette or sermon, this is the day we speak on religion, and we're all on the same page. In politics, the realities of life are it's never safe.

There is always controversy. With that said, let me give you a title for my sermon. My sermon title is The Election. The impeachment proceedings are over. The State of the Union message has been given.

Great debates are on television, and all of them are going to be spending this entire year from the president all the way down to the lowest local office campaigning. This is American life. Now, I want to throw you a curve. I'm not a gambler. I don't gamble. That doesn't mean I don't understand the mentality of a gambler. And I have an imaginary bet that I want to make with you as a congregation.

Or, let's put it this way, I'm going to put before you an imaginary bet that would make a gambler salivate. Because a gambler, the gambler looks for that special event where he knows the odds are totally in his favor, and he knows that the one he's betting with believes the odds are totally in his favor. Those are those prime moments where he says, here's my opportunity to rake it all in. So here's my imaginary bet. I bet I can speak about the election for at least one hour and never get into politics.

Now, as I said, I'm safe up here dealing with religion. And we know that in society in general, if you want to start a controversy, bring up something religious or something political, and you can stir that pot quickly. So I'm here safely in the world of religion, but I'm going to speak about the election for at least an hour. And my bet is I can do it without ever getting into politics. Now, for the picky among you, let me at least create a little more parameter. That's without getting into personalities, names or people, without supporting one party's platform or another party's platform, without championing one party's causes against another party's causes, without putting any of that forward.

Okay, are you ready to lay down your monopoly money and see if I can go home with Boardwalk and Park Place? I want to begin, since I've already given you a title, I want to begin with a simple reality that I learned many, many years ago in reading a book entitled How to Read a Book. And as it was analyzing how to effectively read a book, it said, you do need to understand when you get into reading books that every group, and then define what it meant by groups, every group has its own vocabulary.

Ever tried to read the diagnosis sheet your doctor gives you after you've been in for an exam? Now, he knows what he's saying. I went in and had x-rays on my knee and I came home. I didn't understand a single solitary thing that came out of that x-ray report. I put it down, I went to Google, and I started Googling terms. And I went through, I Googled term after term after term after term so I could get at least halfway into his vocabulary.

Everybody has a vocabulary. Baseball players have a vocabulary, golfers have a vocabulary, scientists have a vocabulary, everyone has a vocabulary. We as a church have a vocabulary. There are words that we use that all of us understand and yet if we were talking in an outside group, they would wonder, well, what are you talking about? This is a time of year we talk about feasts. It's a time of year that we talk about tithing.

In the fall, we'll talk about the millennium, the kingdom of God. We will discuss such doctrines as the laying on of hands and unclean meats, and all of those make perfect sense to us because they're part of our vocabulary. But they're not a part of other people's vocabulary. God has a vocabulary. We've adopted pieces of it.

In fact, we've adopted pieces that are so natural, we can come to think they're our vocabulary and they really aren't. Any time you use the two words, quote, the world, you have entered into God's vocabulary. We didn't invent that term. The church didn't invent that term. That term is embedded in the New Testament over and over and over again. So we adopted part of God's vocabulary. Mr.

Kubik had a very fine article two or three weeks ago on ucg.org going through this very subject, beautifully written. A couple of weeks ago, in a whole midweek Bible study, Mr. Sexton gave a Bible study on another phrase that's a part of God's vocabulary. He gave an entire Bible study on the phrase, the way it is.

It isn't some loose term, isn't some nebulous term with God. It is a very specific term and it's a part of his vocabulary and it's a part of our vocabulary. So there are things that we in our vocabulary speak of very comfortably but may not stop and realize all we have done is adopted God's vocabulary and we're comfortable with it. The term that I put before you is something foreign to us, but it isn't foreign to God.

It's a part of his vocabulary that we haven't adopted. And I tell you why, it won't take you too long to figure it out anyway. I think the reason we've never adopted it is we are extremely comfortable with synonyms. And so the synonyms are embedded in our vocabulary. But the election is a significant part of God's vocabulary. We tend to use the word the election only when we talk about politics. God uses the term the election only when he speaks about religion. I want you to turn to Romans chapter 11. In Romans chapter 11, we're going to look at the first election. Now, as I said to you at the beginning, I have no interest today in talking about politics.

I intend to talk about religion, but I intend to talk about the election. And so we'll see how the two are synonymous. In Romans chapter 11, we get a chance to see the first election. Romans 11 verse 25, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come. Now, you know, we're all so totally, completely familiar with that verse. At the minute I began reading it, many of your minds could go ahead of me and finish the verse. The deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away on godliness from Jacob.

For this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. So here the Apostle Paul speaks with God's vocabulary of the election. And he says, they may be enemies of yours, but they are not enemies of God, and the reason is because of the election. I want you to notice the nature of that election in Romans chapter 9, two chapters earlier. Romans chapter 9 beginning in verse 6. He says, But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.

But, quote, in Isaac your seed shall be called. Unquote. That is, those who are called the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.

Now, Paul has been very, very precise to the place where you may not always wrap your mind around what he's saying or where he's going. Continuing on in verse 9, for this is the word of promise. Quote, At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. Unquote. And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but of him who calls.

And so again, the Apostle Paul speaks of the nature of election.

Now, there were phrases that were extremely important in those verses.

He said, for instance, they are not all Israel who are of Israel.

That was a very precise term, and we'll look at it in just a moment.

But with that phrase, Paul enters a discussion with precision, showing, in effect, that there are multiple candidates, but one elected.

Let's look at Romans 9, verse 7, again carefully. He said, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham, but in Isaac your seed shall be called.

So as he is electing the children of Israel, he makes the comment that they are not all seed simply because they are the seed of Abraham, but they are the seed because they came from Isaac.

In the election of Israel, God eliminated a series of candidates.

Romans 9, verse 7. If you understand what it just said, you understand what we will look at in just a moment when we go back to Genesis chapter 25.

Who was the firstborn of Abraham?

Ishmael.

Ishmael lived in Abraham's house for 13 years. He was his son.

It wasn't until the birth of Isaac, as Ishmael began and his mother began to mock that birth and that son, that God pushed Abraham to the place of saying, Ishmael is not my elect. My elect that I promised you from the beginning would come from Sarah, and Ishmael is not my elect.

Therefore, send his mother and send him away. God promised him great promises. He said he would become great. He would become a great people. But despite the fact that he would become great, and he would become a great people, he was not the elected.

We don't think very often of this next element. Turn with me to Genesis chapter 25.

As you're turning to Genesis 25, I'll read once more verse 7 of Romans 9, which says simply, they are, nor are they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham, but in Isaac your seed shall be called. When Sarah died, Abraham remarried.

Genesis 25 verse 1 says, Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishback, and Shua.

So Isaac ended up with six more half-brothers. He had one to begin with that was 13 to 15 years older than he was, and later he inherited six more half-brothers. All of these were blessed, yet none of them were elected.

So we see as Paul is walking through Romans chapter 9 in these early verses, he is laying out a very precise issue of who have I elected.

I want to go back now to verses 9 through 12. In verses 9 through 12, Paul said, For this is the word of promise, At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.

And not only this, but when Rebecca also has conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children, not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him who calls. So he says it's not a matter of merit. It's not a matter of who is bigger. It's not a matter of who's older. It's not a matter of who's stronger. It has nothing to do with age. It has nothing to do with intelligence. It has nothing to do with strength. It has to do with selection.

When you read these particular verses, they end with verse 12 that says, And it was said to her, The older shall serve the younger.

And so we see Ishmael proclaimed by God not to be his candidate of choice. The children born later were not his candidates of choice.

When Rebekah bore two children, Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, God said, I know that Esau is the first born, but I have elected the younger, Jacob. So we see very early on, election is a serious religious matter to God, and we see it as also a part of his vocabulary.

You know, elections, something that all of us know, it's a matter of automatic in our minds, but as we move into the latter part of the year, when literally every major intersection will have staked into the ground placards for local candidates, and they will remind us visually, because we'll see them on street corners all up and down the highways and the streets, that all of them are saying to you, I want to be elected to, and it will tell you to what? I want to be elected to the city council. I want to be elected to the county council. I want to be elected to the state senate. I want to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Elections are to something.

Just as in the world of politics that we're all very familiar with, we will look at every placard, every name, and every face, and they will look at the smaller print to see what they want to be elected to. Elections by God are also to something.

Romans chapter 9, we didn't read these, so let's go back earlier in the text, and now let's read Romans 9 verses 3 and 4. In Romans 9, 3 and 4, the apostle Paul says, For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises. Now, we've already seen a few verses later they are called the elect.

According to election, what were the elected to? Glory.

Now, that's a privilege, and that's an honor. The covenants, those are contractual agreements that require conduct, actions, a lifestyle. The giving of the law that takes the covenants, which are bigger and broader, and breaks them down into specifics of these are things you do, and these are things you don't do. The service of God. The most prominent of those was when God said to Israel, one tribe of yours belongs to me. They will receive no inheritance.

They will serve me personally. And those were the Levites. And at the top of that, hierarchy would have been the sons of Aaron, and at the top of that would have been the high priest. Their duty was continually the service of God.

We don't think of it as much, but the service of God is what the entirety of Israel was called to.

When we go back to Deuteronomy chapter 4, and I don't know that I even need to take you there, you all know it, it's where God gives the law to Israel. And He says to them, here's my law, don't add anything to it. Don't take anything away from it.

Because this law is your wisdom.

And when the nations around you see this law, they will say, what people is this that has a God so great, so near to them?

Implicit in those verses, the first eight verses of Deuteronomy chapter 4, implicit in those eight verses is what they were elected to. They were elected to role model.

They were elected to be poster children. They were elected to show the world by action the beauty of the laws of God.

I don't know in modern terms which particular office we may choose. If I could borrow from the New Testament and move it backward in time, it would be very easy to say that they were elected to the office of ambassador.

Because all an ambassador does is represent a government to someone else. And this is exactly what Deuteronomy chapter 8 asks of Israel, that you represent me. You represent what I stand for. You represent what I teach to all the nations around you. And if you do it well, they will be amazed that they will be drawn. They will want more. They'll want to see more, learn more. And eventually they will want to do as you do.

In this particular section, Paul told us that Israel, not just the individual, Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, but the nation of Israel was the elect. So God can elect an entire body of people to one office all at the same time. Something very different than the world of politics.

I mean, you may have several people running for the same body, the Senate or the House, but you don't collectively elect a whole body with one election.

But God does. You know, the Apostle Paul was no stranger to election. And as an individual, he understood election very, very well because he was a prime example himself. And so it comes as no mystery that here in Romans, the Apostle Paul is the one that is using the term the election and the elect because he understood this personally. I want you to go back to Acts 9. Acts 9 is the famous road to Damascus conversion of the Apostle Paul.

We know that Paul was stricken down. God spoke to him, and God blinded him. He left him in this state. And then God went to a member of the church of God in Damascus and gave him a mission to go and collect Saul of Tarsus and to be his intermediary.

And we break into the story at that point where Ananias is being assigned that task. And in verse 10 of Acts 9, now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him the Lord said in a vision, Ananias, and he said, here I am, Lord.

And so the Lord said to him, arise and go to the street called Strait and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying.

And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight. And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to the saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name.

And the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

The new King James, and for that matter, virtually every other translation I can find, does not do justice to verse 15.

It's rather interesting that the translation that most accurately handles this particular verse is the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, the Daoi rhymes.

And if you read this particular verse and the Daoi rhymes, it would say, go, for he is a vessel of election to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. What is interesting is the term that is here in this verse translated chosen.

That particular word is translated election in every other place that it occurs in the New Testament. And so appropriately, if all of the others using this term refer to it as election, I think in this case the Daoi rhymes as probably a sharper and better focus when God says to Ananias, go, for he is a vessel of election to go to the Gentiles, to kings, and the children of Israel.

When it came to election, the Apostle Paul understood very, very clearly, you are elected to something. It isn't just some honor that's placed on your head. It isn't some badge that you wear. It isn't some medal or token that you can display. It carries a mission. It carries a task.

And so the Apostle Paul was elected as an ambassador, apostle to the Gentiles. The entire book of Acts, once Paul is firmly introduced and entrenched in the book, is virtually a history of Paul's appearances before kings and magistrates.

Indeed, a record of what he was elected to.

You know, brethren, it's important to understand that you can lose an election with God.

As I said, it's not about privilege. It's not about badges. It is about duty and responsibility.

And you can easily lose an election with God.

Paul carries on a very technical conversation with this same church in Rome, two chapters later, in chapter 11. And he deals with the matter of election with precision.

Turn with me back to Romans 11, and let's look at what he says.

Now, as I said, this is done with great precision. He's not being loose or candid, and he's not using terms loosely. In Romans 11 and verse 1, the apostle Paul said, I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people, whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the scriptures say of Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.

But what does the divine response say to him?

I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant, according to the election of grace.

You understand what Paul just said?

As I said, he is being very precise and very technical.

Now let me tell you what he just said.

Paul just said in these five verses that Israel lost the election.

Now you may say, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.

You read it, I read it. That's not what I read.

I know it's not what you read. It is what Paul said.

Read with me the next two verses. Well, let's get a running start. Let's read verse 5 because that contains the word election.

What then? What then?

What's the conclusion to the first five verses that looked like Israel had maintained its election and then this verse that seems to be, well, interesting to say the least, confusing to say more. Paul then says, what then? In other words, when Paul says, what then? Or therefore, you know that he's coming to a conclusion.

He says, Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

He used the term, brethren. He said, the election of grace.

Let me tell you what the apostle Paul was saying in the first seven verses of Romans 11.

He was saying that you need to understand God is not finished with Israel.

God is not finished.

And he said, if you think he's finished because they've all gone haywire, then you need to go back and look at Elijah and realize, yeah, they had all gone haywire except seven thousand. And he said, you know what? Not all of us who are Jews or Benjamites or Israelites have gone haywire.

But those of us who have not gone haywire are a part of a different election.

That verse, it seemed to be double-talk. If it's works, it's not a... Well, let me read it. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work.

All he's saying there, brethren, is Israel had a work to do, and theirs was works-based.

You didn't get into this church on your works.

You got into this church by the grace of God.

Your election was not because you could walk up to God and say, God, I'm the best specimen in Portland. Therefore, you got to have me.

I have an absolutely perfect track record in all regards. None of us came to God on that platform. We came to God saying, God, have mercy on me, and forgive my sins. And God said, I will. And you and I were elected by the election of grace. All Paul was saying was some of Israel, like the 700 who had, 7,000 who had not bowed their knees to Baal, made the transition. They moved from a body that lost in election to a body that is now the elect.

So Israel currently has lost as a body its election. And you, as an individual and part of a body, have won an election. You know, it's interesting. You've won an election and didn't even know you were running. You know, I didn't even – it's like the old saying, yesterday I couldn't spell engineer and today I are one. I wasn't even running and campaigning for an office and I found out that I was elected. But our election is somewhat complex.

We have won – to use the vocabulary – we have won one election.

Right now, in God's vocabulary, do you know who you are?

You are God's elect. You know, I said earlier that there are other synonyms that we're comfortable with and as a result we use them.

Part of introducing ourselves to one another, sometimes in conversation, we will use the term, when did God call you? It's almost like, where are you from and what do you do? But in our vocabulary, the question is, when did God call you?

Calling, choosing, electing – they're all synonyms.

We're comfortable with call. God is very comfortable with elect.

Peter, in one of his epistles, says the following. Let's turn to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. This is how the apostle Peter addresses his letter. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

That is a mouthful of a title and it is jam-packed full of direction and responsibility. But he said, you are the elect. You are elect because God chose to select you.

And you are set apart – the big word, sanctification – you have been set apart as his elect by the Spirit of God. It is incumbent upon you, because of that selection, to demonstrate obedience, which has to be manifested because in the selection process you were covered by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, which removed the old sins and left you with the responsibility to turn from those ways and live according to the ways of God.

In both of Peter's epistles, he spoke to the Church of God as the elect.

Here it was very clear. It was very straightforward in the first two verses.

There's far more to the topic of being the elect and the election than you can pack into one sermon, so we're focusing on one track. I could stand up here and give you another sermon on the same subject, covering other material, but we're keeping it a rather narrow focus.

As I said, we are elected to two positions. First of all, the Apostle Paul literally said that we are ambassadors of Christ. And so, in terms of position, you and I have exactly the same position as ancient Israel. We have exactly the same position as the Apostle Paul. I don't mean title. I mean position. We are ambassadors. We have the same mission, the same responsibility, and we were elected to the same duties as ancient Israel was. We are also the elect to one day hold the offices that are embedded in being the sons of God.

We are candidates, and we are looking for the day when that election takes place. Paul references that second election in his second epistle.

Turn with me to second Peter.

You know, this year, when November comes, we'll produce one product. Elections won. Elections lost.

For every office, somebody will come forward, stand on a stage, and greet his audience as the one who has won the election, and somebody will concede that he has lost, or she has lost, the election. Winners and losers. And God's election, he really hopes there are no individuals who lose the election.

And the Apostle Paul, in encouraging the Church of God, was encouraging every single individual who read this letter, both at that day and time, and all who have read it from that time onward, encouraged them on the necessary demeanor, the necessary actions, and the necessary lifestyle in order to assure a victory in this election.

It's a beautiful, beautiful section. Let's read it. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. You know, with God opening your mind and my mind, God opened a mind so that it could see and grasp and understand all that was necessary that pertained to both life and godliness. You don't need to go any further than this book to understand how to live a godly life from the day of your calling to the day of your death.

And so he said, through knowledge, he has opened to us the things that pertain to life and godliness. And he's called us by glory and virtue, by which, so by His glory and by His virtue, Christ's virtue was that He lived a perfect life, a virtuous life, and as a result became our Savior.

We will sit on Passover evening and we will read through John where Jesus Christ says, I have glorified you, now glorify me, and let me come back and sit with you in the glory that I once had. He is in glory and He is there by virtue. And because of that, in verse 4, He says, by which, because of these things, we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises. All of our promises, everything we bank on, we bank on because of the virtue of Jesus Christ, and because He lives. As the sermonette said, God does not ask us to celebrate a day celebrating His resurrection, but His death, as we all know, was of absolutely no value if He was not then resurrected. And so it is in His resurrection that He becomes a pattern.

If He can be resurrected to life eternal, so can we. By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. That's what God has elected us to, to one day become recipients and partakers of the divine nature. You know, you have a seed of it. You and I have a seed of it now, but that's not what He's talking about. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, you and I will not have escaped the corruption of this world totally, completely, and forever.

Until the sound of the last trumpet. But also for this very reason, in other words, because of all of this, because He lived a virtuous life and died sin-free, because He has resurrected and in glory and has promised us that we too will join Him living forever in glory, incorruptible, because of all of this, or as verse 5 says, for this reason.

Roll up your sleeves and give all of your energy to do these things.

Everything I've read to you so far you believe, and I believe, and because you believe it and because I believe it, God says roll up your sleeves and go to work. He says add to your faith virtue.

If you have the knowledge of what is right and you believe it's right, then add action to it.

You know, James was the one that said if you have faith and it's without works, it's dead.

He said show me your faith without any works, I'll show you faith by action. So he says, add to your faith virtue. Add to your virtue knowledge. You know, the beauty of being in God's church with God's Spirit is you never stop learning.

It is a lifelong venture of learning more. Not just head knowledge, but it's a lifelong journey learning more out of the Word of God, but it's also a lab. It's a lab where God says, okay, I will put you in the crucible and I'll have you learn by experience.

So add to your faith virtue and add to your virtue knowledge.

And as you get this foundation down, then add self-control. Get a grip.

If you have self-control for a day, that's not bad, but that's just a day. So he says, add to your self-control perseverance. Two days, three days, a week, a month, a year, a decade. Add to your perseverance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and they're bountiful, they abound, you'll neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.

He addressed the church in 1 Peter as the elect. In 2 Peter, he said, elect. I want to tell you how to guarantee your election. If you will do these things, you are not only a candidate, you are the guaranteed individual who will be elected. Just as we'll see in 2020 here in the United States, elections are won and elections are lost.

I think we've seen from 1 Peter and 2 Peter, God has only one even mind. He wants you to secure your election. I want to give you one more element. I want you to understand that you have someone who is not qualified to run for your office, but he runs a very dirty campaign in the hopes that he can defeat you from the office you're running for. There's a little bit different than the world of politics. In politics, it's two people running for the same office, one hoping to defeat the other. But in this situation, you have one candidate running for office and someone else who's running for one thing only. I'm running to see that he doesn't get the office, and he runs a very dirty campaign. While we are slated to be sons of God, there are some who have held spiritual office before us and lost it. The book of Jude, not even two chapters long, makes the following comment. In the sixth verse of the book of Jude, and we'll get a running start with verse 5, he said, I want to remind you, this is verse 5 of Jude, for I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels, who did not keep their proper domain, but left their habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. He said, there were angels who left their former estate. That term, former estate, refers to offices. Magistry, principalities.

What is the title that Satan goes under at this particular time? There's more than one. There's more than one. But one of them is the prince of the power of the air.

There's an interesting little window in Daniel that can do all sorts of things to your curiosity, and at the end of the day you have to shrug your shoulders and say, well, it says only what it says, and it doesn't tell me anything more. But an angel who is coming to Gabriel says, I'm late because I was withstood by a prince. Not a human being.

I was withstood by a prince, and I had to contend for a number of days in order to get past him to get to you. Jude says there are angels that have given up their right to hold their offices. They were elected to positions, and they have lost the right to continue holding them.

They are lame duck at this particular time and will hold the offices only until Jesus Christ returns, and at that time their offices will disappear. But the one who sits in the chief seat of all of those who will lose their offices is an angry loser and wages a very dirty campaign.

Matthew 24, at the end of the book of Matthew, after Christ's ministry is finished, the disciples come to him in what we refer to as the Olivet prophecy, and they said to him, Master, tell us the signs of the end of the age and of your return.

And Matthew 24 is that famous prophecy where Jesus Christ lays out what will take place, leading up to his return. I said a dirty campaign was being waged. You know what's interesting? Between the beginning of Christ's answer and the place where it culminates, there is a thread that is repeated. Jesus' answer in verse 4 says, What is the very first piece of an answer that Jesus Christ gave to the question, tell us what will the end of the age and of your return? And the beginning of his answer is this, Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. Very first warning, many will come and say, Christ is the Christ, and then will take the message in a totally different direction than the message that Christ gave. And people will say they're nice, they're pleasant, they're energetic, they're good, they're moral, and they say they represent Christ, so they must represent Christ. And he said, watch out, take heed that no one deceives you. Many, many, many will come in my name, and they will say, He is Christ, and yet they won't preach my message, and they won't give you my instruction. He went on to verse 10, and then many will be offended, will betray one another, will hate one another. Then many false prophets will arise or will rise up and deceive many. And finally, he says, as he comes down to the conclusion of his prophecy in the latter portions, he says in verse 23, he says, then if anyone says to you, look here is the Christ, or there do not believe it, for false Christ's and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the very or even the elect. Three times in Matthew 24, the Olivet prophecy, Christ warns against false Christ's and false prophets. And on the third warning, he shows the ultimate objective of Satan. Let's look at that again. This is where he's going.

Verse 23, if anyone says to you, look here is the Christ, or there do not believe it, for false Christ's and false prophets will arise and they are going to show great signs and wonders.

For what purpose? So as to deceive, if it is possible, even the elect. The objective in that last round of miracles and wonders is not to deceive the world, it's already in their back pocket. The objective is to deceive that last group of holdouts who are the elect.

You.

We might ask for a moment why run a relentless dirty campaign?

I think we've given enough evidence already that you say, well, let's go back and look at the verses that we looked at. And all by itself, that would be a sufficient answer. But it's not the complete answer.

You know what's interesting, brethren?

I'll pose it as a question. Have you ever looked at what the current campaign will deliver?

I don't think we look at it through those eyes. I don't think we look at it in that perspective. But you are the elect of God. You currently hold an office, the Church of God.

You are running for another office, sons of God. If we bring this whole matter down to a more earthly, present, real world, physical world environment, we can ask the question, what will our campaign deliver?

I know that there are people who are not willing to deliver. Will our campaign deliver?

I know that there are people here in the United States and overseas. In fact, overseas, even more prominently than here in the United States. But there will be some here in the United States who will run for whatever office they're running for with a strong environmental component. I didn't take the time to check if there is literally officially a party called the Green Party in Germany, but there is a party that carries that label and is referred to in that respect. And they have an environmental platform.

And they'll have various sundry things that they will champion. You realize God has us running on the greatest environmental platform of all time?

We read Matthew 24, verses 23 and 24. I want you to back up two verses. And I want you to read verses 21 and 22.

For then there shall be great tribulation, such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be. It's a pivotal point in all of human existence. It is the most cataclysmic time that has ever been, and it will never be repeated.

For there will be great tribulation, such as has not been seen since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

God is saying, through Jesus Christ's answer to the apostles, tell us the signs of the end of the age and of your coming. He says, there's going to come a point in time where man will take human life off this earth.

How long have we had the ability? 60 years? 70 years?

I don't know exactly as we move from the atomic bomb to the hydrogen bomb and then the stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Where we hit the day when historians and analysts would say, at this particular given point, there was a significant enough stockpile that in one great release of the weapons that are there, that release would remove life off this earth.

Probably somewhere in the 1960s.

Maybe a little earlier, but I think probably somewhere in the 1960s.

Sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, tens, teens. 60 years.

We've lived in a world where man has that capacity. Satan's campaign is to deceive the very elect. That's his campaign.

Because if I can remove the very elect, then I understand where verse 22 takes us.

Those days are shortened because of the elect for their sake.

If there is no elect, there is no world.

And so God has you running on the most significant platform that human beings have ever run on.

Rather than this far more about election that we could cover, we're not going to today.

I think all of us who understand election well realize that Israel lost an election.

But come the millennium, God is going to elect them again.

My father used to have on the wall a plaque regarding the history of Abraham Lincoln. And those of you that have—how many of you have seen Lincoln's history of running for election?

You ought to look it up sometime. Lincoln ran for so many offices he was defeated in, it would absolutely make you numb. Defeated, defeated, defeated, defeated, defeated, defeated, defeated, defeated, defeated, defeated, President of the United States.

Israel lost their election, as Paul said in Romans 11.

Some Israelites were elected to another office, the election of grace. But the people as a people were blinded. And he said not to lose them.

They will eventually be saved. But they get elected again to another physical office to do what they flunked doing in Deuteronomy 4.

That's a whole other sermon. And there are other elements that we could look at.

But I fulfilled my responsibility. I want all my monopoly money.

I think you can all see how important the term election is in God's vocabulary.

In fact, the word election, or as we often say, being called or chosen, is central to his entire plan of salvation.

But now you know why my imaginary bent. It is extremely easy to talk about the election without ever getting into the world of politics.

And as I said at the beginning, in our world, election is all about politics.

In God's world, election is all about religion.