Dear Saviour, Thou art mine, how sweet the thought to me,

Crown Him the Lord of life Who triumphed o’er the grave,

The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord,

Naught have I gotten but what I received;

My sin – O the bliss of this glorious thought – My sin – not in part – but the whole is nailed to His cross; and I bear it no more; praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

Is there any of us here who chose our parents? At the moment of conception was there any of us here who said, “Now, hold on a minute, I’m not too sure if I want to be born just yet, … and I’m not too sure if I want to have these two as my mother and father. I might wait for a better offer”?

I’m not too much up in anything medical but I don’t need to ask the nurses here … we all know that it is not the case that we have the choice who to be born to, or when, or into what type of family situation.

Who makes the decision then – before we were born - as to who our parents will be, and into what surroundings we are to be born? Is that not God?

Who is it that is control of all things? It’s God, isn’t it?!

It was God that has been in control of our lives right from before the very beginning, Ps. 139:13  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16  your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17  How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Why then ought it to take you by surprise that it was He Who began the work that would ultimately lead to your salvation through Christ?

I share Paul’s love for this doctrine which is the integral core of the Gospel that Jesus saves, Paul wrote, Eph. 1: 4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

You see, that is an altogether powerful redemption! Please don’t argue with me over it, - I didn’t put it there, I’m just telling you what God in His Word has written.

What does it mean? It means that long before I decided for Christ, Christ decided for me!

What is there about that great truth that is so repugnant? I don’t know, I don’t understand. It is a work of God and I love God’s story of saving grace!

Here is what Jesus said, Jn. 15: 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, … 19  I have chosen you out of the world.

When did He choose me? Did He choose me without even consulting me?! Here is when he chose you … Peter was the disciple who would have argued with his own shadow and yet the truth of the Gospel had reached home into his heart, I Pet. 1: 2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Some people say God knew who was going to be saved and then He chose them, - please don’t insult God by making Him out to be like a little boy running after our whims!

I contributed as much to being born of my earthly parents as I did of being born to my Heavenly Parent … Titus 3: 5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Jesus said, Jn. 15:5 without me ye can do nothing. And John elaborated, Jn. 1: 12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

So you see, these are just a few verses from God’s Word but they show you the powerful regeneration that takes place as the consequence of God touching your life and redeeming you.

But is there nothing I have to do? Well, God has done everything that is necessary to save you.

	He has chosen you,
	Through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit He has shown you your sin and the consequences of rebellion against God.
	And then what happens is this: because He has shown you the terribleness of your sin and your need of the Saviour the Holy Spirit lays the burden so heavily upon your heart that you are caused to cry out with absolute sincerity and repentance, What must I do to be saved? …

You see, God came to me and showed me the terror of my sin.

In my sin I was heading towards a lost eternity in hell; I would be burning forever in the fires that will never be quenched.

I would never again see my loved ones. I would never enjoy the delights of Heaven that I heard the preacher talk about.

I would be deafened forever by all the wailing round me in hell and my voice would be crying out as loud as any of them!

I would be locked and chained and shackled because of my sin and there would be no release from the everlasting punishment of the eternal hell of God’s wrath … but God stepped into my life uninvited and He challenged me with His Word.

He began to do a work in my heart; here is how it is described in Acts 16:14 when Paul went down to the riverside at Philippi and met the woman Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened.

It is the work of the Lord that He opens the door of the heart through which He will enter. II Tim. 2: 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

You see, once again, the Word of God brings home the truth about His grace, Col. 2: 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

He took me by faith to the cross where I saw Jesus agonisingly dying for my sin, and ever since every sinner that God has brought to the cross has cried out, Ps. 109:26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy.

That was my personal response when I called to God when He showed me where my sin would ultimately take me.

… The powerful regeneration, the personal response …

Redemption is a most beautiful word. It means ‘buying back’.

When Christ fulfilled the work of redemption He simply ‘bought back’.

Who did He ‘buy back’? Who did He redeem through His work at Calvary?

Was any of His precious blood wasted at Calvary? Is there anyone in hell today for whom Christ died … because if there is, His blood was wasted?! I don’t believe any of Christ’s blood was wasted!

Here is what the Bible says, Lk. 5: 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Does that mean that He didn’t die for the righteous Pharisees who insulted and blasphemed Him? Yes, that is what it means!

Does that mean that He didn’t die for Judas Iscariot, the son of perdition? Yes, that is what it means!

In Gethsemane, as He prayed the High Priestly prayer, Jn. 17:9 I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. Those were the disciples He was praying for because He knew they were soon to face persecution and death for Him. He came to be a ransom for many.

But He had another group of people for whom He prayed, v. 20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.

Those are the people for whom He died, - everyone of them; the great multitude of which no man can number! Mt. 20: 45  For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Is it right that God should do the choosing? Whether you think it is right or not, it doesn’t come into it! Rom. 9: 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. … 18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

But what about those who continue in their sin, I Cor. 2: 14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It is all up to God! But what glory there is in Christ’s death and resurrection … that He did it all for His Bride! Eph. 5: 25  … Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Some people foolishly ask the question, “But if God chooses who is to be saved why bother going out and distributing tracts, holding open-airs or preaching the Gospel? … Sure they are going to be saved anyway!”

No, Jesus said to His disciples Mk. 16:15 Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Paul, – the greatest missionary of all time, - wrote also, II Tim. 2: 10 I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

In particular redemption God searches out and finds His sheep, and when every last one of them is found then He shall return.

You might be thinking, “This is an awful Gospel because I have loved ones who are not yet saved.” Well, you keep praying for them because God can save them. They don’t need to come to a Gospel service to be saved … Who would ever have thought that a man who made his mission in life to kill Christians and travel the length and breadth of the land to do so would have ended up preaching the very Gospel he despised.

... But Saul of Tarsus, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, - such a vile man as he, who never darkened the door of a Gospel meeting except to arrest those gathered to listen, - was confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, and he fell to the earth and he was saved and he became a child of God.

He hadn’t planned it. He never intended it. He mocked the Gospel! But here is what he wrote to the Galatians 1: 13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace.

This is the Gospel of saving grace that Paul preached, that great men of God preached down through the twenty centuries, that the Reformers preached and God used to bring us out from under the yoke of the Roman Catholic paganism and blasphemous idolatry.

It is the only Gospel that gives God all the credit and all the glory for all of our salvation.

I dare not boast in anything I did, - the only thing I did do was that I believed when the Holy Spirit drew me irresistibly with the Truths of the Gospel.

Paul said, II Cor. 12:5 Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory ...

This Gospel speaks of the powerful regeneration, the personal response … and the Particular redemption.

There is only one final passage of Scripture I want to read to round it all of, II Thess. 2: 13  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 through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15  Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. 16  Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17  Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.