ELECT

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 24:31 And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Our Bible is formed in 66 books and is considered the canon or yardstick of our faith. The canon or absolute beliefs include God as all-knowing, all-powerful and all-present. If He was any less He would not be God. He knows what you will think before you think it. Without His empowerment you couldn’t do it and He is wherever you may be. With these three foundational certain truths, if you share them with me you are a Calvinist.

On the other side are those who believe that we have a free will and can do entirely as they choose before God’s knowledge, power or presence. I prefer to be Armenian and believe I am the total captain of my ship. To do that God ahs to lessen His attributes. I ask, if you are a “free will” believer, what are you free of, His knowledge, power or presence? See what I mean? We are not free of one speck of either of the three. He has predestined every moment of our lives.

The acronym to remember these doctrines by is T U L I P.

The first is total depravity. This does not mean that you are incapable of doing good deeds or being a good person, it just means that you cannot be good enough. You must be sinless to enter into heaven and stand before Father God. It is impossible for you to do this.

Unmerited salvation means that while you were in the midst of your depravity, God’s Son died on the cross as the payment of your punishment, so that you would by His grace be converted by His sacrifice and step into glory on His behalf sin-free.

Limited atonement declares that God so loved the world that He gave His Son so that whoever would believe in Him would be saved. This also means that whoever won’t believed in Him will not be saved.

Irresistible grace makes the elect the metal and Jesus the compelling magnet. Yes, you have free will but your choices as elect will ultimately be those choices and decisions that give Him all the glory and honor.

Perseverance of the saints means just that. When you are Him, you just don’t ever give up. Quite the opposite, you press on to keep the faith, fight the good fight and complete the race.