Beauty of Christ

Chosen Peoples

God reveals to John that he is going to call forth a people that has been purchased.He is going to call forth a people from every tribe, every tongue, every people and every nation.

Now when we hear that, we have only got a few options theologically and I am going to give them to you.

One, here is the question. Is this prophecy based on God’s foreknowledge of how people would respond to the gospel? Or is it based on his sovereign decree?

Two, did Christ pay a price only and hope that he might gain an uncertain number of people who might choose him? Or did he pay a price for a certain number of people that God had chosen before the foundation of the world?

Three, and this is the kicker. Now listen. I want you to think about this. Was Jesus able to reveal to John that men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation would be redeemed simply because he was able to look forward in time and see that fortunately that is the way things turned out? Or was it because God had ordained it from before the foundation of the world?

I will give you the answer. Psalms two, six and eight, chapter two verse six and eight: But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.

“I will give them to you, Son.”

And then in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I most certainly will not cast out.”

Now I want to conclude with just saying this. The infinite value of the death of Christ secures for us the right to offer the gospel to every creature on this planet and to do so passionately. That is why one of the first administrative acts of Christ when he had all authority and all power, was to send forth his men to preach to every creature on the face of the earth.

Excerpts from "The Guaranteed Harvest" by Paul Washer

Whether it is one family saved from a deluge in a makeshift boat, granting a baby to an
old man and his barren wife, sending a favored son to prison in Egypt, placing a baby in a basket of reeds and setting him afloat on the Nile, dividing a sea, diverting the spear of a wicked king thrown at a young psalmist who would replace for serving the Messiah’s line from an evil queen when only one male descendant remained on earth, watching over an exiled people and bringing them home again, moving and entire empire to hold a census in order to bring one unknown carpenter to his home town in Bethlehem, whether it involved sending his Son and having him offered up on the cross by the hands of the wicked men, whether it involves resurrecting him from the dead and gathering a people to be his bride, every detail is worked out. And not one thing is left to chance.


I fear for some of the young people who are here tonight. Listen. There is absolutely
nothing more important than Jesus Christ. If you sense boredom, fight against that
boredom and pay attention because your life depends on everything you hear when a
Bible is opened. Seek with all your heart to know him. Hate the fact that you don’t care
to know him. Do whatever is within your means to seek him and to hear his Word.

I always say this. Missions... there is only two ministries in missions. You either go
down in the well or you hold the rope for those who are going down. Either way there
will be scars on your hands. Stand up. Show me your scars. What has it cost you to be a
Christian? What has it cost you to follow him? What has it cost you to take the gospel to the nations? What have you given up?

I know a dear brother and if you walk up to him he is an old man. And you say, “Brother,
tell me something about Jesus.”
He will turn around with his face glowing and tears just flowing down his face. “Let me
tell you about the Lamb.”
I wish we would see him as that precious. 

I don’t need to psych you up for missions. I don’t need to get you like some football player riled up to go do some good deed. What we need is a vision of Christ. And that will compel you.

That is what we need. That is what we need in evangelicalism. That is what we need in

reformed movement and sovereign grace movements and every other kind of movement.
We need an exalted vision of the beauty and power and the unique dignity of the person
of Jesus Christ.

But notice, when he directs John, he does not direct John to himself. He points away from himself and he directs John to the person of Jesus Christ. That is such a good word for those of us who are preachers.

There are two things in which men must be trained. One is to know their God. And the
other is to understand the gospel.

The greatest, most splendid creatures in all of heaven acknowledge him to be front and
center in all things and yet you and I are so quick to forget him and to neglect him. What foolish creatures we are. It is for this reason God has given us the Word of God to renew our mind. It is for this reason God has given us a Church, that we might sharpen each other constantly, constantly prod one another, constantly be moving, motivating, stimulating one another to forget these vain distractions, this Vanity Fair called our world and to focus on everything that is the focus of heaven and that is Jesus Christ.
He is not some 

little accessory to your already wonderful life. He is everything or he is

nothing.


You know, these people moping about us living in a post Christian America. That gives
us an opportunity to live it like first century Christians. We may even get to suffer for
him before we get out of here. What a privilege. What a privilege.

Men hate the cross and if they don’t hate you, you are not preaching the cross.

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