The Chosen

Revelation 17.14. So let's do that again. There is a phrase there. The context there, again, is the empires of the world are attacking Christ at His return. They will make war with the lamb, it says in verse 14. And the lamb who is Christ will overcome them, for he is Lord of Lord and King of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful. That phrase, called chosen and faithful, is a very important phrase because it defines a process by which God prepares that bride for His Son. Last time I spoke, we examined the first step of this process and learned that to be called is to be invited. When God calls, He extends an invitation. It is one that is embedded in the gospel message, which is intended to be extended to many in every nation. We read that in Matthew 24, 14, Mark 16, verses 15 and 16, the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God has embedded within it this invitation into the coming kingdom of God, that every human being will one day have an opportunity to respond to. And it is spread to every nation and every creature by the public proclamation of the coming kingdom of God, something the church is very dedicated to support. Now, though few recognize the gospel as an invitation in this age, fewer still respond to that invitation in a manner suitable to the one who is extending it, and that's extremely important. When you receive an invitation to something in the mail, if that's coming from somebody you love dearly, respect highly, admire, you are much more likely to open it and read it and respond. Many, though, don't even recognize the name on the envelope in this case. There is a great power behind God's invitation. The response to the invitation is very important to God because it determines who enters into that next process, the chosen. Christ explained this in the setting of a wedding. Turn with me, please, to Matthew 22.

We were talking about this response at the Pine Crest, and I used this example that Christ gave. He spoke to them many times in parables. We'll talk about that in a moment, but in this one specifically, it's a parable about a king inviting people to the wedding of his son. And we get the metaphor there, the marriage of his son, Jesus Christ, to the church in the sense of the King, God the Father.

Matthew 22 in verse 1. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. This isn't just a common person, this is a king. This is somebody who deserves honor and respect, has territory, laws, rules, the nation, and so on. Verse 3. And he sent out his servants to call, that's the word calleo, which we reviewed in some detail in part 1, he called those who were invited, that's the same word, calleo, K-A-L-E-O, to the wedding.

This is why we relate the calling to the invitation. And they were not willing to come. They didn't want to come. They had other things going on. Verse verse 4. Again he sent out other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see I prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready, come to the wedding.

But they made light of it and went their ways. One to his own farm, another to his business. Say, well I got better things to do than this. Things that are more important to me. I don't understand the weight of this annoying invitation.

Verse 6. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. It's not just the matter that they are rejecting the invitation. They're killing the messengers who brought it. They're so upset by it. Verse 7. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he said, and his armies destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.

Then he said to his servants, the wedding is ready. But those who were invited were not worthy. Notice, even though he's inviting here as many as he possible can after this, there still is a worthiness to attend. There has to be a recognition for the importance of the occasion and what it means to go to it, to be invited to it. Verse 9. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together, all whom they found both bad and good.

Notice both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. Now that's not the the main accomplishment, just to simply fill the hall with guests. There has to be a worthiness we see this year in verse 11. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? Mr. Van Heusen talked about the in the sermonette, the importance of what we are wearing, how it reflects what's going on inside.

It also reflects our respect for the occasion that we are at. It shows a certain sense of respect for those we are with. It's kind of lost in our society today. Everybody kind of dresses for their own comfort. We've lost this whole idea about dressing out of respect for others. And he's questioning the garment this guy was wearing. Wasn't a wedding garment. Now you might think that he's poor, couldn't afford one. But in cases like this, especially as a rich person hosting a wedding, it would be much like going to a very wealthy five-star restaurant today where it says tie and jacket required.

If you forget one, they usually give you one at the door. They have all sizes and so on. They give them to... this one would have refused that. He would have refused to put on the garment. And as Mr. Van Heusen talked about what we wear attaching to our character or displaying what our character is, it says something about the individual. He said, why... how'd you come here to wear a lot of garment? And he was speechless.

Verse 13, then the king said to the servants, bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Verse 14 now, for many are called, but few are chosen.

This word for chosen here is very different than the word call. God's invitation to his kingdom is mostly ignored by people in this age, even though the gospel message is going out to every nation in so many different languages and is available nearly everywhere today. The church just continues to amplify it. It's made light of and it's ridiculed by some.

It has even been... it has even over the years incited the persecution and killing of the messengers God assigned to deliver it. Now some do respond, but inappropriately as the individual who was attending this wedding, with no respect for the occasion or the one who had invited them to that occasion, their host, but there are a few who respond very differently than was mentioned here. As we mentioned before, the Greek word translated called in verse 14 is calitos, related to calleo, that's spelled K-L-E-T-O-S. We talked about this last time. It means to invite or to summon. We again talked about that in some detail. The Greek word translated chosen here in verse 14, though, is eklectos, eklectos, it's spelled E-K-L-E-K-T-O-S, eklectos.

It means to pick out or select, and in this context it's used amidst those who are actually called or invited. It's used 23 times in the authorized version of the New Testament, but is only translated chosen seven times. Most often, 16 times, it's translated elect, those who are elected. Mounce's word book describes it as being specially beloved by God. Choice, precious, those who are selected, as those selected for a special privilege. There's a selection process going on in the calling. It's among those who respond to God's invitation.

Attendance at the wedding of His Son, Jesus Christ, has conditions. Those conditions are set by the one issuing the invitation, not the one responding to it. To understand who the chosen are, or why the chosen are so privileged, or they're so specially beloved, we must understand those conditions. Today we will look at the conditions of the chosen. What is the kind of response that God is looking for in those He calls His chosen? Let me just give you a couple of references here, in those 23 different references in the New Testament.

In Luke 18 and verse 7, Luke 18 says that the chosen cry out to God day and night, and God Himself avenges them. He hears their cry, and though He suffers with them a long time, because He's got a plan that He's working out, He hears them, and He will avenge those who persecute them. In Romans 8 and verse 33, Paul writes that no one can bring an accusation against them before God. God knows what's in their heart. He knows their intentions. He knows what they do. He knows that they will mess up. He knows their repentance. Who can bring an accusation against God's elect, His chosen, His special ones?

In 2 Timothy 2, in 2 Timothy 2, 10, Paul recognized the incredible value of the chosen. He said that He would endure all things for the chosen's sake, for the elect of God. In 1 Peter 1 and verse 2, Peter writes that the chosen are ordained by God for a setting apart, a sanctification of obedience by His Spirit, the gift of His Holy Spirit given to them, His nature and character residing within them.

And in 1 Peter 2, which we'll examine in much more detail shortly, 1 Peter 2, Peter calls them the elect, the chosen, he calls them living stones in a living building. A selected generation calls them a royal priesthood for God, a holy nation, God's own special people, who proclaim His praises, who believe in Christ and will by no means be put to shame for doing so, right to their death in this age. Now, what separates the called from the chosen?

Who are the designated chosen and why are they so chosen, selected by God? And what is it in their response that enables them to be so called by God? Now, it would surprise many today to learn that God chooses not to open some minds. He chooses, even if they respond to His message, He chooses not to work with them. Even though they respond to His calling, the response isn't quite what it should be. I'll just give you a few references. In Deuteronomy 29, 2-4, it talks about Israel being called out of Egypt, God's special people. Yet, because of Israel's idolatry, it caused them to be blind and deaf to God.

He says that right there in Deuteronomy 29, 2-4. And He allowed them to continue on, blind and deaf. In Amos 5, in verse 26, it makes reference to them literally carrying their idols with them, as God was leading them and providing for them during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.

It's the nature of idols. They don't see, they don't hear. And those who worship them become like them. Worship is emulation. If you worship a piece of stone, you'll become a piece of stone or a block of wood. Same thing. It takes a great deal of trust in oneself to make one's own God, to make something, to fashion it and then worship it, the work of your own hands. But those who do have their minds eye-blinded by a sense of self-assurance. I can do this.

I can make my own God. In most cases, they're saying I can worship myself. Look at Isaiah 44 here. Isaiah 44, verses 12-20. We'll look at this concept in Matthew 13 in a moment. Christ takes this concept and tries to explain to others that even though He was speaking the same words to some, some could hear it, some could not.

Some could not understand it. And though some could see Him, some could not see Him as the Son of God. Isaiah 44. Let's begin reading in verse 12. We'll read through verse 20. It's talking here about the foolishness of worshiping idols and making them. Verse 12. The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions it with hammers, as though a god could be forged in a fire made with hammers from the coals, and works it with the strength of his hands. Even so, he is hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water and is faint.

It's a physical human being. What he makes will deteriorate. Even he will deteriorate without God providing for his needs. The God he ignores. Verse 13. The craftsman stretches out his rule. He marks one without, one out with chalk. He fashions it with a plane. He marks it out with the compass and makes it like a figure of a man according to the beauty of a man that it may remain in the house. That's fitting that it looks like a man because all idolatry ultimately is self-worship. Verse 14. He cuts down seedage for himself and takes the cypress and the oak.

He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread.

Indeed, he makes a God and worships it. He makes it a carved image and falls to the ground. He burns half of it in the fire with his half. He eats meat. He roasts a roast and then is satisfied. He even warms itself and says, ah, I am warm. I have seen the fire. Brother, we look at our cities today, these tall buildings that we make, the cars that we fashioned, all that we've done with what God has given us in this earth.

And we worship the work of our hands. And if we're not careful, if we don't have the mindset that initially, originally responded to God's call in the way that made us his chosen, where he determined to do that, if we carry this baggage with us, it hinders our ability to know Him. And that will hinder our ability to embrace eternal life. Verse 17, and the rest of it he makes into a God, his carved image, he falls down before it and worships it, prays to it, and says, deliver me, for you are my God.

This is all just talking about how foolish this is. How we can bring the idea of this eternal, perfect, ever-living, all-knowing, all-powerful God down to our level? Is it so important that we sever all of His abilities and strengths and providential care just so that we can have something we can see, touch?

Verse 18, they do not know or understand, for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand. Notice what that says. He shut their eyes. Why would He do that? Why would God shut the eyes of an individual like this?

No one considers in His heart, nor is there knowledge, nor understanding to say, I have burned half of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood? He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned Him aside, and He cannot deliver His soul or His life.

Nor say is there not a lie in my right hand a lie.

To worship and believe in and trust in and love a lie.

Idolatry, brethren, is sinister. It is deceptively linked to human pride.

The more we think we know, the more self-assured we become. And the more self-assured we become, the less God-assured we are. Paul warned us against this in 1 Corinthians 10-12. I'll just make that reference. 1 Corinthians 10-12. When he said, Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. It is those who think they can't fall that inevitably do. Remember this, and we may have talked about this in time past.

Remember that God cast Adam and Eve out of Eden, not because they sinned, but to separate them from the tree of life after they had sinned.

They were not allowed to take of the tree of life because they had chosen their own path.

They had chosen to worship themselves. No, God, not your way, but our way. We will determine for ourselves what is right and true, what is right and wrong. We're not going to listen to what you have to say. Why would he give them opportunity to the tree of life, his Holy Spirit, that would be condemning them to eternal death?

Those who worship themselves, which is again the heart of idolatry, can never know the true God, the only true God. I'll just make this reference to you. John 17.3.

In John 17.3, Christ tells us, eternal life is knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent us, knowing God is eternal life. How can anyone who doesn't know God embrace eternal life? Anyone who thinks a human, especially themselves, is worthy of worship, provides a very hard and dry surface for the seed of the Gospel, of the invitation. Look at Matthew 13. This is the parable of the sower.

It's a fairly long lesson here. I encourage you to read it.

I'll read verses 10 through 23, which is more or less his explanation of it, but it begins, obviously, at the beginning of the chapter, Matthew 13, verse 10. The disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? So why is he telling these stories? Because the spiritually led mind can't make this lateral move to apply the lesson of the story in the parable to a spiritual principle by which they should live. A mind that's not led by the Spirit can't do that. It's just a story.

It may have a good lesson in it, but they don't make the connection. The Spirit-led mind will do this. Verse 11, He answered and said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. Why? They heard the same story.

They heard the same message that he spoke. But they couldn't get it. They didn't understand it. It wasn't given to them. That's why we look at the calling in this age.

When we said the calling is extended to everyone, we have to be given something to understand the nature of the invitation and the one who has sent it. We have to go through something. It has to be responded to. That's what God is looking for. We'll talk about that in a moment. Verse 12, For whoever has to him war will be given, and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even that which he has, will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

It's making reference back to Isaiah, who used that principle a number of times, and explaining why the message was falling on dead ears. Verse 14, And in them the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled, which says, Hearing ye will hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye will see, and not perceive.

That's actually a reference to Isaiah 6 and verse 9. Verse 15, For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts, and turn, so that I should heal them. Why? Because that healing comes with accountability. God will not apply the blood of his Son, that one-time application, to an individual who intends to keep sinning. All they earn there is death, not life. He won't do that. He must see a response in them first, the right response.

Verse 16, But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. That's the chosen, not just the called. Verse 17, For surely I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Therefore hear the parable of the sower. It gives us instruction on how the seed goes out, the gospel message, the invite goes out, the calling to the whole world. But there are certain responses that he does not acknowledge, sees them, I should say acknowledges them, but he doesn't take them and put them into the chosen category.

There is one that does. Verse 19, When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away that which is sown in his heart. This is he who received the seed by the wayside, but he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation of persecution arises because of the word immediately, he stumbles. This root is often built in tribulation of persecution.

In the suffering of this age, it deepens the soil. It deepens the heart so that seed finds root. Verse 22, Now he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and that cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

The seed germinated here, but it was choked out by all the distractions, all the lusts of this age. Verse 23, But he who received the seed on good ground is he who hears the word, and understands it, who indeed bears fruit, and produces some hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Not all can grow the seed of God's calling, but what is it that makes for the good fertile ground that can grow that seed? The answer lies in the description of the chosen. That Greek word, eklekdos, describes all that God holds special. Everyone. It includes what he calls his select angels. That's in 1 Timothy 5 and verse 21. There are certain select angels, chosen angels, whose response to him made them select. It even refers to Jesus Christ. Turn with me, please, back to 1 Peter. I said we would be going there. 1 Peter 2. And we'll read verses 1 through 10. As those who will be with Christ at his return, they will bear some of the same qualities as Christ. 1 Peter 2. We'll begin reading in verse 1. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil, speaking as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. This describes the receiving of that calling, that invitation, as one tasting food and swallowing it, ingesting it, becoming part of them. You've tasted God's graciousness. Verse 4. Coming to him as a living stone. That's us. That's the chosen, living stones. Being built into something by God, the master stone worker. Rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, and precious. That's the chosen. That's the elect. Precious to God. Verse 5. You also as living stones, being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. That's a reference to Christ. Elect. Eclectos. In reference to Christ. Precious. And he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. Christ is precious to the elect. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. When they don't see Christ, when they don't understand Christ, when they don't understand what they need to become, to stand with him at his return, he becomes a stumbling block. Verse 8. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. They were appointed to that word to understand it, but now they become disobedient to it because they don't make the connection to God through Christ. Verse 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were once not a people, but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Picture a master stone layer, building a beautiful structure, searching a pile of stones for just the right stone, the right shape, the right fit for where he wants to put it, and selecting each one, especially, individually, for a special purpose. That's what God has done with the chosen. Christ is God's cornerstone, the one of a kind, that could only go in one place, supporting the entire building. And the elect are the living stones that adjoin him in the building of this building. They're selected from those who respond appropriately to his calling, who fully respect the one making the invitation, providing it to them, and recognize the weight of that invitation. Now, Peter's reference here to Isaiah 28 reveals more about what that response looks like. Let's go to Isaiah 28. This is always a good principle of Bible study.

When you see a reference to an Old Testament scripture in the New, and you're trying to understand the context, recognize that they pulled that scripture from its context in the Old Testament. Go back and search its context. It'll give much better understanding. This is Isaiah 28. We'll read verses 9 through 15. This is describing the attributes of those God calls his chosen. Verse 9. Whom will he teach knowledge, and whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk, the immature, those who can't progress on to weightier matters, those just drawn from the breast, for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

This building of understanding. See, God can only teach those who take his teaching seriously, who recognize the weight of it, and those who dedicate themselves to this kind of learning. Verse 11. For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to his people, to whom he said, This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was to them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and caught, painstakingly taught, no excuses that they couldn't understand or learn or see because it was given to them, the error was in themselves, and they couldn't see it, they couldn't respond it, because they didn't address the error within themselves first.

Verse 14. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said we have made a covenant with death and with shewler, the grave we are in agreement, when the overflowing scourge passes through. It will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves. See, truth is not that easily found. It must be built, understood, piece by piece, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, line upon line. It's painstaking to understand, and it won't be understood fully until it can be applied.

Those who hide behind lies, though, as their way of life, cannot be taught truth. And because God's word does not return to him empty, that truth is supposed to accomplish something. They will be held accountable for what they've been taught. And how can someone who's hiding behind lies embrace that truth and change, and grow into what they're supposed to be, to be at Christ's side at his return?

Look at verse 16. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, Jesus Christ, a tried stone, precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, whoever believes will not act hastily. It won't be rash with this, with truth handed to them, with truth that over periods of time, and serious learning, have put it all together and understand it.

It will be precious to them, just as they are precious to the one who gave them the truth. They won't be impetuous or presumptuous. Truth is never obvious. And it's not easily found. But there must be an effort to find it. Verses 17 through 19 now. Also, I will make justice the measuring line. Not just truth, but what truth accomplishes. Justice and righteousness, the plummet. Those are the goals. Truth, justice, righteousness. Those are the measuring aspects of the stones that God is looking for. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.

This is the overflowing scourge you referred to, and will so again. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. Lies cannot stand against the truth, or the scourging that is coming to purify that truth, to purify this earth of every lie, every sin. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it goes out, it will take you. For morning by morning, it will pass over, and by day and by night, it will be a terror just to understand the report. Just to get it, why do you think the messengers were killed when they were invited to a joyful wedding?

Because they saw it as a warning. It came from a king they couldn't stand. A king they hated, because they hated his position, his authority, his power, his wealth, in envy. They wanted their own, not his. So they killed his messengers. There was terror just in understanding the report. Truth, justice, and righteousness are the measures for these stones that respond as they should.

The one that God selects out of the pile of the called. Because only those who meet these standards, truth, justice, and righteousness, will withstand the overflowing scourge. You read most commentaries about that phrase. It's most likely a reference to the Assyrian invasion of ancient Israel, a foretype of God's judgment on their descendants that they will face in the end time, from which the church at Philadelphia would be kept from. That's in Revelation 3 and verse 10.

Revelation 3.10 says, The hour of trial will not come upon Philadelphia, it will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth, but not upon them. They will be kept from it, because their hour of trial happened in this age. When God looked at that stone, He knew He could work with it. He knew where it would go. He had a place for it, each and every one. That includes all of His chosen. Barnes notes comments this way on Isaiah 28. He says, They acted as if they had a safe refuge in falsehood. This is a reference to Israel.

A safe refuge in their lies. What lies? The lie that humanity can rule itself. The lie that we can take care of what God has given us. The lie that we can sin and still live. The lie that we will live forever. Or the lie that if we do badly wrongly, we will dwell forever in burning hellfire. The lie of all these holidays that are based on lies. Most love them and believe in them, because it's what they were traditionally taught. They're tied to their families. It's difficult to uproot them, and some don't want to. So to understand the report of the gospel is a terror to them.

Barnes notes again, they acted as if they had a safe refuge in falsehood. They sought security in false doctrines and regarded themselves as safe from all that the prophets had denounced. So we don't want to accept God's doctrines. Let's make our own. We don't want to accept God as God. Let's make our own. We can do this by ourselves. We don't need God. We will determine for ourselves what is right and what is wrong.

Trusting in lies damages the conscience. We know this. We know when the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, is working within our brains, it says, no, this is what you should do. And we have this fight going on, because our human carnal nature says, no, I want to do this, and I want what I want. We have to win that battle. If we don't, the conscience gets seared, and eventually it doesn't work.

Trusting in lies damages the conscience, and it prevents a relationship with God, which is what this is all about. This requires a connection, this relationship with God, a connection between the Spirit in man, the human Spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God. It's in the conscience, that part of the heart, where we weigh and measure, where we are weighed and measured by God.

Now, what is the heart of the chosen? What's going on inside? What are they thinking of? How do they reason? What do they want? What is their will? How does God will within them to do of His good pleasure? What are their passions? And why does their conscience work when others seem not to? What is it that predisposes one to seek justice, righteousness, and truth when everybody else forsakes them, or even afraid of them? Well, perhaps it's because they've been victimized by proliferating injustice in this age, by suffocating wickedness, and by entrenched falsehood, not just in the world around them, but within them as well. It comes a point in time in the process of repentance when we recognize we've done this to ourselves, and we don't want it anymore. These are to whom Christ was sent. Look at Isaiah 61 here, Isaiah chapter 61. This was quoted by Christ in Luke 4 verses 18 and 19 when He came into His, or at least the outside of His ministry. He read this in the temple. I'd like to read through verse 3, although He cut it off in the middle of verse 2. Isaiah 61 and verse 1, This is where Christ ended. Let's continue reading.

God knew that the poor, the brokenhearted, the captive, the bound, and the mourning would be more inclined to respond to His calling in a manner appropriate to that invitation. Self-centeredness, confidence in the self, hinders our ability to have confidence in God. Remember back to when this first became apparent to you, whether you were reared in the church or whether you came in from the outside. When it hit you right between the eyes, that your confidence had to be shaken, broken down, destroyed before we could be confident in God, before we could trust in God's ability to work within us. But God can work within the free moral agency of those who know their human weaknesses. He can't work in the heart of one who thinks they are without weakness. He cannot work in a mind that thinks more highly of its own will than His. And it takes an experience in this life to know that. Failure on our parts. Failure recognized. Failure owned. To know that we have sought our own way and failed miserably at it. Sometimes, quite often, most often, it's the failed, the miserably failed, who respond in the way He appreciates the most. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 here, describing those God knows who will respond to His calling. 1 Corinthians 1, we begin reading in verse 26, and we'll read through verse 31. For you see your calling, brethren. Notice, this is not the extended calling to the entire world. This is not the preaching of the Gospel. This was the heart and mind of one who responded, because they're being referred to here as brethren. Everyone that Paul was speaking to here had responded appropriately to the Gospel, and God had placed them among the beloved, the chosen. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. Would it offend you to be called a fool, weak, ignoble, or base? You shouldn't. That's what qualified us. We wouldn't be here otherwise. Unless we saw ourselves as this. If somebody ever insults you with these words, remember the Scripture and go, yeah, yeah, you got a point there. And there's a reason for that. It put us in a mindset to receive the Gospel. It rejoiced over that. So we recognized the invitation. It could be selected by God to be chosen, so that He would be glorified, as it will say later on here. That's our joy. Verse 27, but God has chosen the foolish of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. Some won't acknowledge their weaknesses, their base nature, their foolishness, and they remain so.

And it doesn't mean that those God calls from among the foolish and the weak and the base, that we are to remain so. We just recognize we couldn't do it on our own, but He in us can. That's the difference. And we grow, as Christ says in His nature.

28, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His sight. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that it is written, He who glories let Him glory in the Lord.

God seeks meekness in those who respond to His calling, to His invitation, because they can respect the one that is inviting them. Those who would by no means glory in God's sight, with no means by saying, well, God, yeah, you did a lot, but I had to do something here. No. No. No glory at all. This is all on God.

And to a great degree, there's a great pressure that's relieved from us when we acknowledge that.

It doesn't take us out of the process. We still have free moral agency. We still must choose. We still have things to battle, obstacles to overcome. But it's God's power in us that does that. We don't drum it up of ourselves. Christ said this in Matthew 11, verse 25, acknowledging this. Matthew 11, verse 25, He said, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes, little ones, small ones, foolish and weak ones, who will not remain so in His care.

Look at John chapter 4 here. John 4. Christ here is addressing the woman by the well, makes a statement that we should always remember, verses 23 through 24. He tells her this, But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

How's that done? Because they work it up on themselves? No, there has to be a soil fertile enough to receive the seed. There have to be individuals who are willing, wanting, and recognizing that the physical doesn't matter. The physical is going to end. I desperately want to understand what happens after this. There's got to be more than this. There's got to be more than this body, my house, my car. You see this oftentimes when you have loved ones die, or when you go through some kind of terrible illness and pain. It's only those who are put in those kinds of situations where they recognize there's got to be more. In spirit and in truth, where is that? Not facts, not science, not things I prove on my own. Truth is deeper. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. Did you see that? God is seeking those who want to worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. He is seeking those who will do so. Now this suggests something within the heart of those who hear God's invitation that enables them to respond in spirit and in truth. Not that they can grab on to God's spirit, not that they can find the truth on their own, but they are soil ready for the seed.

Something that can germinate that seed and make it grow. Look at Isaiah 66 here now. Isaiah 66, verses 1 and 2. What is that? Who are those on whom God will look? Isaiah 66, verses 1 and 2. We'll spend some time here. It's a pivotal scripture. Coming at the end of Isaiah, the last book, and recognize the context. God is building something. No man can build it.

He tells them that, but then He describes what He's looking for in those He will add like stones into His building. Thus says the Lord, Isaiah 66, verse 1. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Let that visual image take hold in your mind and recognize our part in this. How small it is. How important it is, but small, compared to what He does. Sitting on His throne with the earth as His footstool. Where is the house that you will build me? He says. And where is the place of my rest? We can't build that. That's completely His. And it's spiritual in nature. Verse 2. For all those things my hand is made. Anything that you would use to put a house together for me, I own already. Why would I have you build this for me? And those things exist, says the Lord. But, this is an implication, but here is that God has not made this.

We fashioned it. He placed it within us. But we own it. It's our free moral agency. It's the right He's given us to choose. He doesn't own that. He doesn't manipulate that. He doesn't twist that. He lets us make the choice. On this one will I look.

On Him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. Very short statement, but profound.

First look at the first one. Who is poor and of a contrite spirit? Because on this one God will look. And this is the response that He's looking for in those who would call His chosen.

When they hear the Gospel message, why does that seed germinate? Barnes notes this about this verse. It says the word rendered poor here in Hebrew. This is ani. It's spelled A-N-I-Y in the English letters. Ani. It denotes not one who has no property, but one who is downtrodden, crushed, afflicted, oppressed.

The idea is not that God looks with favor on a poor man merely because he is poor. Which is not true, for his favors are not bestowed in view of external conditions in life, but that He regards with favor the man that is humble and subdued in spirit.

Similarly, a contrite spirit is one that is broken, crushed, or deeply affected by sin. It stands opposed to a spirit that is proud, haughty, self-confident, and self-righteous.

The contrite of heart, the poor in spirit. God will look to those who have been beaten down under an age of pride, from without and within, who own their failures and desperately want to stop making them.

Who are troubled over the direction they and the world around them are heading in, who grieve for the human condition, who are deeply saddened by their futile attempts at self-rule, apart from God.

Who are experiencing a sorrow and distress so deep that it is leading them to seek repentance and to change.

Contrite. Poor. Receptive to His message. Look at 2 Corinthians 7 here.

2 Corinthians 7 describes something that Paul refers to as godly sorrow.

A sorrow not only generated by God's working, but a sorrow that seeks God's way of change and describes it very tightly.

This is in the context of Paul correcting them in the first book and then responding to that correction. He was very happy that they were going through this godly sorrow because it enabled them to actually change.

2 Corinthians 7 verses 9 through 12.

He says, Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led you to repentance, change, and about face.

For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

You've heard those before, right? Oh, I'm sorry if I offended you. That kind of puts the blame on someone else, right?

I'm sorry I didn't want to do it the way you wanted me to. Or, this way, I'm sorry, don't punish me. Please be merciful. I'm sorry.

No, this is about change. This is almost about somebody who accepts the consequences for their wrong choices because they know those consequences will help them change.

Verse 11, For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner. This is how God would sorrow. This is how God would inspire sorrow within us.

What diligence it produced in you. Notice that. Diligence. This is not just, here, come to the wedding, have a ball.

No, there's a certain sense of recognition of what is required of those who go to this wedding, who attend.

Not just in how they dress, but in how they respect their host. What diligence it produced in you. What clearing of yourselves.

I don't like this sin. I want it out of me. What indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication.

In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Therefore, although I write to you, I did not do for the sake of whom I'd done the wrong, nor for the sake of whom I suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.

They needed to see that what they went through is the process. They had to go through that to change in character, in their nature.

It is godly sorrow that makes us teachable and keeps us teachable.

If we lose this somehow, if we become so self-assured that our sorrow is that of the world and that what God inspires, we cease to be teachable.

And God does not teach in vain.

Look at that. I made reference to that earlier. Let's go there. Isaiah 55.

Isaiah 55 verse 11. God makes a sympathetic statement.

Isaiah 55, 11, He says, So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth.

It shall not return to me void, or empty, or vain.

But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. If it's heard, if it's received, He expects it will have its effect.

That's why it doesn't go to those who aren't responding appropriately.

The individual that was thrown out of the wedding in that parable, I realize it's a made-up story.

But it's actually to that individual's favor to sit in the presence of God while ignoring his greatness, his magnificence, his power and authority as God does no favor to that individual.

God will not open a mind to His word if that mind either will not or cannot provide a place for His word to implant within and grow for the purpose He intends.

He intends the birth of His offspring. He doesn't want it to abort.

Do we still have a poor, contrite spirit, brethren? Are we still repentant? Are we still teachable? Well, God's chosen are.

The second part of Isaiah 66.2 says this.

It describes the chosen. The response that makes them chosen is this.

They tremble at His word. They tremble at the word of God.

We sing quite often and with great joy that God speaks to us.

By His great power we are led.

But that joy does not displace our fear and reverence for Him or for what He says, or our accountability that He has chosen us to hear and understand Him, and place within us the ability to do so.

I say that that's a great weight lifted off us. When you understand that, it feels like a tremendous stone on our backs.

And we can't carry it, but He in us can. Picture this. The supreme Creator and ruler of all, that every living being apart from humanity, apparently, fears, He speaks to us.

The all-powerful, all-perfect One who reveals to us, reveals to us who He is.

He opens our minds to principles of truth, that found everything that exists, principles that the best minds in this world can't understand.

He shares with us His awesome, terrifying plans.

Now the true weight of this would buckle every human knee. Does it still buckle ours?

When you open your Bible, is it just another textbook?

Is this just something we read?

Or are we deeply digging into it, respecting it for what it is?

And when we read it, does it still cut us to our hearts? Does it make us tremble? I describe this in a Q&A down in Pinecrest. I still don't think the kids got it.

I'm not sure I get it fully. You know me as a guy that gets choked up here a lot.

But it's not usually when I'm describing something sad, or something that depresses me, usually.

It's usually...no, it's always when I recognize that God is speaking through me to you.

Because I'm wholly inadequate at it.

Who would not be what human being, other than Christ, when he was in the flesh, could speak the word of God without flaw?

That's why Christ said, by their fruits shall you know them, not by their lack of flaws. That same feeling we should have when we read his word.

This, what he preserved for us, written for us in this age.

It's all over the world, so those he calls and chooses can have access to it wherever they are.

But it's not just about owning one. And it's not just about reading one.

He has a clear message for his chosen in here that must embed itself within us.

That is incredible privilege and a great responsibility. A very real weight.

And it should send us to our knees. The psalmist in Psalm 119, verse 120, Psalm 119, 120 says, My flesh trembles for fear of you.

Now I know it's popular in today's day and age to say, well, we shouldn't be afraid of God.

No. We have to find some way of combining our love for God with our fear of Him.

We're losing that in this age of no authority.

We didn't even like to say the word Mr. and Mrs. anymore. We teach that at camps.

But it's leaving us in our generation. We don't get that.

But we have to find a way, God's way of loving amidst all of that.

He will never disavow His authority. He can't as God. He will never do that.

My flesh trembles for fear of you. This is the psalmist writing. He said, And I am afraid of your judgments. It's not wrong to fear God. It's right to fear God. It's the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom.

It's the beginning of a relationship with Him. Look at Habakkuk here. Habakkuk chapter 3.

I'd like to do a study of Habakkuk at some point in the future. A lot in here.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk chapter 3.

Let's read verses 1 through 9. This is the ending of the book. It is a prayer, one that is set to a tune at the end of it, to the chief musician with my stringed instruments, a prayer that is sung. We'll just read through it.

And recognize what Habakkuk is saying here. Some of the same things that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel are all saying as they interacted with God and delivered His message to His people. The sense of fear. Habakkuk 3, verse 1.

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet Anshigonoth.

O Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid.

O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years, and the midst of the years make it known.

In wrath remember mercy. God came from Timon, the Holy One from Mount Peron Selah.

His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise. His brightness was like the light.

He had rays flashing from His hand. And there His power was hidden before Him with pestilence, before Him with pestilence, and forever followed at His feet. He stood and measured the earth.

He looked and startled the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered.

The perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting.

I saw the tents of Kushan and the affliction, the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

O Lord, were you displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers?

Was your wrath against the sea that you rode on your horses, your cherries of salvation?

Your bow was made quite ready. O's were sworn over your arrows, Selah.

The earth with rivers, the mountain saw you and trembled.

The overflow of the water passed by. The deep uttered its voice and lifted its hands on high.

The sun and moon stood still in their habitation.

The light of your arrows they went, or at the light of your arrows they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.

You marched through the land and indignation. You trampled the nations in anger.

You went forth for the salvation of your people, for salvation with your anointed.

You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck, Selah.

You thrust through with his own arrows the head of his villages.

They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.

You walked through the sea with your horses, through the heap of great waters.

When I heard, my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice.

Rottenness entered my bones.

And I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble.

When he comes up to the people, he will invade them with his troops.

The worst of what's written in Scripture lies ahead of us.

But the best of what's written in Scripture lies ahead of that, for the chosen.

Verse 17, Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, Though the labor of the olive may fall or fail, and the fields yield no food, Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

This kind of fear doesn't make us flee from God. It draws us closer.

A recognition of his power and might inspires us to love him in his mercy and kindness and patience with us.

Verse 19, The Lord is my strength, and he will make my feet like deer's feet, and he will make me walk on my high hills.

The chosen have a responsibility to maintain a heightened sensitivity to God's powerful eminence, yet still be drawn by his loving nature.

It is only in the fear of the Lord that he can lead us down a path to moral perfection and understand his divine knowledge and wisdom.

That's where we're heading. We're not there yet by any means, but that's where we're being led.

Brethren, do we still tremble at the word of the Lord? Do we still see and deeply revere him and what he says?

The chosen will. I'd like to look here in closing now at the path of the chosen, because there is a walk of hope that the chosen have.

Matthew 24 is typically not a placement he turned to for hope, but it does give us an understanding of what he calls us for.

It's for the chosen's sake that the end time will be shortened in mercy and loved for them. Matthew 24, verse 21.

His Lord said to him, I'm sorry, 25, For then there will be great tribulation, such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time, No, nor ever shall be, the worst days this earth has ever seen.

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, some translations say, alive.

But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there do not believe it, For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive.

If possible, even the elect, the eclectos, the chosen, See, I have told you beforehand, therefore if they say to you, look, he is in the desert, do not go out, Or look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it.

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

That's where we began, those coming to fight Christ at his return, in Revelation 17.

Verse 29, now, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, And the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, And the powers of the heavens will be shaken, And the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, With power and great glory, And he will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, And they shall gather together his elect, His chosen ones, from the four winds, From one end of the heaven to the other.

Again, it is for the chosen sake that the end time will be shortened.

They will not be deceived by false Christ, because they seek the truth in spirit, And will be gathered by the angels, by the four winds, when the trumpet sounds, Christ's return. In Philippians 3, verse 14, Paul called the path of the chosen, The upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

This is not a reference to proximity, but a way, a direction of divine character.

In Hebrews 3, verse 1, it's called a heavenly calling of the chosen, Because it's heaven's way of life that defines it.

The calling takes on a much deeper meeting when viewed from the path of hope the chosen are on.

Look at Ephesians 4. I'm sorry, I'm going long.

Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 3.

There's a few more scriptures. Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 3.

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you are called.

The calling has a worthy walk.

Subsequently, by implication, there is a walk unworthy of it. We must know the difference.

Paul describes it here, and it fits in with the contrite of heart, the poor, those who tremble at his word.

Verse 2, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The chosen have a walk that only those who tremble at God's word can learn.

The chosen also have a hope that can only be harbored in the heart of the poor and the contrite.

Look at Ephesians 1 here. Ephesians 1, verse 18.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling.

What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the States? Only those chosen can understand that.

Look at chapter 4, verse 4 here in Ephesians.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called, in one hope of your calling.

The calling requires diligence to respond to. We'll finish here in 2 Peter 1, verses 5-10.

2 Peter 1, verse 5. There's a whole path here that is described, the progression of character attributes that we are to be developing as we travel and walk this path of hope.

Verse 5 of 2 Peter 1.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The calling of the chosen requires diligence to respond to.

And that is only possible in the contrite who tremble at his word.

Brethren, chosen, elect, we are of all humans the most privileged.

What makes us weak in this world enabled us to properly respond to the gospel of the kingdom of God, and we became precious in God's eyes.

We should never take that for granted or forget the contrite, respectful nature that made that possible.

From that point, we go on and live faithful lives. We will discuss that the next time I speak.