John G. Reisinger

Shortly after I came to understand the truth of sovereign grace I did a study of the effect of the doctrine of election on the life and ministry of Paul. I tried to look up and analyze every reference Paul made to election, predestination, calling, etc. I was amazed at how Paul's life and ministry not only clearly established the truth of sovereign grace, they also totally refuted most of the objections that people offer to election and predestination. Here is what I discovered:

1. Paul attributed his own conversion, and the conversion of all of his converts, to God's sovereign election!

Paul never once mentioned the so-called free will of man when talking about anyone's conversion. He never considered the will of man the decisive factor in anyone's salvation. This is not to say that man does not have to be willing to believe, but it does mean that Paul viewed that willingness as a gift from God and not a product of man's so-called free will. Notice the great joy Paul expresses as he gives the right person the deserved credit for salvation. He always praises God's sovereign electing grace for anyone's conversion.

A. His own conversion. Paul's conversion experience is recorded several places in Acts and his epistles. In every case God is credited from beginning to end as the reason Paul is saved. Notice one instance of his testimony:

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood (Gal. 1:15-16).

I am sure you notice how strikingly different that is from the "I decided to give Jesus a chance," or the "I'm glad I was willing to let God save me," kind of testimonies we hear today. Notice the following things: (1) Paul's conversion did not take place "When I decided to accept," but "when it pleased God." (2) It was not when Paul decided to "open my heart and let Jesus come in," but when (a) God "called me [effectually, or regenerated me] by his grace," and (b) "revealed his Son in me." A new heart is not the result of a dead sinner's willingness to be made alive but is the direct result of a divine revelation of the Holy Spirit's power to give a dead sinner a new heart. (3) Paul did not need a personal worker or counselor to convince him that he had been converted. He did not have to "confer with flesh and blood" and be assured that "Jesus has indeed come into your heart." When the Lord of Glory takes up his abode in a poor sinner's heart, that sinner knows something amazing has happened.

It is interesting how insistent Paul is that his readers understand that it was not his will, but God's sovereign will and purpose, that was totally responsible for his conversion.

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God…(Gal. 4:9).

Notice that the "or rather are known of God" is a very conscious and deliberate little insertion. It is almost as if Paul was saying, "I do not want you to misunderstand. I surely believe knowing God is vital, but I only know [love] God because he first knew [loved] me." Today we might paraphrase Paul's words this way, "Just in case a 'free will' enthusiast thinks I agree with him, let me set the record straight. I believe in sovereign electing grace. I was known by God long before I knew God."

B. All of his converts. Paul is not at all vague about why some people responded to the gospel under his preaching and others did not. He always made it clear that when anyone was converted God alone was to have the praise. Since Paul believed that God's sovereign electing grace was responsible for every man's conversion, he consciously gave God the praise for every conversion. The following text is typical:

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation (2 Thess. 2:13, 14).

The NIV translates it "chose you to be saved." We looked at this verse in our first article (Sound of Grace, Vol. 4 No. 5). I mention it again only to prove my point that Paul never congratulates the sinner on his wise choice or his good sense in "accepting Christ" nor did he praise himself or some other preacher for the 'great message.' He credited God with the whole of every man's salvation from beginning to end, including the gift of faith.

C. Paul not only attributed his own conversion, and the conversion of all of his converts to the electing grace of God, he did the same for all conversions. Acts 13:48 is a statement concerning conversion in general. Again, we have noted earlier how radically different this report is from the "I had ten first time decisions last week" brag sheets published today. My purpose in quoting it again is to emphasize that this is a deliberate statement by Paul giving conscious praise to God's electing grace as the sole cause of all of the conversions that afternoon. Free will does not enter the picture.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).

2. Predestination was the foundation of Paul's life and call to the ministry!

How strange to read what Paul says about the effect that the truth of God's sovereign electing grace had upon him and his ministry and then hear sincere Christians say, "We should not preach about election and predestination since it is a dangerous doctrine." These people are especially afraid of hurting new believers with heavy doctrine and even more concerned that lost people not be discouraged by hearing about the sovereignty of God. Let me answer these two objections with Paul's own testimony. Examine the following verses carefully and you will see how silly these objections are.

And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth (Acts 22:10-14).

Let's make sure we get the message Paul was conveying. (1) Paul freely admits that he was not seeking after God. He was filled with blind rage against Christ and Christians and fighting Christ as hard as he could. (2) He was testifying that he was blinded; spiritually by his religious ignorance, and physically by the miraculous intervention of God. (3) Jesus spoke to him from heaven. No man was ever more amazed than Paul when he learned that this 'Lord' who had struck him was none other than the very Jesus he was persecuting. (4) Ananias said, "Receive your sight," and Paul was able to see. There is no hint of a suggestion that Paul had to be willing to comply before he would see. This incident is a manifestation of sovereign grace and power from beginning to end. Paul says, "And the same hour I looked…" The looking by Paul did not give his sight. The looking was the result of God giving him sight by the command of Ananias.

This passage clearly answers the two objections we are discussing. First of all, it proves that the first Christian doctrine that Paul learned as a brand new convert was the doctrine of election. Notice again what Ananias said: "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee…" The very first truth that Paul, a brand new convert learned, was that he was saved because God had chosen him in electing grace. And, I might add, that was a truth that Paul never forget nor did he ever cease to be amazed that it was true.

Notice the following things in verse 14. (1) Paul states that he was chosen in order to know God's will. He did not first know that will and then decide to believe. (2) He was chosen so that he would be able to 'see' that Just One. He did not first see, like what he saw, and then decide to believe. (3) He was chosen to 'hear' and did not choose because he first heard and then decide to accept it. Isn't it amazing how carefully the Holy Spirit chooses his words?

I think the Holy Spirit is explaining that it is essential to start off one's Christian life with the clear realization that one is a child of sovereign grace. You are not your own but you have been bought with a price and he who purchased you has every right to do with you as he pleases. We did not enter into a partnership with God at conversion, we were slaves and have been purchased out of slavery. We have neither the ability nor the right to boast about either the power of our wills or our rights to make our own choices. There can be only one boss and the sooner we learn that God himself is that boss, the better off we will be. Paul's experience shows that God's purpose is that we learn that truth at conversion.

I believe that one of the primary reasons preachers and other church leaders are experiencing 'burn-out' can be traced to the truth we are talking about. One cannot tell sinners that they did God a favor by allowing him to save them and then get them to live like they owe everything to God's grace. One cannot lead a sinner to believe that he alone, with his 'free will,' was the one decisive factor in his conversion and then urge him to feel a deep and life-changing obligation to God's sovereign grace. In other words, if one wants to get ulcers one need only 'fast-deal' sinners into making a decision that is totally designed to help them to be happy and then try to get those people to willingly make sacrifices that just might infringe on their happiness. One cannot get goats to act like sheep but one can surely get burned out trying. If one teaches the sinner he is "the master of his fate" don't be surprised if he lives like that were true. Teach him he is a bondslave of sovereign electing grace and it is a different matter all together.

The second thing that Paul's conversion teaches us concerns election and gospel preaching. Not only was election the first Christian doctrine Paul learned, but when he was telling about his conversion, in the Acts 22:10-14 passage, he was giving his testimony to a group of lost people. Now that ought to close the mouth of the objector who is frightened that a lost person should never be told about election. Paul was not afraid to talk about election in evangelism.

I am not at all suggesting that we must talk about election every time we preach or witness to the lost. In a previous article we emphasized that election was not the gospel or part of the gospel. Election is what makes the gospel work. However, there are times when election is the very truth that some sinners need. Nothing kills self-sufficiency like the truth of election. Nothing humbles a proud religionist like sovereign grace. How do you respond to a sinner who says, "Leave me alone, when I get ready to believe, I will believe?" I clobber them over the head with election. I tell them they cannot get ready. I press on them the truth that God does not have to send another witness to them but can leave them alone and let them go to hell for sure. Romans 9 is not a secret for only God's sheep. It is the message for every proud 'Pharaoh' in this world. It is the hammer of God that destroys the damning myth of the power and rights of one's 'free will.' Sovereign election, rightly preached, will drive men to seek grace.

3. Predestination was the foundation of Paul's missionary zeal to preach the gospel.

How often have we heard the cry, "If I believed election I would never witness." Actually, if I did not believe election, I would not witness! If I believed that the sinner alone had the power to make God's plan of salvation work, I would realize that no one would ever be saved. "But," we are told, "preaching election will destroy all missionary effort." Again Paul's life proves this objection to be groundless. Notice first how election motivated Paul:

Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city (Acts 18:9, 10).

We don't usually think of Paul as a man who was afraid, but here is one instance where the Holy Spirit tells us that Paul was afraid. We can imagine that the Devil was whispering in his ear about how hopeless the situation was as well how useless were Paul's efforts. "You really don't believe you can persuade anyone in that wicked city to become Christians. You may well lose your life." And how did God encourage Paul? He used the truth of election! God said, "Paul you are safe wherever I call you to go. I have some elect in that city and they are going to respond to the gospel when I open their hearts by my power." That is the thing that motivated our Lord in John 14:14-16. Some people, very particular people, simply must be saved because it is the determined purpose of God. Paul was willing to suffer anything and everything for that purpose to be accomplished.

Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory (2 Tim. 2:10).

Why would Paul suffer for something that did not exist? Why would he endure all that he did unless he was sure of the outcome. John Patton was a missionary to the New Hebrides islands. He lost his wife and child to disease. He was nearly killed on many occasions. He labored for nearly twenty-five years with no 'success.' Do you think he ever felt discouraged? Do you think the Devil ever whispered in his ear as he did Paul's? What would keep someone preaching in such a situation? John Patton stood over the grave of his wife and children and prayed, "Father, you have chosen a people out of every tribe and tongue to be saved. Some of those chosen ones are on this island and I will not leave until they are safely in the fold." That is what biblical election will do for missions. In God's time Patton saw the island swept into the kingdom of God.

I freely admit that the truth of God's electing grace, and the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit to enable a person to be able to believe, will kill a lot of fleshly zeal that has hatched up some very 'successful' carnal methods of 'getting decisions' (and the sooner such things are killed the better), but I assure you that the Bible and history testify that election is the only thing that can produce and maintain true gospel mission work. Many sincere people have gone to the mission field with genuine pity and human love for those "poor people who are just waiting to hear the gospel" and after two break-ins of their homes, the loss of their possessions and constant threats to their life, have changed their minds and feelings about "those poor people."

Let me note one more passage that proves that believing election did not adversely affect Paul's ministry.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved (Rom. 10:1).

Now remember, the above words immediately follow those awesome words in Romans 9. There is no chapter in all of the Word of God that exalts sovereign election like the ninth chapter of Romans. "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth" (Romans 9:18), does not sound very 'free-willish' to me. That is high, high, Calvinism. And yet the man who wrote those awesome words immediately says that he longs to see those same people described in chapter nine converted. He sincerely prays for them and continues to witness to them. Human logic may say it is a waste of time, but that did not stop the great apostle from preaching the gospel to all men and pleading with God to open their hearts to believe.

4. Predestination was the ground upon which Paul appealed to believers when he urged them to worship and praise God.

We have already covered one of the most obvious texts that teach this truth. Look again at our first article and review the comments on 2 Thessalonians 2:13. Notice especially that election is the source of joy and thanksgiving. The next text is one my favorite verses in all of Scripture. I will never forget the way God taught me its meaning.

For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it (1 Cor. 4:7)?

In my first pastorate I had to work part time. One morning before I went to work, I read the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Verse seven jumped out at me and I could not quit thinking about it. On my way to work I picked up an elderly black man. He told me some of the horrible things that had happened to him because of the wicked prejudice against the color of his skin. As he talked, I kept thinking, "Who maketh thee to differ from another?" Why did that man suffer all those injustices of which I knew nothing in my life? Why was the color of our skin different?

I have often asked the congregation to look at the color of their hands. Some may be black, others, white, or red, or yellow. However, regardless of the color, the individual's 'free will' had nothing to do with choosing that color. No person is either white or black by their own choice. It was God himself who made every Indian red, every Chinese person yellow, every black man black and every white man white. Our so-called free wills had nothing to do with our births. The very first sight that any and every person reading these words could have seen was a mother in a loin cloth carrying you off to the Ganges river to throw you in as a sacrifice. None of us said, "If I cannot be born in a middle class home in America, I simply refuse to be born." No! No! "Who maketh thee to differ from another" in the color of your skin? And, as Paul adds, since it was God alone who made the difference, how dare anyone boast or be prejudiced?

As I pulled into my boss's driveway I saw his 24-year-old son with nothing on but a large diaper. He was playing with a little rubber hammer. He had the mentality of a one-year-old. I again kept thinking, "Who maketh thee to differ from another?" I had graduated from high school and seminary. I had two healthy children who were doing well in school. Did my free will, and my children's free will, refuse to be born mentally retarded? Did you say, "If I can not have at least a good enough IQ to graduate from high school, I simply refuse to have anything to do with the thing called life?" No! No! Every person who reads these words could have been born a Mongoloid child. "Who maketh thee to differ from another" includes not only the color of your skin but also the capacity of your brain.

That evening on my way home from work I stopped at the post office to get my mail. As I put my key into box 221, I heard a guy use my name with a string of curse words. "John Reisinger, you blankety blank so and so, how are you?" I turned around and saw a man I had not seen for years. We had been in the Navy together, and the last time I had seen him was on Guadalcanal, when we had been drunk all night. He said, "Let's go have a beer and talk over old times." I said, "Ah, well, ah, I don't do that anymore." I then told him the gospel and that I was a preacher. He was silent for several minutes and then burst out laughing and said, "That is the best one you ever told yet." He thought I was putting him on. I had to take him around the corner and show him my name on the bulletin board of the church before he would believe me.

As the man walked away shaking his head, the tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought "Who maketh thee to differ from another." I think I would have gotten angry if someone would have said to me, "John, the difference between that man and you is this: you were willing to believe but he was not." I knew the difference between us was nothing at all in either him or myself. The difference was in the sovereign electing purposes of God.

My dear Christian brother or sister, I do not care if we are talking about your nationality, or the color of your skin, or your salvation. In every case it was decided by God's sovereign predestination and had nothing to do with your so-called free will. The same thing is true of your physical health and mental ability. Whether you are a genius or a slow learner, you did not choose your IQ with your so-called free will. You must say, "It was God who made me to differ from another." Your personal salvation must be treated the same way. If you are one of Christ's sheep and rejoice in his free forgiveness, it is only because he choose you to be a sheep. Your free will did not enable a goat to change itself into a sheep. It was sovereign electing that "made you to differ from another."

I trust you can see the point that Paul is making. He is using election to destroy both our arrogant self-sufficiency and our constant tendency to stupid prejudice. No one who understands and feels the truth of 1 Corinthians 4:7 can ever again look down their nose at anybody. They cannot boast, because, as Paul says, "Whatever you have you received from God alone."

5. Paul based his appeals to believers to be holy on the fact of their election.

It is no accident that Paul's epistles always begin with doctrine. He does not appeal for a right response until he first gives a clear and convincing reason for demanding that response. In other words, doctrine precedes duty as the essential foundation for the duty. Duty is urged as the only logical response to the doctrine set forth. 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 is the typical Pauline method of appealing to believers to be holy.

What? know ye not that… ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

Do you see the force of the argument? The appeal to glorify God in all things is based on a logical and doctrinal therefore. Why do I owe God perfect obedience in all that I do? Because I am not my own but belong entirely to him. I belong to him simply because he bought me with the blood of his Son.

Does the object purchased choose who is going to purchase it, or does the one who pays the price choose what he wants to buy? The purchaser is the one acting and the object being purchased is passive. Did you choose God to purchase you, or did he purchase you because he first choose you to be purchased? How can a believer not want to glorify God? It would be insane for a true child of God not to sincerely want to please the one who purchased him out of sin, shame, guilt, and death! And, I might add, God has given all of his sheep, without a single exception, a "sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7)

A careful study of all of Paul's epistles will find this principle to be the norm. First doctrine and then appeal to personal behavior. To say, as many sincere sentimentalists today say, "Never mind doctrine, let's just have practical living," is to miss Paul's message. The message of Paul is this: "It is impossible to have godly practical living without first laying a foundation of sovereign grace where the only possible response can be holy living. Look at two examples.

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called (Eph. 4:1).

This appeal for a worthy walk is the first such exhortation in the epistle. The first three chapters talk about doctrine. The truth of sovereign election is set forth in chapter one; the depths of depravity out of which we have been raised in regeneration is laid out in chapter two; and the amazing grace of God and its attendant blessings which have been freely given to every believer is explained in chapter three. All of this is through our union with Christ. Ephesians 4:1 is Paul's first use of word therefore in the 'doctrine/response' sense. Paul did use the word therefore previously in Ephesians 2:19, but that was not as the basis of an appeal but to establish a point of doctrine. Chapters one through three are pure theology. They show the great blessings a child of God is privileged to by being joined to Christ. The therefore in Ephesians. 4:1 is the same as saying, "Now because everything I said in the three previous chapters is true, the only possible logical and sane response is for you to walk in your daily life in a way that brings glory to the one who lavished all these aforementioned blessings on you."

Paul does the same thing in Romans. Romans chapters 1 through 11 is doctrine, doctrine, and more doctrine. The first appeal of any kind whatever does not appear until 6:1. The exhortation in Romans 12:1 can only be understand by seeing that "the mercies of God" are referring back to the first eleven chapters.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Rom. 12:1).

Notice Paul's appeal to reason. It is only reasonable that a child of God should present himself, and all that he is, to God because of God's sovereign electing grace (Rom. 1-11). Anything else is insane and irrational, and I repeat, God has given all of his true saints a 'sane mind.'

Is doctrine important? According to Paul, it is if you want to earnestly appeal to believers to live a holy life. Have you ever noticed that the hymns that glorify God's amazing grace are the ones that inspire you to be "lost in wonder and praise." The more a hymn exalts God's "Amazing Grace," the more it moves us to want to love and serve our great God and Savior. That is Paul's approach.

Let me quickly say a word about some of the specific effects this doctrine should have on us as individuals.

It must make us humble and make us grateful for special grace. This was Paul's goal in writing to the Corinthians.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh … But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world … God hath chosen the weak things of the world … That no flesh should glory in his presence.… That, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

For just a moment, imagine that you are responsible, by your free will for your faith in Christ. You are saved only because you were willing to believe the gospel with your so-called free will. You could not in honesty utter the above words. You would have to say, as Arminians are quite willing to do, "I, with my own free will, am the decisive factor that enabled God to save me. The only reason his eternal plan of salvation worked in my case, and not in another case, is the simple fact that I, with my free will, was willing to repent and believe the gospel."

If that is the case, then what specific thing do you owe to God anymore than any other person? Put another way, did God do everything for every lost man that he did for you? If not then exactly what has God done for you that he did not also do for every other person in this world?

You are saying, God loved the whole world just as much as me, "But I . . . . . I alone made the difference between myself and other people. The difference has nothing at all to do with the electing love of God. It has to do with my free will."

You are saying, Christ died for every person in this world in the same sense in which he died for me, "But I . . . . I took advantage of what Christ equally provided for everyone. I accepted the redemption that was made for me and all other sinners. Christ redeemed all men in the identical same sense that he redeemed me, but I took advantage of it and believed. The only real difference between myself and the man in hell is that I, with my free will, enabled the atonement of Christ to be effective and actually save me."

You are saying, the Holy Spirit convicted others in the same sense and to the same degree that he convicted me, "But I . . . . I allowed, with my free will, the Holy Spirit to give me a new heart. I was not, as others, unwilling to cooperate with Holy Spirit in regeneration. I wanted, with my free will, to be born again."

My sincere question is this: Which approach leads to glory in self and the power of free will, and which approach leads to worship and praise to both the grace and the power of the triune God? Does the clear answer to that possibly explain why there is so little genuine amazement and praise in the life and worship of believers today? How can we expect believers to fall flat on their face in worship and praise to God for any kind of special grace when we constantly tell them, "God has done all he can do, it is now entirely up to you and your free will.?" The depth of your gratitude to God will be in direct proportion to the depth of your understanding of what you really owe to him in salvation. The 'But I' theology of free will can only have a shallow gratitude because it has a shallow view of debtorship.

My dear reader, you may approach the throne of mercy and say, "Sovereign Lord, I am so happy that I decided to give you a chance to save me. I'm so delighted that my free will allowed you to do what you longed to do but could not until I agreed to allow you to do it." I say, you may speak thus, but as for me and my house, we will sing the following hymn:

Tis not that I did choose thee,

For, Lord, that could not be;

this heart would still refuse thee,

hadst thou not chosen me.

Thou from the sin that stained me

Hast cleansed and set me free;

of old thou hast ordained me,

that I should live to thee.

One last thing. We are often asked, "Why does God choose some to be saved and some to be lost?" We covered this objection in our second article (Sound of Grace, Vol. 4, No. 6).

It is an undeniable fact that God chooses some sinners to be saved and leaves others to perish. However, we know that none are chosen because of either their own goodness or their willingness to be chosen. "But," says an objector, "the Bible specifically says that God is not a respecter of persons" (Rom. 2:11). If God, as an objector will assert, looked down through history and saw that some sinners would be willing to be chosen then God could say, "I have found some sinners with a willing heart and now have a basis upon which to choose them to be saved." In such a scenario, God is a respecter of man's foreseen faith. Such a view truly makes God a respecter of persons. Romans 2:11 does not mean that God shows grace to some men but not all, since the Bible clearly teaches this truth. It means that there is nothing about any man's personage that makes him different from any other sinner. There is nothing in any man's personage that God can respect and reward. Therefore when God chooses a particular sinner to be saved, it must be purely on the basis of sovereign grace and not foreseen faith.

I cannot emphasis strongly enough what we said in our first article. There is both a sovereign election of some unto salvation, and there is a sincere and universal offer of the gospel to all men without exception or distinction. See John 6:37 and Matthew 11:20-28.

No man or woman is in hell, nor will there ever be any, no matter when or where they lived, who will ever be able to blame God's election as the reason that they are in hell.

A. We could have any and every pagan who is in hell testify as to why they are in the place of torment, and without a single exception, they will say. "My testimony is recorded in Romans one. I am without excuse. The prophet Isaiah perfectly described me. I am the man who cut down a tree and used half of the tree to make a fire and used the other half to fashion an idol. Of course I knew it was the same tree. I would not follow the revelation that God gave me because I did not want to change my life. I knew better but still rejected the truth."

B. We could invite every Jew who is lost forever in hell to testify. Again, not a single one will testify that God's election is to be blamed for their estate. They will testify like this, "My biography is recorded in my treatment of the promised Messiah that God sent. Romans two describes me perfectly. I drank in the special blessings of God and thought I deserved these things just because I was a Jew. I thought that God loved us Jews, just because we were Jews, irrespective of the way we lived. I refused to listen to the very prophets God graciously sent to warn me that I was a sinner. In my proud self-righteousness I thought God hated the Gentiles just because they were Gentiles without reference to the way they lived. I can blame no one but myself, and I surely cannot blame God's election, for my plight."

C. Ah, my dear reader, may I say a pointed word to you. If you perish in hell, your lips will never accuse God of being unjust or unfair. You will never blame God's election for your eternal destruction. If you read the Sound of Grace, or hear me preach just once, then you have heard the gospel. You have been urged to trust Christ. If you refuse to repent and believe, you will perish with the gospel in your ears. You will plead guilty and will never even think of accusing the most high God or his sovereign electing grace as the reason you are in hell.

However, the exact opposite is true of the saint who makes it to heaven. In that land of glory, no one will even know how to spell the words free will. No saint will talk about "giving God a chance" or "allowing God to save them." All boasting in the free will of man will be left behind. Let the saints come down from heaven and testify and their theme will be sovereign grace. They will, without exception, cry "Salvation is of the Lord, from beginning to end."

Imagine you are a four-legged sheep caught in a thicket from which you cannot free yourself. You are cold, hungry, thirsty, and your throat is sore from bleating. The more you struggle to get free the more the briars dig into your flesh and make the blood flow. Finally, in utter despair you resign yourself to your pitiful situation, quit struggling, and prepare to die. If, in that most hopeless situation, you heard the familiar voice of a shepherd, what would you do? You would cry, "Baaaa! Baaaaa!" as loudly as you could.

Well, let me tell that if you are a two-legged sheep in the same condition, you will react the exactly the same way. If you are caught in a thicket of sin and cannot get lose, and the harder you try to get free the more you fail because the bonds of sin get stronger, and you are hungry, tired, and thirsty, then I have good news. There is a gracious Shepherd calling your name. Cry out to him. Cry, "Baaaa! Baaaaa!" as loudly as you can. Tell him how sick you are of sin and its awful consequences. Tell him how totally helpless you are and how badly you need his grace and power. He will be at your side in a moment. He will free you from the thicket of sin, bind up your wounds, give you bread and water, and put you on his shoulder and carry you safely back to the fold.

The only person who will not cry out "Baa! Baa!" is the person who either does not believe they are caught in a thicket of sin but imagine they are totally free, or the person who loves the sin despite the misery it brings.

If you are a chosen sheep, you know what it is be set free from the thicket. You have tasted the bread of heaven and have drunk the water of life. You will praise forever he who loved you with an everlasting love and washed you in his own precious blood.

Copyright 2004 John G. Reisinger